Since there are so many Tikka fans on here and always folks asking about Tikka builds I figured it was time to share my most recent Tikka project. I've been missing a heavy hitting .30 Caliber in my hunting rifle arsenal since I sold my 300RUM and 308 a few years back. My primary go to hunting rifle has been a semi custom Tikka 270WSM and it's helped me take a pile of elk, deer, antelope and even a moose over the years. I never had an issue putting game on the ground with the 270WSM but always felt a little under gunned in the back of my mind. Knowing I wanted to build off a Tikka action because of their simplicity and availability of aftermarket components and I own 5 other Tikkas so I'm pretty comfortable working on them. I decided to go with a 300 Win Mag in the Tikka. Below is a list of components, weights and costs for folks that are interested in doing something similar or have any questions.
RIFLE & COMPONENTS:
Rifle: Tikka T3X Superlite SS 300wm from sportsman
Price: $750.00
Weight: 6.00lbs/96oz
Mesa Precision Altitude Stock: RH, Factory Sporter contour fit, Mojave Camo
Price: $582.00
Weight: 24oz
Mountain Tactical Muzzle Brake and threading:
Price: $200.00
Weight:
Lumley Ti recoil lug
Price: $27.50
Weight: 0.5oz
*Lumley Ti/carbon fiber bolt knob/handle (ended up not using, see why below)
Price: $59.00
Weight: 28 grams
Bolt fluting from LRI Pattern A- High Helix
Price: $40.00 plus shipping
Weight reduction: start weight 6.7oz, finish weight 6.2oz
Mountain Tactical Bottom Metal Tikka T3/T3X Gen2 Performance Series OEM Bottom Metal
Price: $129.99
Weight: 2.2oz
Mountain Tactical Tikka T3/T3X Performance Series Bolt Shroud
Price: $59.99
Weight: 0.7oz
Mountain Tactical Tikka T3/T3X SS Long Action Bolt Stop
Price: $29.99
Mountain Tactical Tikka 12oz-24oz Trigger Spring
Price: $7.99
Mountain Tactical small “Outdoorsman” Bolt knob
Price: $39.00
High Velocity Hunting Australia Titanium Action Screws
Price: $40.00 plus $24.00 for shipping
Weight: 19 grams for both
OPTICS & RINGS:
Leupold VX-5HD 30MM Tube 3-15x44mm CDS-ZL2 w/Firedot duplex Reticle
Price: $999.00
Weight: 19.9oz
Leupold Alumina Flip Up Objective & eyepiece covers
Price: $120.00
DNZ 215 Tactical Tikka T3 21.5MOA Medium Height One piece scope mount
Price: $130.00 on sale
Weight: 4oz
THE BUILD
The purpose of this build was to put together a lightweight semi custom hunting rifle capable of taking deer,elk and other large North American game at various ranges between 50 yards-800 yards that was rugged enough to get banged around on the side of a horse and get thrown over a shoulder and carried through Montana and Alaska's unforgiving mountains while maintaining sub MOA accuracy; Yet keeping it budget conscious. Now having built a few different Tikkas over the years I knew the components I wanted to used but also wanted to try a few new things to cut weight.
I was really on the fence about a Wildcat composite stock or the Mesa. Ultimately the Mesa won out because I liked the stock design and it seemed to offer a more forgiving platform for those longer shots even if it did weight a few more Oz's. Upon receiving the Mesa Precision stock the action fit nice and tight and probably didn't need bedding if you wanted to run the recoil lug that comes with the stock. However I was trying to cut weight anywhere I could within reason so chose to run the Lumley Ti recoil lug which was a bit shorter than the steel lug in the stock so some bedding was in order. I bedded the Ti recoil lug into the Mesa stock, and around the rear and front mounting areas of the action screws to ensure a perfect fit. The next issue I ran into was the Mesa stock is just a bit taller than the factory Tikka stock so the High Velocity Hunting Ti action screws were just a touch too short to gain more than 1 thread into the action. To remedy this I simply recessed the already counter sunk bottom metal a bit more to gain more threads into the action. Do this very carefully and don't remove too much material. Again this could have been avoided by just using the action screws that Mesa sends with the stock but I spent a ridiculous amount of money on Ti action screws out of Australia so your damn right I was going to find a way to use them
After everything was bedded and cleaned up I reassembled the rifle and decided to bed the scope mount as well. Normally I run Mountain Tactical's 20MOA rails and Nightforce Ultralight rings but I wanted to try a one piece mount with 20MOA built in while keeping it light so I decided to give the DNZ's a try. Jason at Mountain Tactical is working on a scope mount for Tikkas so I will probably switch over to one of those when they are ready.
