experience with tikka t3

[jessegibson1978]

I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with the tikka t3 rifles. Good or bad. Thinking about one in 7mm rem for white tail deer. 500 yards and in. Thanks for any op
inions.

 

[ShooterMedic]

I own 2 tikka t3 lights and love them. My first tikka is a 300 WSM have shot deer at 513 yds and elk at 487 yds both were one shot kills. My second and most used is my 223 last year I got a coyote at 706 yds. They are very accurate and have the smoothest action on the market for the money. There is one draw back, they are clip feed. Therefore you can only load them as long as the clip will feed them or shot the gun single shot. So far the only time this was a problem was when I wanted to shot 80 g bergers out of my 223. They were just a touch to long. I have wanted to shot 210 g bergers out of my 300 WSM bit have been hesitant to buy them and found out they don't work.

I hope that helps good luck.

 

[Pdvdh]

I own two in T3 Lites in 7mm Rem Mag. For the money, they're hard to beat in any other factory rifle. Shot caribou out to 850 yards. Sheep out to 725 yards. 500 yards should be very doable. With quality bullets and fine tuned reloads, you'll probably be able to get 3/4" or smaller group sizes at 100 yards. Maybe 1/2" or slightly less if you luck into a better than average T3 Lite.

 

[TikkaShooters]

Tikkas are my absolute favorite of the shelf rifle. Their accuracy and quality are amazing. I have killed game to 721yds without any issues.

If you go with the mag, be sure and get a limbsaver recoil pad if you shoot a lot. A six pound gun and hot loads can be tough on you during long shooting sessions.

 

[TikkaShooters]

I forgot to mention that shootermedic brought up a good point. The stock magazines can limit vld coal. I either modify my mags if it is a short action or use cdi precision bottom metal to use aics mags. The new xlr industries system has a long action solution using aics mags as well.

 

[NWdan]

I'm another Tikka T3 fan and mine is a stainless/synthetic in .300 Win Mag. In an affordable factory rifle that would be my first choice. Great action, accurate and affordable. Some people don't like the plastic stock or clip, I happen to like them both. The rifle has a unique recoil lug that stays in the stock, but it seems to work well because as you are hearing, these are typically very accurate rifles. I used the factory rings to mount a Leupold 1" 4.5x14x40 and it is a great combination. I wouldn't have any reservations if you like the feel of them.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

I have six in 300 wsm, 300 winchester, 338 winchester and 338 SIN. They are excellent rifles for the money. The 300 winchester would give you more versatility than the 7mm.

 

[ruffneck]

I shoot a T3 Lite in 270 win and it is very accurate off the shelf ammo is 1moa and my handloads I can get consistent 3/4moa. I have not shot the distances of the guys above me but my personal range of 250-300 it is deadly.

 

[steelshooter]

I also have two T3s. One 300WSM and the other 7mm-08 and both shoot half MOA or better. My next custom build will be based on this action. I haven't seen a Tikka yet that didn't perform well and more and more after market gear is becoming available.

 

[Pdvdh]

The one thing that I wouldn't recommend using is the aluminum rings that came with my two Tikka T3 Lites. The steel pin that protrudes from the base of the Tikka aluminum rings, and engages the hole in the top of the receiver, will deform the aluminum rings under recoil with heavy bullets in the magnum/harder kicking cartridges. This allows the scope to shift slightly on the surface of the receiver. EGW sells a one-piece picatinny scope base in 0 and 20 moa for the Tikka's. That's what I've mounted on both of mine. 4 screws now hold a single base securely to the receiver. Much better.

My Tikka supplied aluminum rings were deforming on both of my rifles. Same with my neighbors and a co-workers. On top of that, my brother owns an operates a gun shop and he showed me a number of the Tikka supplied aluminum rings with the steel pin kicking out and deforming the ring under recoil. The ones I've seen deforming the rings were 7mm Rem Mag and 300 WSM. I'm sure the 300 Win Mag and 338 Win Mag will suffer the Tikka rings the same fate. Enough on that minor deficiency. Buy an EGW one-piece base and install some quality picatinny style rings, and you'll be ready to shoot one-hole groups at the range.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

Same with the 300 and 338 winchesters. The 338 SIN will dang near shear the pins off. A new recoil lug and scope mounts can make the little tikkas great rifles.

 

[Tikkamike]

I gotta chime in even though everyone already pretty much summed it up. They are great little rifles. I shot the barrel out of one in 25-06 it has been an amazing little rifle and have killed antelope out to 760 yards with it. I am building a 6.5x284 on that action and have no reserves about buying more tikka t3's Money well spent!

 

[4th_point]

My stainless T3 in 300 WSM was 1 MOA with factory ammo. I also had a blued T3 in 300 Win that was under 1 MOA with 200gr NAB handloads. I now have a T3 Super Lite from Cabela's (fluted barrel and camo stock). I haven't shot it yet but fully expect it to shoot just as well as the others.

The factory rings on the WSM migrated like previously mentioned. I put Warnes on after that. The Super Lite has a DNZ 1-pc mount on it.