Thread: New Shooter

The build

Well after a lot of chat around the camp fire so to speak and reading of articles on Supa Bush Pigs it was decided that some changes in the gun cabinet were due. Currently all in Tikka .223, 708 and 7RM. I was looking into changing my 18 inch 708 into a 284 but with all the uncertainty of you should get this it might do that I went off the idea as my 708 is a shooter and didn’t want to fark with it, At that stage I went off the idea, Then Craig got all buildy on me and had an action and barrel on its way for a make over. Now not to be one to miss out on what the Joneses are doing I had another think about it. I couldn’t justify starting from scratch so a plan was hatched. Sell or trade my 7RM for a 708 22 inch barrel, get that bugga reamed out to 284, swap scope, suppressor, set trigger and laminated scope to the new gun and all done. Sell all my 7RM gear and get what I needed for the 284.

In talking to a couple of people about what i was doing and with what bits and bobs a decision was to be made. While plenty of smiths were happy to ream out Tikka barrels some were not and with the ones that do they sometimes have some that just end up as paper weights and you have to start again. Now the percentage is a lot higher towards the it should work V not work so I decided to bite the bullet. I took the Tikka barrel off and sold it for $250 (cheap maybe but in the end it was better that a paper weight) instead putting on a True flite match barrel in 24’ so getting longer than the 708 22’.

After selling all the gear I didn’t need, buying the new gear, barrel, gunsmith work etc I have been able to complete the whole build with new barrel for $100. Now this will keep her in doors happy.

So here it is


Tikka T3 action (708), True Flite Match Barrel 24’, Dan Hardy Mag Can gen 4, Swaro Z5 3.5-18x44, Boyd Laminated stock shooting 168g Berger classic hunter with 53G of AR2209 going 2755FPS. Was looking to try some new powder (IMR 7977) but still not got it sorted, in the mean time I am happy with this. The group is a 6 shot group, The high one on a cold clean barrel and the cluster the next 5 shots with no rest between shots.


And first bloods, Massive pig at 280m and Goat at 100m, only need a redskin to complete the trifecta


Hamish