Mesa FFT vs Tikka T3

[MattB]

I had a Mesa and a T3 and sent the CA down the road. Both shot fine but the cheap Tikka stock just felt better than the CA.

 

[ReddingArcher]

I guess I am in the opposite camp as the majority of the guys here. I have both the Tikka Veil Wideland and the Mesa FFT both in 6.5 prc. Both shoot well, but the Christensen shoots lights out. Both stocks fit me fine, the grip on the Mesa doesnt bother me but I have bigger than normal hands. I have 4 Tikkas and none of them have any QC issues and just work. The Mesa bummed me out with a little issue, in the brake there was a nick in the channel, they said send it back and they would fix it and ceracote the whole gun again but I didnt feel like waiting and figured I would just shoot it and see how it did. No issue at all. They all have a 308 diameter bore on the brake so it doesnt affect accuracy at all.

Really I dont think you can go wrong either way. For what I was after with this gun, I am keeping the Mesa and probably selling the Tikka.

 

[SouthPaw]

The Tikka is equally as accurate and sometimes better with 135gr Bergers and a full case of RL-26.

What speed do you get with the 135s over RL26? (Assume factory 24" barrel?)


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[MarcherLord]

I have 2 Mesa FFTs and a few Tikkas in aftermarket stocks. Off the shelf I’d go FFT. Accuracy has been equal and I believe the FFT is one of the better deals going.

 

[Motown]

What speed do you get with the 135s over RL26? (Assume factory 24" barrel?)


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Roughly around 2960 with the 24” barrel.

 

[Gone4Days]

I have a Mesa FFT in 6.5 prc…. 20” barrel and mine is 5.7 lbs. Love that short factory threaded barrel to run suppressed.

 

[sylvest]

How does Mesa FFT compare to Ridgeline FFT? Looking at either 308 or 7RM.

 

[TN2shot07]

I don’t think there’s much argument that tikkas just seem to work, I don’t care for their stocks or the plastic bottom metal. Both can easily be fixed but then you’re edging much closer in price.

I’ve shot two ffts in the last couple of months, a 6.5 creedmoor and 6.5 prc. Both shot lights out with the factory eldx ammo. It’s a sporter style stock which I prefer in a hunting rifle. I didn’t have an issue with the grip but I don’t have small hands either.

 

[JDMBEND]

Has anyone had, or know someone, that has had any failures with the plastic bottom on a Tikka?

 

[Icelk]

+1 on QC issues for them. Especially for the price. My son just bought the Christiansen and there are noticeable flaws. Uneven finish on action and a sling swivel hole drilled way off center. They partially filled it with some material and drilled another hole next to it. I told him to return it.

 

[Gila]

Has anyone had, or know someone, that has had any failures with the plastic bottom on a Tikka?

I hunted with the same rifle every season for 20 years….never had a problem with the rifle at all. The newer stock is filled with foam and has a softer recoil pad. The only issue if you can call it one, is that if a handloader wants to shoot LDF bullets then the bullets need to be seated shallow. With a long action cartridge like the 300 WM, the COAL is about 3.6” with heavy LDFs which exceeds the action length of 3.5”. If one only wants to shoot factory ammo then COAL is not.an issue at all. Tikkas just shoot and always shoot well. I have heard about issues with magazines from others but i have never had any problems with the mags I have. For a short action cartridge, I would give the nod to a Tikka myself.

I see that Tikka is selling after market cheek risers now for their stocks. I personally like the Triad stock packs myself. I have one rifle that uses low profile rings and I can still run a 50mm bell without the need for a cheek riser at all though.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Has anyone had, or know someone, that has had any failures with the plastic bottom on a Tikka?

It’s very very rare. But if you over-torque the action screws I’ve had the plastic deform or misalign enough to cause some accuracy issues that took me a while to chase. What happened was I used the Sako 85 metal torque spec for the action screws which is significantly higher than the Tikka plastic torque spec. This was back when I first started messing with Tikkas after using Sakos for decades.

Brought the tikka screws back to a touch over factory spec and rifles shot as expected. I didn’t get warm fuzzies with such a low torque spec holding my gun together, not that it would have likely caused any problems, I’m just weird.

After that I went ahead and swapped all my tikkas over to the High Desert Bottom Metal, which is a Tikka factory clone but in aluminum. Very good machining and factory like fit. Small shop out of New Mexico makes these, and they are the best Tikka bottom metal after trying them all at that time.