awaldro7
Lil-Rokslider
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2016
- Messages
- 194
I have heard all of the Tikka fans rave about their rifles for awhile but I couldn't believe a rifle could be THAT good for the price. I was searching for a rifle to take on my upcoming moose hunt because I really didn't want to take my browning bar semi auto rifle. I found a deal on Whittaker guns for a Tikka t3x stainless 7mm rem mag for $569 shipped to my FFL. I put a Vortex Viper HST 4-16x44 on the rifle. The rifle weighs 7.7lbs with scope and rings. I was initially impressed by how slick the bolt and trigger was. I loaded up 9 separate incremental loads of 160gr accubond loaded to magazine length with H1000 powder and took it to my Dads property to test. I broke in the rifle using 25 rounds of factory ammo cleaning after every round for the first 5 then cleaning after every 5th round. The first 5 incremental 3 shot loads printed 1 ragged hole groups. In particular the second incremental 3 shot load shot a 0.26" group. I am a Tikka believer now! That is by far the best group that I have ever shot with a hunting rifle...or any rifle for that matter. I still have 3 more loads to test, however, every load that I have tested thus far has been sub-moa. The load that printed the 0.26" group was on the low end of charge weights at 66.5 gr and by referencing the load data it should be close to 2900 fps. I am hoping that I can get just a shade over 3000 fps however if accuracy does not come with that velocity then I will be glad to shoot the slower load.