"Tikka's just don't shoot good" - Gunwerks podcast

[Formidilosus]

Now, for the other side. Bro, your Tikka ain’t a “sub half MOA all day long rifle”. That’s straight dedicated benchrest level precision. But guess what. Very, very, very few $6,000 customs are either.
Put up a half inch dot at 100 yards, strap the rifle into a machine rest and shoot 10 shots. It isn’t going to put ten rounds in that half inch dot.

Tikka’s aren’t magical. They are extremely reliable, extremely smooth feeding and running, usually quite precise, bolt actions with an excellent factory trigger and solid barrels. However, they aren’t the answer for any round over 3.56 COAL. For short and medium length rounds they are, objectively and in use, excellent actions and triggers. But they aren’t magical.

 

[menhaden_man]

I have been looking into getting a new gun for more long range shooting to replace my browning .270. I was looking into a Tikka as I heard they are really good gun for the money. I was listening to the Gunwerks long-range podcast and someone on their said something along the lines of "Everyone thinks Tikkas shoot good and I can tell you they just don't". What is the general consensus of the Tikka's? I was kind of set on the Tikka but now I am second guessing. I understand that they probably don't shoot good if you are comparing them to a $6000 custom Gunwerks rifle but just wanted some first hand accounts of them.

Check out the feedback folks were giving up when I asked the same question a while ago...

Tikka romance confessions wanted

I probably have 20+ long guns... Remington, Winchester, Savage, Marlin, Ruger, etc and maybe 6 builds. But nary a Tikka. The Tikka love fest on here makes me wonder if I’m missing out on something special? I’m thinking of grabbing a light setup in 6.5 CM and was leaning towards one of the...

www.rokslide.com

 

[Newtosavage]

I've owned four Tikka rifles. Worst one still shot factory ammo under an inch. Best one was 3/4 with factory and often 1/2 MOA with hand loads.

I guess it depends on a guy's definition of "good" and what their motives are for putting down another rifle.

Honestly, a guy could buy four or five Tikka rifles, shoot them all, keep the best shooting one, sell the rest, and probably still spend less than $1K total for a gun that shoots better than they can.

My main hunting rifles these days are Howas, for many of the same reasons, but my Howa Alpine is over 3" shorter than my Tikka and weighs a little less. It still surprises me how much difference that 3" overall length makes in the field. And my two Howa Mini's just flat out shoot. As accurate as any Tikka rifles I've ever owned, which is saying a lot.

 

[Sled]

i've owned several tikkas and can't complain about the accuracy. i've hear rumors of some not shooting well but it appears to be the exception to the rule. a lot better than the crackerjack box that is buying a remington off the shelf. only takes a couple thousand dollars and a trip to the gunsmith and that remington will shoot as well as any tikka.

 

[JeffRaines]

Now, for the other side. Bro, your Tikka ain’t a “sub half MOA all day long rifle”. That’s straight dedicated benchrest level precision. But guess what. Very, very, very few $6,000 customs are either.

Bridging on this statement, I'd say theres probably far far more $6000 custom rifles that are capable of 1/2 MOA "standard" than there are shooters who are able to do it.

 

[wind gypsy]

Bridging on this statement, I'd say theres probably far far more $6000 custom rifles that are capable of 1/2 MOA "standard" than there are shooters who are able to do it.

Lots of variables at play for sure. From my limited experience a 20# benchrest 6 BR is probably a pretty sure thing with any half competent person behind it. All the lightweight magnum customs will be harder to shoot 1/2 MOA but I think there is a lot more to it than that. IMO a lot of these magnum calibers that get made into expensive custom hunting rifles are more finicky and might shoot bugholes all day one day and fall out of tune with different atmospheric conditions, barrel condition, and slight variables to ammo a week later. When they do, it's hard to tell if the the difficult to shoot big boomer is out of tune or if the shooter just didn't "do their part" that day.

 

[Formidilosus]

Bridging on this statement, I'd say theres probably far far more $6000 custom rifles that are capable of 1/2 MOA "standard" than there are shooters who are able to do it.

