Tikka accuracy question

[realunlucky]

Is all this negative commentary really necessary?



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[PredatorSlayer]

You can’t blame @PredatorSlayer the poor guy has been defending Christenson arms with his life for years on here. When he sees his chance he takes it

My experience with them has been great . I need to start playing the lottery apparently. A lot of the guys claiming christensen sucks have never owned one. I have a BA Tactical that has been one of the most accurate rifles I have ever owned. My FFT has also been great. I think the Tikka action is solid - probably worth the $800 you pay for the rifle. But it is still a factory rifle and plenty of people have issues with their accuracy. To claim otherwise is silly. Look, I don’t give a shit, shoot what you want. I am at a point in my life and career that I could swap all my christensens and bergara premiers (i am more of a fanboy of the premiers than CA) out for full customs and maybe I will. I don’t own stock in either company. I think it is ok to share a different perspective on the forums even if it runs contrary to what the forum is pushing…I also just get a kick out of everybody thinking these tikka factory rifles are the equivalent of a nice set of boobies. They just aren’t…

 

[TxxAgg]

I’m a big Tikka fan. The only bolt actions I own are Tikkas. That being said, it seems every time someone has a Tikka accuracy issue it’s with a 7mm caliber variety. I know that’s biased blah blah.

 

[atmat]

But it is still a factory rifle and plenty of people have issues with their accuracy. To claim otherwise is silly. Look, I don’t give a shit, shoot what you want.

No one has said they aren’t a factory rifle or that there are never lemons.

Someone came on the forum asking for help. Plenty of us were trying to troubleshoot, but you just got on to mock the Tikka platform and not offer any actual assistance to OP’s particular issue.

 

[Mike D Texas]

I have 3 Tikkas, .223 Compact, .308 Roughtech 20” and 300WSM Roughtech.

They are all stock except I changed the bolt stop on the 308 & 300 WSM to long ones.

The .223 shoots stupid accurate.

The .308 shoots sub MOA 5 shot groups with no load development with 155 & 175 TMK and Sig Fury brass.

The 300WSM also shoots sub MOA 5 shot groups with 208LRHTs and I’ve made consistent hits on a 36” plate at a mile.

I have several custom rifles, but I’m at times wondering why. The Tikkas are by far one of the smoothest factory actions I have ever felt. I have multiple thousand $$ in my customs and the most expensive Tikkas are the Roughtechs at roughly $1100. The .223 compact I paid $650 for.

 

[BKIdaho]

I have a new Roughtech in 7PRC, 100% original except trigger adjustment to lightest setting. 20 rd’s Hornady 175 Eldx was constant 1.5moa groups. 16 rounds of Hornady 180 eldm’s showed half the groups .5-.6 and half approx 1.25. Federal 175 Eldx for 36 rd’s from 100-550 all sub moa.

Expecting sub moa 10 shot groups with minimal attempts to find a load it likes seems illogical. And yes it’s a $1000, not a $5000 gun. I’ve had similar guns that shoot very well(Tikka, Sako, Browning) and none of them loved everything and most took some work finding what it liked. Hornady ammo in particular is suspect right now. Saw a post where a guy pulled bullets from a box and found 3 different types of powder.

Just curious about why your benchmark is a 10 shot 100 yd grp? Luckily I’ve never shot more than 3 rds at an animal.

Im real happy with mine. It only cost $845.

 

[Harvey_NW]

Just curious about why your benchmark is a 10 shot 100 yd grp? Luckily I’ve never shot more than 3 rds at an animal.

Because rifles have a "cone of fire", which is the amount of dispersion produced with that load combination. 3 shots is statistically insignificant, as there's 70% variability built into that sample size. Long story short, the average hunter doesn't shoot big enough samples to extrapolate conclusions from. If you want validity, it takes more. 10 from a shooter with solid fundamentals drives the variability down low enough that you can decipher whether or not it would be acceptable or not for hit rate probability.

 

[SDHNTR]

@BKIdaho, Because 3 shots tells you absolutely nothing. Your gun is not a .5 moa or 1 moa or 1.5 moa whatever, if you are only shooting 3 shots. Thats just chance.

