Tikka rifles

[olympian]

Has anyone on here had much experience with the quality,of accuracy, stock, barrel, trigger, etc.) of recent production Tikka rifles especially those with varmint-weight barrels? When it comes to factory rifles, most of my experience has been with Remington, but Tikka offers a couple with the features set that I like.

What is the general opinion?

Thanks in advanced!

 

[Flybuster]

I bought a T-3 Varmint last year in 22-250. The actions on these are smooth, they have a coned bolt which allows you to cycle them pretty fast. I would say the metal machining on these are pretty good. The finish is nothing fancy, the action is a matte black, where the barrel is blued. You can adjust the triggers down to around 2 pounds and no further, its a pretty good factory trigger. If you don't like plastic stocks don't buy this one, I was looking for something for sporting high power and coyote hunting. So weight was a concern, while I still wanted the heavier barrel. The magazines are made of plastic and are very expensive if you want extras.
The main difference with these rifles are that the recoil lug is not on the action. It has a slot in the action and the recoil lug is a piece of metal in the stock. Its different and I don't think I like this concept. The rifle shoots ok, around a half inch or so with sierra matchkings, when I hold real steady.

 

[rhino]

I would go with a Laminate stock.

I have three tikkas

1. 6.5x55 SE Master sporter...killed another buck with it.
2. 6.5x55 SE T 3 Hunter Killed a deer last year with it.
3. 30-06 M 695 SS Whitetail hunter no kills.

The older Tikka's were better. The new stocks sound "hollow". I would get with a SS Laminate.

RHINOUT!

 

[ghermitage]

I used a brand new T3 Super Varmint 223 for a weekend. It has not seen any real load tuning work yet, but already does 5 shots into 1/2" at 100. That seems quite promising for a production gun. Best groups were with Nosler BT 50gr, which was a surprise since the twist is 1 in 8.

There is a bit of design question about the magazines - charging a magazine is cumbersome. That aside, and if you are happy with the choice of twist rates, I believe you will be happy with the T3, and I would hesitate to say the same about a Remington.

 

[olympian]

Thanks for the comments, and I am sorry to hear Tikka appears to have allowed the quality to slip a bit. This sounds all too familiar especially for some of our larger, traditional domestic manufacturers,e.g. big green).

It is the Super Varmint that catches my eye especially since it is offered in the 6.5x55 with a 1-8" twist barrel and Picatinny rail option. I love their chambering selection, and I have gone almost exclusively to the 6.5mm calibers so there is not much offered by the domestic market.

I would like to hear from others about their T3s.

 

[tripcrow]

I used a 12 twist 223 SS Varmint model in factory varmint class for a while this year. It load tested as the most accurate factory rifle I ever owned at 100 & 200 yards. Averaging in the .3s & .4s over a good amount of groups. Thing was, even with the 64g Bergers I couldn’t compete with it at 400 & 500 yards in any kind of conditions. So I’m back to a LRPV again. There is an 8 twist 223 that is very competitive at our shoots and a 308 Tikka that another shooter leaves at home very regular. Some of the high power silhouette shooters that shoot bench with us swear by the Tikkas and tell me they feel the Tikka’s short action is stiffer than the Sako. Both Tikka & Sako use the same barrels from what I’m told.

They are a real pain to single feed. I would remove the clip and stick my left fingers up the well to guide the shells into the far-in chamber. The 223 mag clip being too short for long OALs. There are no commercial single shot options that I know of.
Tikkas are fairly light so there’s more recoil and they seem to open up from extended fire before the heavier varminters do. Although I never really tested that.
The plastic stock’s fore isn’t very wide and is narrower up front, getting fatter towards the action. So it won’t ride the front bag real well.
Like Flybuster said, it’s an odd recoil lug setup and I have no idea how you’d bed it.
Was told you may be able to get the trigger down a little more by filing the head of the adjustment screw that bottoms out on another screw as you turn it out.

IMO for around $700 they are one of the best buys out there. Don’t be surprised if you have a hard time getting your local gun shop to get you one from their supplier. Especially if it’s something other than 223 or 308.

 

[olympian]

Well, I just found out that despite being listed on the Tikka website, the model rifle I wanted has been "out of production for a year and a half" according to the Beretta people. I did not bother to ask how many of the models on the website are actually being imported. Oh, well. No new rifle for me. Thanks gentlemen.