I am wanting to get a .308 Winchester. I had a .270 Win. A bolt that easily shot .5 MOA with handloads. After hearing all the nice things about the t3, I am wondering if I should try one out. Any thoughts anybody. Also if I got the t3, would the blued steel barrel have the same accuracy potential as the stainless steel barrell?

take a look at these thread and search for the others
https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3221043/m/458101061
https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9411043/m/760102921/r/721104921#721104921

jnemmers - What do you expect a .308 to do that your "accurate" .270 won't? I own a T3 stainless and it is one of my most accurate possessions. I can match your A-Bolt groups on a very good day. I know of only 4 guns in the Tikka brand out of the entire batch of serial numbers that was cited as a problem (Sako had a few also). However, reading the posts that Trigger provided is good advice. I'm not sure Weatherby, Remington, or Browning can better Berettas recall numbers or their policy (as bad as Beretta's was in this case); for I've had and seen similar recalls on other brands of guns that had to be found on the back pages of "Gun & Blamo"; not by personal notification. If you decide to buy a Tikka, I'd pick a full 30/06 length cartridge because if you choose a .308, 7/08, or .243 it will be housed in a long action, ie. they don't make a short action for the short cartridges. Good luck - Mags

Mags is right they don't make a T3 in anything but the 06 length action so I would go with the longer cartridges also.
Now if you are thinking of a Short mag then you might find that extra length real handy if you handload for it!
Years ago when I got my two Tikkas they were the only factory hunting rifles that I know of that could consistently shoot sub min. with nothing more than good handloads. No action or bbl or any kinda tuning whatsoever. Sako's were right up there too! In my general area they sold like crazy and most everyone loved em.

quote:

Originally posted by WestCoaster:
Mags is right they don't make a T3 in anything but the 06 length action so I would go with the longer cartridges also.

Although the T3 comes in only one action length, bolt throw length is controlled by the bolt stop.
If you get a short action cartridge in a T3 it will have a short action bolt throw.

T3's having a long action bolt throw in all calibers is a common misconception.

If you get a short mag or other short action cartridge for the purpose of seating bullets farther out then you will be dissappointed as COL is restricted by magazine size. short and long action magazines are the same size on the outside, but the short ones have a spacer in them.

Even though they are all long recievers, I do not think that should be any consideration to which caliber you choose. So what if it's 1/2" longer than it needs to be? It's so light and compact already that 1/2" won't make any significant difference in handling portability.

I have a T3 Lite blued in .308 Win and there isn't any premium ammo that it will not put into 1MOA.
I have had average groups of 0.75MOA with Federal 150gr Nosler Ballistic tips, 168 gr Win supreme ballistic tips, Hornady 165gr Light magnums, and others.
Using Black Hills 168gr BTHP Match I get 3 shot groups of 0.5MOA or better.

They are great rifles.

Fumbler..
Good info thanx, trust me to make a dumb assumption!LOL
Puzzles me tho why they did that, why not leave them the same?
Your right if the caliber floats you dinghy why not,eh?
B t w I like .308's too!

I'd get the Browning.

quote:

Originally posted by WestCoaster:
Fumbler..
Good info thanx, trust me to make a dumb assumption!LOL
Puzzles me tho why they did that, why not leave them the same?
Your right if the caliber floats you dinghy why not,eh?
B t w I like .308's too!

I think they did it to keep costs down.
You get a Sako barrel with very close to Sako fit and finish at the cost of a Remington 700.
With Sakos costing twice as much as your run of the mill 700 they have to save costs somewhere, so I think making only one action length saves money on tooling costs. the only parts that are different between cartridge lengths are the small bolt stop and the magazine. I'm sure the bolt stop is cheaper to make in different sizes than recievers, bolts, and stocks.

quote:

Originally posted by LBGuy:
I'd get the Browning.

You should tell us why. In a discussion, an opinion is no good without your personal justification.

I've got three Browning A-bolts w/BOSS. Their actions are slick and they shoot same hole groups when I'm up to it. They all came out of the box real shooters with quality craftsmanship.

The only action I have felt that rivals my A-bolts are the Tikka T3s. The Tikka T3 Hunter 30-06 action I fondled was THE slickest action I have ever known. It felt like the bolt never even came in contact with another piece of metal until the bolt handle touched the receiver when fully chambered. The craftsmanship of the gun looked stellar, and the free float barrel was seated perfectly within the stock channel. Just wish it had a 24" barrel for the classic calibers.

Now I have a huge hankering for a Tikka T3 Hunter in 270 WIN. DOES IT EVER END!

Here is a link to my other Tikka post:
https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3221043/m/766102702

quote:

Originally posted by FURocious:
The only action I have felt that rivals my A-bolts are the Tikka T3s.

It sounds like you've never handled a Sako

Sakos are like KY Jelly filled T3's

I do like the A-bolts a whole lot, lovely guns with great craftmanship.
But, with the income I have the T3 is the better choice.

If you don't mind me asking, about how much did your A-bolts run?
I've seen them for around $700 locally, that's how much money I put into a T3, Leupold VX-I, reloading dies, and a a box of bullets.

Ya did good!

1st Question: No, I haven't trid a Sako, but I just won't believe anything could be slicker than a Tikka T3 I fondled. it isn't possible.

