Tikka T3x "Ranahan" Review

cal30_sniper

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jul 20, 2020
Location
NM
I recently decided I was going to dip my toes into the Tikka game, after I found the clearance deals on Eurooptic too intriguing to resist. Up to now, I have a bunch of time behind various Mauser military and commercial actions (and derivatives) as well as a couple of custom 700s built on Defiance AnTi actions.

I wanted to start with a .223, since I was a little lacking in that regard. After looking at all the specs of the .223 models available, I decided the "Ranahan" was the one that was the best fit for me. It has iron sights, which I knew I wouldn't need, but also comes with a 20" 1:8" twist barrel with a 1/2-28 thread on the end. Since my other builds are gravitating towards 20", I figured this would be a better match for balance with the suppressor on the end, as well as tack on a significant amount of extra velocity (which the .223 can definitely use) on top of the commonly available 16.1" barrel models that also come with threads. As well, on clearance, the $699.99 price was pretty appealing for the features available.

I picked up the rifle a couple of weeks ago and spent a few minutes on the indoor range offhand at 25 yards just to check the function of everything. I found the iron sights surprisingly effective, and would definitely be interested in retaining them for something like a hog gun. After putting 25rds of 55gr ball down the barrel, I packed it up satisfied and brought it home to go under the knife.

One note, with the rifle in hand, I found the "sport" bolt knob that the Ranahan also comes with (which is just a plastic addition to the normal bolt knob) to be quite well thought out. This is doubly apparent now that I've handled other Tikkas without this add-on.

Modifications:
  • Removed front and rear iron sights. Each is held on by two slot-head screws. Thread appears to be either #8-48 or M4-0.5. I couldn't find screw blanks in either of these threads to try and fill the holes.
  • Installed TBAC flash hider for my Ultra 7 can, rocksett and well torqued. Why is it they can't make these to fit a common wrench size?
  • Installed UM Tikka Low Rings and Trijicon Credo 2-10X mil-reticle FFP scope. All screws cleaned with isopropyl alcohol and torqued to speck with a yellow oil-based paint pen. I run 3-18X Tenmiles on my 6mm CM Defiance and my 6.5CM AR-10, so I thought this would be a good match for the shorter effective range of the .223 while staying lighter with the same reticle.
  • Reinstalled action in stock with cleaned threads and yellow paint pen. I went with 45 in-lbs with the plastic bottom metal.
Here's the finished product (before heading to the range, but after this photo, I also added a Spartan adapter for my bipod in the forward sling swivel):
IMG_4249.jpg

Back at the range on a calm 51 degree morning, I settled in to test out a few different types of .223 I had on hand and see what it likes. Results (groups and MVs gathered with a Lab Radar) below.

  1. Hornady Frontier 5.56x45 55gr FMJ (5 sighter rounds from my surprisingly close boresight). MV = 3206fpsBallistic-X-Export-2025-03-11 09_01_07.502661.jpg
  2. Norma 69gr Golden Target .223 Rem. MV = 2773fps avg (later shots in my groups were all above 2800fps, probably the new barrel speeding up). Try as I might, I really couldn't get this stuff to group like I thought it would. Frustrated after the first two 10rd groups, I grabbed my Defiance 6CM and fired back to back 1.1 and 1.0MOA 10rd groups with 108 and 109gr Berger Ammo, so I don't think it was me. I do think the flyer that opened the first group up below was me though. Doubly frustrating, I took this round out to 300yds after zeroing at 100 and found the drop to be a good deal more than expected. BC doesn't seem to be near what's advertised for this round. 55yd LabRadar velocities also seemed to echo a much lower than advertised BC. I bought this ammo just to try out in this rifle, but doubt I'll be buying any more.Ballistic-X-Export-2025-03-11 09_18_39.405576.jpgBallistic-X-Export-2025-03-11 09_31_54.615545.jpgBallistic-X-Export-2025-03-11 12_51_49.568371.jpg
  3. Sierra 77gr HPBT Matchking Competition .223 Rem. MV = 2636. This was probably the best all-around load that I tried. I did 10 rounds from the bench, then 5 more into the same group from prone off the bipod (it actually grouped the last 5 off the bipod tighter than what I was previously doing from the bench, as evidenced by the expanded groups below). I would definitely order a lot more of this if it wasn't discontinued.Ballistic-X-Export-2025-03-11 21_36_48.981667.jpgBallistic-X-Export-2025-03-11 12_47_00.662087.jpg
  4. Nosler 77gr HPBT Match Grade 223 Rem. MV = 2446. This is by far the most accurate ammo I tried (my 20" Criterion barrel ARs love it also) but as with the ARs, the velocity is pathetic. I'll shoot up what I have, but won't be buying any more of this.Ballistic-X-Export-2025-03-11 12_49_21.672753.jpg
That was it for range trip #2. I'll update as time goes on to see how MVs and groups track with different ammo. It'll probably get put into a rokstok sooner than later.

The Defiance groups for reference (AnTi Action, Rainier Arms 18" Barrel, Bergara MgLite takeoff chassis, Triggertech trigger, TenMile 3-18 scope):
Ballistic-X-Export-2025-03-11 10_04_26.755804.jpg
Ballistic-X-Export-2025-03-11 10_20_18.498390.jpg
 
Which barrel contour does this have? Same as the Lite or more along the heavier side like on the Veil or Roughtech?
 
Which barrel contour does this have? Same as the Lite or more along the heavier side like on the Veil or Roughtech?
Measured at the forend, the muzzle, and midway between, it is within .005” diameter of my Tikka T3x Lite in 300 WSM (“muzzle” dimension for 300WSM is 18.25” forward of the reciever, same distance as the Ranahan barrel right behind the muzzle device)

Location/Ranahan/Lite
Forend/.715/.710
Midway/.680/.680
Muzzle/.650/.655
 
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