I referenced these videos for Bedding the action and bedding the scope mount.
www.bing.com
The reason I ended up not using the Lumley Ti bolt handle and Carbon fiber knob is simple, the Ti bolt stem did not fit into my bolt. It would bind up after about going 1/16 of an inch into my bolt (this was before cerakote). Now I probably could have sanded it down and made it work but Mountain Tacticals bolt stem weighs 0.2 OZ more than the Lumley bolt stem but it fit like a glove as does all of Jason's products at Mountain Tactical. The other thing I didn't like about the Lumley bolt knob and handle was the carbon fiber handle was obviously hand laid which is no big deal but it didn't match up with the bolt stem, leaving gaps and voids between handle and knob which I thought looked poor. I went with Mountain Tactical's small outdoorsman style knob giving a much slimmer profile than the Lumley set up and weighing the same as the carbon fiber handle. Anybody that has pulled a rifle in and out of a scabbard a half dozen times knows an oversized bolt knob becomes cumbersome and hangs up on things so overall I'm happy that I only gave up 0.2oz of weight but have a nice fitting low profile knob/handle.
I had Jason at Mountain Tactical do the brake on this rifle and he used a new design that he will be offering very soon along with a few other muzzle brake designs. I couldn't be more pumped on how it turned out and am excited to see how tames the recoil of the 300WM. You'll see in the photos it has ports on the top half of the brake and then ports out of the muzzle end of the brake which should do a fantastic job of mitigating muzzle rise and ground debris if shooting prone.
Jared at Montana Precision Coatings did the Cerakote and he did an outstanding job of matching the colors of the stock. His turn around was fast and he was great to work with, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend anybody to him for Cerakote, hydrodipping or airbrush work.
I just mounted the scope and bore sited it this morning and haven't had a chance to hit the range just yet but will keep you posted on how she shoots. Yes, yes I know it's late in the year to be developing a new rifle to hunt with this year but in all honesty I didn't even plan on having this done for this season so there is a good chance the 270WSM is the rifle I hunt with this year unless I can squeeze in a bunch of range time in the next month.
RIFLE & COMPONENTS:
Rifle: Tikka T3X Superlite SS 300wm from sportsman
Price: $750.00
Weight: 6.00lbs/96oz
Mesa Precision Altitude Stock: RH, Factory Sporter contour fit, Mojave Camo
Price: $582.00
Weight: 24oz
Mountain Tactical Muzzle Brake and threading:
Price: $200.00
Weight:
Lumley Ti recoil lug
Price: $27.50
Weight: 0.5oz
*Lumley Ti/carbon fiber bolt knob/handle (ended up not using, see why below)
Price: $59.00
Weight: 28 grams
Bolt fluting from LRI Pattern A- High Helix
Price: $40.00 plus shipping
Weight reduction: start weight 6.7oz, finish weight 6.2oz
Mountain Tactical Bottom Metal Tikka T3/T3X Gen2 Performance Series OEM Bottom Metal
Price: $129.99
Weight: 2.2oz
Mountain Tactical Tikka T3/T3X Performance Series Bolt Shroud
Price: $59.99
Weight: 0.7oz
Mountain Tactical Tikka T3/T3X SS Long Action Bolt Stop
Price: $29.99
Mountain Tactical Tikka 12oz-24oz Trigger Spring
Price: $7.99
Mountain Tactical small “Outdoorsman” Bolt knob
Price: $39.00
High Velocity Hunting Australia Titanium Action Screws
Price: $40.00 plus $24.00 for shipping
Weight: 19 grams for both
OPTICS & RINGS:
Leupold VX-5HD 30MM Tube 3-15x44mm CDS-ZL2 w/Firedot duplex Reticle
Price: $999.00
Weight: 19.9oz
Leupold Alumina Flip Up Objective & eyepiece covers
Price: $120.00
DNZ 215 Tactical Tikka T3 21.5MOA Medium Height One piece scope mount
Price: $130.00 on sale
Weight: 4oz
THE BUILD
The purpose of this build was to put together a lightweight semi custom hunting rifle capable of taking deer,elk and other large North American game at various ranges between 50 yards-800 yards that was rugged enough to get banged around on the side of a horse and get thrown over a shoulder and carried through Montana and Alaska's unforgiving mountains while maintaining sub MOA accuracy; Yet keeping it budget conscious. Now having built a few different Tikkas over the years I knew the components I wanted to used but also wanted to try a few new things to cut weight.
