Tikka Reputation

[razmuz]

Is the T-3 as good as they say it is? Will the "lite Weight" shoot as good as the regular weight? Is it a better rifle than the Remington Mountain or Winchester Feather Weight?

[JackRabbit]

Hey there razmuz.I own the tikka all weather model 595 and find it much better then any remingtons I've shot.It wieghs 7.25LBS.Now I know the T3 wieghs about a pound lighter and since I bought mine many of my friends have bought T3's and love them as much as I love my 595.The action is the smoothest action I've seen on any rifle ever.I have mine in 22-250,so I'm not sure how the larger calibers are as far as how hard they kick,but I'm told they'er not to bad.I don't know if this is any help to you but if you have the opportunity to shoot one try it I'm sure you'll like it.The price is pretty reasonable to. Ken

[MarkL]

I reckon you pay your money and you take your chances. I bought a T3 Varmint model in .308. It's a heavy-barrel stainless with a synthetic stock. I've tried about 5 different factory loads and a couple of hand loads. Nothing groups better than about 2 inches, some much worse. I'm going to play around with it a little more but if I don't see some major improvements, I'll be trading it.

[srab]

Every rifle is unique, and I'll bet you can find a rifle from any manufacturer that has turned out to be a dud, but I've been very pleased with the Tikka T3 Lite.

The stock on mine is synthetic and not very impressive at all, but it's molded around a bedding block with the barrel floated. The barrel on a Tikka, of course, comes from the same exact place as those for Sako rifles priced much higher. Same barrel at significantly lower cost!

The trigger is exceptional, IMHO. It breaks clean and crisp and is supposed to be set at 3 lbs from the factory (mine was closer to 4 lbs, but it is very easy to adjust with the allen wrench provided).

The action is very smooth. The action length is the same whether you are purchasing a standard or short, but the magazine has a spacer for short-action cartridges. The magazine, however, is plastic and appears kind of cheap.

The recoil pad seems to be of decent quality. The scope rings that come with the rifle have worked perfectly fine for me thus far. My rifle is chambered for
300WSM and recoil is very reasonable for a "magnum" cartridge in a light rig.

Accuracy from my "out of the box" rifle is exceptional. I can't vouch for anyone else's, and maybe I just got lucky with this rifle, but I have heard others report
Savage-esque accuracy from Tikka rifles in general.

Personally, I'd buy another and have been encouraging friends to give the Tikka a hard look. I've got nothing against Remington, but I've just never had one that would shoot without quite a bit more "tweaking." I don't have any experience with Winchesters younger than 20 yrs, so I can't comment on them.

[22-250fanatic]

I have the T3 Lite and it shoots as good as my heavy barreled Ruger. An outstanding rifle. I couldn't be happier. Everytime I drop another Yodi I keep saying to myself, "I love this rifle". You will not be dissappointed with a Tikka.

[MarkL]

I finally got some decent groups out of mine last weekend. I went to the range with 10 different loads (5 shots each) using different bullets, powders, and weights. I got several groups right near 1 inch and a couple around 3/4, so I'll be trying those combos again.

I also tweaked the gun a bit, which may have made a difference. When you take the stock off the gun, you'll notice it doesn't have a conventional recoil lug. Instead, there's a rectangular aluminum block (about 1 X 1 1/4 X 1/4) that fits into a shallow slot in the gun's receiver and a much deeper recess in the stock. In my gun, this block had a fairly loose fit in the receiver's slot. I used a center punch to spread the end of block a bit, then filed it until it was a friction fit with the receiver. A piece of tape wrapped around it did the same for the fit with the stock.

[Cal Sibley]

Hello rasmuz,

I doubt that you'll go wrong with the T3. It's made at the Sako factory, and most of what they turn out is quite good. Just keep in mind that if it has a synthetic stock it's probably quite a bit lighter than the walnut or laminated stocks so you're apt to get fairly heavy recoil depending on the caliber. You don't hear manyt complaints about Tikka's accuracy. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

[elkermarty]

I won a Tikka in 7mm Rem.Mag. So I loaded it up and thought I would break in the barrel. To say that the rifle will shoot 1 1/2" groups or even 2 1/2" groups out of the box, I question. My self not being a 7MM person, I decided to change it over to something a little bigger. I bought a Douglas XX barrel in 338 Win Mag. Now with a new barrel and just some run of the mill hand loads it WILL shoot 1 1/2" and less groups. The added weight was nothing. The rifle now only weighs 8 lbs 0 oz. I left the barrel at 26". This weekend I will start to work up the hand loads.
I think that the addition of the new barrel made this a first class elk rifle. I am going to shoot 210 gr Nosler Partition. The powder, I will have to try some and see where it takes me. The break in loads was shot with 68 gr H414.
Again I am VERY pleased with the out come.

[stout shooter]

I have the Tikka t3 stainless synthetic lite in 243 and i absolutly love it. I shoot factory ammo and i will be under 2" on any day at any time. WELL WORTH THE MONEY!!!

[ghost stalker]

i picked one up in 300win mag and was a lil' weary about recoil and accuracy(as it cost about 30% less than the remington 700's here in canada), but was astounded when i took it out. recoil=not much more than my old 280rem ruger markII. accuracy=holy crap....100yds i got 1.5" off a log deck not a bench. 200yds under 3". great buy. can't beat it for the price and then some.
and yeh the clip feels cheap and goes for double the price of a browning a-bolt. nice trigger, smooth action and just a nicely put together gun.