Tikka accurizing for Tikka newbie

[HighUintas]

There are so many flavors of koolaid to drink! I like Form's koolaid, as he has called out the dude from ballistic studies at least a couple of times, and what Form has said made sense. Personally, I have not been comfortable with the idea of cranking my action screws to 60+, but my two tikkas do well at 50, and they both improved by completely floating the barrel.

I'm intrigued! Who is Form and can you point out what threads he's called out the ballistic studies site? I'm interested to hear what he has to say. More than anything, I'm a huge skeptic of everything no matter who says it and I tend to have to learn things on my own experience. So while I DO believe what Natahn Foster is putting out there is correct and helps (because it's definitely worked for me), I'd like to know what the detractors would have to say.

 

[slowelk]

I'm intrigued! Who is Form and can you point out what threads he's called out the ballistic studies site? I'm interested to hear what he has to say. More than anything, I'm a huge skeptic of everything no matter who says it and I tend to have to learn things on my own experience. So while I DO believe what Natahn Foster is putting out there is correct and helps (because it's definitely worked for me), I'd like to know what the detractors would have to say.

@Formidilosus

I am not going to dig through his posts to find, but he's a wealth of knowledge on tikkas and shooting.

 

[HighUintas]

@Formidilosus

I am not going to dig through his posts to find, but he's a wealth of knowledge on tikkas and shooting.

I dug through. I think I like his koolaid too. I would love to know where he works. And I'm glad to see someone with that much experience in abusing/testing the limits of many different rifles sings the praises of Tikkas for their relability. I won't be dumping sand into my action or trigger anytime soon, but it's good to know it will function if I get the itch.

 

[16Bore]

Clean it, make sure the lug is seated, torque proper, good mounts and scope. Rock on. Some guys monkey with triggers but I’ve never given a shit.

Easy.

 

[HighUintas]

Hey Bjorn, I tried the federal bluebox yesterday. It might be worth trying. I had a couple of good groups with it, but my shooting overall was pretty terrible yesterday. One thing that seems to be common with the tikkas is that it seems the majority that say their rifle shoots ragged holes all day and actually post pictures of all the rounds fired are the ones shooting the lighter recoiling rounds. I've not seen anyone's target that is a Tikka 22"+ lite barrel in 7mm or larger caliber that shows all the rounds and all the groups being 0.75" or better. If they exist, especially in a .30-06, I'd like to see them. Mine is tough as hell to shoot 0.75 or better with consistency. I think it's just part of these guns being so lightweight. Also, maybe I'm not a great shot. It's hard to say. I've got no one to shoot with, so having someone verify the accuracy of my rifle other than myself isn't possible .

 

[16Bore]

Here you go...

 

[HighUintas]

Here you go...

View attachment 183399

That's only a 5 and 4 round group, isn't it? What about 20-30 rounds?

Have any tips for me?

 

[16Bore]

Worry less, shoot more.

 

[HighUintas]

Worry less, shoot more.

That's not helpful. I do shoot 20-45 rounds a week.

And your picture somewhat proves what I was saying. There is a definite lack of evidence in all these threads for people saying their factory Tikka shoots sub moa all day, especially for 7mm or 30 Cals. No one posts pictures of their whole target showing 20-30 rounds where all groups are sub moa, much less 1/2".

I've seen your same picture on multiple threads. Surely you have other target proof that your Tikka 30-06 shoots that way consistently through many rounds.

 

[Rob5589]

If you can't believe someone's word, an online picture isn't going to be any more convincing.

 

[fightthenoise]

Surely you have other target proof that your Tikka 30-06 shoots that way consistently through many rounds

He probably does, but the burden of proof is not high with these guns, and he probably gives very few sh!ts whether you believe him or not. Why do people have so much trouble with the fact that other guys own accurate guns, especially Tikkas? If you don't believe him, or me, or anyone else in this thread, no one will lose any sleep. Honestly I'd find it far more remarkable if a Tikka DIDN'T shoot well instead of wandering the forums demanding proof from guys that say their Tikka's stack holes.

 

[HighUintas]

If you can't believe someone's word, an online picture isn't going to be any more convincing.

