I took a new T3 chambered in .223 to the range today. It has a 8" twist so I tried the 68,69,75 an 80 gr pills. I tried Varget,H4895 and H335 and it averaged 3" groups. I thought it may be the scope, so I even swaped that off another rifle. I did get one group of three shots into 1" once, but it must have been a fluke because the same load could not repeat. The first thing that came to mind was that the twist was mistaken and was slower, but it was not even that. I don't know what to think??!!

Have you checked the barrel clearance between the stock...have you adjusted down the trigger to 30 oz or so...my latest Tikka in 308 was set at 50 oz...easily turned down....are all your scope ring screws tight...action screws tight ?? What scope have you got mounted ?? I had to load my new 308 to magazine length...throat somewhat long....Varget should work well with the +69 gr bullets...my 223 595 Tikka is 12 twist...keep testing with OAL...different primers...etc...a guy on another forum is having similar problems with a new T3 338 Fed

What did it do with factory ammo? Did you clean the barrel? Are you breaking in the barrel? Just some thoughts.

I broke in the barrel, and was in fact surprised how dirty it was getting between shots. The trigger is fine and everything is tight. I tried two leupold scopes on the rifle so have ruled that out. I did not try any factory ammo, but my reloads are generaly good. The OAL could ony be 2.300 because of the clip but needs 2.460 to touch the lands. Therefore I was almost 3/16 off the rifling.

The only thing that I can suspect is the barrel clearence. It is really difficult to get the barelled action into the stock. When you finally get it in, it is really tight and paper only slides down half way toward the action. I called a friend who has the same rifle with wood (mine is synthetic) and he has clearence all the way down. This may be the problem.

Take a deep well socket just a bit smaller than the barrel..and sand out the barrel channel some..so the barrel is not touching the stock...all but the first couple inches in front of the lug...yes it is hard to fit the action & lug into the stock..but it will snap in....tighten bolts well..my new 308 SS/syn shot a .70" w/three shots first time out...12 shots fired..24* and breezy & yes cold...

There are a bunch of good factory ammo's out there. Try a few to determine if its your loads or the rifle. Then you have fireformed brass.
Winchester 45g hp and Black Hills come highly recommended.

3" groups sound like a rifle problem. My sample of one 223 took 100 rounds before it started shooting well, but it was not shooting 3" groups.

Number one, I would float that barrel. I would try some factory ammo because if it is a rifle problem the factory people will not want to hear what reloads, do just factory ammo. Did you torque the base, rings and scope? What kind of mounts did you use? Look at the crown for anything obviously wrong there. You said you checked the twist.

swiss,
My T3 in 22-250 has the barrel free floated all the way to the base of the barrel. The same goes for a friend's in .223.

My 22-250 also seems to be following Jason's a bit in that the groups are getting better the more that I shoot it.

Personally I am not very impressed with the standard Tikka scope mounts and Sako Optilocs might be a decent replacement. Millet and Talley also make replacement scope mounts.

My factory T3 rings are soon gone...have a set of med/matte Milletts on their way...these are steel w/steel screws...with rear windage adj..

Take a small piece of cardboard (matchbook cover) place it under the barrel just ahead of the action, and see if it shoots any better. If that works you will need to free-float the barrel. If it don't work then move the cardboard between the barrel and the stock near the end of the barrel, if that works you need to place pressure on the barrel or glass bed the barrel. You may have to glass bed the action if neither of those work, or try different bullets till you find a working one. Good luck.

armed_in_utah; that is the first thing that went on my T3. I put the same mount on that you are using.

Maybe I live in a closet,but this is the first post I have read of a T3 shooting like this.

In Australia, where I live, they are highly regarded and most guys shoot tops straight out of the box and leave it at that. They are not indifferent to performance, it is just that the standard factory results are just so good.

I have 3 T3's and on the first day I shot my Varmint T3 6.5x55, I had some pretty ordindary factory ammo touching 5 shots @ 100 metres.

That is a bit of a fluke for me.

But it does show the ex factory quality of these rifles.

