Lightweight Mountain Rifle Help

Joined
Sep 30, 2021
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41
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Golden, CO
I saw a couple recommendations for the Tikka Veil - almost identical to that is the Tikka Roughtech. It has a factory threaded barrel, fluted barrel and bolt, and is just over 6 lbs. I have one in 300WM and I love it so far.
The Veils look better, in my opinion, but the Roughtech was available right then and was a bit better price, if I remember correctly. Mine is in the tan spider web color and I think it's pretty cool looking.
The Leupold scopes are insanely light for what you get out of them, but I do love my Z5!
 
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VinoVino

Lil-Rokslider
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Aug 25, 2021
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Seattle
I saw a couple recommendations for the Tikka Veil - almost identical to that is the Tikka Roughtech. It has a factory threaded barrel, fluted barrel and bolt, and is just over 6 lbs. I have one in 300WM and I love it so far.
The Veils look better, in my opinion, but the Roughtech was available right then and was a bit better price, if I remember correctly. Mine is in the tan spider web color and I think it's pretty cool looking.
The Leupold scopes are insanely light for what you get out of them, but I do love my Z3!
The main difference, aside from stocks, between the Roughtech and the Lite Veil is that the Roughtech has a blued barrel and the Lite Veil has a SS barrel. Up to the buyer to determine if that difference is worth the price difference. Both are good, IMO.
 
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Golden, CO
Could someone link me to that semi-custom Tikka thread? Couldn't seem to find it easily, but would love to add a few nice touches to mine - both useful and cosmetic. Thanks!
 
Joined
Nov 2, 2021
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Y’all running around with my dream rifles while I’m here running an old win model 88 with an ancient redfield scope. 675$ for the whole package and a box mag. Kinda heavy though so I carry a light pack when I go deep. Looking to upgrade in the next few years so this is a great thread
 

Gila

WKR
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Since you said wife, your answer is a 308. Anything more in that light of a rifle is going to be very unpleasant to shoot.
6.5 PRC would be a good compromise. That way you could rebarrel to another cartridege some day and have a magnum boltface without changing the bolt. LRI does make a Tikka bolt with some nice upgrades though. I would not buy a Tikka in 300WSM because the barrel twist is too slow. You can buy a blued T3X lite for $640 or a SS model for 800. The first thing I do is take off the factory recoil pad and put on an ”original” model Limbsaver (not the Airtech) for $40.
 

thinhorn_AK

"DADDY"
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Jul 2, 2016
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Y’all running around with my dream rifles while I’m here running an old win model 88 with an ancient redfield scope. 675$ for the whole package and a box mag. Kinda heavy though so I carry a light pack when I go deep. Looking to upgrade in the next few years so this is a great thread

Nothing wrong with your rifle. It’s only been over the past couple of years that I’ve been able to buy new “nice” guns and while I have some good ones, I don’t have any customs or anything. I spent most of my life hunting with a blued plastic Remington 700 270 with a fixed 4x bushnell. I shot close to 20 elk with that gun over the years.
 

Antares

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Y’all running around with my dream rifles while I’m here running an old win model 88 with an ancient redfield scope. 675$ for the whole package and a box mag. Kinda heavy though so I carry a light pack when I go deep. Looking to upgrade in the next few years so this is a great thread

The only rifle I had for years was a sporterized 1918 .303 British SMLE...so your setup is pretty sweet compared to that!
 
Joined
Nov 2, 2021
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Nothing wrong with your rifle. It’s only been over the past couple of years that I’ve been able to buy new “nice” guns and while I have some good ones, I don’t have any customs or anything. I spent most of my life hunting with a blued plastic Remington 700 270 with a fixed 4x bushnell. I shot close to 20 elk with that gun over the years.
I love my rifle. It gets the job done. I will need a new scope as I dropped the rifle going over some slick rock after a 3 point Blacktail and broke the windage nob off the top of it. Probably gonna get a vortex razor. I really like the reticle and it’s at around 1k so it’s a start.
 
OP
thrash907

thrash907

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Sep 17, 2018
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32
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AK
Really appreciate all the input. If anyone is interested, I ended up ordering the APR Tomahawk in .300 wsm with a 22" barrel.

 
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Themic86

Lil-Rokslider
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May 16, 2021
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DFW, Texas
You make a big hard turn from Tikka to APR but they are great build quality and love mine. I almost got the pre-tomahawk from them but ended up with the maverick light instead. I don’t think you will be disappointed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

VinoVino

Lil-Rokslider
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Looks like a good rifle. Not sure I could handle a 300 WSM on a 5.5# rifle, but now I’m curious.
 
OP
thrash907

thrash907

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You make a big hard turn from Tikka to APR but they are great build quality and love mine. I almost got the pre-tomahawk from them but ended up with the maverick light instead. I don’t think you will be disappointed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Folding stock and not having to piece together a custom is what sold it for me. I'll probably end up with a few Tikkas eventually anyway.

Looks like a good rifle. Not sure I could handle a 300 WSM on a 5.5# rifle, but now I’m curious.
Looking at their Tomahawk builds on Instagram, it'll probably end up closer to 6#. Add on a suppressor and glass it shouldn't be too bad.

Did APR give you a timeline on how long it would take for the build?
Around 6 months.
 
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6.5 PRC would be a good compromise. That way you could rebarrel to another cartridege some day and have a magnum boltface without changing the bolt. LRI does make a Tikka bolt with some nice upgrades though. I would not buy a Tikka in 300WSM because the barrel twist is too slow. You can buy a blued T3X lite for $640 or a SS model for 800. The first thing I do is take off the factory recoil pad and put on an ”original” model Limbsaver (not the Airtech) for $40.

Too slow for what bullet? I've heard of many people shooting 200gr just fine. My Tikka '06 with an 11tw shot 200gr well.
 

Gila

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Too slow for what bullet? I've heard of many people shooting 200gr just fine. My Tikka '06 with an 11tw shot 200gr well.
To date, Sako and Tikka only make 1:11” twist barrels for the 300 WSM that I know of. Tikka changed the barrel twist from 11” to 10” on their 300 Win Mags this past summer. I bought one. Quite a few people who handload buy a 300 win mag or WSM to “pump up the volume” and play with seating depth to get range and accuracy for the heavies. A 10” twist is minimum to stabilize I believe. Hornady and Nosler both give the minimum recommended barrel twists in their bullet load data.

Be interesting to know what OP’s new Tomahawk has for a barrel twist...
 
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IdahoN8v

FNG
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Jun 11, 2021
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I would get a CA Ridgeline. I have one and it is a shooter. Their muzzle brakes work great. My 300 PRC kicks about like a 12ga shotgun. I think they come in aroud 6.6 pounds.
 
Joined
Nov 14, 2021
Messages
56
Location
Texas
My personal preference is the Kimber Montana.

I've had Tikka's and while they shot great, could never warm up to them for a mired of reasons

1. Liberal use of plastic parts (trigger guard, bolt shroud, mags)

2. Detachable Clip (not my cup of tea on a hunting rifle)

3. Hard to load from the breech

4. Action Length..... only 1

5. Plunger ejector and a hook style extractor

And the synthetic stock in particular exhibits too much flex and feels flimsy....


Granted, my experience was with them in the early to mid 2000's, so the newer ones may be different?
 
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