The latest evolution of the Tikka T3 "Practical rifle"

I sold a rifle that was seeing little use and ordered a McMillan Edge for my chopped T3.

It arrived and I bolted it up, after cutting a couple action screws to proper length, so they could be torqued to a decent poundage.

In spite of previously running AI mags, I chose to skip it. The AI mags are awesome, but I concluded that I am totally happy with the factory 5 and 3 round mags for what I do. Plus the combo of AI 10 round mags, ammo and laminate stock made for a rifle that was heavier than I preferred.

The new setup has a nice balance, and shoulders easily.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...psoiafuh7c.jpg

Looking forward to getting a chance to zero it, and give it a test run on some steel plates.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lost River

I sold a rifle that was seeing little use and ordered a McMillan Edge for my chopped T3.

It arrived and I bolted it up, after cutting a couple action screws to proper length, so they could be torqued to a decent poundage.

In spite of previously running AI mags, I chose to skip it. The AI mags are awesome, but I concluded that I am totally happy with the factory 5 and 3 round mags for what I do. Plus the combo of AI 10 round mags, ammo and laminate stock made for a rifle that was heavier than I preferred.

The new setup has a nice balance, and shoulders easily.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...psoiafuh7c.jpg

Looking forward to getting a chance to zero it, and give it a test run on some steel plates.

Nice rifle. I'm looking at taking mine in the same direction. I feel like the Tikka stock is probably the best of the injection-molded stocks that I've seen, but it's not comparable to a McMillan.

Looking forward to seeing your results.

Okie John

I've never seen an NXS 2.5-10X24 on a bolt gun. It looks good on there!

Quote:

Originally Posted by M2CattleCo

I've never seen an NXS 2.5-10X24 on a bolt gun. It looks good on there!

I agree. Good looking rifle!

I like this rifle a lot. I've owned several T3 rifles and planning a similar rig with a T3x soon.

Went and zeroed after putting the gun in the new stock.

A few things that were reinforced.

Very light rifles, really make you focus on fundamentals, and you cannot get sloppy.

4 shots into 3/4" quickly turn into a 1&1/2" group because you relax right as the last shot breaks.

It is not the gun.

Once you quit being sloppy, even a short, lightweight gun can really stack bullets.

On the short drive back to the house, I went through the same mental gymnastics I have gone through over and over. For big game hunting, I really should just keep my Tikka .308 and .300 and get rid of everything else.

Tikka T3 +.308 +Nightforce Compact+McMillan Edge= Rifleman's Nirvana.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...psr0gpzmy0.jpg

Tikka GP Rifle Post_v1

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lost River

Tikka T3 +.308 +Nightforce Compact+McMillan Edge= Rifleman's Nirvana.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...psr0gpzmy0.jpg

Pretty much.

Here’s my attempt at it:

http://i.imgur.com/i8mT09K.jpg

I’ve spent the last 18 months working with manually-operated long guns as a result of these four threads:
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....cal-rifle-quot
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....fle-circa-2016
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ong-gun-choice
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....f-that-happens

There are a lot of good ideas in these four threads, and with a little judicious trading, I ended up with a T3 in 308 and a T3x in 30-06. I ended up with these cartridges because I got good deals on the rifles. I thought that I’d favor the 30-06, but then I chronographed them side by side and saw just how close to identical they really are. That said, I’ll probably keep both because you can find good, cheap ammo for them anywhere in the US and I should be able to feed at least one of them in the event of another ammo panic. I may grab a 270 if I stumble into one at a good price for the same reason.

In my 308, I tested 10 factory loads, a fraction of what’s available, and skewed toward 150-grain bullets. Two or three of these loads run at published velocity, and the rest run ~50-70 fps slower, which is still pretty fast. 2-3 factory loads shot around 1 MOA. Handloads run about as fast as factory, but tend to be more accurate. I haven’t done a lot of load development—and probably won’t—but I get the impression that handloads won’t go much faster in this rifle. On the other hand, it was easy to get sub-MOA groups with handloads. The only 180-grain factory load that I tested clocked right at 2,500 fps despite a published velocity of 2,660 fps, and averaged just under 2 MOA. The 180-grain handload that I tested went 2,600 fps, with similar accuracy.

I tested fewer loads in the 30-06. Factory 150-grain loads tested no faster than factory 308/150, but handloads can crowd 3,000 fps. 180-grain factory loads are 50-70 fps below published velocity, but that’s still 150-ish fps faster than factory 308/180. 180-grain handloads can do 2,750 with ease and might hit 2,800, which is starting to crowd some factory 300 H&H loads. Recoil is noticebaly more than the 308 but still not bad.

