Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles First experience with Tikka

IMO the best Tikkas were the 595 & 695's

https://ramshot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WesternPowdersHandloadingGuide8.0_WEB.pdf

Was this in a ruger m77? Lol
Just wondering as when I shot this load at 100 yards out my dads tanger, it was right around moa. But At 200 she opened up.
in my tikka they stayed consistent.
For you at At 400 yards and moa. I wouldn’t fuss. But I guess I might have lower standards

I like the fact that a tikka will shoot anything you feed them and shoot lights out. No fuss. Bolt on scope, sight it in, kill game. Absolutely great hunting rifles.

I got my first Tikka @ 12 years ago. I’m really glad I did. The plastic has never given me a problem. The Sako is much nicer aesthetically in that regard. But Tikkas shoot every bit as well.

Now, if you want to talk a really good shooter that’s ugly, we’ll have to start a thread for Steyr Pro Hunter. LOL!!!

Nah, a commercial mauser that I just bought. Great rifle, but a reminder I've been shooting Tikka's too much lately. Maybe I have higher expectations for a rifles precision now? Everyone is always talking about these modern cheap rifles that shoot so well. And most do, so I'll give them that. This new rifle is a wood stocked cheap rifle, that was made between 1981 and 1983. I'm assuming the link you provided is for Western powders data. I already have that printed off and I use it quite a bit. Great info in that one. Everyone, that loads their own, should have a copy of that. The loads I worked up the other day were out of the Hornady manual. The rifle shoots consistently enough with an old load I worked up a long time ago in 5 different 30-06 rifles. I'm sure I could fine tune the load, but it's at moa or less for 3 shots, so why bother? A very good load that has worked in 7 different rifles now. Now I wished I would have bought more than the 750 bullets from crod1972 here. I didn't know those dang Winchester power points would be so reliable and accurate!!! They even kill schidt well. I'm going to load another box of 50 up, but I'm running low.

As for Hunter powder and the bullet I used the other day, I just felt like it fluctuated around too much. Sounds like you were having the same issue. This rifle is pretty sound, but only shot like this at 100:


And this was the best it did at 400:



Other groups at 400 were in the 1.5 moa range:


I'm going to lighten the trigger a hair and work on a different load with different powder. If it shoots better than that with an old Winchester Power Point, something is wrong.. Like I said, don't want to burn up my H4350 on load development. I also don't want to fling a target bullet at steel either because that proves nothing....when it's a solid wood stocked hunting rifle. Like I've told mathman before, if I can get a hunting rifle to shoot sub moa at 400 yards, with a nosler partition or Hornady interlock, that tells me a lot more about the rifle than if I worked up a load with a Sierra match king. That may not make much sense to some people..

Hey BSA have you tried any Ramshot big game powder in your 30-06's? I have had great results with that stuff, its now my go-to powder when loading 30-06....Good luck...Hb

whelp - I finally joined the tikka party after I couldn't pass up a deal on a T3 Hunter in 6.5x55. After adjusting the trigger and getting rid of the mile high rings it came with I went to sight it in and start working through the federal blue box I also bought with the gun to get the brass. Not sure I need to do that anymore though as the first 5-shot group went 0.6 MOA even with a "damnit you idiot that's left" on the first shot. Also rethinking my plans to swap the stock now. I'm impressed.

Dang, I forgot I tried Big Game in one of my pre 64 model 70 fwt's. It worked very well with 165's. My Ruger m77 300 RSAUM likes it too:


It shines in that rifle and my pre 64 likes it. I really like that powder. I'll research my data and see what I can come up with. Found this:



Sorry guys, I realize this thread is about Tikka's. Trust me though, Tikka's are so easy to shoot, that most times they make my other rifles look bad. This goes back to first impressions and actual use of these Tikka's. When I shoot my other rifles, sometimes I'm a little too hard on them because they don't shoot as well. This guy Ccard257, sounds just like my buddy when he shot his stainless Tikka 308 varmint for the first time. His dad gave him the rifle, but he wanted me to check it out for him. Give it a good look over. I pulled the scope mounts off, blue loctited them and threw the old scope back on it. Checked the action screw tightness (I don't use a torque wrench on these), leveled the scope and took it to the range. He shot it first to dial in the scope (an old first gen Vortex viper PST). After he got it close to zeroed, he asked if I'd shoot it to "see what it could really do". My friend is funny, I said, you are the one in SWAT and you want me to shoot it??? Ok, here goes:

Here's the first 5 shot group fired with this old T3^^^^. His dad never shot it. I told him to never get rid of this rifle!!!! I also told him to leave it as is, even though I do not like Vortex scopes. He likes Vortex, so that works out great for him. I warned him about the aluminum recoil lug and that he may need to have it replaced down the road. I told him I'd do it for him, but don't touch it until accuracy starts to fade. My Tikka's and his first Tikka (this stainless T3 varmint) has really won him over. These rifles can be eye openers. All you guys here know that. I like hearing all the stories and looking at target pics and also sharing my experience. This has been a great thread.

Since you like target pics, here was mine. Crosshairs were at the inside edge of the left corner of the innermost diamond when I broke the first shot.

I also use big game with the ol 06. But with 168 ttsx.
Hunter gets little more speed with the 180s vs big game.
Can’t hurt to try though.

I do, but why only 80 yards????

Yeah i have had good luck out of every Ramshot powder i have tried (TAC, Big Game, Magnum) ...Good luck...Hb

Same here! Lol
Tac, big game, hunter. Could not find magnum during pandemic, ended up with mag pro. But now I can’t find magnum primers . FJB

Indoor range 5 minutes from my downtown office. Not ideal but convenient as hell.

I've been a Rem700 guy from the beginning. I picked up a Tikka in .260 just to see what the fuss was about. I'm not sure what model it is, as previous owners have swapped some parts around, but it's got a 24" heavier contour barrel, sits in a varmint stock,and has standard bottom metal. I have lots of retired .308 lapua cases lying around, so I threw a .290 bushing in my Redding Type S FL .308 die, dumped a mid range charge of H4350 in, and seated 140 amax to mag length. At 100m they all touch. Sure, there's room for improvement, but it sure seems like the easy button

Love Easy buttons

I hate Tikka’s.

They proved to me three times over that me building expensive custom rifles won’t give me any better precision than a boxed Tikka can.

Suck it, Tikka!

🦫