One suggestion, are you sure you have the correct twist rate. It may pay to email the serial # of your rifle to Beretta US, and ask for confirmation that you are not going to waste a lot of frustrating time when the answer is in the rifling.

90% of the time, maybe more, when a rifle will not group well, it is a bedding problem.

I would bet money on it that if you have it re-crowned it will shoot.

Wow !. 3" groups ???. What's up with that ?.

Send it BACK !. It's a MOA gun !. They state that .

All of mine are better than MOA with handloads .

I'll let you in on a secret to Tikka rings . First use Metric tap to clean threaded Aluminum base shoe holes out !. Next carefully thread in the screw or change to Torx head screws . I've not seen any mismatching on my caps to shoe bases . All three sets are Clean in alignment .

Now when mounting your scopes get everything right place one drop of Loctite ( Blue ) on each screw and on the bottom side or the shoe base cap where the scope lays in . Tighten everybody nice and even but don't strip or over tighten . Allow to dry over night .
The scope doesn't move under recoil nor do the rings go bad !.

I bought a set of Talley's because #4 screw caps are better than 2 in Aluminum any way . IMO any way . I like the looks of them better to .
I've yet to change my other two sets over 7MM RM and .223 not either one has given me any problems .

If you think I'm full of it you're going to love this . I bought two sets of B Square and AccuShot Aluminum rings. The accushot I had to lap on one set . Misaligned the others were just fine .
I mounted them up on my .338 Laupa and Win mag . Using the same method above . I just finished 140 rounds between the two rifles . Scopes NEVER MOVED nor did the rings fly apart or spring out of alignment or any other non sense .

My conclusion $6 rings worked as good as $58 models !. Now looks , well that depends on ones point of view !.

Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

To begin with, I am somewhat suspicious of the 8 twist barrel on a Tikka. Are you sure that is the twist of the barrel?? Is that what the spec says or did you take a cleaning rod and double check the twist?? From what you describe it certainly appears that you are using the wrong weight bullet for the barrel twist?? If it is an 8 twist then as others say you have a serious problem and would let the mfg. take care of it unless it will take months and months. Further suggestion, try some RELOADER 15 and go to Hodgdon's web site for load data, quick and easy and free to boot!!

Hello again,
Went to Tikka's home site and sure enough your rifle is 8 twist!! Good for them, more should do that, but as to why your rifle is producing such poor accuracy is beyond me. Talk with the seller/distributor/factory. Good Luck.

It is a 8" twist, I checked it myself. I will float the barrel and go back to the range real soon.

Hi there, Ive got a T3 mates got a T3 in fact most people I know have T3s and they shoot.
Just try Nosler 50gr BT with 26.5 AR2206H.
It seems to be the "magic" combo for those rifles, all of the rifles are loaded to the mag and shoot one hole groups.
Ps mine shot like shit too for the first 200 rnds, just keep shooting it, it will be fine.
If you have covered all the above areas with tight this tight that,lighten trigger etc etc,
its the only thing else to do.

Good luck, It will shoot well.

Maybe the barrel was bend in factory. They was correcting it. When the barrel heats up, it start to bend again. Shoot only 2-3 shots and see what shall to happen.

PS: I live in Finland and know; Sako and Tikka are no more high quality guns because Beretta...........

Hello K.W.,
You are going to upset a number of folks, but you are correct. Italians are best known for their high grade/quality shotguns, but never seem to be able to "pull off..." the rifle part of firearms mfg. unless you consider the LE/Military side of the equation. Did your government sell the entire operation to the Italians or do they still maintain some ownership of the operation?

Mr dsiteman, important and decive for me is, that design and conduct are from Italy. No more Sako or Tikka for me. (You was writing truth).

What is that talk about factory rings? I haven't heard that Tikka(Sako) would make other rings than OptiLocks and they are the only I use nowadays. Those "factory rings" look like some cheap chinese "airsoft purpose only".

Sako and Tikka rifles are still made in Finland(but how long?), but what you get when old 1500 dollar rifle is made with 500 dollars?

