Tikka T3 Tactical

[2bad4u2]

A lot of thorough info on the T3 Tactical...very good, fellas!

I like to share the fact that I'm graced with the very limited opportunity of having a Tikka T3, .223 with less than 1000 rounds through it; a Leapers scope, and an option of a free case all for $700 from a friend.

Sadly, this is far out of my current budget.

The Leapers scope has a negative value. He must be paying you to take it. I'm willing to bet the price goes up if he's selling the rifle outright.

Is this thing a Varmint or just a regular T3? If it's not a Varmint I don't think it's a deal at all.

 

[Pyd]

The guy who named Nobody on snipershide.com acts like a jerk to anything but remingtons, I have experience with him.

The guy is an a$$, he wants confrontation and adds nothing good to a thread. People with biased opinions like that have no value when it comes to a quest for information.

 

[skinnymagoo]

agreed, he just rambled the same moot point over and over didn't give much merrit to that thread.

Now for this thread, a friend just got a Tactical in .308 won't let me touch it yet because its his new baby but i have seen what it can do. looks like it's worth the money to me 1" groups at 100yds on a decently windy day works for me

 

[novan3]

2bad4u2, you're right... Actually, it's a t3 varmint stainless model with heavy barrel.

Seriously thinking of siding with uncommon sense now & just saving up for it. Two monthly installments from each pay-cheque

 

[Epoxy7]

Novan3,
I actually think the varmint looks better than the tactical model. Personal preference though. That being said the varmint is less money than the tactical which is one of the reasons it's often recommended.

I don't own a Tikka and have never shot one. I presonally don't like the looks of the stock on them. I'm kind of shallow that way. However I have heard many very good reports about them. You can find some good reviews online.

As for price, do some checking. Look at all of the board sponsors, and even the US sites. This should give you a ball park on the price brand new. 1000 rounds isn't a low round count, so that should devalue it. Now the Leapers scope by all acounts sucks. It's a cheapy. The cheapest I would consider would be a Burris or Falcon Menace. That's the minimum. The Leapers as othes have said, actually devalue the rifle.

On a side rant. I hate it when people put a piece of crap scope on a fine rifle. I really hate it when they do this along with whatever rings were in the junk drawer and try to sell it as a package for near new price. Rant over.

Look around. I think you'll find you can do better. Even paying a bit more for one with a low round count and none of the crap fixings would be worth it.

You can get the regular Tikka Varmint in .308 for $919 brand new at Wholesale sports. The super Varmint and the Tactical are a lot more expensive.
Considering the round count. I'd pass and just buy new.

Good luck.

 

[mackillan]

Novan3,
I actually think the varmint looks better than the tactical model. Personal preference though. That being said the varmint is less money than the tactical which is one of the reasons it's often recommended.

I don't own a Ticka and have never shot one. I presonally don't like the looks of the stock on them. I'm kind of shallow that way. Howevr I have heard many very good reports about them. You can find some good reviews online.

As for price do some checking. Look at all of the board sponsors, and even the US sites. This should give you a ball park on the price brand new. 1000 rounds isn't a low round count, so that should devalue it. Now the Leapers scope by all acounts sucks. It's a cheapy. The cheapest I would consider would be a Burris or Falcon Menace. That's the minimum. The Leapers as othes have said, actually devalue the rifle.

On a side rant. I hate it when people put a piece of crap scope on a fine rifle. I really hate it when they do this along with whatever rings were in the junk drawer and try to sell it as a package for near new price. Rant over.

Look around. I think you'll find you can do better. Even paying a bit more for one with a low round count and none of the crap fixings would be worth it.

You can get the regular Tikka Varmint in .308 for $919 brand new at Wholesale sports. The super Varmint and the Tactical are a lot more expensive.
Considering the round count. I'd pass and just buy new.

Good luck.

What scope would you suggest for the Tikka Tactical? For a Remington Sendero?

 

[Epoxy7]

Depends on what you're going for.

More tactical or target shooting?

Your options are endless.

For tactical stuff: Falcon Menace 4-14x 44mm MP20 metric would be a good fun value scope with an excellent list of features. But... then you can go upscale from there. Leupold MKIV, NF, S&B etc etc.

For target shooting there's some overlap, but the magnification is usually higher. The best bang for the buck right now in my opinion is the Zeiss Conquest line. After that NF, and the rest.

