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Tikka T3 Thread

My TAC is going to be delivered tomorrow, so 11 days and 5 or 6 hours for me... agreed that this State is stupid!

Well, due to scheduling and availability conflicts I wasn’t able to pick up my new Tikka until this morning. Fortunately my FFL is also one of my best friends and lives across the street, so I was able previously to install my scope and bipod, and to adjust the trigger and chassis a bit.

We took it straight to the range this morning, and I set up on the 100 yard range while he went to test on the shooting gallery. I had loaded up 150 rounds of my standard load I was using for my AR-10 .260 which consists of Lapua brass (these were new), 140 gr Nosler HPBT blems, and 42.4 gr of H4350. I had also worked up a set of ladder rounds 10 each in .2 gr increments starting at 42.2 and working up to 43.0.

I never got the chance to perform the ladder test, and I actually hadn’t really planned to this first outing as I just wanted to break it in and get used to the new platform. I’ll save the ladder test for when I can get out to Pala and take it out to maybe 300 or 500 for more precise feedback.

The rifle is flat out amazing, as I had expected based on all of my research. I shot the first 10 rounds at 5 minute intervals, and ran a patch of Ed’s Red through before each subsequent shot. Once that was done I focused on walking in the scope settings. After finally getting close on paper I then shot a few three shot groups, and was rewarded with some of the best groups I’ve shot to date. Admittedly im a novice, especially with a modern bolt rifle and decent glass (Vortex Viper 6-24).

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Can’t wait to go shoot again, and get time to work on the software and then test out the ladder. What an amazing rifle for the price point - it is everything that I had hoped for, and is a dream to shoot as the .260 (with the factory break (which performs very well on this rifle)) is mild, accurate and cost effective.
 
Well, due to scheduling and availability conflicts I wasn’t able to pick up my new Tikka until this morning. Fortunately my FFL is also one of my best friends and lives across the street, so I was able previously to install my scope and bipod, and to adjust the trigger and chassis a bit.

We took it straight to the range this morning, and I set up on the 100 yard range while he went to test on the shooting gallery. I had loaded up 150 rounds of my standard load I was using for my AR-10 .260 which consists of Lapua brass (these were new), 140 gr Nosler HPBT blems, and 42.4 gr of H4350. I had also worked up a set of ladder rounds 10 each in .2 gr increments starting at 42.2 and working up to 43.0.

I never got the chance to perform the ladder test, and I actually hadn’t really planned to this first outing as I just wanted to break it in and get used to the new platform. I’ll save the ladder test for when I can get out to Pala and take it out to maybe 300 or 500 for more precise feedback.

The rifle is flat out amazing, as I had expected based on all of my research. I shot the first 10 rounds at 5 minute intervals, and ran a patch of Ed’s Red through before each subsequent shot. Once that was done I focused on walking in the scope settings. After finally getting close on paper I then shot a few three shot groups, and was rewarded with some of the best groups I’ve shot to date. Admittedly im a novice, especially with a modern bolt rifle and decent glass (Vortex Viper 6-24).

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View attachment 7064975View attachment 7064976

Can’t wait to go shoot again, and get time to work on the software and then test out the ladder. What an amazing rifle for the price point - it is everything that I had hoped for, and is a dream to shoot as the .260 (with the factory break (which performs very well on this rifle)) is mild, accurate and cost effective.


They are indeed incredible rifles. I cannot think of a better value proposition.
 
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I picked up a Tac-A1 in 6.5 Creedmoor after seeing the snipers hide video and a few others. It's my first real precision rifle and shoots the lights out. Prone and from a bench it's consistently 3/8 MOA. At a local match I was able to go 10/10 on a 6-inch plate at 600 yards with 10-15mph winds.

I'm at 1,200 rounds down the barrel. What does everyone recommend as a replacement barrel? I've never replaced a barrel on a bolt gun before so this is kind of new to me. I know at my local club, everyone uses The Firm Rifles for gunsmithing. Should I just buy a blank from Bartlein/Hawk Hill/Krieger etc and send it off to the smith?
 
