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Tikka T3 Thread

I was shooting factory 140s from my tikka t3x w a 20” at around .5 MOA easily. They’ll do great. I also had them out to a 1000 so much trouble too. You should do great with them. Like I said, they won’t be as fast but they be accurate! Good luck! And if you ever want to go longer check out Patriot Valley Arms for prefit rebarrels! Spin the old 20” off (with some work) and throw on a 26” pre fit at home! Then ya got a hunting barrel and a long range steel ringer :)
Thanks man.
 
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My 1-10” T3 Lite Stainless (not T3x) shoots 50 gr V-Max and 50 gr Ballistic Tip Varmint into little bitty groups with a max charge of Benchmark at 2.276” oal. Work up to it. 3400 fps at the muzzle.




P
Thanks for the real world experience! I'll have to try lighter bullets.
 
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Stupid n00b question(s):

what do I get with the varmint barrel vs the lite barrel? It is as simple as the heavier barrel that heats up slower?

I know the actions are the same.

M
 
Stupid n00b question(s):

what do I get with the varmint barrel vs the lite barrel? It is as simple as the heavier barrel that heats up slower?

I know the actions are the same.

M
You get a heavier barrel that you can have threaded 5/8-24, 5rd mag instead of a three, and a stock with a wider beavertail on the forend and a higher comb to better line your eye up with a scope.
 
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You get a heavier barrel that you can have threaded 5/8-24, 5rd mag instead of a three, and a stock with a wider beavertail on the forend and a higher comb to better line your eye up with a scope.
this is going into a chassis, so some of that stuff is irrelevant

M
 
A refresh on my shorty Tikka….
T3 action with 17.5” Carbon Six barrel in 6.5CM, in a KRG Bravo with XRay rear end. Steiner 4-16x. Sponge camo, pretty happy the way it turned out. Usually wears a Sandman-S too.

Haven’t had the stones to paint my Tac A1 😂
 

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A refresh on my shorty Tikka….
T3 action with 17.5” Carbon Six barrel in 6.5CM, in a KRG Bravo with XRay rear end. Steiner 4-16x. Sponge camo, pretty happy the way it turned out. Usually wears a Sandman-S too.

Haven’t had the stones to paint my Tac A1 😂
How does it shoot?
 
Pretty good I’d say, but I haven’t really gotten this one to longer ranges yet. 0.5 - 0.75 MOA depending on my part at 100-200 yards so far. So hard to say definitely.

My Tac A1 on the other hand, is a hammer and I’ve taken it out to 1,000.
 
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The Tikka Varmint that's on its way is all y'all's fault! Y'all are like the pusher man.

Can't wait!

Add one more style of PRS shooting to the quiver: 22, gas gun, and now centerfire

ONE of these days I may figure it all out and actually do well in the matches

M
 
It is stupid, that how come Tikka does not do any of modern .243 calibers, only shit is 243win.
Where are 6 creedmoor, 6gt, 6xc, 6 dasher etc.
Only one old fart on the list.
Or modern 30 cals like 300 PRC. Bergara does a great one. Why not Tikka? A sweet 28” barreled heavy contour barrel on a Tikka action?! I’d be all over that! They JUST came out w the 6.5 PRC w a 24” but no 26” barrel…. Missed opportunities!
 
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I got my new Tikka CTR build out today for the first time. 20 inch stainless 308 CTR, McMillan A3 Carbon Edge stock, Warne Mountain Tech rings, NF NXS 2.5-10x42, and a DA Nomad LT can. I tried a ballpark load with some Varget, 168 Amax in new Lapua brass. This is one of the first groups with less than 20 rounds down the pipe.

Another Tikka satisfies the less than 1 moa guarantee... again.
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Or modern 30 cals like 300 PRC. Bergara does a great one. Why not Tikka? A sweet 28” barreled heavy contour barrel on a Tikka action?! I’d be all over that! They JUST came out w the 6.5 PRC w a 24” but no 26” barrel…. Missed opportunities!
Im not sure, who is the person in the factory.
Maybe people should write to the factory, that could you do these calibers.
[email protected]
Send email to factory.
More posse sending i want messages, maybe they will listen to customers.
 
A Tikka T3 .223a.i. with Hart barrel and average furniture/glass. That rig shot boringly accurate. A 12 twist old school 55 grainer rifle.
aa.i. chamber
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The Tikka Varmint that's on its way is all y'all's fault! Y'all are like the pusher man.

Can't wait!

Add one more style of PRS shooting to the quiver: 22, gas gun, and now centerfire

ONE of these days I may figure it all out and actually do well in the matches

M

75 ELDM and TAC is your huckleberry.



P
 
Ok wow what a nightmare. Few pages back we were talking about taking a factory barrel off my T3 to swap in a 6.5 Proof prefit.

