Over the past year, my wife has had a desire to come out hunting with me. She signed up for a hunter's ed class and passed with a 100. She did all this without me doing anything to prompt her. I'm pretty proud of her and as a result I made up my mind to get her something as really kind of a reward and an acknowledgement of her efforts. So with that I decided I wanted to build her a deer rifle.
That rifle is a Tikka T3 Lite Stainless Steel rifle in .243 Win. And here are my initial thoughts on it.
Pros:
1. Accurate - the guns come with a 1" at 100 yd guarantee, but there is no included target or anything like that. You basically have to just take their word for it. Well when it comes to claims, I don't usually buy them without some sort of proof. So last week I headed out to my local range to try out the gun. I kind of cheaped it on ammo and only bought two boxes - Winchester Super X in 100gr and Remington Core-lokt also in 100 gr. Well the short of it is that the gun is a winner in the accuracy department. I honestly couldn't tell a difference between ammo groupings. Both brands shot with about the same consistency. It was pretty much dead on. As proof here is my last target at 100 yds.
I was doing very well - overlapped two and then got nervous (typical for me) and pulled the last shot.
2. Action - I'd seen two Tikkas up close before getting this one. One was my uncles and the other was owned by a friend of mine. Both had the sweetest action ever on them and mine is no different. I think they have 70 degree throws, but as soon as the lugs are disengaged that action slides back like an ice cube on a fresh waxed kitchen floor. Its like there is no resistance whatsoever. Its almost a little scary. The flip side is that it does take a little effort to cam in the action when loading up a round. Thats fine for me and count me as a big fan.
3. Trigger - clean crisp and fully adjustable. However, in shooting this rifle I was very surprised at how easy the trigger came clean. I'd squeeze ever so lightly and the gun would go off. Now my Win Mod 70 trigger is nothing like this. That trigger actually takes effort and I often pull a shot or build up a ton of anticipation because of the pressure needed to make the gun off. With the Tikka I have none of that. For me, even if its subconcious, I think it helps me shoot better. Thumbs up on the trigger.
Cons:
1. Cost - Even though I got the Tikka for $503 it was still relatively pricey. As far as deer rifles go, its the most expensive one I've purchased. Comparable models of SS rifles in .243 with synthetic stocks like a Savage 116 SS I could find for like around $430, but a Rem Mod 7 was like $500. So I guess overall it was about par for the type of guns it was competing with, but still 5 bills is a lot for me.
2. Ejection port - The Tikka has a very limited space to hand load in single rounds. I think in part of their design process they decided that the solid receiver would be better for accuracy, but the lack of room to hand feed rounds is troublesome. On the range I'd throw in a round and if you throw the action forward it will often not load into the chamber. HOwever, I figured out a way around this problem. If you place a round in the ejection port and tip the rifle about 20 degrees to the left, the bolt will pick up the round and seat it in nicely. Its a workaround for those with big fingers like mine or those who have no patience to have to load up the magazine for each shot.
Scope:
I found this Bushnell 3200 3x9-50mm for @ $200. I am very impressed with it. I guess it has the amber coated reticles, because sometimes the crosshairs light up bronze at times. At first I thought it was gimmicky, but then I realized I picked it up easier at times. Knobs on the turrets could be crisper and the clicks could be more audible, but all in all the scope performed very nice. Now I know the scope looks like it is sitting on the barrel but trust me there is some space although not very much... maybe 5 playing cards worth? I'd always heard go as low as you can go without touching. I'd say I'm pretty much at the limits of that advice. I did have to throw away the provided scope cover and replaced it with a scope coat due to the lack of clearance.
One quick note - at one point a few years ago, Tikka / Sako had a recall of some of their rifles due to a manufacturing defect. If you do a search you can find out what serial numbers were effected.
Some pics:
That rifle is a Tikka T3 Lite Stainless Steel rifle in .243 Win. And here are my initial thoughts on it.
Pros:
1. Accurate - the guns come with a 1" at 100 yd guarantee, but there is no included target or anything like that. You basically have to just take their word for it. Well when it comes to claims, I don't usually buy them without some sort of proof. So last week I headed out to my local range to try out the gun. I kind of cheaped it on ammo and only bought two boxes - Winchester Super X in 100gr and Remington Core-lokt also in 100 gr. Well the short of it is that the gun is a winner in the accuracy department. I honestly couldn't tell a difference between ammo groupings. Both brands shot with about the same consistency. It was pretty much dead on. As proof here is my last target at 100 yds.
I was doing very well - overlapped two and then got nervous (typical for me) and pulled the last shot.
2. Action - I'd seen two Tikkas up close before getting this one. One was my uncles and the other was owned by a friend of mine. Both had the sweetest action ever on them and mine is no different. I think they have 70 degree throws, but as soon as the lugs are disengaged that action slides back like an ice cube on a fresh waxed kitchen floor. Its like there is no resistance whatsoever. Its almost a little scary. The flip side is that it does take a little effort to cam in the action when loading up a round. Thats fine for me and count me as a big fan.
3. Trigger - clean crisp and fully adjustable. However, in shooting this rifle I was very surprised at how easy the trigger came clean. I'd squeeze ever so lightly and the gun would go off. Now my Win Mod 70 trigger is nothing like this. That trigger actually takes effort and I often pull a shot or build up a ton of anticipation because of the pressure needed to make the gun off. With the Tikka I have none of that. For me, even if its subconcious, I think it helps me shoot better. Thumbs up on the trigger.
Cons:
1. Cost - Even though I got the Tikka for $503 it was still relatively pricey. As far as deer rifles go, its the most expensive one I've purchased. Comparable models of SS rifles in .243 with synthetic stocks like a Savage 116 SS I could find for like around $430, but a Rem Mod 7 was like $500. So I guess overall it was about par for the type of guns it was competing with, but still 5 bills is a lot for me.
2. Ejection port - The Tikka has a very limited space to hand load in single rounds. I think in part of their design process they decided that the solid receiver would be better for accuracy, but the lack of room to hand feed rounds is troublesome. On the range I'd throw in a round and if you throw the action forward it will often not load into the chamber. HOwever, I figured out a way around this problem. If you place a round in the ejection port and tip the rifle about 20 degrees to the left, the bolt will pick up the round and seat it in nicely. Its a workaround for those with big fingers like mine or those who have no patience to have to load up the magazine for each shot.
Scope:
I found this Bushnell 3200 3x9-50mm for @ $200. I am very impressed with it. I guess it has the amber coated reticles, because sometimes the crosshairs light up bronze at times. At first I thought it was gimmicky, but then I realized I picked it up easier at times. Knobs on the turrets could be crisper and the clicks could be more audible, but all in all the scope performed very nice. Now I know the scope looks like it is sitting on the barrel but trust me there is some space although not very much... maybe 5 playing cards worth? I'd always heard go as low as you can go without touching. I'd say I'm pretty much at the limits of that advice. I did have to throw away the provided scope cover and replaced it with a scope coat due to the lack of clearance.
One quick note - at one point a few years ago, Tikka / Sako had a recall of some of their rifles due to a manufacturing defect. If you do a search you can find out what serial numbers were effected.
Some pics:
