Why I would never buy a Tikka

[KenLee]

This heated up on another thread about Bergara so I better justify my statement "not a tikka fan"

Here's my story to the best of my abilities. Very bummed we did not photo or video this incident but we were in triage mode.

Every November I host my brother and two nephews at my MN cabin for the annual boys deer hunt. All 3 of them shoot 270 Win. Tikka's.
My brother shot a deer and quickly cycled another round. Soon after I got a text that he was jammed and could I walk over. When I got there he handed me his rifle. The next round was jammed in an upward position. The base was under the bolt face and the nose of the round was jammed in the upper receiver just forward of the loading port. No big deal right? Nope. It was jammed so solidly that nothing could be manipulated by hand. Round could not be pulled out and bolt could not be moved.
I palmed the bolt hard downwards to no avail. Finally I picked up a 2 inch club stick off the ground and pounded on the bolt. It became apparent that I was going to snap off the bolt handle. We walked the mile and a half back to the truck where I had a Leatherman in the console. I pried the neck of the round until we could remove the round. Bullet was at a 45 degree angle in case. Case destroyed when it finally came out.

So fool me once Tikka. We had a deer down and truck nearby on this incident, but talked quite a bit that night in camp about being 5 miles in on an elk hunt and this happens. Worse yet if a follow up shot is required.

So I can hear the comments...anomaly, 1-off, short cycle, yada yada. Whatever, I won't own another Tikka. I am 66 years old and have been a rifleman all of my life. Owned and swapped dozens of rifles. Never had a failure like this one.

Should have wrapped it around a tree and said good riddance

 

[wind gypsy]

....... I'm 39........

gunsmith was mid 50s?

gun dealer was in his upper 40s - young 50s in '05

don't with the age....


now go about trying to diagnose a stuck bolt, that won't extract, eject or budge? bad headspacing ? cause a pressure problem? explain the lost rifle once it arrived back to them? the list is much longer than "18 year old first bolt action" gtfo

If it functioned fine every time before that shot I'd guess it was more likely an ammo issue or other obstruction or moisture causing overpressure incident than something else that would lock the bolt in place? Certainly possible that it was an action failure but I wouldn't guess that.

The circumstances of how you say retailer/tikka handled it are unacceptable though.
Edit to add: I'd love to know what dealer cost on a t3 was in 2005! Pretty sure they were selling for sub $400 at that point?

 

[SDHNTR]

Confusing post. So the first round did not eject and was stuck in the chamber, is that correct? How did he cycle the second round then? Did the extractor break, or rip off the rim of the cartridge?

I don’t understand how the first case could’ve stuck yet he was able to the next.

I’m not much of a Tikka fan either, but it has nothing to do with function. They are certainly far better than most factory rifles.

 

[swavescatter]

How did you get the beans above the frank?!

But I agree, everyone needs to stop buying Tikkas and driving the prices up.

 

[SDHNTR]

This is my story with Tikka...

2005 I bought a 300 WSM Tikka T3. Shot 3 boxes through it. The bolt was smooth, trigger was decent, felt very smooth for a factory rifle. I grouped it and my best factory 3 round group was .5 MOA. I loved it

fast forward to deer season. I shot a 8 pointer and it just took the round. I went to cycle another round and the round was jammed in the chamber. I couldnt lift the bolt, I couldnt do a thing. I was dead in the water. That was my first and last time I had a Tikka.

This was my first bolt action rifle, I was 18, I took the rifle back to the dealer and they said they would send it to Tikka - In which they did. I waited and waited and waited. I finally called them and they had no record of the rifle ever coming back. I went back to the dealer the dealer had the proof they sent it. I called the carrier and they said it was delivered. Tikka claimed over and over it was never delivered.

I was in college and the dealer said they would sell me another one for cost for all of the confusion.

I was O-V-E-R Tikka then. I will admit their bolt is very smooth, but man that was the most painful experience for a 18 year old buying their first bolt action rifle.

OK, I get it now, these are two different problems. To this poster, you should realize you are barking up the wrong tree. This is not a tikka problem at all. This is an ammunition problem. You somehow got an over pressured round of ammo. That happens. And if it locked up a Tikka, it would’ve locked up any other rifle. Get mad at the ammo company. This is like getting angry with ford when your F150 gets a flat tire.

 

[ropeup79]

All things mechanical can fail, but I’ll take my chances with a Tikka mis-feeding vs a Bergara bolt handle falling off.

 

[SDHNTR]

And to the OP, similar case here. You are also barking up the wrong tree. Your guy just short stroked the bolt and you are blaming the rifle when you should be blaming the operator. Get that guy a big ass claw CRF model 70.

 

[JAC8504]

OK, I get it now, these are two different problems. To this poster, you should realize you are barking up the wrong tree. This is not a tikka problem at all. This is an ammunition problem. You somehow got an over pressured round of ammo. That happens. And if it locked up a Tikka, it would’ve locked up any other rifle. Get mad at the ammo company. This is like getting angry with ford when your F150 gets a flat tire.

ahh so, when you take your F150 back to the dealership... you call them to check on progress and they tell you "We don't have any record of your F150 arriving"

As I learned more it was my guess that it was a hot loaded round (Winchester Silvertip factory loaded) however, no one had any answers after it went to the mail currier and essentially i was out of a rifle.... lol

 

[ramblinman]

When I got there he handed me his rifle. The next round was jammed in an upward position. The base was under the bolt face and the nose of the round was jammed in the upper receiver just forward of the loading port. No big deal right? Nope. It was jammed so solidly that nothing could be manipulated by hand. Round could not be pulled out and bolt could not be moved.

confused. What happened?



