Just to reconfirm what everyone has said about the Tikka.

I got my new Tikka Whitetail Hunter (left hand) in .223 last week. Broke-in the barrel one day, and the next day I loaded up some Sierra 52 gr. moly HPBT w/25 gr. of H322. Loaded the 3 shot magazine and pulled a .454 group at a 100 meters, on a Leupold 9x scope. After that, it manage to pull a couple oblong one holers.
For a rifle that shoots like that out of the box, it is the most rifle for the money in my book.

i got the same thing with my tikka. broke the barrel in and it shoot under a half inch all day with 140gr. bullets. my tikka is a deluxe in 7mm rem.

Hey'
My 25-06 Tikka,Shot so well,I turned it into a 25 Gibbs.
1geejay
www.shooting-hunting.com

I got a TIKKA 223 Whitetail hunter Left hand Shot some Winchester 45grn cheap ammo results .500 to .600 groups. I then ordered Full length bushing die and Wilson hand seater, Lupus brass, N-133 powder hornady 40grn V-Max's. Results (1) .098 group (2) .196 (3) .220 (4) .295 (5) .216 I was attacking a lot of attention at the range so I decided to stop (fearing I would start blowing these tight groups) This gun to date has never shot over a .450 group. Oh I forgot a small detail. I had a fiberglass stock made and gun was aluminum pillar bedded, trigger was adjusted down to 1 3/4lbs. All this was down after firing the 45grn Factory ammo ( by the way that cheap Winchester 45 grn ammo is fantastic) many friends shoot it now and swear by it. ! Several people have bought Tikka rifles after seeing mine shoot and all are shooting very tight groups. I must admit the Tikka is the most accurate rifle I have bought. I Love my Tikka

I have two Tikkas; a 7mm-08 and a 223. The 7mm-08 was a little fussy with handloads, but it shoots the 139 Horn and 110 Speer TNT very well. The 223 is simply amazing. The winchester 45 gr. loads go under .5 MOA and handloads with H322 and the 50 gr. B-tips cut one ragged hole.
All I did was epoxy bed the rifle (in the factory stock) and adjust the trigger lighter.

Frank,
Nice shooting! I forgot to do the math on my groups.
Put me at minus .224 from my .454 = .230 - group.
I have a real hard time hanging in there much better then that with a 9x scope. I need to get a bench rest (20X plus) scope on my Tikka to see what it can really do. I plan to shoot this rifle in the NRA Highpower, sporter rifle class. All off-hand, four positions. I'll see if I can win the class.

[ 01-03-2003, 17:47: Message edited by: CK ]

I wish I could find a dealer in Northern CA (Sacramento area or north) who sells Tikka's, all I hear are great things about them.

Faulgur:

Check out www.gunbroker.com. Punch in Tikka for search. There is at least on guy in Wa selling them for $430 plus $10.50 shipping. You will need an FFL holder to receive it. I am not related to this seller in any fashion, just posting FYI. Equally I have no experience with him, so this is not a rec.

Just bought a Tikka whitetail in a 22-250. Curious how you broke-in the barrel on your Tikka.

Justin B:

The long way. Shot one round.......cleaned & cleaned barrel throughly......shot another round.........cleaned & cleaned and so on until I did 10 rounds. Then shot five sets of two shots groups, cleaning after each pair of shot groups. And lastly, shoot five set of two shot groups..........clean & clean.....The idea is to burnish away any tooling marks? It really is a pain in the you know what........but you only have to do once........The proof will be in the little tiny groups you get with the Tikka.
Enjoy.......I know my Tikka takes the shooting experience to a whole higher level.

CK;

I recently acquired a stainless steel synthetic stock .223 Tikka.

My instructions on "lapping" (breaking in) the barrel received from the dealer was much less onerous: 5 shots - clean. another 5 - clean. 10 clean and then go hell for leather.

Did I &%$#@& this up? Does it have long term effects, or will the toolmarks disappear after, say 200 shots? I'm on about 150 now, and only just manage 1" groups with 55 grainers at 3400fps.

I also addressed you in another thread (reloading section) on your excellent groups. What is your distance from the lands (please give this to me in millimetres if possible - we don't do inches here in South Africa )and at what velocity?

At what magnification do you shoot these groups? I have a 3-9x42 Lynx Professional (Monotube) and shoot it at 6X. Will a higher magnification necessarily tighten this up (you see a lot more movement in front there!)?

Karoo,

Not sure why your dealer gave you that type of break-in instructions..............Maybe stainless steel is done differently? I don't know.

I seat my bullets to SAAMI max OAL., which is 2.260 inches, or for you 5.740 CM.

The bullet I use is a 52 gr. Sierra HPBT Match. Loaded with 25 gr. of H322/Fed. small rifle primers. If you can, trim the inside flash hole free of burs. The speed I get is around 3200 fps.

I have a Leupold Vari-X II 50mm 3x9. To shoot for groups only, I bench my rifle and use my hightest setting, which is 9X.

Hope you find this info useful. Good luck!

[ 01-16-2003, 20:41: Message edited by: CK ]

Frank,
I read your post about your Tikka rifle and I had a question for you. I currently have a left handed 25-06. You mentioned that you had a fiberglass stock made for you rifle. I like the wood, but prefer a synthetic stock. Can you fill me in on the details of who made your stock for you? Thanks for any info that you can provide

You guys are making it hard for me to stay away from the LH 25.06 at the local sporting goods store...

I recently bought a Tikka in a 22-250 and it shot very well out of the box with Winchester white-box ammo. But I had to send it back to the factory 2 weeks after I got it. It wouldn't chamber the bullets correctly, kept jamming. The bolt wouldn't catch the rim of the brass out of the mag and would catch the brass half-way up and try to feed the bullet causing it to jam. Anybody else had similar probs?

Justin B,

I can't say that I've any problems with feeding a round from the magazine..............Tikka's are all push feed.......sounds like you might have a magazine alignment problem?

I guess the quick question would be; Was the magazine you were using correct for the type of rifle and cartridge....or is the magazine damaged? Is the action tight to the stock?

Too bad you had to send it back.............Did they fix it?

[ 01-24-2003, 10:54: Message edited by: CK ]

I had a gunsmith look at the gun and he suggested sending it back to factory since the gun was only a week old. I guess I will have the gun dealer run a few rounds through the rifle before I buy next time.

I thought that magazine needed to come up closer to the bolt to make sure the the brass was caught. I haven't got the rifle back yet, but I hope it's soon.

Tikka is finnish for woodpecker; they keep at it and make one hole. Then they find another target and make one hole...
Boha

It's been a month now and still haven't received my gun back yet. My experience with a Tikka is beginning to turn sour. When I buy a brand new gun, I expect better quality assurance and customer service. Has anybody else had problems with Tikka's or customer service?

Hopefully you get your Tikka back soon. I've got two of them, a 223 and 7-08, both ss/syn. My only problem has been finding time to shoot them. Next to Savage, I think the Tikka is a very good bang for the buck. They have the 3rd generation (T3) coming out soon. The quality and accuracy out of the box is very good, normally. My two Tikkas are pre/Beretta, but still made in Finland. Yes, I would buy another in a minute. Good luck with the problem.