I own a Tikka T3 in 6.5x55 and love it. You won't regret the purchase, but the quality and design brilliance of a Mauser 98 derived rifle is undeniable. I have but one Tikka and 7 Mauser type rifles. Just don't be surprised that you feel the need to add another rifle to your battery later. A .308 would be tough to beat using your criteria. It's good for zombies behind block walls...
Thinking of a Tikka T3 Lite Stainless
- Thread starter Richard Cranium
- Start date
smelly pete
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Chilliwack, BC
I've owned (and abused) a Tikka since 2007, and haven't had a single problem with it. I was hesitant to buy this newfangled stainless over laminate tool (Google Tikka recall), but the rifle puts up with my cackhandedness, and Mother Nature, without complaint.
For my build and posture, this thing is a hoot to shoot off the bench, fits like a glove, but I too wonder about getting everything in the same caliber right off the bat? I personally love shooting at different ranges, with different boolits, but everybody's, well, different
Not to be nosey (which means I'm going to be) but do you have a .22 or 12 gauge yet? Also fun cheap calibers.
Edit: Not to scare you off Tikka with the recall thing. Google other manufacture's recalls as well.
For my build and posture, this thing is a hoot to shoot off the bench, fits like a glove, but I too wonder about getting everything in the same caliber right off the bat? I personally love shooting at different ranges, with different boolits, but everybody's, well, different
Not to be nosey (which means I'm going to be) but do you have a .22 or 12 gauge yet? Also fun cheap calibers.Edit: Not to scare you off Tikka with the recall thing. Google other manufacture's recalls as well.
- Location
- Eastern Edge of the Foothills
People who buy Tikkas are not looking to make a custom rifle out of it. They're looking to get an excellent rifle that shoots stunning groups right out of the box. One reason [a guess] why Empire rifles won't work on Tikka is because the Finnish and Sweedish steel used is so bloody hard that they'd wear out their tools? Just throwing that out there.
The only accurate Ruger you'll find out there is one that's had a lot of work [new trigger, new barrel, new stock, tuned action, and professional bedding job] done on it. Okay, that's a pretty broad generalization, but I've not had good luck with Ruger. Tang safety M77 that couldn't shoot minute-of-barn, and the same thing with a new Hawkeye. If you're happy with 'em, great, but I have no use for Ruger.
My Tikka and my Remingtons all shoot MOA without any problem at all. None of them have fallen apart either. I take them hunting, and you know what... they've never disintigrated. I guess I'm one of the lucky few. But they do shoot MOA or better, and they work season after season.
To the OP: If you want a Tikka, don't let anyone tell you they're garbage. They're one of the best selling rifles right now because they WORK VERY WELL... right out of the box. No gunsmith required.
The only accurate Ruger you'll find out there is one that's had a lot of work [new trigger, new barrel, new stock, tuned action, and professional bedding job] done on it. Okay, that's a pretty broad generalization, but I've not had good luck with Ruger. Tang safety M77 that couldn't shoot minute-of-barn, and the same thing with a new Hawkeye. If you're happy with 'em, great, but I have no use for Ruger.
My Tikka and my Remingtons all shoot MOA without any problem at all. None of them have fallen apart either. I take them hunting, and you know what... they've never disintigrated. I guess I'm one of the lucky few. But they do shoot MOA or better, and they work season after season.
To the OP: If you want a Tikka, don't let anyone tell you they're garbage. They're one of the best selling rifles right now because they WORK VERY WELL... right out of the box. No gunsmith required.
- Location
- Center of the Universe
I don't really like the look of the SA. I do like the XCR but it is pricey and also have read at least some bad reviews. I may end up with one at some point but since I'm just starting out and want to have variety in my collection I'm looking at a bunch of different things.
At the price point of the XCR I can buy the Tikka and nice scope and still have money to pay for the Mini and probably have a few pennies left.
I've had a few T3's, they worked fine, very accurate. Now have Sako 75, M70 and Tikka 595. I've changed the shroud to aluminum, but the trigger guard and mag doesn't bother me at all. Also have a McMillan stock coming for it, but I do that with all my rifles these days...
Never thought I'd be able to quote this...
Never thought I'd be able to quote this...
i own wins, rems and t3's. the t3 laminates i really like. the tikkas are boring. adjust the trigger with an allen wrench and go shooting. no need to bed or change triggers. my rems all cost more with customising. none great as is. if you want to shoot and not modify the tikka t3 is a great value. and yes i have changed to metal bolt shrouds not because they broke. i just wanted to.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Not at all, they'll work on Swede Mausers, Satterlee's, GMA's, or even colour case hardened actions. All of which are at least as hard and some definitely harder than a Tikka. They won't even thread a barrel for one, as no high quality custom maker I've yet heard of will. The reason is plain and simple, they will not put their name on something with injection moulded plastic parts. Empire Rifles, Martini & Hagn, Satterlee, they all build guns that are good for centuries with proper care, every piece of them from the mag to the bolt to the bottom metal you name it. A Tikka will not last like a Winchester, Ruger, or even Remington will. I risk extending out the argument, but the question was opened to why they won't work on them, and that's why.