I was really on the fence about a Wildcat composite stock or the Mesa. Ultimately the Mesa won out because I liked the stock design and it seemed to offer a more forgiving platform for those longer shots even if it did weight a few more Oz's. Upon receiving the Mesa Precision stock the action fit nice and tight and probably didn't need bedding if you wanted to run the recoil lug that comes with the stock. However I was trying to cut weight anywhere I could within reason so chose to run the Lumley Ti recoil lug which was a bit shorter than the steel lug in the stock so some bedding was in order. I bedded the Ti recoil lug into the Mesa stock, and around the rear and front mounting areas of the action screws to ensure a perfect fit. The next issue I ran into was the Mesa stock is just a bit taller than the factory Tikka stock so the High Velocity Hunting Ti action screws were just a touch too short to gain more than 1 thread into the action. To remedy this I simply recessed the already counter sunk bottom metal a bit more to gain more threads into the action. Do this very carefully and don't remove too much material. Again this could have been avoided by just using the action screws that Mesa sends with the stock but I spent a ridiculous amount of money on Ti action screws out of Australia so your damn right I was going to find a way to use them
After everything was bedded and cleaned up I reassembled the rifle and decided to bed the scope mount as well. Normally I run Mountain Tactical's 20MOA rails and Nightforce Ultralight rings but I wanted to try a one piece mount with 20MOA built in while keeping it light so I decided to give the DNZ's a try. Jason at Mountain Tactical is working on a scope mount for Tikkas so I will probably switch over to one of those when they are ready.I referenced these videos for Bedding the action and bedding the scope mount.
bedding a scope mount - Search Videos
The reason I ended up not using the Lumley Ti bolt handle and Carbon fiber knob is simple, the Ti bolt stem did not fit into my bolt. It would bind up after about going 1/16 of an inch into my bolt (this was before cerakote). Now I probably could have sanded it down and made it work but Mountain Tacticals bolt stem weighs 0.2 OZ more than the Lumley bolt stem but it fit like a glove as does all of Jason's products at Mountain Tactical. The other thing I didn't like about the Lumley bolt knob and handle was the carbon fiber handle was obviously hand laid which is no big deal but it didn't match up with the bolt stem, leaving gaps and voids between handle and knob which I thought looked poor. I went with Mountain Tactical's small outdoorsman style knob giving a much slimmer profile than the Lumley set up and weighing the same as the carbon fiber handle. Anybody that has pulled a rifle in and out of a scabbard a half dozen times knows an oversized bolt knob becomes cumbersome and hangs up on things so overall I'm happy that I only gave up 0.2oz of weight but have a nice fitting low profile knob/handle.
I had Jason at Mountain Tactical do the brake on this rifle and he used a new design that he will be offering very soon along with a few other muzzle brake designs. I couldn't be more pumped on how it turned out and am excited to see how tames the recoil of the 300WM. You'll see in the photos it has ports on the top half of the brake and then ports out of the muzzle end of the brake which should do a fantastic job of mitigating muzzle rise and ground debris if shooting prone.
Jared at Montana Precision Coatings did the Cerakote and he did an outstanding job of matching the colors of the stock. His turn around was fast and he was great to work with, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend anybody to him for Cerakote, hydrodipping or airbrush work.
I just mounted the scope and bore sited it this morning and haven't had a chance to hit the range just yet but will keep you posted on how she shoots. Yes, yes I know it's late in the year to be developing a new rifle to hunt with this year but in all honesty I didn't even plan on having this done for this season so there is a good chance the 270WSM is the rifle I hunt with this year unless I can squeeze in a bunch of range time in the next month.
Congrats