But the first part of your post is very valid. It’s a factory gun. You can’t expect it to shoot all ammo well. It may shoot some downright poorly. It will often take lots of experimentation with factory ammo out of a factory gun to find a combo that works. And then once the lot changes, start all over again. What fun! I honestly don’t know how anyone shoots factory ammo out of a factory gun and expects to find supreme accuracy.

 

[JGRaider]

My experience with them has been great . I need to start playing the lottery apparently. A lot of the guys claiming christensen sucks have never owned one. I have a BA Tactical that has been one of the most accurate rifles I have ever owned. My FFT has also been great. I think the Tikka action is solid - probably worth the $800 you pay for the rifle. But it is still a factory rifle and plenty of people have issues with their accuracy. To claim otherwise is silly. Look, I don’t give a shit, shoot what you want. I am at a point in my life and career that I could swap all my christensens and bergara premiers (i am more of a fanboy of the premiers than CA) out for full customs and maybe I will. I don’t own stock in either company. I think it is ok to share a different perspective on the forums even if it runs contrary to what the forum is pushing…I also just get a kick out of everybody thinking these tikka factory rifles are the equivalent of a nice set of boobies. They just aren’t…

If your goal is to invest your $$$ into a severely depreciating asset, custom rifles are a great way to go.

 

[JJMarsh]

Hey guys. Backstory - I have several custom rifles that shoot lights out. However, I drank the Tikka Kool-aid and purchased a new threaded 7PRC Tikka T3X last month as a fun project rifle. I mounted an NX8 on a Mountain tactical pic rail and Hawkins rings. Everything was degreased and mounted perfectly (optics are 100% out of the accuracy equation). I'm getting 1.75" 10 shot groups (see 2 images). I know it's not me, because I was shooting my other rifles the same day (see 2 images with 10 shot groups). I have mountain tactical bottom metal, a 1.5# Timney trigger, the UM recoil lug and Mountain tactical action screws (torqued to 45 inch pounds). Torquing to 65# didn't help. I also mounted a pic rail for a bipod. I have come up with 3 possible conclusions.
1 - I need a better stock. The barrel is free floated, but flexes so easily into the barrel with any sort of pressure. I'm wondering if the bipod is inducing inconsistent torque.
2 - This is what a Tikka does and I can't compare it to my custom rifles
3 - The pencil thin contour barrel heats up too much and 10 shot group accuracy is a pipe dream (I set a timer for 3 minutes between shots)

Any suggestions are welcomed. Thanks so much

It's important to manage expectations with factory rifles - a Tikka consistently shooting 1.5 MOA with hunting ammunition is actually quite normal performance. Your custom rifles benefit from precision features like heavier barrel contours that reduce vibration and properly bedded actions that eliminate microscopic movement, advantages you typically don't get with production guns. The 7PRC's substantial recoil tends to magnify these inherent limitations of factory setups. While upgrading to an aftermarket chassis like the MDT XRS or a carbon fiber stock from AG Composites could help, you'd be investing nearly half the rifle's original cost for what might be modest accuracy improvements.

 

[cuerro viejo]

My experience with them has been great . I need to start playing the lottery apparently. A lot of the guys claiming christensen sucks have never owned one. I have a BA Tactical that has been one of the most accurate rifles I have ever owned. My FFT has also been great. I think the Tikka action is solid - probably worth the $800 you pay for the rifle. But it is still a factory rifle and plenty of people have issues with their accuracy. To claim otherwise is silly. Look, I don’t give a shit, shoot what you want. I am at a point in my life and career that I could swap all my christensens and bergara premiers (i am more of a fanboy of the premiers than CA) out for full customs and maybe I will. I don’t own stock in either company. I think it is ok to share a different perspective on the forums even if it runs contrary to what the forum is pushing…I also just get a kick out of everybody thinking these tikka factory rifles are the equivalent of a nice set of boobies. They just aren’t…

I don’t love tikka factory stocks but wither it’s Kelbly or Bat or Tikka etc , aftermarket stocks prices are the same. With that said. You lose 20% on $800 your are out 160, you lose 20% on 1500 you are out $300, you loose 10% on 2000k you are still out $200…. I don’t think the depreciation on Tikka % wise will ever be high enough to get it devalued enough to where you will take a larger monetary loss than a full custom 700 clone. Tikka t3’s stainless’s don’t last long for sale under $640.

Used triggers don’t have a huge market but obviously there is a % gain for tikka, as it comes with trigger