Tikka T3X

[peterk123]

I shoot the t3x lite in 308. Stupid accurate. More accurate than me. But at the range it will heat up after a few shots and the accuracy starts to go. Keeping it cool is key to not getting frustrated. As for hunting, it doesn't matter. I've yet to take more than two shots at one animal, and both were spot on. Tikka barrels are just that good.

I'm looking for a tikka 223 for varmint hunting. I'm looking hard at the tikka ace game.

 

[K9kodi]

Even if the pencil barrel is less accurate, it’s still likely more accurate than us.

Coming from a tikka t3x lite owner in .270, I’m pleased w it for sure and it’s my backup to a ridgeline fft

 

[Remington1]

The weight difference between the lite and superlite is just a few ounces. I have several Tikkas and have put all of them in a Stocky Stock carbon fiber V grip stock. Shaved some weight and has a better ergonomics. Their website pricing is high but call and they will sell them for $350 plus shipping. Under $400 in a carbon fiber stock.

 

[fatlander]

I can’t imagine how a hunting rifle that’s as light as my T3X super lite 6.5 creed could shoot any better for the money I’ve got in it. It’s silly how easy that rifle is to shoot incredibly well. When I do my part, it shoots 1/2” MOA all day. When I don’t do my part, it’s still a sub MOA gun.


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[bnewt3]

I got a Superlite, great rifle. If I had it to do over again, I would get a Lite to give me the option of shortening the barrel.

 

[Macintosh]

I have not noticed any difference whatsoever between my lite barrel and my ctr barrel heating up over larger round counts. I think most people who claim this are seeing the normal dispersion that occurs when you shoot more rounds, but thats not caused by heat, it simply takes more rounds to see the actual dispersion of the gun. Ive tested 10+ rounds both slow fire letting it cool, and rapid fire +\- as fast as I can get steady again. There is no difference. Based on that, if you want a lighter gun, get a thinner barrel and dont worry about it.

Fwiw some other guns I have shot DO show a difference. Im speaking specifically about my tikkas. As far as I have been able to determine the ONLY difference is weight.

 

[TaperPin]

My advice for the easy button to good accuracy and light weight has always been to buy whatever rifle you like for the receiver, add a custom trigger, the stock you like, and one of the top quality custom barrels in a standard sporter weight. If budget is tight focus on the barrel. The shooting industry has convinced far too many people that factory barrel accuracy is good.

 

[bnewt3]

My advice for the easy button to good accuracy and light weight has always been to buy whatever rifle you like for the receiver, add a custom trigger, the stock you like, and one of the top quality custom barrels in a standard sporter weight. If budget is tight focus on the barrel. The shooting industry has convinced far too many people that factory barrel accuracy is good.

Surely you arent suggesting that a factory TIkka isnt useable out of the box, especially for $700.

Im not suggesting they are the best, but they may be the best factory barrels in a rifle under $1500.

To qualify something: My definition of "factory" could be different than yours. Personally I think maybe Christensen may be the lowest volume "factory" manufacturer out there. Anything like Fierce, Horizon, etc I consider to be high-ish volume custom not "factory". Maybe not even Christensen, I just see alot of them for sale.

 

[RancherJohn]

My advice for the easy button to good accuracy and light weight has always been to buy whatever rifle you like for the receiver, add a custom trigger, the stock you like, and one of the top quality custom barrels in a standard sporter weight. If budget is tight focus on the barrel. The shooting industry has convinced far too many people that factory barrel accuracy is good.

The 'easy button' is to tear down a new rifle and replace everything but the receiver? What kind of idiocy is that?

Thread 'Show your Tikka ten round groups'

May 26, 2020

With a couple of recent threads regarding the accuracy of Tikka rifles and a couple of people working through issues with them, I thought it would be interesting to have a thread with peoples' groups from their Tikkas. Of particular interest, is ten round groups and what people do to their Tikkas to get good results, or just keep the good results going. Or, if it was actually an issue with another piece of equipment (scope, rings, etc), then what was it? I know there's a wide range of ways people care for these rifles and ways they are modified, so share your details here if you want. Or...

• HighUintas
• Replies: 1,031
• Forum: Firearms

• 

Here is a 50+ page thread with 10 round groups from Tikkas. Very few posts have poor groups, most are showing groups under 1.2 MOA with factory ammo, and some much better with handloads.

Combine that with the WEZ hit rates thread, and get back to us on how a 1.2 MOA rifle will not be accurate enough for the hunting scenarios that someone asking this question about what factory rifle to buy will put themselves in.

I can guarantee you that the rifle will be more accurate than a shooter that has trained themselves on wind calls at home with only a wind meter and angle chart.

