Tikka T3 Lite, good gun?

After shooting a Savage with an Accutrigger I was hooked and bought four. They are much cheaper than Tikka's here in Canada after some big price increases. The last one is a 30-06 with a detach mag and Bushnell Elite 4200 3-9x40 that would be perfect for you.
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... it is designed as a short-action cartridge so must have a short COL. So why complain about what it was not intended to do? And inline feed is smooth as silk. Take the mag out to put another round in... hmm that's entirely too much work I must admit! There must be a better way? Of course, if you have to empty the mag when hunting, maybe one shouldn't be in the woods that day!



Tikka T3's in 6.5 x 55 have an extra half inch of room over factory length shells. I seated some 140gr speers to the lands and just barely in the cases and they worked fine. They looked goofy, but fed just fine.

I love my T3, It's a great rifle.
 
My T3 Hunter has been through a few rough hunts and the wood stock shows the wear and tear. I have no issues with the "plastic parts". I use the Optilock rings and bases and have no issues with them, except the price... As for accuracy, shooting factory ammunition results in MOA or less with nearly every load I tried. The only ones it got a bit fussy with were the 180gr longer bullets (Nosler Ballistic Tip, Swift Scirocco, Hornady SST) and the light mag loads. It shoots 150, 165, 180 nearly into the same point of impact. My one quible with it is the recoil pad. Recoil puck is more accurate. Installing a Limbsaver on it did wonders for my shooting and its overall appeal. In hindsight, I likely would chose a stainless synthetic over the wood/blued version I have just for plain huntability in crappy wet weather. But for the money, the accuracy, components, action, and trigger are pretty near as good as you will find. If you want a gun to pour money into and tinker with, get a Savage or Stevens or (gasp) Remington or Ruger. The T3 is about as good as it will get, right out of the box.
 
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My Tikka constantly makes me question WHY other manufacturers can't do the same.
If guns are supposed to be accurate and, let's face, it all the advertising bangs on about how good every new one is why in the hell do we have to fit Timney or other triggers and pillar bedded stocks and other stuff just to make them shoot well?
 
I don't know if I am happy with the accuracy out of the box or not :p, I mean after an adjustment this is a 3 shot group I shot @ 100 yards with Federal blue box .30-06 180 grain.

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