A lot of love for Tikka around here.

[Rob5589]

View attachment 514168

Some of them shoot okay.





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My older T3 shoots very well. The new one not well, with the same load, which is a straight Barnes book load. I finally have all I need to load up the 150 eldx so fingers crossed.

 

[Pharmseller]

My older T3 shoots very well. The new one not well, with the same load, which is a straight Barnes book load. I finally have all I need to load up the 150 eldx so fingers crossed.

You using Big Game with a magnum primer?

 

[Pharmseller]

The bolt doesn’t even travel any further than a true short action because they use different bolt stops..

If Tikka made a short action, it'd offer consumers the following benefits:

1. Shave maybe 4-5 ounces of weight.
2. The overall rifle length would be something like 0.6" shorter.

That stuff is inconsequential to me and I like the flexibility to have a single footprint for aftermarket stocks/chassis, bottom metal, bolts that feed at short and long action lengths with the swap of a bolt stop and magazine, simple to extend the COAL possibilities of short action cartridges, etc.

I agree with your point, but I doubt the difference in length would equate to 4 or five ounces.

Thereby making the difference even less consequential.

 

[KenLee]

I’ve heard this criticism before. I don’t understand it. What’s the difference in overall length between a SA and a LA? Half an inch, maybe? So a half-inch longer bolt travel makes enough difference that you’ll avoid trying one?

Help me understand.

I like short and light rifles to hunt climbers, box stands and walking through thick patches of woods and new growth in recent cutovers. I build small boxes so I can shoot all directions without moving my chair, only having to turn it. When slipping, vines and sawbriars are like magnets to my gun barrels.
Usually lighter rifles cost extra.
Usually shorter barreled factory rifles cost more, or I have barrels cut and crowned. That said, I don't use extremely short barrels, as I do shoot game at times out to 400 yards.
In the brands I've measured, short actions are 0.6 to a full inch shorter than the same brand of long actions.
I prefer to buy as short and light as I can for the same comparable price and caliber.
The difference in receiver length and weight is noticeable to me, but maybe I'm the exception. I'm normally out hunting something with my rifles at least 100 times a year so I handle them quite a bit.

I've also found that Its easier to mount many scopes on short action receivers.

 

[Rob5589]

You using Big Game with a magnum primer?

I am, based on your recommendation. I picked up long action mags as well as trimmed the bolt stop.

 

[Pharmseller]

I like short and light rifles to hunt climbers, box stands and walking through thick patches of woods and new growth in recent cutovers. I build small boxes so I can shoot all directions without moving my chair, only having to turn it. When slipping, vines and sawbriars are like magnets to my gun barrels.
Usually lighter rifles cost extra.
Usually shorter barreled factory rifles cost more, or I have barrels cut and crowned. That said, I don't use extremely short barrels, as I do shoot game at times out to 400 yards.
In the brands I've measured, short actions are 0.6 to a full inch shorter than the same brand of long actions.
I prefer to buy as short and light as I can for the same comparable price and caliber.
The difference in receiver length and weight is noticeable to me, but maybe I'm the exception. I'm normally out hunting something with my rifles at least 100 times a year so I handle them quite a bit.

I've also found that Its easier to mount many scopes on short action receivers.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Pharmseller]

I am, based on your recommendation. I picked up long action mags as well as trimmed the bolt stop.

Let me check my notes for OAL.

 

[kingfisher]

To the OP. If the windage turret it too big, sometimes this can cause interference with ejecting a round. Is this the problem? Simply trying to provide solutions, so you don't feel like were banging on you issue too hard without advice.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Lot of love for Tikka in the UK too - they seem to be well thought out, reliable rifles at a good price point!

 

[ShortMountain91]

Well got my first Tikka, a roughtech in 6.5 PRC, and finally got out to the range. Bought some Norma target ammo (cheapest I could find) to try it out and get some brass. I am now a believer. First 2 groups were just under an inch then shot 3 at 352 yards and was at 2.67". Thought I got lucky so shot 3 more and they were 2.61". Then tried some bondstrikes and the first 3 were less than 0.25". I do think I got lucky on those as the next 3 were just over an inch. Have since raised the comb, got some lower scope rings, and should get my vertical grip tomorrow. Going to see what I can get with the rifle fitting me better but overall very pleased with my first Tikka purchase

 

[wyosam]

They are great if you like rifles that don’t feed.
Jam-ikkas all the way.