I picked up a Tac-A1 in 6.5 Creedmoor after seeing the snipers hide video and a few others. It's my first real precision rifle and shoots the lights out. Prone and from a bench it's consistently 3/8 MOA. At a local match I was able to go 10/10 on a 6-inch plate at 600 yards with 10-15mph winds.

I'm at 1,200 rounds down the barrel. What does everyone recommend as a replacement barrel? I've never replaced a barrel on a bolt gun before so this is kind of new to me. I know at my local club, everyone uses The Firm Rifles for gunsmithing. Should I just buy a blank from Bartlein/Hawk Hill/Krieger etc and send it off to the smith?
I put 2000 rounds thru the factory barrel. Did not need to, but wanted to. I put a Krieger M24 on it. The accuracy improved very slightly, but the velocity improved 90 fps.
 
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I picked up a Tac-A1 in 6.5 Creedmoor after seeing the snipers hide video and a few others. It's my first real precision rifle and shoots the lights out. Prone and from a bench it's consistently 3/8 MOA. At a local match I was able to go 10/10 on a 6-inch plate at 600 yards with 10-15mph winds.

I'm at 1,200 rounds down the barrel. What does everyone recommend as a replacement barrel? I've never replaced a barrel on a bolt gun before so this is kind of new to me. I know at my local club, everyone uses The Firm Rifles for gunsmithing. Should I just buy a blank from Bartlein/Hawk Hill/Krieger etc and send it off to the smith?
I have a 308 Tac A1 and it shoots like you’ve described. Such a great rifle.
 
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I'm sure you have seen plenty of these. My choices were slim for a factory heavy barreled 6.5 Left handed rifle (being cross-eye dominant sucks). So the Tikka Tac A1 seemed like the best bet. I don't particularly care for the chassis so I am getting ready to order a KRG Whiskey that I will modify for left-hand. Contemplating the removal of the scope rail so I can sell the chassis as a complete kit but I imagine the market for a LH Tac A1 chassis is pretty small.

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I just picked up a Tac A1, ordered a Vortex Razor HD genII 4.5-27x56 with the new reticle. A friend has a 34mm 1piece (1.44") Nightforce scope mount with a 20moa base for sale, cheap. Will the mount work with the aforementioned combo? Thanks.
 
On my rifle above that is a zero MOA 1.54" Geissele mount. It will be close but looks like it will work. Not sure about lens cap though.
 
I have a 20 MOA LaRue and Bushnell HDMR II on mine. I’ve found it to be a great value proposition. I love the chassis, but in fairness (a) personal taste is what it is and (b) I love almost every chassis I’ve used!!!
 
One of the positives the chassis was supposed to have is their claimed "AR fore-end interface". I determined this simply wasn't the case before I bought the rifle but bought it anyway. Don't get me wrong, the chassis does its job.
 
One of the positives the chassis was supposed to have is their claimed "AR fore-end interface". I determined this simply wasn't the case before I bought the rifle but bought it anyway. Don't get me wrong, the chassis does its job.

I wonder if there are any hand guards that would work. Maybe the Midwest Industries, it has similar mounting...
 
Tikka said Sub MOA and it shoots Sub MOA, with the factory barrel, with all my loads, with (now) 8 different bullets.
:sneaky:

With the 139gr. Lapua Scenar in my 6.5 CM I´m around .25 (sometimes less) MOA with 3 shots (if the pilot does his thing).
 
One of the positives the chassis was supposed to have is their claimed "AR fore-end interface". I determined this simply wasn't the case before I bought the rifle but bought it anyway. Don't get me wrong, the chassis does its job.

I actually don’t like the Tac chassis, it’s heavy and the ergos on lop are not ideal for me. I stripped the rifle down after a buyer in here backed out from purchasing it off me, and the scope mount was so over torqued that two of the four are stripped out. I called Beretta and their tech support told me the mount screws are loctited permanently and aren’t supposed to be removed. I laughed....they did say they would drill them out for me. I might just leave the scope mount in place, and swap out to an xray or bravo chassis call it good. The stock Tac A1 0 moa mount just sits a little higher than a regular base, which I don’t mind.

I rattle canned my Tac this week as well...
 