Well that didn’t work in any normal way. Kroil, external Wheeler #1, etc. And I didn’t want to relief cut the factory barrel.

So I ordered a spare T3x stripped action. Easy right? Wrong lol. The new Proof prefit + T3x action is headpsacing 0.002 past the NOGO gauge. In the factory barreled action the bolt will not close on the NOGO. I’ve ordered another T3 bolt to check in this new setup as another data point.

Good news is, headspace should be within the FIELD gauge, that delivers tomorrow and will confirm. I don’t reload so I don’t care about the brass but wondering what if any affect this will have on accuracy. Going to talk to proof Monday. Could have my local smith take a couple thou off the shoulder but I won’t have time to do that before my next course. Thoughts?

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There is no standard to no-go gauges. Order from a different place and it might not close. You'll be fine.
Good to hear, I was going off of the Forester set I have, and the SAAMI specs for 6.5

Per Forster

GO: 1.541
NOGO: 1.545
Approx headspace w Proof prefit (NOGO + 2thou thick tape): 1.547
FIELD: 1.549 (which I assume is max per SAAMI)
 
Good to hear, I was going off of the Forester set I have, and the SAAMI specs for 6.5

Per Forster

GO: 1.541
NOGO: 1.545
Approx headspace w Proof prefit (NOGO + 2thou thick tape): 1.547
FIELD: 1.549 (which I assume is max per SAAMI)
Did you torque the receiver on or just hand tight?
 
My lil Thumper, started life as a Tikka T3 Boar Cabelas exclusive. Replaced the front bead with the Tikka Battue fiber and placed it in a Boyds Walnut Platinum stock. Simple and clean. 300WM 8lbs 5 oz with scope, 6 lbs 15 oz with irons only. Kinda my own Tikka version of the Sako Grizzly.

View attachment 7170195
I just ordered this same stock and then found this post. I ordered the same thing down to the recoil pad. I hope my wood is as beautiful as yours.
 
The Tikka sisters zeroed in and ready for the hunting season.

.22LR T1x shooting SK Rifle Match, for now. Will try SK Long Range Match if I can ever get my hands on some.
6.5 Creedmoor T3x CTR shooting 143 gr ELD-X still, planning on moving on to 120 gr Sako Blade.
9.3x62 T3 will continue delivering 220 grain Naturalis LR monolithics.

All have the swept Sterk bolt handles from @cannoncrossfire
Sorry for the extremely poor lighting.

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Just wanted to give a plug here for PVA prefit shouldered tikka barrels here. @bohem has done an insane job at offering a killer screw on at home barrel for the Tikka actions.

The fist pic is of my “break in” rounds. 20 shot group w shitty factory ammo, not trying to hold a tight group but she did anyway. 5 shots, clean, repeat 4x. Also gained about 50fps over my 20” w the new 26” barrel.
 
Or modern 30 cals like 300 PRC. Bergara does a great one. Why not Tikka? A sweet 28” barreled heavy contour barrel on a Tikka action?! I’d be all over that! They JUST came out w the 6.5 PRC w a 24” but no 26” barrel…. Missed opportunities!
300 PRC COAL is too long for the action and the stock mags.

Love my Tikkas... But they are best as XM or short action.
 
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OK, an update from prefit hell (not really). Spoke with Proof, since it was below SAAMI max they didn't see a huge issue with it, provided it was performing. So I shot it today, 60 rounds. No issues w accuracy, 5 round groups yielding a 0.48 average so I'm happy for now. It did seem to group really well for 3-4 rounds (0.25-0.3MOA) and have one flyer, but I'll put that on me. Going to chrono around 100 rounds, apparently these barrels speed up around there and may see some accuracy improvements. Hoping for 2700-2750fps out of my 22" barrel.

With the Proof barrel in the Spuhr chassis, she's sitting at 14.8# loaded with 12 rounds as pictured here. Definitely happy with where things shook out overall with my first deep dive into bolt guns.

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Tikka makes a 300 WM. The only difference bw the short and long action on the Tikka is the bolt stop and bolt face.
Well aware.

300 PRC has a longer COAL than a 300 WM. Max OEM mag length on T3x is ~3.37. COAL on a 300 prc is 3.575+.

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Good luck getting heavy bullets in the factory magazine in 300 mag, or 7 mag. Can't seat them very close to the lands. The 300 WSM, 7 SAUM, or 7 PRC are better choices for a Tikka action.
Exactly. 👍

Mine are setup for a lighter weight mtn rifle, a 6 CM and a 6.5 CM / 7SAUM switch barrel.

300 PRC is in a real long action. It's not worth messing with the Tikka for those length cartridges IMPO.
 
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An updated picture of my tikka. 16” 223ai. Cut down the factory 1:8 twist barrel and AI’d it. I also have a PVA 26” 223 barrel
 

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