Tikka T3x Battue Lite

Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray

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Anyone have one of these? I'm thinking of picking one up sometime this week in 30-06 and would like to know the pro's and cons from people who have used them firsthand. I have a T3x stainless lite that I adore and I think one of the Battue's would make for a really handy, fast handling and compact short to medium range carbine. Thoughts?
 
Can't go wrong with a tikka. I haven't personally handled one but would only consider it if I were planning on using the factory open sights which are supposedly quite nice. I just couldn't put a scope on one.
 
Dorian Gray said:
Anyone have one of these? I'm thinking of picking one up sometime this week in 30-06 and would like to know the pro's and cons from people who have used them firsthand. I have a T3x stainless lite that I adore and I think one of the Battue's would make for a really handy, fast handling and compact short to medium range carbine. Thoughts?
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I have one in .308, bought it from Sail when they had their usual 15% off firearms sale.

What I like:

- At 80 yards with the open sights I can keep my shots inside a 8" paper plate with the cheapy Federal and Winchester 150 and 180gr SP as well as 147gr fmj handloads for plinking. Perfect for deer and bear season under 50 yards. I did remove the 3 orange fiber optic pieces from the rear ramp, it's suppose to help with sight alignment but I found it too distracting for me. Just tap them out with a needle punch. I also removed the front sight hood. From the factory my sights are set so I place the front sight where I want the bullet to hit. The front sight covers an 8" paper plate at 80 yards and just sits inside the same plate at 50 yards.

- It's true Tikka test fire each rifle at the factory. I still had trace amount of copper in the barrel.

- The Tikka barrels are lapped so absolutely no break in procedure needed and cleaning the barrel after 20 rounds was so easy compared to my Remington barrel.

- Bolt is silky smooth and fast.

- The trigger is the best factory trigger I've ever felt. The trigger doesn't break as good as a TriggerTech but very close.. No need to upgrade this trigger.

- Weight is 6.32 lb with 3 rounds of 150 gr in the magazine on my digital scale. Nice and light to carry around and with the synthetic stock I don't care about the bumps and bruises any more over wood.

- From the factory the trigger is set and pulls consistently at 3.5 lb.

- Wish the butt stock was adjustable like the compact model, its 1/2" - 1" too long for me and now with the bulky jacket for deer season it snags when I shoulder the rifle. Hopefully I'll find one on EE someday.

- With the fiber optic sights low light (dusk and dawn) target acquisition at 40 yards is OK but with my aging eyes I ended up picking up a set of Med. quick detach Warne rings from CanadaBrass ca and a Leupold VX-2 2-7 x 33mm clearance price from Sail. Still nice and light and still holds zero when I remove and replace the scope. One down fall with the Warne med rings, rear ramp sight and the 33mm objective is there is very little room for a BC scope cover, it's a tight fit but do able.

Overall I'm happy with the accuracy I'm getting with factory rounds, nice and light, I have options for either a scope or open sights for my cabin needs but if I had one option to pick I wish there was either a 16" or 18" barrel for my needs.

No regrets with this purchase.
 
Yes I have one in .308. Bought it two years ago, took two deer last year and a bear with it this year. Also had it on a two day marksmanship course. Its a great rifle, short, handy, great tikka action (which you already know). The open sights are cool and functional. For short to medium range shots, hard to beat. I love short barrelled lightweight rifles for where I hunt, where the shots are rarely over 60m.

Now, at my marksmanship course the rifle shot better than I could (using a 1-6x scope and pretty cheap ammo). The finale was a 200m competition that I came in 2nd on. (I popped the steel 2" below the bulleye....I use a post reticle with no distance markers). The fellow who won was a fine shot, albeit using a very sweet and expensive precision rifle in 7mm with high power glass. So with an optic the Battue is very capable of doing whatever you need it to.

The only consideration is that she kicks. the lightweight stock doesn't eat much recoil. In .308 its fine, in 30-06 it'll be a little peppier. And here is my secret tip....the Masi QD scope mount. Rock soild, returns to zero, on and off in 5 seconds. Build specifically for the tikka receiver. Not cheap, but makes the rifle soooo flexible with opens or opitics readily available.
http://www.masina-tuote.com/?product=tikka-t3-quick-detach-scope-mount&lang=en

And here's my baby with the 5 rd. magazine:
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One of my best buddies has been hunting with one for about 5 years now, in 30-06. I've shot it a few times at the range. Handy and accurate. Nice if you are actually going to be walking a lot, etc. As has been mentioned, recoil is a lil lively for a 30-06 but by no means bad.

Moose really don't seem to like it at all.

No issues yet.
 
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