Gift for my son, Tikka T3x, SS in .270

Opinions on scope mount, picatinny rail or standard base and rings?

I'm leaning toward picatinny, would appreciate input from any that have used both or ?

I just bought a .223 and chose a picatinny. I'm happy with that choice an got one of the blems from Mountain Tactical Co. I like their design. I plan on moving scopes around a bit and using the rifle for a mix of field and mid-range target; so a rail is easier. If I were just setting it up for hunting and looking to keep it as light weight as possible, I'd go rings.

Nice Dad! Your son will like it.

Steve

Talley Lightweights...

Do not use the Tikka rings unless things have changed. I mounted Tikka Rings on my 596. They had a post to secure the scope----it made a big gouge in my Nikon. I took them off And into the trash they went. I think I replaced them with Warne.

Not pretty, but darn solid! I ended up using the DNZ Hunter rings on my 7MM-08 SL. They are kind of like a Talley only a bit beefier overall. So far so good using them.

I'm using the Picatinny to develop loads in a T3 and a T3x. It puts the scope higher than I like, so I'll probably go to rings that mount directly to the action once I put hunting scopes on them.


Okie John

Talley low

If you don't use your Tikka rings, try Warne steel Tikka rings.

Look at DNZ too. It works great and super solid.

colorado bob - "Do not use the Tikka rings..." - Amen to that. The factory Tikka rings must be made from surplus beer cans because they feel so "cheap". Installed a pair on my 6.5 Swede Tikka and removed them a few weeks late. Replaced them with Burris bases and Signature Z rings...much better. Homesteader

Thanks for all the replies.

Still looking and leaning a bit more toward Warne or Talley rings.

Still interested in any others suggestions.

Warne QD rings for the Tikka receiver.

DNZ for my tikka's

No question, Talley lightweights for a hunting rifle.

I wish the M85 was set up to work with the TLs!

Use the tikka rings, absolutely zero reason not to, they are super light, and hold zero just fine, and by the way are free and come with rifle.

Not really had a problem with the Tikka rings other than the screws that tighten the rings to the receiver wanting to round out in the Allen Head slot. Lowe's had replacement screws for less than a dollar. I just don't like one recoil lug for the two rings. But I guess that is not really much different in principal then Leupold with the twist in front and the windage clamping rear.

A cheap alternative, that I don't see mentioned much, is Weaver #61 bases and what ever standard weaver style rings you would want.

I Always used Leupold dual dovetails until I tried the Talley lightweight system and For a hunting rifle it is now automatically Talley's. They hold just fine on a couple of 300 Weatherby rifles in very rough conditions holding fairly heavy Zeiss scopes and the darn things line up so well sighting in is a breeze. On my cousins new rifle 2 shots had it in the black at 50, 3 more had him an inch high at 100 a handful later he was good at 225 and the 12th shot hit an elk vitals sized rock at 490 yards. They aren't all that smooth but so far about a dozen rifles later they are great.

Use the Tikka rings, replace the screws if you want. Use a Torque wrench, just avoid the tighten till your `roids bulge technique. I know of 7 mags and a 338 t3 that are fi e with the factory rings. As long as you don't tell g h e rings they are junk, they will never know. They don't use the I-net.

Ditto on the lining up part. I'm on my third set and they've been a snap to use.

My first set went on a pre64, against my old-man notion that the mounts on such an animal should be steel. When I tried to bore sight the straight-from-the-box 3-9 Leupold, it appeared to be lined up perfectly. At the range, my first shot at 50 yards was only a half inch off vertical. I think I eventually ended up moving it about three or four clicks at 100. I literally could have bolted that thing together and hunted with it as-is. The other two sets, on a Vanguard S2 and a Sako FN High Power, were very close as well, evidence of quality machining by those two outfits as well as by Talley.

Check out Mountain Tactical and their picatinny rail. They have it in 0 & 20 MOA.

I have talley lows with 42 mm Nikon on my tikka, my buddy has DNZ low with 42 vortex in his tikka.

I'm into dual use utility of pic rails on all rimfire and CF rifles these days.