I wouldn’t. I’ve seen enough shot on machines in tunnels to say that very few big game cartridges will do it regardless of rifle. Again talking statistical relevance here- multiple and consistent 10 round groups. Not random 3 or 5 shots groups. If you’re shooting a 6mm BR based round... Yes you have a good chance of having a legit .5 MOA rifle. 8lb 300 WM? Nah.

Then add in the fact that if a rifle is a .5 MOA gun at 100 yards, shouldn’t it hit .5 MOA targets on demand at 100 yards?

 

[Wacko]

First let me say this, I have extra attention paid to me by Mr. Murphy for some reason....this is just my experience and I may be all F'ed up somewhere along the line but....

I recently drank the Formidilosus koolaid. I am on 9 tikka's to date...5 t3's and now 4 T3x's. All of my T3's shot reasonably well, but all ended up getting sold as I experimented with all kinds of crap. After getting disappointed in some ways, and having too many different platforms, I sold a bunch.

So, I thought I'd try and hit the "easy button" as 16bore, Form, and many others have said. I purchased 4 new Tikka T3x's - .223 superlite 1/8", .243 superlite, stainless "lite" 6.5 creed, stainless "lite" .308. Then 4 SWFA 6x fixed Mil/mil scopes, 4 EGW 20 moa rails, swfa rings. I went with the rails because it didn't look like the sportsmatch rings would allow max ring spacing, and I prefer the option.

I then removed the bumps in the factory stocks, degreased everything, loctite everything, even added some E6000 glue under the base. So 4 "identical" platforms.....

Now having some experience with Tikka's in the past, I know sometimes they take a few rounds to "settle in". Bottom line is all 4 really kind of shoot like crap. I have just over 100 rounds over each platform. Different bullets and weights, different factory ammo companies....piss poor really.

The 6.5 creed shoots the "best' - hornady match ammo - at just over 2 MOA 10 round groups. The .223 is shooting 2 1/2 - 3 moa 10 round groups with consistent vertical stringing. The .308 next. The .243 is a wonder...5-6" "groups" spread all over.

My ruger scout rifle with a 2.75x scope shoots just over moa 10 round groups for crikey sakes!

Not, not, not what I was hoping for. So much for the "easy button". The ONLY reason I will continue to tinker with them is what the platform offers. Stainless, low bolt lift, etc.etc...

My next course of action will be to "float them like I mean it!!", bed the factory stock, check and remount everything. Then shoot them again. If there is no major improvement, I will most likely trade them off.....

 

[Formidilosus]

All of this is kind of nonsense though. Leave out true specialized uses and rifles, i.e., dedicated long range rifles for use beyond 800-900 yards, and “accuracy” is not nearly as important as people think.

In variable conditions the difference in hit rate with a 215gr Berger at 2750fps between a true .5 MOA rifle and a true 1.25 MOA rifle is less than 5% for a practiced shooter-49% for the .5 MOA rifle and 45% for the 1.25 MOA rifle. Why? Because we miss based in the biggest source of error, in this case wind. In broken terrain practiced but not “expert” shooters can usually make a wind call within 3 mph. Using AB’s WEZ, it’s not precision that’s causing a miss first round miss, it’s our inability to call wind correctly. that’s with a ballistically good bullet and a true .5 MOA gun. I’ve yet to see the person or non dedicated LR rifle that is shooting a 300 mag at true half minute.

 

[Formidilosus]

The 6.5 creed shoots the "best' - hornady match ammo - at just over 2 MOA 10 round groups. The .223 is shooting 2 1/2 - 3 moa 10 round groups with consistent vertical stringing. The .308 next. The .243 is a wonder...5-6" "groups" spread all over.

You have something extremely wrong that has nothing to do with Tikka’s. There is zero chance that you got a 223, 243, 6.5, and 308 Tikka that are all bad.

Where are you located?

 

[Mike Islander]

I think it's brilliant and deceptive trolling. Never heard of said podcast, but by saying something crazy and blatantly stupid and wrong, here we have a thread filled with outrage and mocking. All the while "the podcast which shall remain unnamed" gets free publicly.

 

[Wacko]

You have something extremely wrong that has nothing to do with Tikka’s. There is zero chance that you got a 223, 243, 6.5, and 308 Tikka that are all bad.

