Make It 3 for 3 in the Whitetail Woods with SWFA Fixed 6.

[mxgsfmdpx]

First two ended up being a nice buck/doe double kill, with both deer coming into a 30 acre field at 225 yards. Shots were less than 10 seconds apart.

Got another one down this morning stalking the woods. 30 yard shot free hand, she ran 50 yards, leaned up against a tree. Went another 20 yards and died.

 

[TxxAgg]

Nice work

Are you liking the scope since you converted?

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Nice work

Are you liking the scope since you converted?

Zero complaints other than the large horizontal turret hits my shells on the way out, and sometimes they fall back in. I’ve learned to make sure to cycle the bolt more rapidly like with my Sako 85s to avoid the issue.

Made some comments on the scope in the Q and A thread from field tests before any hunting was done with it. Really impressed with low light conditions and forgiving eye relief. Turrets are a little “spongey” probably the grease or spring breaking in still, but function great.

Final big game test for this season will be a tough and rugged Coues hunt starting in 10 days, back home in Arizona.

 

[TxxAgg]

Nice. I have a couple of the fixed 6x. And I convinced my brother to buy one after we hunted Wyoming last month.

We made up some zero stops from cheap nylon washers. Cost less than $2.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

4th kill with the SFWA and Tikka combo tonight. Cousin ended up not being able to hunt and wanted a doe for his freezer. Minnesota allows party hunting and I was lucky to get onto a nice doe this evening.

50ish yards perfect broadside. Nothing left of the heart or broadside lung. Broke first two ribs as well. 129 grain SSTs from the Tikka .260 are just phenomenal. 4 bullets 4 dead heavy bodied whitetails.

Oh and the tikka is a beast. The action and safety were frozen. Barrel was probably zero degrees. Functioned perfectly.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

5th and 6th big game kills with the Tikka and SWFA fixed 6. We had to stretch it out this time compared to the other shots.

Coues deer hunt and these bucks were all staying way up at the tops of the mountains to get away from pressure. I ended up killing a nice little 3x3 at 480 yards on Saturday.

This morning my buddy used my rifle to kill a little spike buck at 530 yards. Packed it down the mountain for him since he’s injured this year. Tagged out and heading back home!

 

[260madman]

Hard to believe you can kill anything over 200 yards without cranking it up to 36X.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Hard to believe you can kill anything over 200 yards without cranking it up to 36X.

In all seriousness, on these little coues deer, another 70 yards or so and I’d be more comfortable with the 3-9.

600 yards on coues deer would be my max with the 6x after getting sight pictures on about 100 deer for practice. Elk and bigger bodied deer is no issue on 6x but little coues deer the 9 would have been helpful.

 

[Dioni A]

I shot a bear at 640 this year with my 3-9 swfa Tikka combo. I really appreciated the extra 3x. bear was brushed up and hard to make out. Fortunately it was middle of the day and very bright. I brag to everyone about this rifle scope combo. It's a joy to shoot and silly accurate.

 

[grfox92]

The only thing stopping me from getting this scope is I get charged by 1 grizzly per year on a 2 year average and not sure I want a 6x to be my my starting point if I need to use it. Maybe I'm over thinking it. How was your 30 yard shot for target acquisition?

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk

 

[dingle]

Zero complaints other than the large horizontal turret hits my shells on the way out, and sometimes they fall back in. I’ve learned to make sure to cycle the bolt more rapidly like with my Sako 85s to avoid the issue.

Made some comments on the scope in the Q and A thread from field tests before any hunting was done with it. Really impressed with low light conditions and forgiving eye relief. Turrets are a little “spongey” probably the grease or spring breaking in still, but function great.

Final big game test for this season will be a tough and rugged Coues hunt starting in 10 days, back home in Arizona.

Does anyone currently make smaller turrets for SWFAs? They look awfully chunky for hunting. I spoke with someone from SWFA on the phone a few weeks back and she said "someone used to" but doesn't any more.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

The only thing stopping me from getting this scope is I get charged by 1 grizzly per year on a 2 year average and not sure I want a 6x to be my my starting point if I need to use it. Maybe I'm over thinking it. How was your 30 yard shot for target acquisition?

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk

Very surprised how easy it is to get a sight picture under 50 yards. Parallax will need adjusting prior to entering the woods, then turned up for longer shots. With a bear charge tho, just bracket that big animal and shoot.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Does anyone currently make smaller turrets for SWFAs? They look awfully chunky for hunting. I spoke with someone from SWFA on the phone a few weeks back and she said "someone used to" but doesn't any more.

