Thread: Tikka?

I always said I'd never buy a T3 Tikka. Then I saw the Hunter Wood/Stainless Fluted model in cack-handed configuration and that was soon to change. I bought one in 308 a month or so ago, slapped Zeiss 3-9 on it, grabbed a box of 150gn Hornady ammo, sighted it in and went hunting. Very happy with the finish of the rifle, its light and well balanced, bolt is smooth as and like most Tikkas it does shoot well. 100% kill/shot rate so far, 11 kills from 11 shots. A couple of pigs the rest deer, ranges from 5m out to 285m. Can't really fault it.

CAC NZFS 270 ammo used a locally produced copy of a Speer 130 projectile according to Lynn Harris

Thanks scribe and spud attack for the good info on this thread.

Thinking about whether tikka is good or not - they are a benchmark; their features & quality are well understood. Some rifles are better in certain ways, many are worse. Each hunter needs to make their own assessment but here is an approach:

Most important
stock fit
trigger
barrel
tikka scores pretty high on these.

Major considerations
Length and weight
price
ruggedness and reliability
Fairly good on these too except for a couple of plastic parts. Price can be an absolute limitation but remember one good gun is better than two or 3 average so if on a fixed budget do it once and do it right.

Nice to have
Stable bedding
nice action function, top loading
metal dropout box magazine
scope mount options
Appearance and status
tikka is limited in these areas. In particular a 5 shot dbm must be challenging because it is the main difference from the sake 85 which costs twice as much. The scope mounting is good if you use optilocks.

I hope this gives people a framework for comparing rifles.

Ps it is possible to lose a tikka mag - found one in .270 on a track out of the kaimais last month !

Tikka CTR will change most considerations. Uses TRG magazines in a tikka...

imo tikkas are one of them guns you ether love or hate.... its all personal opinion..... I personally love them but I know others that wouldn't touch them
id go tikka over a rem 700 any day unless the Remington was accurized/customized a factory tikka will shit over a factory rem700 accuracy wise but if your not soo worried about accuracy and more a very hard as nails "tool" for bush bashing hard to go past a m700 or a ruger m77

that's a view coming from a guy who spends more time on the range than hunting.... and when I am hunting i am stuck in the open as wheel chair don't go too good in the bush so I am more worried about accuracy than hard as nails ruggedness

I love the after market bits for the Tikkas there are Ffffffff all and look up the remingtons hundreds of bits the tikka will and dose out shoot many of the compertition they are a great rifle to shoot those that slag them off have never owned one

25-06 and 270 really shouldn't be compared as they are similar but very different in a few ways. I shot a 25-06 for a few years and loved it,light as hell recoil and excellent killing abilities within its limitations. Never owned a 270 and don't have a need for one so can't pass comment. Ryan Songhurst would be one to ask about the 270.

For rifles, pick one up and see which feels the best, ps which one is used by over 70% of LE and army sniper rifles world wide? The Rem 700... gives you a fair indication of how good it is aye!

The Rem 700 army snipers use are far from off the shelf , worked , trued, re-barrelled, different stock , bedded, trigger worked or replaced.... you could argue that any rifle that needs that much work to shoot straight is a piece of shit...I think the bolt handle maybe stock but I could be wrong on that

I was just stating a fact, but yes they aren't a standard 700 by any stretch of the imagination either