Almost always use scopes for hunting.

But we've a couple of Aimpoint Micros we cycle around our battery of rifles. They're great in the woods for deer or in off-season for ATV/truck gun/woods prowl.

They can be backup sights for your scope you carry in your pocket or pack w pic rail during season.

This year my son used a .50 inline w silver H1 on it to kill two nice whitetail. One was trotting at 75 yards.

I've got a T1 on my trusty ol' LTR .308 zeroed w Hornady TAP 110 for warm weather fun on ATV. Dot Boom on out to 200 on milk jugs.

When my get my SAS .22/250, however, I may go Talleys w 6x SWFA (or much lighter Leupold w LRD) and piggyback a Micro for quick close shots.

ETA: really need to sell some guns to buy more Aimpoints!

Another vote for the Talley Lightweight Lows. I recently bought my first Tikka and I topped it off with my third set of Talleys. If your son is just going to mount a scope and leave it there, I think they are a great choice.

^ that especially on a lightweight rifle; picatiny seems unnecessarily heavy for such a rig.

Sanchez - "Not really had a problem with the Tikka rings other than the screws that tighten the rings to the receiver wanting to round out in the Allen Head slot." Exactly the same problem I had with my factory supplied Tikka rings...that lead to my changing them out. Perhaps the rings by themselves are OK but they used cheap azz hardware. Homesteader

Somebody on here makes "fitted" TALLEY mounts that slide perfectly over the top of the action. This would be my choice.

Used to. Not anymore.





P

GeoW has it. Warne Steel Tikka rings. Get a Warne torque wrench also. Worth every penny.

I went with the mountain tactical Picatinny rail and Burris Zee rings I like the spacing options the rail offers.
The aluminum one isn't that heavy and seems rock solid with their recoil pin as well as four screws.
Did the performance one thing which included a lug, shroud, and limbsaver recoil pad. All easy on.
http://a66.tinypic.com/msyycp.jpg

FVA,

Which Leupold did you go with? Nice setup.

Tom

Tom
It's a VX-6 2-12x42 Windplex firedot. Got in a little late on the close outs of these but found this one on ebay for $799-. Have not sighted it in yet but it sure is nice to look through.
Frank

No worries on factory t3x rings since they don't come with rings

If you have a VX6 42mm then purchase the exlow talleys. I had the same scope on my Tikka and with the exlow talleys there was still a few mm spare under the objective. if you purchase lows it will be sky high off the rifle.

Thanks very much Timmay. In process of getting Talleys to mount up a VX6 2-12x42. The stock is a Mickey Sako Hunter Edge and I was just about to order lows. Going to try it with the exlows instead. Much appreciated.

Craig

Oldelkhunter - Perhaps someone at Tikka grew weary of either replacing the screws for po'd customers OR actually tried a set. Found out the "customers" were right after all. All this leading up to a design change for the better.
Yes, in this day and age one can hope the higher ups do pay attention. Glad to hear they did it right with the T3X setup. Homesteader

[quote=FVA]I went with the mountain tactical Picatinny rail and Burris Zee rings I like the spacing options the rail offers.
The aluminum one isn't that heavy and seems rock solid with their recoil pin as well as four screws.
Did the performance one thing which included a lug, shroud, and limbsaver recoil pad. All easy on.
http://a66.tinypic.com/msyycp.jpg[/

30 mm medium?

Yep, 30 mm medium.

I've used the Talley LW's for the past 5 years on my Tikka. No issues and great rings. I've decided to switch things up a little this year though. I like the look of the picatinny rail and that's how most of my rifles are set-up. I bought the Mountain Tactical base and Seekin rings. Got another Tikka on the way that will be using the same set-up. I personally don't find the set-up too high as I use 50mm scopes anyway. Seekin lows work well.

I tried and tried having success with those rings. They are made of too soft aluminum and I had them on a 308 and a 270 not some mag. They deformed around the recoil pin. Best rings I have found are DNZ 2 piece rings. Buy a set of Talley lightweights and them and put them side by side.

another vote for the DNZ one piece mounts,

I use them on several guns.