There’s a fair amount of FMJ ammo out there for both cartridges. The better grades shoot as well as most factory hunting ammo, or about 1.5 MOA. Most 30-06 FMJ (especially from the DCM) is loaded to avoid battering the M-1 Garand’s operating rod, and trajectory is identical to 308 FMJ ammo. Fortunately, the trajectory of these loads out to 500 yards is nearly identical to that of the 180-grain Nosler Partition in the 30-06, so they all make good training stand-ins. I’ve been able to get hits to ~425 yards easily with DCM 30-06 ammo, which is farther than I’d ever shoot on game.

In short, get a 308 if you want 150-grain bullets and a 30-06 if you want 180-grain bullets.

I shoot either prone over a ruck or from a bench with a front rest but no rear bag. I don’t use a Lead Sled or other type of rest, so I’m not the guy to give you pure accuracy figures. Both of these rifles shoot about 1.25 MOA with factory loads and my technique, and 1 MOA or a bit better with handloads. The rifles themselves are likely far more accurate given a better shooter. Also, even though the barrels are NOT truly free-floated, a tight sling doesn’t shift POI.

There’s not much to say about the rifles themselves that hasn’t already been said around here.

My rifles are basically stock. I'll probably lighten the triggers at some point.
Differences between the T3 and T3x are not worth getting excited about. If I buy another one, price will be the tie-breaker.
Clean them every 2-300 rounds.
These rifles are Lite in name only. With the scope pictured, this rifle weighs very close to 8 pounds.
Balance very well. Stocks are 22-24 ounces, with slightly heavier barrels than you’d expect.
I like them because they’re ready to go. They DON’T need bedding or other tweaks to shoot well out of the box.

I'm a bit less satisfied with the scope, a Leupold VX-R 3-9x40 with the Ballistic Firedot reticle (their item number 111236). I got it because I wanted an illuminated reticles for hunting in western Washington. I’ve talked about that in other posts, so I won’t go into it here.

You can see details on the scope at https://www.leupold.com/hunting-shoo...vx-r-3-9x40mm/ It has a 30mm tube, actual magnification is 3.3x-8.6x, and the optical quality, smoothness of operation, and precision are typical for Leupold. The illuminated reticle is what Leupold calls the Ballistic Firedot. It looks like this:

http://i.imgur.com/0vMDUNg.png

It sits in Leupold PRW rings on a Warne 1913-type rail. Unfortunately, the bits of information you really need to have about these scopes are scattered across Leupold’s site, so I’ve included the URL for applicable references throughout the rest of this post.

The reticle’s dimensions are about right for a hunting scope designed for use in low light. Leupold’s marketing copy (page 6 at https://www.leupold.com/wp-content/u...nformation.pdf) says that it’s “designed for extended range shooting when fast target acquisition is critical, the Ballistic FireDot® is ideal for varmint, antelope, and longer-range shots on big game. The extra-bright centerpoint dot keeps you on target.” Next to this copy is a diagram indicating that from a 200-yard zero, the bottom of the circle will be your 300-yard POI, the middle hash mark will be your 400-yard POI, and bottom hash mark will be your 500-yard POI. This diagram does NOT tell you is that this is only true for cartridges with a muzzle velocity north (in some cases well north) of 2,900 fps firing bullets with very high BCs.

You can find the instructions for this scope at https://www.leupold.com/wp-content/u...nst_Manual.pdf The dot itself is 1 MOA at 8.6x and 2.5 MOA at 3.3x. It appears as a short red vertical line, not as a circle or square. It’s bright enough to see in daylight without going to the highest setting. I wear glasses and I have astigmatism so the dot flares on the brighter settings. This is not a flaw in the scope; reducing the brightness fixes it. It’s hard to find truly dark situations around here since I’m in a major West Coast city, but the dimmest settings would probably be fine in very low light.

The horizontal crosswire tapers from a fairly heavy base to the same thickness as the dot, which could pose a challenge for hitting very small targets.
The circle’s interior diameter is 4.4 MOA at 9x.
The circle’s line width is 0.4 MOA at 9x.
The distance from the dot to the top of the circle is 2.19 MOA at 9x.
The distance from the dot to the bottom of the circle is 2.19 MOA at 9x.
The distance from the dot to the middle hash mark is 4.8 MOA at 9x.
The distance from the dot to the lowest hash mark is 7.82 MOA at 9x.
The instructions also list drop figures in inches for each of these elements. The instructions imply that these are 300-, 400-, and 500-yard drops, which again is correct only if you’re shooting one of the high-velocity cartridges for which this reticle has been calibrated. A list of these cartridges is available on page 45 of the scope’s instructions.

I did the initial testing with this scope on the 308 because it grouped better and because it kicks less than the 30-06, which would be helpful as I needed to shoot it a fair amount in testing. I started by confirming the reticle dimensions. I zeroed at 100 yards with a load this rifle shoots exceptionally well. Then I shot groups using the bottom of the circle and both hash marks as aiming points. These results correspond roughly with the reticle dimensions that Leupold provided, except as noted.