With the rare exception, good glass is expensive. If you want to go all out you can easily spend twice as much as the rifle. I try not to do this, but if the rifle is one that really shoots.... well it's easier to justify

My recommendations for the Tikka tactical:

1) S&B and comparable $$$
2) Night Force -Considered a good value for the upper end scopes-
3) Leupold Mark IV for tacticool non varible scope only
4) Zeiss Conquest -excellent value, especially for target/varmint shooting when not worried about being "tacticool"
5) Leupold VXIII target/hunting varible scope
6) Falcon Menace - Tacticool while still being thrifty. Excellent reviews, good glass, great feature set for the price.
7) Burris scopes. Well made, good glass, reasonable price.

The 6mm BR site has a fantastic scope review section. There's some stuff missing but it's definately a must read before making any purchases.

The night force would be my overall pick if I could justify the extra cost.

 

[novan3]

Solid advice Epoxy, solid advice.

 

[mackillan]

Depends on what you're going for.

More tactical or target shooting?

Your options are endless.

For tactical stuff: Falcon Menace 4-14x 44mm MP20 metric would be a good fun value scope with an excellent list of features. But... then you can go upscale from there. Leupold MKIV, NF, S&B etc etc.

For target shooting there's some overlap, but the magnification is usually higher. The best bang for the buck right now in my opinion is the Zeiss Conquest line. After that NF, and the rest.

With the rare exception, good glass is expensive. If you want to go all out you can easily spend twice as much as the rifle. I try not to do this, but if the rifle is one that really shoots.... well it's easier to justify

My recommendations for the Tikka tactical:

1) S&B and comparable $$$
2) Night Force -Considered a good value for the upper end scopes-
3) Leupold Mark IV for tacticool non varible scope only
4) Zeiss Conquest -excellent value, especially for target/varmint shooting when not worried about being "tacticool"
5) Leupold VXIII target/hunting varible scope
6) Falcon Menace - Tacticool while still being thrifty. Excellent reviews, good glass, great feature set for the price.
7) Burris scopes. Well made, good glass, reasonable price.

The 6mm BR site has a fantastic scope review section. There's some stuff missing but it's definately a must read before making any purchases.

The night force would be my overall pick if I could justify the extra cost.

Would a Nightforce 3.5 x 15 x 50 make sense?

 

[Epoxy7]

Would a Nightforce 3.5 x 15 x 50 make sense?

Yes.
However I personally prefer more magnifiction. I like the 5-22x 56mm in terms of specs. But.... Most of my shooting is range/bench and hopefully some varmint shooting. So I'm not too worried about the tactical applications.

That being said the 3.5-15x 50mm would no doubt be an excellent match for that rifle. Especially if you want to keep the tactical look/advantages of the rifle design.

Another option is the Falcon menace 4-14x 44mm with the MP20 reticle and metric turrets. This scope isn't up to the NF specs but it's also $400 instead of $1600. If this scope lives up to the reviews it's a real bargain and more than comparable with scopes costing twice as much. Side parrallex down to rimfire ranges, 30mm tube with lots of elevation adjustments. Fist plane reticle so the Hash marks and half hash marks on the MP20 reticle can be used at all magnificaitons. Metric turrets. 10 clicks per one Hashmark, 5 for half. Easy math to do corrections and again works at all magnification ranges unlike the regular second plane reticle on most scopes where you're usually at 10x only to use the mill dots. Also the 4-14x glass is better than their varmint scope (Which still gets excellent reviews). 94 percent light transmission compared to 92 percent.

You might want to consider this to test out how you like that magnification range and the type of shooting that you do most often. If you decide to go with that style of scope you can always put the Falcon on something else. It's a decent enough scope to keep plus it'll work on rimfires. I suspect you wouldn't have a hard time finding a buyer either if you decided to sell one.

The above is the safe route. However I think you'd be very happy with the NF that you picked. I just dont' know if you would want/need more magnification. That depends on the type of shooting you're planning on doing.

I always like to give options. However in your situation I would probably just get the NF . The magnification range you picked is excellent for an all around work horse. Lets face it, you're not going to be disapointed with a Night Force scope.

 

[mackillan]

Nightforce

Yes.
However I personally prefer more magnifiction. I like the 5-22x 56mm in terms of specs. But.... Most of my shooting is range/bench and hopefully some varmint shooting. So I'm not too worried about the tactical applications.