Not sure if Kenton Industries does. The top turret is fine I actually don’t mind it after dialing a bunch with it now. The side turret is pretty annoying in how far it sticks out but it’s easy to get used to.

@Formidilosus may know if an aftermarket company for turrets.

 

[Formidilosus]

@Formidilosus may know if an aftermarket company for turrets.

They do not exist as far as I know.

 

[BBob]

You can reduce the turrets size and or hack and cap the windage. Pictures aren't mine.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Quick 2023 update on the SWFA Fixed 6 on my Tikka .260...

Two successful big game seasons and it's time for this gun to take a quick break. It's currently torn down getting a set of UM rings put on, and will swap the stock out for the Rokstock once available, may throw a stockys on while I'm waiting since they are 30% off right now for Rokslide members. I'll also be inspecting the factory fluted stainless barrel for any issues (not likely) as it officially passed the 3,000 round count. I only inspect/clean every 1,000 rounds so we'll see how the gun is doing.

My Tikka 7 SAUM with SWFA 3-9 will be getting the call next Friday for a short 5 day Arizona Mule Deer hunt (used that rifle to kill a California Blacktail two months ago at 672 yards). Hopefully I'm successful down by the Mexico border as it will be a really cool season killing bucks in California (Blacktail), Minnesota (Whitetail), and Arizona (Mule Deer).

SWFA fixed 6 current big game kill count in two seasons mounted on my Tikka .260...

.Whitetail (Buck) 223 Yards
.Whitetail (Doe) 229 Yards
.Whitetail (Doe) 50ish Yards
.Whitetail (Doe) 30ish Yards
.Coues Deer(Buck) 538 Yards
.Couse Deer (Buck) 486 Yards
.Elk (Bull) 573 Yards
.Elk (Cow) 60ish Yards
.Antelope (Buck) 578 Yards
.Elk (Bull) 655 Yards
.Whitetail (Buck) 543 Yards
.Whitetail (Doe) 263 Yards
.Whitetail (Doe) 206 Yards
.Whitetail (Doe) 80ish Yards

The small game/predator count is too high to remember. 2 Javelina, 6 rattle snakes, and somewhere around 200ish coyotes and 300ish rabbits.

The gun has seen thousands of miles of dirt roads in the jeep, truck, ATV, and horseback. It's always in the back seat or passenger seat of whatever I'm driving along with the Tikka .223 I hand carry the rifle or strap it to my pack on hunts. It's only had one "serious" drop where I was stung by a bee on my coues hunt last year. I was stung on the hand that was carrying the gun and basically threw the rifle onto the ground/tree root and it landed on the windage turret. I went back to camp and the impact had not deviated. There was another instance where most probably wouldn't have checked zero but I went ahead and checked it. I was helping a buddy in Northern California kill some coyotes and I leaned my rifle onto a fence post to pee. It was wetter than I thought and the rifle tipped over onto the ground. The scope was still zeroed and impact had not deviated at all. In fact, since I zeroed the scope and gun originally, it has not needed adjusting once.

Only complaints are mushy turrets (you learn to get used to them and they get better with use) and how overall large the turrets are. I've had multiple instances of my case hitting the windage knob and bouncing back into the action. I've learned that being more forceful with cycling the bolt which helps remedy this. It's also, in general, just an ugly ass scope if that bothers you.

While definitely not the "ultimate testament" I would say this gun and scope have seen more field time and killed more critters than most rifles will in a few seasons or more. I would not hesitate to recommend the SWFA Fixed 6 to anybody looking for a hunting scope. Reliability so far is the best I've ever seen and I had some Meopta scopes take me a long way; but nothing quite like this. The reticle is SUPER easy to use once you learn MIL and memorize distances/wind holds. The "glass" hasn't left me "wanting more" from way before legal light to way after legal light. Sight picture acquisition and "eye box" are very forgiving (multiple small game animals killed as close at 10 yards and as far as 850 yards).

TLDR... Buy one and use the thing!

 

[PNWGATOR]

Voluntary simplicity with solid gear allows peace of mind!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[PNWGATOR]

Voluntary simplicity with solid gear allows peace of mind!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Voluntary simplicity with solid gear allows peace of mind!

Thanks for sharing.

Yeah I think simplicity is the best word to describe the gun. Simple, dependable, deadly. That should be the rokslide special slogan haha.