2nd Question: My A-bolt .308 WIN Eclipse ran $800 back in 2001. They don't make a .308 in that model anymore. My 300 WSM composite ran $650 in 2003.

I think every man under God should be entitled to a quality rifle, a scope, a set of dies, and a box of bullets for $700.00!

There ain't a damn thing wrong with a VX-1. You did good with your $700.00.

I've been very happy with it thus far

I think at the $200 mark the VX-I outclasses anything else on the market, even if it has friction adjustments and is only multi coated on the glass/air surfaces.

How does the Eclipse differ from the other Abolts?

quote:

Originally posted by Fumbler:
I've been very happy with it thus far

I think at the $200 mark the VX-I outclasses anything else on the market, even if it has friction adjustments and is only multi coated on the glass/air surfaces.

How does the Eclipse differ from the other Abolts?

Amen on the VX-1. I got a VX-II after getting a VX-1 and really all I did was pay more for click adjustments.

The A-bolt eclipse is called an eclipse because the rifle is guaranteed to eclipse the shot groups on top of each other. I guess they spend a little more time in craftsmanship. (???)

NEWS FLASH: Gander Mountain in my area is selling all models and calibers of Tikka T3s for $549. I copied down the serial number on a stainless model to make sure they are not subject to recall, and might inquire about getting either a 270 WIN Hunter or 270 WIN Stainless lite.

Yes, the blued would no doubt be as accurate as the stainless. Either rifle will treat you well. I personally love the feel of my T3 in 300WSM. Now, don't go buy a short mag T3 for this, but I bought the T3 WSM SPECIFICALLY for the long action. I cut the magazine spacer out of the magazine and I cut the bolt stop back and made it into a long action. Now I can seat to the lands with the 180 accubonds and the boat tail junction of the bullet sits barely above the neck/shoulder junction, and the OAL is about 3.15". I love it. The shells feed perfectly fron the magazine also. It wasn't super easy cutting the magazine spacer out, and as a metallurgical engineer I have access to some very high precision metal saws so it was not difficult to cut the bolt stop back.

Now, reasons for buying the A bolt! Parts cost! Beretta is charging an absolutely rediculous amount for parts! I am not talking about the magazines or anything which are still way over priced, I am talking about all the parts for the T3, and cost would be high for Sako replacement parts as well. They wanted $70 bucks for a long action bolt stop! And get this, they were asking $500 for a new stock (I do not need a new stock BTW). This came right from a Beretta rep. Now, it is rare to have to buy parts, and I am sure other companies will start making replacement parts for the T3 such as stocks, so this may not be a big deal whatsoever.

There is one thing for sure, and that is you are very likely to get a very accurate T3 out of the box for the best price possible.

$550 for any T3?

Around here you can find T3's for $450-475 in the Lite blued, $60 more for stainless.

I found mine in like new condition (I could not tell it was even fired) for $425.

Shilen, I woulda sold that WSM magazine and bought a long magazine instead.
How fat are the caseheads on the WSMs?

quote:

Shilen, I woulda sold that WSM magazine and bought a long magazine instead.
How fat are the caseheads on the WSMs?

Now Fumbler, you don't think I'm that mindless do you? The largest part of the WSM case is .555" diameter (Note: rim is .535" while just forward of the head-back part of body is .555") whereas the diameter of a 300 win mag or 7mm rem mag (which the T3 is also chambered in BTW) is .532". Big difference. I called a store that carried T3 clips and they actually tried to put a WSM case in a long action magazine (labelled for 7 rem mag though it doesn't matter) and it would not work. Tell you what though, it would have saved a lot of time and hastle if it had worked. Works just great anyway though.

Shilen/Fumbler
What about taking the spring and follower outa the wsm mag and trying a swap into the long action mag????

Think it could work?

quote:

Originally posted by shilen30:
Now Fumbler, you don't think I'm that mindless do you? The largest part of the WSM case is .555" diameter (Note: rim is .535" while just forward of the head-back part of body is .555") whereas the diameter of a 300 win mag or 7mm rem mag (which the T3 is also chambered in BTW) is .532". Big difference. I called a store that carried T3 clips and they actually tried to put a WSM case in a long action magazine (labelled for 7 rem mag though it doesn't matter) and it would not work. Tell you what though, it would have saved a lot of time and hastle if it had worked. Works just great anyway though.

Didn't thnk you were mindless, thats why I asked what the casehead diameter was

quote:

What about taking the spring and follower outa the wsm mag and trying a swap into the long action mag????

I think the WSM mags may be wider overall, I dunno, Shilen will have to answer that one.
I think my .308 cases fit between the sides of the mag pretty close. Maybe the mag walls are thinner in the WSM. I think if it didn't have the support ribs on the outside and the walls were pushed out to those widths then it would probabably make up that 0.02" difference.

Yah Fumbler, I was so hoping the long action magazines would work. Like I said I had to go to the extent of calling a company that sells them and have a guy at the gun counter try to feed a WSM case in the magazine. Just way too tight he said. It was either ordering the long action magazine and sanding the sides or just cut the entire spacer out of the magazine. I figured there was no way I was going to sand the long action evenly so I opted for keeping the short magazine and cutting out the spacer. Worked just fine, but it took some time.

i own a 300 win mag in a comp stalker and a t-3 in 25-06 stainless they are both great rifles and very accurate .