Need An Opinion On A Tikka Stainless Varmint In 260 Remington

Max Owner

Max Owner

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Hey all.

Fellow board member put me on to a Tikka Stainless Varmint in 260 Remington. I wanna get one.

Any opinions of the rifle and caliber or the rifle itself?

http://www.tikka.fi/pdf/specs/T3VarmintStainless.pdf


My purpose will be long range paper punching. Was gonna buy a Savage 10FP LE2B and rebarrel for 260. But for the price, the Tikka will do damn fine (I hope...........)

Rate of twist is 1 in 9 for the 260.
 
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Tikka

Don't have any hands on with this rifle but I can tell you I am in the "club" of those considering a Tikka in .260 Rem myself. In fact, in a perfect world, I'd have one of each, a sporter and a heavy barrel target version. I was considering having a .260 built but I too have been 'looking' at the factory Tikka rifles. I am starting to be convinced that it may very well be "the way to go".

BTW, I am already swayed towards Tikkas as I already have a 595 in .308 Win and a 695 in 6.5x55mm....
 
Every body I know that shoots a 260 in a Tikka simply loves it.
I have shot 5 and every one was a tack driver.
the Tikka T3 stainless/laminate that we raffled last year was a great rifle as well.
The biggest issue some bring up is that fact that it is actually in a "long" action, not a big thing for me, but it bothers others....
Cat
 
All i can say is please go to your local gun dealer and actually ask to handle it, and form your own opinion of the quality of the rifle.

Pick up the Tikka, handle it, shoulder it, examine at the fit and finish, the materials, the handling.

Then ask him to handle something like a Ruger M77 Mark II laminate or walnut and compare the two.
keep in mind that what many people think is a 'sloppy bolt' (when fully extended) on the Ruger is intended that way - it is a Mauser style bolt and they are designed that way. the Ruger is possibly the most robust and reliable factory action on the market right now.

the notion that Tikkas are the only accurate factory rifles out there is absolutely absurd. Tikkas trade on the myth that 'omg they are the most accurate' so people rush out and buy them regardless of the finish or quality of the gun, or design shortfalls (such as using long action length receivers with a bolt stop for short action rifles). they are no more accurate than the Remington 700s, Savages, Rugers M77s, Weatherby Vanguards, etc.
do yourself a favor and expect more than just accuracy for your money. every fine bolt action rifle I have will shoot MOA or sub-MOA if you do your part at the range, and also try a few different types of ammo to see which groups best in the gun. Tikkas are an accurate gun but they are not some superzomglaserbeamwtfpewpew weapon thats going to turn you into Quigley. you should be expecting more than just accuracy out of a gun, because if accuracy is all you care about save yourself $700 and go buy a $300 Stevens which will be just as accurate as the Tikka.

also consider the cost of mounting hardware. once you price Optilock bases and rings Tikkas become more expensive than other guns in their price range, yet IMO they are a much more cheaply produced gun that makes far more concessions in materials and workmanship. Rugers come with bundled ringmounts that are some of the best rings on the market and can be quick-released with a nickel or quarter and return to an almost perfect zero when remounted. if you factor that in, remove at least $100 from the price of the Ruger.

**edit
i just checked the prices, the Tikka laminate/stainless ($999) is up to $300 more than a laminate/stainless Ruger ($699-799) and even more expensive than a laminate/stainless Remington. i do not consider it nearly in the same class as either of these two rifles.
hell you can get a Ruger #1 for the price of a Tikka laminate.
 
manbearpig,
I like the way you think! Myself, I don't have a clue what makes people think the T3 is such a marvel. One thing I CAN tell you, is that they have been heavily marketed and promoted since they first came out, by, for instance, my local gun shop. I NEVER pay the slightest bit of attention to what the local gun shop gurus are pushing, but they do push T3's hard. And some people who don't know any better, just get taken in by all the hype. That is to say, people who think that the dudes working the gun department actually KNOW anything about rifles!! I can tell you from personal experience, that the job of people selling guns, is, believe it or not, to SELL GUNS!! I am very cynical in my old age, and I can tell you this, I never buy any gun, because some yahoo working the gun department recommends it! But a LOT of people will get sucked in! I feel that the markup on T3's must be higher, or the kickbacks, or whatever, is why they are pushed so hard. There HAS to be an angle somewhere!! :D:D
 
Best rings?

Ruger rings if not lapped before they are installed are some of the worst rings on the market. The main reason for this thread is that we are getting a clearance deal on Tikka Varmints in 260 Rem at about $300.00 less than regular retail.
Max I hope you get in on the deal, these should be very nice shooting rifles by all reports, well all the reports I've read. FS
 
lol, agreed. Tikka fanboys (or fanboys of any particular sort) amuse me. Don't get me wrong, Tikka's are great guns -I have some- but they're hardly the be-all end-all of rifles. Ditto for Remingtons, Savages, Rugers, Brownings, etc. Which one I'd recommend depends on a LOT of factors.