 

[HyperMike]

I don’t want to cast aspersions at the experience of anyone else who has posted here, but I have not experienced any reason to expect the super lite barrel to be less accurate. These are properly made barrels, they don’t really get “worse” as they heat up.

This has been my experience as well. I have a Superlight in 6.5 Creedmoor and I've shot it consecutively at the range until the barrel was almost too hot to grab on to and saw zero shift in POI or in grouping. Right at 1 MOA regardless of barrel temp.

 

[General RE LEE]

I love my Tikka UPR 6.5 CM with Bartlein CTR Contour 20” barrel installed by Bug Holes, but I’m considering possibly parting ways with it to get a plain ole non threaded Superlite 6.5 CM.

 

[Macintosh]

My advice for the easy button to good accuracy and light weight has always been to buy whatever rifle you like for the receiver, add a custom trigger, the stock you like, and one of the top quality custom barrels in a standard sporter weight. If budget is tight focus on the barrel. The shooting industry has convinced far too many people that factory barrel accuracy is good.

This may very well be the easy button for exceptional accuracy. But I disagree that this is at all a requirement or “easier” for an accurate hunting rifle that will out-shoot 99.9% of shooters in the field. It wont hurt, but its well outside the box of the OP’s original question which was about the difference between lite vs varmint contour tikka oem barrels.

 

[TaperPin]

This may very well be the easy button for exceptional accuracy. But I disagree that this is at all a requirement OR “easier” for an accurate hunting rifle that will out-shoot 99.9% of shooters in the field. It wont hurt, but its well outside the box of the OP’s original question which was about lite vs varmint contour tikka oem barrels.

The original poster was concerned about accuracy with one barrel vs the other and as the flood of reloading and troubleshooting posts will attest to, a huge amount of ammo and time is wasted trying to get run of the mill mediocre/average rifles to shoot even a little above average.

I keep shooting 50 year old $250 receivers with good barrels to show the kids the barrel is what really matters.

 

[Macintosh]

The original poster was concerned about accuracy with one barrel vs the other and as the flood of reloading and troubleshooting posts will attest to, a huge amount of ammo and time is wasted trying to get run of the mill mediocre/average rifles to shoot even a little above average.

I keep shooting 50 year old $250 receivers with good barrels to show the kids the barrel is what really matters.

Fair. But we dont all have $250 actions lying around to do that with. The question in this case was indecision between two factory tikka rifles, with the articulated assumption that the thinner barrel would walk when warm. Since I have tried this, and others have tried this, and we have not been able to get lite tikka barrels to walk when hot, Im very comfortable the answer here is “just get the light barrel, you wont be able to tell the difference”.
I just think your post might be the answer to a different question. I’ve certainly chased my tail on a finicky gun (which was a tikka). But in general my tikkas and those Ive shot are very much consistently plenty accurate in practical application, and many of the issues i see people post about are rail/rings/scope/stock setup or “new to reloading” related which are just as likely with a bartlein barrel as with oem tikka barrels, so I am not sure the OP needs a hard-reset to start looking for a full custom just to get a good hunting rifle, thats all.

 

[bnewt3]

I just think your post might be the answer to a different question.

agreed

 

[TaperPin]

Fair. But we dont all have $250 actions lying around to do that with. The question in this case was indecision between two factory tikka rifles, with the articulated assumption that the thinner barrel would walk when warm. Since I have tried this, and others have tried this, and we have not been able to get lite tikka barrels to walk when hot, Im very comfortable the answer here is “just get the light barrel, you wont be able to tell the difference”.
I just think your post might be the answer to a different question. I’ve certainly chased my tail on a finicky gun (which was a tikka). But in general my tikkas and those Ive shot are very much consistently plenty accurate in practical application, and many of the issues i see people post about are rail/rings/scope/stock setup or “new to reloading” related which are just as likely with a bartlein barrel as with oem tikka barrels, so I am not sure the OP needs a hard-reset to start looking for a full custom just to get a good hunting rifle, thats all.

I agree a light barrel will almost always shoot as well as a varmint weight.

 

[Andouille]

I debated between 6.5 PRC and 6.5 CM superlite tikkas, and am glad I went with the latter. My 8 lb suppressed 20" 6.5CM has negligible recoil and shoots bug holes with 143 eld-x. I've shot 30 rounds strings at the range with only 30 seconds between 5-6 shot groups. No hot barrel issues, and no regrets on the superlite barrel profile or caliber choice.

6.5 PRC and a custom barrel would only gain recoil and possible lose accuracy. With 6.5 CM and a good bullet, i'm set for for deer, black bear, caribou, goats, and even moose, within reasonable distances.