Wanted a light-ish rifle for deer that will shoot factory loads decent. Ended up buying Tikka T3X Lite in Veil Wideland 6.5CM. Paired it with a Vortex Razor LHT 3-15x42 HSR-5i MRAD to keep it light at 19oz spec'd weight, on Talley Low rings.
Soaked a bore snake in cleaner and ran it through one time. Rough bore sight and then fired 3 shots to get zeroed at 100. Then shot 3-round groups without the break of 147g ELD-M, PH 143g ELD-X, Nosler 140g BT.
Was 10-15mph wind at 4 o'clock off a bench resting rifle on gun case. No sandbag or rear support. As someone who is used to heavier rifles with much better ergonomics and bipod and rear support, I found it very hard to stay on target shooting this light rifle and less than ideal shooting position.
Not bad given the conditions, hard to say which was shooting better. These groups would definitely have been tighter if I could hold on target properly, so the rifle is doing it's job and is sub-MOA with all of these loads. I adjusted scope a little and shot 5-round groups on new target. About the same, but I felt the 147g ELD-M had a slightly better performance. I added the factory break and shot another 3-round group.
Recoil difference was noticable with the factory break.
I am happy with the rifle's performance for factory ammo. Wish it was shorter, but for my purposes it should be fine.
First impressions are that the trigger is way too heavy, especially for this light of a setup. I found myself occasionally getting target panic because of this. The damn thing just would not go off! Also, hard to get a proper cheek weld off a bench. Will work on that after I try prone. The Low Talleys have plenty of clearance for the 42mm LHT objective for anyone wondering (I can post a pic later if someone cares). Not super impressed with the eye-relief on that scope. It is very finicky compared to some of my other optics. I had to face the Talley rings so that the scope could mount as far forward as possible, and then slide the scope to the max and back off a millimeter or two to make sure I was off the taper that ramps up the diameter of the main tube in the rear toward the eyepiece. Glass is pretty clear for the price. The turrets work fine, not as tactile and clean as others out there, but for a hunting setup it will do fine. Magnification adjustment ring is way too stiff out of the box. Scope base to receiver holes on the rifle were clogged with junk from the factory, only one screw would hand thread, the rest had to cleaned thoroughly. The Talley rings required very little lapping.
That's it for now. Can't wait to get out there and shoot some more!
Soaked a bore snake in cleaner and ran it through one time. Rough bore sight and then fired 3 shots to get zeroed at 100. Then shot 3-round groups without the break of 147g ELD-M, PH 143g ELD-X, Nosler 140g BT.
Was 10-15mph wind at 4 o'clock off a bench resting rifle on gun case. No sandbag or rear support. As someone who is used to heavier rifles with much better ergonomics and bipod and rear support, I found it very hard to stay on target shooting this light rifle and less than ideal shooting position.
Not bad given the conditions, hard to say which was shooting better. These groups would definitely have been tighter if I could hold on target properly, so the rifle is doing it's job and is sub-MOA with all of these loads. I adjusted scope a little and shot 5-round groups on new target. About the same, but I felt the 147g ELD-M had a slightly better performance. I added the factory break and shot another 3-round group.
Recoil difference was noticable with the factory break.
I am happy with the rifle's performance for factory ammo. Wish it was shorter, but for my purposes it should be fine.
First impressions are that the trigger is way too heavy, especially for this light of a setup. I found myself occasionally getting target panic because of this. The damn thing just would not go off! Also, hard to get a proper cheek weld off a bench. Will work on that after I try prone. The Low Talleys have plenty of clearance for the 42mm LHT objective for anyone wondering (I can post a pic later if someone cares). Not super impressed with the eye-relief on that scope. It is very finicky compared to some of my other optics. I had to face the Talley rings so that the scope could mount as far forward as possible, and then slide the scope to the max and back off a millimeter or two to make sure I was off the taper that ramps up the diameter of the main tube in the rear toward the eyepiece. Glass is pretty clear for the price. The turrets work fine, not as tactile and clean as others out there, but for a hunting setup it will do fine. Magnification adjustment ring is way too stiff out of the box. Scope base to receiver holes on the rifle were clogged with junk from the factory, only one screw would hand thread, the rest had to cleaned thoroughly. The Talley rings required very little lapping.
That's it for now. Can't wait to get out there and shoot some more!