I will agree the tikka is a generally quite accurate (with definite exceptions like any brand), serviceable and low priced hunting rifle. I just demand a lot from my guns, far beyond what's required frankly as my son will be using my guns in fifty years, and I have no doubt they'll be just as good as they are today. I wouldn't have that confidence in a tikka. I also find myself going to Africa often now to a conservancy a friend manages, and can't say I trust something like a tikka when I'm trying to determine what the large, close rustle in the bushes is. Or for taking dangerous game for that matter. My Rugers and Winchesters, and my Mauser .275, forgive the piping of those two brands accompanied by Mauser, I do completely.
I no longer own many guns. Well, perhaps in the eyes of some, sure, but I'm down to probably somewhere around ten to twelve keepers from many times that number. I'm working towards just 6 or 7 too, as I'm not rich and rather a thimble of perfect scotch than a bucket of lucky lager. Many with far more means than I would laugh at me calling what I cart around the continents perfection, but to me it is; they shoot perfectly, they take the world's most dangerous game with zero safety concerns, they'll be working the same when my great grand children have them without a doubt, and finally they really didn't come from a different price class than a tikka which would do none of this for certain except likely be accurate.
I often wonder what people are looking for in accuracy in their hunting rifles too. I'm a user of guns, more than a collector, and have averaged more than a half dozen head of game a season these last couple years since my family took root, my career settled, and I've been able to take off into the wilderness more again. I've shot flightless game from 5lbs to 2,000lbs, friendly and dangerous, close and far, and have never needed, nor even noticed the need for, a rifle shooting better than 2" 100 yard groups. My main Ruger hunting rifle handily beats an inch (not an Internet inch), as will my 1946 Winchester Model 70, with the Ruger RSM .375 easily shooting cloverleafs and the Model 70 hanging a little wider at that comfy 1". You know what I found? It makes no difference. I've never kept a hunting rifle I couldn't hit a playing card with at 100 yards, no Ruger 77 or Winchester 70 (or even 94!), even the model 700 I often malign, has ever failed this. I don't punch paper with hunting rifles often, it bores me, I do it enough to practice but it's always from field positions from which we'll never be shooting 0.2 MOA groups. If you find yourself at a bench sitting with a hunting rifle in bags ofts , something's wrong. I enjoy competitive shooting and have engaged in it since I was a kid, back then to the provincial/national level, and super accurate guns have their place- but we're talking hunting guns and even the much compliemnted in accuracy tikka can't stand against true match guns. Yes, there's the tikka tactical that I'm sure has been used to good effect in matches somewhere, but we're pulling out of hunting rifles now.
So, thanks for listening and sorry to go on at length, there's a lot to explain here though. To the OP, pull out the T3's mag, wiggle at its trigger guard, and flick its bolt shroud next time you handle it. For some, myself included, it goes back to the guy behind the counter at that point.
I really can't see shopping for a custom high end barrel for a T3. Or judging the rifle by the availablity of them. There's likely no market for them. A stock I could see buying, but a barrel, just like the trigger, there's no point. Its gilding a lilly. It was made to be a cheap, accurate hunting rifle, and it achieves that. Look elsewhere if you want a rifle to customize.
To the OP, I would go with a Tikka T3 HB Varmint in .308 or if you want to save money, Le Baron have a special on their Tikka T3 Lite in .308 for $599.00. Great caliber, good selection of ammo. Only you can decide what feels good in your arms. Good Luck
Is your real name Richard Mellon? Oh, by the way, purchase a weatherby vanguard 223. You will be more happy with it. And way better value.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
A Vanguard has a real receiver at least too, that they went to the trouble of milling instead just a piece of roundstock to be as cheap as possible like the T3. It would be a better value.
So I guess Ruger's are junk since they use an Investment Casting system for their receivers and are not milled. Last Vanguard I held looked like it was
made in a sweat shop and guess what, plastic everywhere.
Amusing thread. Folks jousting over which is the better mass produced, factory assembled firearm.
It goes like this: My choice is better then your choice....blah...blah....blah....blah....and so on and so forth. Works for rifles,
handguns, cartridges, calibers and toilet paper, just about anything. And on this site it would seem to be the main preoccupation. It does get tiring.