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I actually don’t like the Tac chassis, it’s heavy and the ergos on lop are not ideal for me. I stripped the rifle down after a buyer in here backed out from purchasing it off me, and the scope mount was so over torqued that two of the four are stripped out. I called Beretta and their tech support told me the mount screws are loctited permanently and aren’t supposed to be removed. I laughed....they did say they would drill them out for me. I might just leave the scope mount in place, and swap out to an xray or bravo chassis call it good. The stock Tac A1 0 moa mount just sits a little higher than a regular base, which I don’t mind.

It might be a bit hard to sell tac a1 chassis without picatinny rail because front handle is attached to the rail. I haven't found a part number for tac a1 picatinny rail and I don't know if it's available anywhere.
 
I picked up a Tac-A1 in 6.5 Creedmoor after seeing the snipers hide video and a few others. It's my first real precision rifle and shoots the lights out. Prone and from a bench it's consistently 3/8 MOA. At a local match I was able to go 10/10 on a 6-inch plate at 600 yards with 10-15mph winds.

I'm at 1,200 rounds down the barrel. What does everyone recommend as a replacement barrel? I've never replaced a barrel on a bolt gun before so this is kind of new to me. I know at my local club, everyone uses The Firm Rifles for gunsmithing. Should I just buy a blank from Bartlein/Hawk Hill/Krieger etc and send it off to the smith?


I had 1700 rounds through my factory 6.5 barrel when I swapped it. It was giving me a lot of fliers and inconsistencies that I had never experienced before so I figured it was time. Best bet is sending it off to a reputable smith, most smiths will have a stock pile of blanks you can chose from as well, or at least mine did.
 
It might be a bit hard to sell tac a1 chassis without picatinny rail because front handle is attached to the rail. I haven't found a part number for tac a1 picatinny rail and I don't know if it's available anywhere.

Yeah, that’s why I was trying to remove it....I’ve painted it now, so it will just collect dust. The Tac A1 chassis seems like a direct copy of the Ruger RPR, and Tikka didn’t put a lot of thought into it.
 
Tikka T3 stocks from Iota/Horizon are done! Fit and finish is excellent and I promised to post pics when I got them. These are both factory T3 300 wsm’s, one with factory plastic dbm and the other with the metal dbm from mountain tactical. Really like the weight balance and ergonomics. Colors are molded in and shape feels similar to game scout/game warden which has always been a favorite of mine. Nice thumb shelf to boot. Supposed to be available at stockys.
 

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Yeah, that’s why I was trying to remove it....I’ve painted it now, so it will just collect dust. The Tac A1 chassis seems like a direct copy of the Ruger RPR, and Tikka didn’t put a lot of thought into it.

I heard that it needs a lot of heat to get those screws loose. I was looking for tac a1 chassis but stock might be better option for me because I don’t want to install scope that high.

I recently read that KRG is developing a Bravo that uses CTR mags

That would be really nice and not that expensive stock. I’m saving for PSE composites e-tac which is awesome stock that uses CTR mags but it’s not cheap. However price is very reasonable for the work and materials put into it!
 
I heard that it needs a lot of heat to get those screws loose. I was looking for tac a1 chassis but stock might be better option for me because I don’t want to install scope that high.



That would be really nice and not that expensive stock. I’m saving for PSE composites e-tac which is awesome stock that uses CTR mags but it’s not cheap. However price is very reasonable for the work and materials put into it!


The Tac scope rail doesn’t sit that much higher than a standard 700 moa rail. I actually like the extra clearance it gives you.
 
It might be a bit hard to sell tac a1 chassis without picatinny rail because front handle is attached to the rail. I haven't found a part number for tac a1 picatinny rail and I don't know if it's available anywhere.

It is not available to order. And that comes directly from Beretta/Tikka. The only way to get one from them is to send in your rifle to Beretta for repair, and then they will supply and install the rail for a lot of $$$$. EGW 20 MOA is the only option currently, which is what I ordered for mine, since it came without the rail.
 
They told me that 3 years ago. Got tired of waiting.