Bottom of the circle impact was 2.4” high, so POI for rounds fired using this aiming point should be 220 yards.
Middle hash mark impact was 4.785” high, so POI for rounds fired using this aiming point should be 300 yards.
Bottom hash mark impact was 8.54” high. (The line’s thickness may account for the difference between this and Leupold’s stated 7.82 MOA dimension.) POI for rounds fired using this aiming point should be 400 yards.

Then I opened Federal’s ballistic calculator (https://www.federalpremium.com/ballistics_calculator/) and used their data set for 308 Winchester factory loads. This calculator lets you adjust the load parameters, so I changed the muzzle velocity and BC to match those of my handload (46.5 grains of Varget and a 150-grain Sierra flat-base spitzer). I also set the environmental inputs to match local conditions, set the range increment to 5 yards, and selected “inches” and “MOA” for the elevation and windage units.

That give me a close enough look at the trajectory to see that with a 200-yard zero, I could use the bottom of the circle for my POA at 285 yards, the middle hash mark as my POA for 355 yards, and the bottom hash as my POA for 450 yards. This doesn’t coincide exactly with Leupold’s marketing materials, but I’m not shooting anything past at 500 yards and animals don’t stand around in even 100-yard increments, so it’s not that big a deal.

A couple of weeks later, I took both rifles to a range that’s set up for metallic silhouette shooting, and has steel targets out to 500m (547 yards). The only ammo I had in quantity was some DCM stuff loaded for the M-1 Garand, but it averages 1.3 MOA in this rifle and shot better than I expected all the way out to 400m (437 yards). With this load, the the bottom of the circle worked as a POA at 300m (328 yards), and POI was just barely below the middle hash mark at 400m. It was easy to get hits on 6” steel targets at both ranges, even when the barrel got hot—I even had no trouble hitting a gong partially concealed in the grass—but I couldn’t hit anything beyond that. I should be able to firm up my zero and shoot some paper between 400 and 500m to figure out the drops and start getting hits at 500m.

Conclusions

The Tikka T3 or T3x really is the G19 of bolt-action rifles. Upgrades are not required. I’ll try a McMillan stock (more out of curiousity than need) based on Lost River’s reports.
The cartridge doesn’t matter much. Logistical factors probably deserve more consideration than ballistic ones.
The Leupold VX-R 3-9x40 is a good scope. My goals were to get an illuminated reticle and some ranging ability. I achieved those goals, just not in the manner that Leupold implied or advertised. That said, I respect the Ballistic Firedot’s ranging properties. I still haven’t figured out the 500m holdover, but I’ll get there.
I’ll hunt with the power ring at the low end. If I have time to assume a solid position for a long shot, then I’ll push it to the high end. I’ve hunted with 4x scopes for nearly 40 years, including a lot of close fast shots in the dripping forests of western Washington and very long shots in open country on the Edwards Plateau in Texas. I just don’t see using the middle of the range much.
The Ballistic Firedot is a pretty good-general purpose reticle once you figure it out and get the right zero. Most experienced shooters would choose something more versatile (like the Leupold TMOA) for regular use in very open country or anywhere that the wind is a problem.
After a day shooting steel, I have a new understanding of useful accuracy. It’s easy to get sidetracked with group size instead of hits on paper targets. With steel, you know instantly whether you hit or missed. I can hit an 8” gong out to 420 yards easily with ammo that averages 1.31 MOA, and that will put a lot of meat on the table.

Let me know if you have questions.

Okie John

Awesome write-up O.J.

One thing you hit on was the stocks. For non magnum cartridges, I really think the standard factory stocks are quite sufficient. The McMillan upgrade, while awesome, has been more about having one rifle that is "just right" than a safe full of "almost what I want" guns. For the magnum cartridges like .300wms, I think the upgrade is worth it, though with the new T3X improvements, it may be less so, as all mine have been standard T3s.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lost River

Awesome write-up O.J.

One thing you hit on was the stocks. For non magnum cartridges, I really think the standard factory stocks are quite sufficient. The McMillan upgrade, while awesome, has been more about having one rifle that is "just right" than a safe full of "almost what I want" guns. For the magnum cartridges like .300wms, I think the upgrade is worth it, though with the new T3X improvements, it may be less so, as all mine have been standard T3s.

Thanks for the kind words. I'm also headed toward "just right". Unfortunately, I'm taking my son pig hunting in a few weeks, so I pulled out his old lightweight Husqvarna 30-06 that I haven't shot in years. It weighs about what a Tikka weighs. It's blued, with wood that looks like it belongs on a Rigby, and an old vanilla Leupold M-8 4x scope. But it is glass bedded, and it put the first two shots touching at 100 yards.

http://i.imgur.com/Fxx9xre.jpg

Maybe I haven't made as much progress as I thought.

Okie John

Cross-posting this from the Reloading Forum. More info on my Tikka adventures.

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....l=1#post605073