A nice discount on one removes all doubt about the decision, though :D
 
Ruger rings if not lapped before they are installed are some of the worst rings on the market.
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what are you basing this on?

ive owned just about every type of Leupold ring on the market and, IMO, the factory Ruger rings are superior to the current production Leupolds that are under $100, and the mounting system (integrated base) is far superior unless you specifically need a tapered base with built-in elevation like a 20MOA base for 1000 yard shooting. in this case i admit they are a disadvantage, but can be worked around.

ive used 5 pairs of Ruger rings on 4 rifles so my experience is limited to that many, but ive never had any problems with them and was always impressed with their quality and the sturdiness of the mount despite the fact that it pretty much is a 'quick release' system. removing and remounting Ruger rings - if tightened slowly, evenly - also gets the scope back closer to zero than other systems like Weaver style QR rings. this is great if you have one rifle with 2 separate scopes/sights you interchange on it.

you could argue that just about all scope rings on the market could use lapping.
im not an advocate of ring lapping, i think on a set of quality rings its just about as much baloney as the complex barrel break-in juju ceremonies people push. many people use something as primitive as a piece of dowel and sandpaper, and thinking that you can do a better job than the factory by removing material with this is absurd.

ive never had a scope come lose, ever, from any type of ring ive ever mounted them in, and never damaged or bent a scope tube from mounting.

im not saying to go buy a Ruger because of the rings. i simply like to point out that when buying one you get a good pair of rings and save quite a bit of money. so when you are comparing, say, a $700 Ruger to a $700 Tikka, the Tikka is actually about $100 more. last time i priced Optilock rings and bases for a Tikka they came out to $170+tax actually. if Tikka included the Optilock rings and bases with their rifles, they would be much more 'fairly' priced. my only problem with Tikkas is they are overpriced for what they are. if a Stevens rifle cost $600, or a Savage $1000, i would be ripping on them constantly... but they dont.
 
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Ruger rings

M B P I am this on the info that the guys that mount scopes at P&D where I work at tell me, including the owner Phil.. The worst rings made today, not the mounting system, not the rifles. Not a single ruger leaves the shop with out 20 minutes of lapping. So you don't believe in lapping, well thats fine for you I guess, your not in the business of providing quality service to customers at a gun shop, are you? FS
 
so basically what you are saying is that guys that make their living selling guns and accessories, gunsmithing and mounting scopes tell you that factory Ruger rings are horrible and need expensive lapping or expensive replacement with aftermarket rings :runaway:

ok. pardon me if i dont throw out all my Ruger rings immediately and rush out and buy Leupold replacements for $100, or spend that to have them lapped by a gunsmith.

generally when you are going to post a statement like 'Ruger rings are some of the worst on the market' it actually helps if you have some experience with them beforehand and arent basing it on hearsay or a sales pitch by a gun dealer.
 
lapping isn't expensive. Most rings benefit from lapping to one degree or another.

Lapping ensures that the entire surface area inside the ring is in contact with the tube; which means less slippage and less marking of the scope
 
Rings

M B P you mount your rings any way you like, lapped unlapped, Its a fact not gunshop hear say. Theres not need to try and convince you that we have to lap the hell out of Ruger rings, and we don't tell people that Ruger rings are very roughly machined, we just do what it takes to make them better. If your happy with them just the way they are well thats good for you I guess, but like I stated in my last thread, your not in the business of mounting scopes on rifles, and providing the best ring you can for your customers, are you? FS
 
I stated in my last thread, your not in the business of mounting scopes on rifles, and providing the best ring you can for your customers, are you?
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thats the second time youve said that. are you? because 3 posts ago you just admitted that you are basing your opinion on hearsay:
M B P I am this on the info that the guys that mount scopes at P&D where I work at tell me, including the owner Phil.
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im not saying that lapping cannot help, ever... just that indiscriminately lapping every set of rings doesnt necessarily improve things... especially when the average net commando does it with a dowel wrapped with sandpaper.
of course it doesnt help things when your gunsmith mixes up your ring sets - which is what happened to me last time. i bought a set of high dollar rings and my gunsmith offered to mount them. he ended up mixing the sets up within 5 seconds, and scratching my scope.
 
catnthehatt said:
The biggest issue some bring up is that fact that it is actually in a "long" action, not a big thing for me, but it bothers others....
Cat
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But then you can seat long heavy bullets out to touch the land sand still function through the internal mag. I don't think that the short case/long action is as big a deal as some people make it out to be for that exact reason.
 
BigUglyMan said:
But then you can seat long heavy bullets out to touch the land sand still function through the internal mag. I don't think that the short case/long action is as big a deal as some people make it out to be for that exact reason.
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No, you can't and that just compounds the piss-off factor. The mags are blocked off, and there's bolt stop installed
 
hehe...picked up a T3 Varmint in .260 at Williams Arms on Saturday.
The price was several hundred less than I had paid in the past for the same rifle in 6.5X55...which is an awesome shooter by the way.
They also had brass in stock....stopped off at LeBaron's on the way home...they had a set of .260 dies in stock....I nearly dropped dead with shock!
I happen to have a set of Tikka/Sako bases and rings left over from another project...otherwise there would have been another $180 spent..
I have a variety of .260 bullets....Barnes, Lapua and Sierra...going to to spend a few hours sorting brass, and making up some trial loads...
I plan on a 'shootoff' between the .260 and the 6.5X55...loser gets sold!
 
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