I recommend you to buy OptiLocks and check that scope and after that check accuracy with factory ammo.

Ok, they are made in Finland but qulity is no more "made in Finland" it is miserable "Italian style", meaning; everything must be cheap to make.

I'm some what confused by needing to float the barrel ?. My T3 synthetic Hunter is floated ???.

Somebody want to fill me in on that because I've got #2 of them . Both mine are shooting excellent right out of the box ( after I polished the bore ) I fired maybe 20 -25 rounds before even setting it on target . After that ALL my 3 groups of #5 shots are going in under MOA on both guns !.

I see nothing wrong with my iron , so if any of you Lefties don't like yours let me know .

Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

Well I went to the range once more.
I borrowed another friends Tikka and swaped to a wood stock and even changed the scope to again another. I tried several factory loads and all the famous reloads. I removed all the variables and have determined that this gun will not shoot. Something is not right with the barreled action. I've given up on this one.

I had to send my Tikka back because it would not feed from the mag. I may be wrong, but I think they even shipped it overseas, don't really know b/c I had the dealer ship it for me. Took quite a while to get it back, but problem was fixed. It was a nice gun, but we
have since parted ways.

Mr swiss, quality control is now Italian style, no more Finish-. Beretta own the faktory. Maybe somebody sometimes can to have accurate rifle too. Now days, if I need a new rifle, I take Mauser 98 and a gunsmith make the rifle I like.

quote:

Originally posted by K. W.:
....it is miserable "Italian style".....

Hey K.W. why the finnish governement didn't buy (or keep) Sako/Tikka years ago, in order to keep it gloriously Finnish and avoid the "miserable italian style"? I'm certainly dumb but I really like Tikka rifles and I own a 695 cal. 300WM and a T3 cal. 270WSM; both are very well made and really accurate.

This "finnish old gloriously" style was too expensive. They was kicking out "old-fasioned people" and reformingin people and make the fagtory more automatic. Less poeple more money.

Anyway, Sako/Tikka are currently still very good rifles, well appreciated by the great majority of their owners. Your statements are mainly due to your wounded pride and a strong anti-italian feeling. Last of all, this will be my last post here, since I don't want to start a flame.

Sorry but I have only bad feelings for the new italian Sako/Beretta. Professionals too here in Finland says if you must to have Sako, buy modell 75 if you can to find, never modell 85. Mr Wildboar, You like Sako. Be happy don´t worry.

I'm about to buy a Tikka T3 lite, in 300 Win. Tikka guarantees sub 1 moa grouping out of the box. I know I'm getting old, but I've spent many hours and lots of US$ making (or trying to make) factory rifles do that each and every time. If I'm not wrong about the warranty, why not just sent it back for one that works? This is a new idea for me because I love to tinker and show that I can improve things. But I'd rather start improving from 1 moa. Just my opinion .

Hello mr cptmclark. I am very old; 69years. You are right MOA-nib guns. If You shall to have smaler croups, Yuo can do it with handloading. Kauko

I have Tikka T3 Lite ss, 25:06 & 22-250 and both guns are excellant shooters right out of box and no issues what so ever, even with the factory rings at least so far. I thought about geting one in .223 both wasn't sure about the 8" twist so held off.


Good Luck

Had new T3 SS Swede out yesterday...using 140 Rem CLs...after sight in....H4350 worked best out of four different powders...Will test some other higher BC bullets & Lapua brass next trip...Tikka rifles work for me...

K.W.

I own old and new (Beretta) Sako and Tikka. I agree with you, quality is lower now.

The problem is not Italy, problem is Beretta.

Beretta lower the quality and raise the price of everythings.

A friend of mine is armorer of a police national force (130.000 elements) he have 25 years of experience with Beretta 92. He told me that quality is going down every furniture they receive.
I bought beretta in the past but i'll never buy again an overrated and over priced product.

Giovan22 (Giovanni?) you've exhumed an over 12 months old, unpleasant post; furthermore you address to somebody that has a strong anti-italian feeling, probably a racist....why?