That being said the 3.5-15x 50mm would no doubt be an excellent match for that rifle. Especially if you want to keep the tactical look/advantages of the rifle design.

Another option is the Falcon menace 4-14x 44mm with the MP20 reticle and metric turrets. This scope isn't up to the NF specs but it's also $400 instead of $1600. If this scope lives up to the reviews it's a real bargain and more than comparable with scopes costing twice as much. Side parrallex down to rimfire ranges, 30mm tube with lots of elevation adjustments. Fist plane reticle so the Hash marks and half hash marks on the MP20 reticle can be used at all magnificaitons. Metric turrets. 10 clicks per one Hashmark, 5 for half. Easy math to do corrections and again works at all magnification ranges unlike the regular second plane reticle on most scopes where you're usually at 10x only to use the mill dots. Also the 4-14x glass is better than their varmint scope (Which still gets excellent reviews). 94 percent light transmission compared to 92 percent.

You might want to consider this to test out how you like that magnification range and the type of shooting that you do most often. If you decide to go with that style of scope you can always put the Falcon on something else. It's a decent enough scope to keep plus it'll work on rimfires. I suspect you wouldn't have a hard time finding a buyer either if you decided to sell one.

The above is the safe route. However I think you'd be very happy with the NF that you picked. I just dont' know if you would want/need more magnification. That depends on the type of shooting you're planning on doing.

I always like to give options. However in your situation I would probably just get the NF . The magnification range you picked is excellent for an all around work horse. Lets face it, you're not going to be disapointed with a Night Force scope.

I have a nightforce on a sendery 300 mag but will go to a conquest with it so maybe switch the nightforce to the tactical. Im thinking sako 338 lapua at the moment

 

[Epoxy7]

The Zeiss Conquest is pretty tough to beat, especially at it's current price point.
Although I do think the NF is a better scope. Is it 62.5 percent better? Not for most applications. So the good old law of diminishing returns starts to kick in. So it really depends on how much you're willing to spend and what you can afford.

Mackillan in your case, that sounds like a very practical sollution.

Here's a list of my current scopes, including those on order.

5- Zeiss Conquest with Rapid Z (2 with 1000 yard reticle, 3 with varmint)
3-Falcon Menace 4-14x 44mm MP20 reticle metric turrents (on order)
2- Leupold EFR 6-20x 40 mm Rimfire scopes
1- Burris Fullfield II 3-9x 40mm with balistic plex. Nothing fancy but a good scope. Especially for $200.

I have a wild cat rifle that I will eventually have to scope. It's either getting a NF or maybe a March. Most likely a NF though. I haven't decided yet. That being said I have also been thinking about replacing one of the Zeiss Conquests with a Falcon and moving the Zeiss to the wild cat rifle. I'm just waiting to see if the Falcon scopes will work well for the rifle that the Conquest is currently on.

If I could have afforded to go all NF then I would have. In my case I had to make some compromises. The Zeiss Conquest line while still a compromise, has worked out very well. I'm happy with them.

 

[mackillan]

The Zeiss Conquest is pretty tough to beat, especially at it's current price point.
Although I do think the NF is a better scope. Is it 62.5 percent better? Not for most applications. So the good old law of diminishing returns starts to kick in. So it really depends on how much you're willing to spend and what you can afford.

Mackillan in your case, that sounds like a very practical sollution.

Here's a list of my current scopes, including those on order.

5- Zeiss Conquest with Rapid Z (2 with 1000 yard reticle, 3 with varmint)
3-Falcon Menace 4-14x 44mm MP20 reticle metric turrents (on order)
2- Leupold EFR 6-20x 40 mm Rimfire scopes
1- Burris Fullfield II 3-9x 40mm with balistic plex. Nothing fancy but a good scope. Especially for $200.

I have a wild cat rifle that I will eventually have to scope. It's either getting a NF or maybe a March. Most likely a NF though. I haven't decided yet. That being said I have also been thinking about replacing one of the Zeiss Conquests with a Falcon and moving the Zeiss to the wild cat rifle. I'm just waiting to see if the Falcon scopes will work well for the rifle that the Conquest is currently on.

If I could have afforded to go all NF then I would have. In my case I had to make some compromises. The Zeiss Conquest line while still a compromise, has worked out very well. I'm happy with them.

For hunting moose a conquest is easier for me to find the animal and fire than is the Nightforce.
The Nightforce may be a tad underpowered for the TRG though.