He probably does, but the burden of proof is not high with these guns, and he probably gives very few sh!ts whether you believe him or not. Why do people have so much trouble with the fact that other guys own accurate guns, especially Tikkas? If you don't believe him, or me, or anyone else in this thread, no one will lose any sleep. Honestly I'd find it far more remarkable if a Tikka DIDN'T shoot well instead of wandering the forums demanding proof from guys that say their Tikka's stack holes.

Getting in the weeds a bit here. I'm not saying they don't. Back to my point to the OP, a LOT of people struggle to get the larger cal Tikkas to shoot consistently well. I'm not saying it's the gun or the shooter, but it's hard to do for many people, even if they are a good shooter. There's too much "if I do my part" etc. When they do post a picture, it's of a group or two. That's all. I'll remove myself from this to prevent further digression from the OP's thread.

 

[Formidilosus]

There is a definite lack of evidence in all these threads for people saying their factory Tikka shoots sub moa all day, especially for 7mm or 30 Cals. No one posts pictures of their whole target showing 20-30 rounds where all groups are sub moa, much less 1/2".

No one posts pictures of 20-30 rounds with all groups sub MOA, because they can’t. Despite the BS that most write, a sub MOA “all day” long rifle is a dedicated bench rest gun- not a 7lb hunting rifle burning 40+ grains of powder.

One of my competition rifles will consistently shoot 3 round “groups” into the .2’s and .3’s at 100 yards. Problem is, it won’t consistenly hit a .3” target atvthat range. It will on demand hit a .9-1.0 MOA target however. Coincidentally it’s 10 round groups are between .9-1.1 MOA.... hmmmm

Maybe it’s actually 1 MOA riffle and not a sub half MOA rifle. People are obsessed with group size and every gun writer claims sub MOA for every POS rifle that he uses, to the point where most are convinced that almost all rifles are better than 1 MOA. It’s a farce.


If a rifle will not ON DEMAND hit an “x” size target over and over, it is not an “x” MOA gun.

 

[Formidilosus]

Back to my point to the OP, a LOT of people struggle to get the larger cal tikkas to shoot well.

Of course they do- recoil matters. A 7mm-08, 308, 30/06 pushed fast in a sub 7lb rifle is not a light recoiler. Very few people have the mechanics to shoot them consistently. Combined with the notion that 3 random data points is relevant, it’s why they shoot a good 3 shot “group” and then the next is horrible.

In a bunch of T3’s, most (as in 8 out of 10) the 6mm+ ones will go somewhere between 1.2-1.5 MOA for ten rounds consistently. The problem is that they are not fun, and they jump a lot therefore people don’t shoot them very much.

 

[16Bore]

Like I said: worry less, shoot more. That target is 7 years old.

For the sake of fun I dug out an old hard drive.




And an oldie from 2011. 150 Corlokts at 200 yards






It proves I need to clean off some old shit for sure.

But yup, there it is. A goober shot. OMG my feelings are hurt. Can’t remember if I cried or if I called customer service to complain.

Worry less, shoot more.

 

[16Bore]

The best thing guys could do is glue Necco wafers to cardboard and be thrilled if they can break them with one shot each at 100 yards.

The rest is bullshit.

 

[HighUintas]

The best thing guys could do is glue Necco wafers to cardboard and be thrilled if they can break them with one shot each at 100 yards.

The rest is bullshit.

That's my goal. Being able to hit a 1" circle at 100 on demand. Hard to do. Nice targets! I'll have to keep practicing

 

[fightthenoise]

Necco wafers

these are no longer made you monster

 

[16Bore]

these are no longer made you monster

Located at a Cracker Barrel near you!

 

[Woodrow F Call]

That's not helpful. I do shoot 20-45 rounds a week.

And your picture somewhat proves what I was saying. There is a definite lack of evidence in all these threads for people saying their factory Tikka shoots sub moa all day, especially for 7mm or 30 Cals. No one posts pictures of their whole target showing 20-30 rounds where all groups are sub moa, much less 1/2".

I've seen your same picture on multiple threads. Surely you have other target proof that your Tikka 30-06 shoots that way consistently through many rounds.

These are my cherry picked targets. I have some more that I need to photo. And my fliers are just me. I really found I needed to work on my shooting and concentration when shooting. I need too shoot more. I probably will when I can get home for a bit.