Interesting. Never an issue here either. Even the Tikka based Dasher I built has no issues feeding, and the dasher is notoriously tough to feed. Mine are mostly chambered in cartridges with steep shoulders and little taper, and reliable feeding without fiddling is one of the reasons I build them.


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[Icelk]

Love my tikkas. I own several, from the t3/t3x to the ctr and varmint. All are shooters. I always recommend them to folks looking for a hunting rifle. I have had custom guns built for thousands that don’t shoot any better.

 

[LoggerDan]

I’d be hard pressed to buy anything but a a Winchester or a Ruger.
And I don’t buy rifles to change out parts. I leave the triggers, safeties and stocks factory. I just prefer American companies.

 

[Rob5589]

I’d be hard pressed to buy anything but a a Winchester or a Ruger.
And I don’t buy rifles to change out parts. I leave the triggers, safeties and stocks factory. I just prefer American companies.

Ruger sure but, Winchester has been building rifles over seas for quite a while.

 

[Antares]

And I don’t buy rifles to change out parts. I leave the triggers, safeties and stocks factory.

No one is replacing Tikka triggers or safeties and a lot of guys run the factory stock.

 

[crgchck]

I’ve only owned one many years ago.. was hard to find aftermarket parts for reasonable prices back then so I ditched it and stuck with the old remy’s… it was a nice little rifle and great value. Accuracy was there..
the aftermarket parts problem is no longer a problem and they’ve gained a lot of popularity in the southeast in the last couple years.

 

[Marbles]

I jammed my tikka Sunday. My fingers habitually reached up to grab the ejecting case, thus deflecting the it back into the action while I was doing forms hunting drill. Complete operator error, and could have happened with any rifle. But it is possible to jam one - if you cycle the gun like a moron.

In somewhere between 1500-2000 rounds through me 223 Tikka I had two jams. One was me being dumb and short stroking the bolt. The other was cheap factory ammo (American Eagle) doing speed drills up close 2 weeks ago. It acted like the round was loaded too long and dragging the nose on the front of the magazine, bolt caught the case, and the round nose dived into the magazine.

I'm pretty certain the round was not long. However, a 0.05ish percent failure rate (that is not due to clear user error, the short stroke does not count) is almost acceptable and beats the snot out of my Kimber Montana's 5ish percent failure rate. Intentionally loading rounds a few thousands too long, the magazine has a slight lip that snags the nose, I filed it off and rounds that are two long, but can be fangled in now fit. For the record, I do not load that long, I had a few rounds that ended up long due to the powder charge and decided to use it as an opportunity to improve reliability.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

In somewhere between 1500-2000 rounds through me 223 Tikka I had two jams. One was me being dumb and short stroking the bolt. The other was cheap factory ammo (American Eagle) doing speed drills up close 2 weeks ago. It acted like the round was loaded too long and dragging the nose on the front of the magazine, bolt caught the case, and the round nose dived into the magazine.

I'm pretty certain the round was not long. However, a 0.05ish percent failure rate (that is not due to clear user error, the short stroke does not count) is almost acceptable and beats the snot out of my Kimber Montana's 5ish percent failure rate. Intentionally loading rounds a few thousands too long, the magazine has a slight lip that snags the nose, I filed it off and rounds that are two long, but can be fangled in now fit. For the record, I do not load that long, I had a few rounds that ended up long due to the powder charge and decided to use it as an opportunity to improve reliability.

I load my 30-06 rounds to max book length (or whatever you want to call it), I think it’s like 3.34 and I’ve never had even the slightest hang up in that rifle. In fact I was shooting it today with a nosler partition loaded to the book max and getting ~2650 out of my 18” suppressed tikka. I love that gun.

 

[sveltri]

My 243 AI has fed every round from the M+ magazine flawlessly.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

My 243 AI has fed every round from the M+ magazine flawlessly.

My 6.5 creedmoor hasn’t choked even once using the m+ mag and I’ve put more different types of bullets through that rifle than any other rifle I own.

My only tikka jamming issues have been with my t1x and the feeding/jamming is a mixture of being dirty as all hell from shooting suppressed and not cleaning the gun as well as using soft lead hollow points.