I’d chalk it up to another 270 is gay incident and move on to the Mighty Mouse 223 and tipped more kills

 

[ElPollo]

No. First round went bang...stuck in chamber. No ejection, couldn't move bolt, just plain stuck. Gunsmith said he didn't want to touch it and advised to take it back to the dealer to get it back to Tikka

That makes more sense. Sounds like an ammo thing that caused the stuck case. Any gun can stick a round into the chamber if that happens. Seems a bit premature to blame Tikka for that, but that’s your decision.

 

[JAC8504]

That makes more sense. Sounds like an ammo thing that caused the stuck case. Any gun can stick a round into the chamber if that happens. Seems a bit premature to blame Tikka for that, but that’s your decision.

I put the fall on Tikka because my rifle dissapeared. No matter the age it hurts to just lose a rifle, but at 18 when you save your little coin to buy a rifle and it gets swallowed into the abyss it really hurt

 

[AZ_Hunter]

I put the fall on Tikka because my rifle dissapeared. No matter the age it hurts to just lose a rifle, but at 18 when you save your little coin to buy a rifle and it gets swallowed into the abyss it really hurt

Could’ve threatened to get the ATF involved since there is record of the rifle being delivered. Rifles in and out of an FFL must be recorded.

 

[JAC8504]

Could’ve threatened to get the ATF involved since there is record of the rifle being delivered. Rifles in and out of an FFL must be recorded.

at 18... I wasn't fully aware of protocols etc. I was just doing what people were telling me to do. Like I said, I was learning. I was told to get ahold of a lawyer and I remember at the time that they could try a small claims court, but the couple I talked to said "it would be cheaper to buy another rifle after our fees"


I didn't mean to hijack the OPs thread, but I wanted to tell my story of my experience with a Tikka....

 

[TaperPin]

I’d get more excited about Tikka if it didn’t have those beady little eyes. . . and do they ever catch on fire, or do they just melt - that’s a lot of plastic.

 

[LightFoot]

But you are considering a Christensen instead?

>>>——JAKE——>

 

[eric1115]

I put the fall on Tikka because my rifle dissapeared. No matter the age it hurts to just lose a rifle, but at 18 when you save your little coin to buy a rifle and it gets swallowed into the abyss it really hurt

What's done is done all these years later, but....
I'd put way higher odds on a UPS driver yoinking a rifle shaped box for himself and marking it delivered, vs the thing arriving at Tikka, then either disappearing through incompetence or getting "disappeared" to avoid dealing with it.

I do feel your pain and that would put a bad taste in my mouth as well, but IMO it would be way more fair to direct it toward UPS and/or the dealer.

 

[SDHNTR]

ahh so, when you take your F150 back to the dealership... you call them to check on progress and they tell you "We don't have any record of your F150 arriving"

As I learned more it was my guess that it was a hot loaded round (Winchester Silvertip factory loaded) however, no one had any answers after it went to the mail currier and essentially i was out of a rifle.... lol

So how is a crappy mailman the fault of the rifle manufacturer?

 

[skipper907]

This heated up on another thread about Bergara so I better justify my statement "not a tikka fan"

Here's my story to the best of my abilities. Very bummed we did not photo or video this incident but we were in triage mode.

Every November I host my brother and two nephews at my MN cabin for the annual boys deer hunt. All 3 of them shoot 270 Win. Tikka's.
My brother shot a deer and quickly cycled another round. Soon after I got a text that he was jammed and could I walk over. When I got there he handed me his rifle. The next round was jammed in an upward position. The base was under the bolt face and the nose of the round was jammed in the upper receiver just forward of the loading port. No big deal right? Nope. It was jammed so solidly that nothing could be manipulated by hand. Round could not be pulled out and bolt could not be moved.
I palmed the bolt hard downwards to no avail. Finally I picked up a 2 inch club stick off the ground and pounded on the bolt. It became apparent that I was going to snap off the bolt handle. We walked the mile and a half back to the truck where I had a Leatherman in the console. I pried the neck of the round until we could remove the round. Bullet was at a 45 degree angle in case. Case destroyed when it finally came out.

So fool me once Tikka. We had a deer down and truck nearby on this incident, but talked quite a bit that night in camp about being 5 miles in on an elk hunt and this happens. Worse yet if a follow up shot is required.

So I can hear the comments...anomaly, 1-off, short cycle, yada yada. Whatever, I won't own another Tikka. I am 66 years old and have been a rifleman all of my life. Owned and swapped dozens of rifles. Never had a failure like this one.

I am just wondering what rifle meets your standard of reliability ?

 

[ElPollo]

I put the fall on Tikka because my rifle dissapeared. No matter the age it hurts to just lose a rifle, but at 18 when you save your little coin to buy a rifle and it gets swallowed into the abyss it really hurt

Tikka has a lot of strengths, but customer service hasn’t really been one of them. Sorry you had a negative experience.

 

[Schmo]

@go4thegusto ,

Since the Tikka is terrible and you don’t want one, I’ll take it off your hands