New to me Tikka T3

[Brad]

I own 2 AR15s and appreciate them for what they are.
My handguns are all steel and my rifles are all in wood stocks, other than the 2 ARs. No stainless rifles but many stainless handguns.

I can appreciate the fact that plastic pistols fit a niche. If I was in bad weather often or needed a knock around handgun they would be my first choice.

 

[Ole_270]

Son-In-Law bought the previous version, 695? Whitetail Hunter in 243, a number of years ago. It's the most consistently accurate rifle across all loads I've ever been around. Extractor broke after a few years and it took 6 months or more to find a replacement. He's moved on to other projects because as Ian said, it was just boring.

 

[Winelover]

Plastic pistols fill a niche. They tend to be lighter in weight. A boon for carry. Most have exchangeable back straps for alternate grip choices. Some manufactures even offer different sized frames, to adapt to just about any size hand.

 

[Gary]

Talk about thread drift; I love it!!

 

[Ian]

First groups are in! This is Ben's load of 6.5 grains Bullseye and LPPs behind a heavy-ish bullet, in this case Accurate 31-188Gs gas checked and powder coated, at 50 yards to get on target. Mirage was horrible right after the rain showers and early afternoon sun, wagging the crosshairs almost an inch. Trevor does better!

 

[Ben]

I'd say that you are off to a good start.

Ben

 

[Rockydoc]

First groups are in! This is Ben's load of 6.5 grains Bullseye and LPPs behind a heavy-ish bullet, in this case Accurate 31-188Gs gas checked and powder coated, at 50 yards to get on target. Mirage was horrible right after the rain showers and early afternoon sun, wagging the crosshairs almost an inch. Trevor does better!

View attachment 16354

Horizontal is consistent, vertical tweaking will fix it right up .

 

[462]

Trevor does better!

Trevor's a tough act to follow.

 

[S Mac]

Trevor's a tough act to follow.

Trevor sets the bar high.

 

[Brother_Love]

Love the T3, mine was 308 and now it’s a JES 358 win. It will thread a needle if I do my part. Great rifles!

 

[Ian]

I stepped up to a little more brisk loads, beginning with IMR 4320 because I have a lot of it and it produces relatively low muzzle pressure. I got tje targets out of order but starting at 37 grains made a nice, round group at 50. Not so good at 100, but the barrel was hot. I loaded another 5 at 37 and five more at 39 while the barrel cooled. First shot was way high (typical with PC unless cleaning the barrel first) and a sorta group, asjusted windage a smidge, then 5 @ 39 and an almost decent group appeared.

Loaded two more at 38 to see if I missed anything and nope, just a cool bore flyer, some vertical from the shooter's shoulder getting sore, and a wild last shot from a smoking hot barrel. I had fun and got my shoulder whacked around sufficiently to feel like I did something today.

 

[Spindrift]

Very good start, Ian!

 

[Ian]

More groups today, all at 100 yards from a good bench. I set the Uniflow to drop 30 grains of Reloder 7 and stuffed ten each Hoch 175s, MP 30-180 SIL solids, and Lee group buy 311041s on top. Bumped it to 34 and loaded 10 more Hochs just for the hell of it.







Then 34 grains:



A while later, rinse and repeat:



I shot the other five MP bullets in my host's nice '03/03-A3 Frankenstoration, got 4 into 1.5" at 80 yards with issue sights, 5th wouldn't chamber (neck sized and fireformed to my Tikka).



Ok, excuse time. Seriously, he bumped the bench just as I broke the shot and of course flyer.



Anyway, there you have it. Not barn burners but a distinct tendency toward MOA. I'll wager that most would have been 3/4" if I had cleaned before each. The barrel had cooled enough tobthrow the first shot just about evey time.

 

[Ben]

Fine shooting.

Ben

 

[Ian]

This powder coat thing still has some dim corners. If I stay after it, slowly, the groups hold, but if the rifle sits for 30 minutes between groups the next shot will be high. Not much but enough to make a 3/4" group into....how did Beagle put it? I don't know about this rifle but my LR-308 will put the first shot from a clean, cool barrel dead center in the group.

 

[fiver]

copper wrapped bullets will do it too.
my 7ICL stabs the first 2 shots about in the same hole then 3-4-5 drop about 3/8th's of an inch and move left about the same amount.
I can live with it since it works out to around an inch at 300yds.

 

[Spindrift]

Very good shooting and results! That Tikka is obviously a shooter. I bet the 30grs Rx7 load is quite pleasant to shoot.

I’m not familiar with the Hoch bullet, I dimly remember having seen it in one of your previous posts.

 

[Ian]

Nose pour. Ben has one just like it. Real trick to cast with it because the base plate cools off so fast and has so little contact with the hot lead. I resorted to flipping the mould after the sprue set and pouring a spot of alloy on the base plate to keep the temperature up. The Hoch bullets obviously shot the best but only by a small margin. The other two moulds are six-cavity, so I think I can live with about one MOA for the convenience.

 

[Mowgli Terry]

I did pick up a pre-owned T3 in 338 Federal before the current revival. I don't know about the newer models Tikka. This older rifle is excellent in all respects. The rifle is this way with much plastic. So what, the rifle does what it's supposed to do very well. This rifle was made by people who had made one or two guns before they got to mine.

 

[Rushcreek]

I got the first 22-250 T3 Hunter that I saw when they came out. It's the best rifle in that chambering that I've owned and I've had multiple Remingtons, Winchesters, Rugers and Savages. The only gun that came close was a stainless A7 Sako synthetic-but it was Ugly. My lifetime wife bought me a 25-06 T3 Hunter for my 50th Birthday and it is a jewel as well. I HAD a T3 Hunter for a while in the rare 8x57mm and it was a cast shooting machine. Unexpected situations forced me to sell it.....Your new 30-06 will make you very happy- I do recommend cutting the butt at 90° and installing a quality recoil pad. The recoil pad is the only flaw on the T3 as far as I'm concerned. I would by a LH Tikka in a heartbeat even though I'm severely RH.