Where are you located?

I'm in Colorado.

I know it is very unlikely as well. ( You don't know my "luck" though..lol ) However, during the shooting process, I had checked the assembly of stock to action to make sure I didn't miss the lug as often happens. (etc) I have also now stripped them down checking for anything obvious. I didn't find anything that gave me pause.

The first time I shot them I was using a bipod. I thought I might have been loading the pod too much causing stock contact. Next round was off a pack with rear bags. No joy yet.

Unfortunately, I have assembled too many rifles that have worked much better. There may be something I am missing here, but my prior T3's did fine. I ended up selling them because I was playing / chasing the next.

I'll be going through them, checking the scopes on a collimator, remounting etc....obviously won't happen overnight. Especially since my workspace has been below freezing.

I do have the "luxury" of being able to shoot in my own back yard though....

 

[Schaaf]

Mine shot great. But it had too much plastic for my liking so I sent it packing.

 

[Formidilosus]

I'm in Colorado.
I know it is very unlikely as well. ( You don't know my "luck" though..lol ) However, during the shooting process, I had checked the assembly of stock to action to make sure I didn't miss the lug as often happens. (etc) I have also now stripped them down checking for anything obvious. I didn't find anything that gave me pause..

Send me a PM if you want. I am not that far from CO sometimes. I’m genuinely intrigued by what could be happening.

 

[Cactus kid]

Form, What does your working Tikkas look like? do you keep the factory stock, barrels, ect?

 

[Formidilosus]

Form, What does your working Tikkas look like? do you keep the factory stock, barrels, ect?

Abused.


They’re All over the map. In general the pure hunting rifles have the factory T3x stock with vertical grip installed. Comp rifles and dedicate LR setups usually have chassis. I used the KRG X-RAY and Bravo last year on a 6.5 CM lite stainless. The Bravo stayed on there. Excellent control and stability.



The most used ones-

223




6.5 CM Lite Stainless with Bravo chassis



308 with X-RAY chassis





6.5 T3x lite with factory stock and vertical grip

 

[Wacko]

Send me a PM if you want. I am not that far from CO sometimes. I’m genuinely intrigued by what could be happening.

Copy that....PM sent....

 

[DangerRanger]

I and my teammates have won, or tied every major field sniper match we’ve shot using factory Tikka actions. We switched after having repeat failures of extractors, ejectors, triggers, bolt stops, and feeding with full done up Remingtons, Surgeons, Stiller’s, GAP’s, Defiance, etc. I watched in a major sniper match as multiple people in our squad had malfunctions due to blowing talcum like sand that caused havoc on several custom actions. In between stages they started breaking the rifles down and cleaning them. My partner was using a custom too. He had a bolt stop break, ejector bind up, and failure of the trigger to fire a couple of times during this three day match. Two people in our squad had no malfunctions- an AI and a Tikka. A week after this match he had a a match rifle being built on a T3. A month later he added an AI.

What do you think there is about a tikka action that makes them better at feeding than these 700 pattern customs? I see you shoot tikkas in chassis with aics mags, these same chassis have 700 inlets so it must be something in the bolt or feed rail design?

How are tikka plunger ejectors and sako extractors more reliable on a tikka than on an American custom?

Truly asking, been considering a T3X mcmillan Snapper raffle build since I can’t currently afford an AI

 

[carter33]

@Formidilosus

What do you consider a good 5 shot group at 100 yards for a hunter? I have chased the internet numbers and would have to agree that a lot more people online are shooting these 1/2" groups than are in real life. With my lighter weight 300 winmag I can shoot consistent 1.5" and under 5 shots group at 100 including the 1 round which always seems to wreck the group, this is always prone with bipod/rear bag. Sometimes I can call that bad shot and sometimes I cannot. At what point should I stop chasing the group and start working on field position and longer range shooting? I still do some of that but am really wanting to hit that 1" 5 shot group. I am confident my rifle is more capable than I am, just unsure of what is adequate to start focusing on more practical shooting. I also have a quality .22lr on the way to get a lot more practice in.

 

[Evo9037]

They shoot as good or arguably better than most other stock rifles.