Man that's disappointing. They told me a month ago they were tooling up for Tikka inlets. Glad i went ahead and got something. That's the only real knock for Tikka IMO, it's pretty hard to just find a suitable high end stock on the shelf. Either has to be made to order or pay what a manners cost (which i would love but right now can't do that)
 
Man that's disappointing. They told me a month ago they were tooling up for Tikka inlets. Glad i went ahead and got something. That's the only real knock for Tikka IMO, it's pretty hard to just find a suitable high end stock on the shelf. Either has to be made to order or pay what a manners cost (which i would love but right now can't do that)

I’ve been asking gray or for tikka inlets for almost a year. Same story... Soon. I dumped my tikkas for now. They’ll get there though, but I think with the success of their other products it’s given them a little less time for development.
 
I’ve been asking gray or for tikka inlets for almost a year. Same story... Soon. I dumped my tikkas for now. They’ll get there though, but I think with the success of their other products it’s given them a little less time for development.

I think they're missing a large chunk of the market, but yeah given their success i can see that. Smart move to take on the 22lr crowd too because and this is just me speaking of course, i'd have a really hard time dropping 800+ on a manners for a 22lr.
 
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Same here, but 2 years ago. I was disappointed, but love my Manners.

I love my McMillan, however my J Allen's are so easy to get behind and very adjustable that they were well worth the investments. Luckily companies are catching on to how popular the tikka has become and have alot more offerings.
 
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How the hell are you guys getting the oem Tac rail off? It’s too late for me, as I’ve stripped out two of the four screws.

I used an impact torx and a small impact nut driver. Then I whacked the rail hard a couple times with a dead blow hammer. Then pryed it off with my hands. If you stripped them you might be able to use a small easy out on it.
 
Found in another thread that EGW has Tac A1 specific rails now. And even have a video on removal/install.




That was a new info for me! Thanks :) Video of the remove was quite useless because someone had done the hard stuff and loosened the screws beforehand.

They should make also 0 MOA rail because it's preferred to have 0 MOA rail and needed MOA's in mount here in Europe. Someone might want to have a replace for stock rail for some reason.
 
I used an impact torx and a small impact nut driver. Then I whacked the rail hard a couple times with a dead blow hammer. Then pryed it off with my hands. If you stripped them you might be able to use a small easy out on it.


I’m over it...I’m leaving it on, and will see how it looks with the krg Bravo. Functional wise, it’s no different than running the original Tac A1 chassis, and I already have a Leupold MK6 20 moa scope mount to use.
 
Just completed my Tikka T3 223 build:

* Started life as a Tikka T3 Lite in 204 Ruger
* Bartlein 0.224" 1:7.5 twist, heavy palma, SS barrel, 23" long
* Action & barrel cerakoted in graphite black
* KRG Whiskey 3 chassis gen 6, in Sako green
* MDT AICS polymer 223 magazines (10 round)
* Spuhr ST-4701 mount
* Vortex Razor HD Gen II 4.5-27x56 EBR-2C MRAD scope
* Sterk swept bolt handle
* BT46-LW17 PSR Atlas bipod

Big thanks to this forum for the info & advice I got to help me spec up this build.

Just noticed the photo didn't work properly on my previous post.

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Question for Tac A1 owners in regards to the two stage trigger. I adjusted the set screw down all the way, and I’m getting avg of 1 lbs 11 oz on my digital Lyman pull gauge. What are you guys seeing after making adjustments?
 
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I really need a 7 RM....how do you like that chassis? Any input on the fitment?

I bought the rifle in this form. This action is pillar bedded into the Manners T4 MCS (carbon fiber) stock with a CDI bottom metal and uses AICS magazines. The magazines fit perfectly and feeding is excellent as long as the OAL of the cartridge is less than 3.41" which is the length of the action inlet from the bottom. The action and stock are VERY light!! I haven't weighed the combo, but I would not be surprised if with my optic the whole thing weighed under 8 pounds.

I am planning on attaching a kydex cheek rest to obtain my preferred cheek weld.

The person who did the bedding did an *okay* job based on my experiences with working on firearms for the last several years. Not the best, not the worst. I'll probably do a full bedding in a few months because when I place the action in the stock, there is still probably .005" of movement of the action on top of the recoil lug.

Overall, this thing is AWESOME. The action is super smooth, the 75* bolt throw is excellent, and this is by far the best factory trigger I have ever used in my life. I have it set to break like a glass rod at 2 pounds. No takeup at all. Amazing.
 
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