Hey All,
New member here - just picked up my first bolt gun ever, after just recently getting involved in firearms about a year ago (came from NJ and a family who isnt a fan, and now live in MI where everyone has a collection). I have since built a mini-collection of handguns, AR platforms, and just added that first bolt gun.
I picked up a Tikka T3 Sporter in .308 Win. 20" Threaded Barrel 1:11 Twist - Why? I'm a lefty and shoot lefty, .308 Win is good enough for most game in North America (never been hunting but want to learn), and am also interested in distance shooting, so .308 Win will probably out-distance my ability for some time. I have also read that these guns can shoot MOA or sub MOA right out the box. I will also be spending a lot of trigger time behind a Mosin to shoot distance and learn and practice given the inexpensiveness of the rounds/firearm(barrel).
Some honesty and some questions - I make a good living for a young person and probably have a bit more money than sense sometimes (I dont do much but work, workout, and shoot) so I really appreciate seasoned advice, but I am also cheap by nature so I try to understand the best value product even if I could potentially afford the high end gear. I also read a ton and do lots of research, but in the YMMV vein, I love opinions of seasoned folks and trust the seasoned group concensus as you all have nothing to sell me or no dog in the fight other than your time and thoughts:
So my questions:
I hope to use this Sporter as a hunting rifle here in Michigan, it'll probably be deer hunting primarily and although I've never been, I cant imagine it will be anything more than a couple hundred meters - but I could also see myself going on hunting trips in the future where distance could be possible. As said, I also would love to use this to learn distance shooting. With that said, what kind of scope power or which in particular would you recommend. From my research - I have found the Spuhr Mount with built-in 20 MOA to be regarded as the best but its also $400+, with Third Eye Tactical Unimount being a close second but also very expensive. Then you could save a ton and get some nice Talley or Seekins rings and a simple picatinny rail. In terms of scope, seems like folks prefer the Nightforce NXS 5.5-22 or Schmidt and Bender scopes - while more value oriented folks prefer the Vortex scopes. Finally, one last question, it seems like most folks have purchased CDI Precision DBM - and forgive my ignorance, but seems that people do this just so they can use the AI mags? Or is the factory magazine the type where you need to drop the bottom metal to get it out so this gives you easier access to dropping the magazine? Similarly to that, I believe the .308 is considered a short action in the Tikka world, and I have read that some have opted for the going to the long action DBM so if they ever decided to rebarrel the action with a larger caliber, they dont have to swap out the DBM - is this advisable?
New member here - just picked up my first bolt gun ever, after just recently getting involved in firearms about a year ago (came from NJ and a family who isnt a fan, and now live in MI where everyone has a collection). I have since built a mini-collection of handguns, AR platforms, and just added that first bolt gun.
I picked up a Tikka T3 Sporter in .308 Win. 20" Threaded Barrel 1:11 Twist - Why? I'm a lefty and shoot lefty, .308 Win is good enough for most game in North America (never been hunting but want to learn), and am also interested in distance shooting, so .308 Win will probably out-distance my ability for some time. I have also read that these guns can shoot MOA or sub MOA right out the box. I will also be spending a lot of trigger time behind a Mosin to shoot distance and learn and practice given the inexpensiveness of the rounds/firearm(barrel).
Some honesty and some questions - I make a good living for a young person and probably have a bit more money than sense sometimes (I dont do much but work, workout, and shoot) so I really appreciate seasoned advice, but I am also cheap by nature so I try to understand the best value product even if I could potentially afford the high end gear. I also read a ton and do lots of research, but in the YMMV vein, I love opinions of seasoned folks and trust the seasoned group concensus as you all have nothing to sell me or no dog in the fight other than your time and thoughts:
So my questions:
I hope to use this Sporter as a hunting rifle here in Michigan, it'll probably be deer hunting primarily and although I've never been, I cant imagine it will be anything more than a couple hundred meters - but I could also see myself going on hunting trips in the future where distance could be possible. As said, I also would love to use this to learn distance shooting. With that said, what kind of scope power or which in particular would you recommend. From my research - I have found the Spuhr Mount with built-in 20 MOA to be regarded as the best but its also $400+, with Third Eye Tactical Unimount being a close second but also very expensive. Then you could save a ton and get some nice Talley or Seekins rings and a simple picatinny rail. In terms of scope, seems like folks prefer the Nightforce NXS 5.5-22 or Schmidt and Bender scopes - while more value oriented folks prefer the Vortex scopes. Finally, one last question, it seems like most folks have purchased CDI Precision DBM - and forgive my ignorance, but seems that people do this just so they can use the AI mags? Or is the factory magazine the type where you need to drop the bottom metal to get it out so this gives you easier access to dropping the magazine? Similarly to that, I believe the .308 is considered a short action in the Tikka world, and I have read that some have opted for the going to the long action DBM so if they ever decided to rebarrel the action with a larger caliber, they dont have to swap out the DBM - is this advisable?
