Looking for the "right" rifle.

[Taternater]

Hummm..., well I checked out the Tikka and Im imprested. On paper it looks great, but im always iffy about new brands. I had heard something of a gaurentee. but my favorite would be the varmint or super varmint. I just want to make sure that it can be dead on at 500 to 600 yards with some sort of ease. most likley a 308.

 

[britz]

I have a Tikka T3 lite stainless synthetic 300 wsm. I haven't owned many rifles, but I will say it outshoots my heavy barreled savage 22-250 and my rem 700 BDL 30-06. I have gotten consistent .75 MOA shots out to 600 and many groups at under .5 MOA. I highly recomend the Tikka for the money. As I have said before, the heavy barrel is made for a little more stability and for slowing barrel heat up.

 

[grit]

The Tikka will outshoot the rem sps varmint. There are other remingtons with much better stocks. I own and enjoy a rem Sendero. As far as new brand fear, they are only new in the US, and not that new. They have a superb track record. They are made in Finland, reportedly in the same factory as Sako.

Further, 500 yards will no problem for any accurate rifle. Tikka is one of the few brands that guarantee thier rifles to shoot 1 moa or better. All brands produce a few rifles that shoot well. Most of the time you simply gamble wether you will get good, poor, or mediocre. An accuracy garantee means better quality control.

The Tikka is a good, solid, accurate rifle... off the shelf. No gamble. It will shoot.

 

[Forrest Ebert]

Looking for the right rifle

I would stick with a caliber you can get anywhere like the 270,30/06,308
something that every Mom and Pop store would have on hand as you didn't mention about handloading. The rifle brand is up to you what feels good when you bring it up length of pull and buy the best scope you can as you never want to skimp on your optics especially if you want to shoot long range. I would stay with the Remington 700, Savage or a Ruger.
I have delt with the Tikka T3 line as I bought one for my girlfriend in 7mm-08 and it "DOESN'T" shoot any type of factory ammo in the guaranteed 1" moa! with that being said good luck to you in your quest.
Remember one thing on your long shots is you must follow up on everyone of them even if you think you know where your shot went as some times the animals don't act like anything has been done and they could be laying just out of sight from where you shot at them.

gun)

 

[Timberbeast7]

I would also look pretty hard at the Tikkas if I were you. VERY solid rifles, and like someone already said they are not a new brand. I have seen many of them in action (8-10 rifles) and haven't seen one that will not shoot. I also recommended these rifles to my sister when she decided she wanted to get into shooting and my brother when he bought his first rifle.

 

[Taternater]

Im most likley going to get the Tikka, but the only problem I think I may have is luging the big heavy varmint barrel arround through the woods. The question i have is that "do I really need the Varmint (although i like the free floating barrel) to get deer from around 500 to 600 yards, or is there something that would work better from the tikka line?" but I will most likley buy ammo untill i save up enough to hand load (which may take a while) but I am most deff. going to spend 400 to 500 dollars on a scope, hopefully nikon.

 

[Taternater]

Also, should I still be going with a 308 cal??

 

[britz]

Especially if you don't reload, the 308 is one of the best out there because of the huge selection of match grade ammo. The T3 lite stainless sythetic has a free floated barrel. Not to kick a dead horse, but I honestly don't think you will need a heavy varmint barrel to preform well enough to take big game out to 500 yards. But remember, the 308 will do fine on deer at these ranges, but not much bigger game. Tikka was purchased by Sako several years ago, now Beretta is importing them to the U.S.


Forest Ebert. If it doesn't do what it is garanteed to do send it back!! That is what the garantee is all about. I only shot 1 box of factory ammo through mine, and it was a standard federal that shot around 1.25 to 1.5 moa. I handload the rest and it didn't take long for me to find a load that was sub .75 MOA. I will admit that mine didn't shoot 165 grain bullets very well but I switched to 180's and it shoots great. It also shoots 110's pretty darn good. Maybe you should try a different weight too.

 

[Timberbeast7]

My coyote hunting partner has 22-250's in heavy barrel (varmint) and the sporter weight barrel Tikka's (both S/S). The sporter weight barrel rifle will outshoot the heavy barrel rifle will handloads. They both shoot great, but the light one shoots better. But, he likes the heavy barrel rifle better because it is easier to shoot (ie, the sporter weight is a little light for his tastes).

 

[MontanaRifleman]

I am going to join the Tikka crowd. I don't own one, but a friend does. He has a T3 in 270 WSM and really likes it. He is getting about .4 MOA with handloaded 130 gr TSX's. I know several others on another forum with the same rifle and have basically the same results. There are a lot of very happy Tikka owners out there and I would recommend that gun to anyone who is looking for something in that price range. As for cartridge... I would also recommend the 270 WSM. It's a great flat shooting round and some say one of the most inherently accurate if not the most accurate. It will get you your 500 yds and then some and will make a great brush gun as well.

Also have to join those that stress getting good glass. I would probably recommend the Bushnell 4200 series or Nikon Monarch. If you ever go beyond 500 yds you'll want a scope that you can dial and that will cost more.

Good Hunting

 

[Taternater]

I appreciate all the advice from all of you, espicaly britz, and I have decide to go with the Tikka t3. If the camo stainless (because i just mainly like the camo) is the same as the varmnit then I may get it if the only differnce is just a hevier barrel. But the majority of the time I would be taking deer from 100 to 200 yards, but also there would be others from 500. Im not too sure that i would be hunting anything else bigger than a deer so should I go with the 308, 30-06, 9.3x62, or 300/338 win mag (for the extra umph)?

 

[MontanaRifleman]

I appreciate all the advice from all of you, espicaly britz, and I have decide to go with the Tikka t3. If the camo stainless (because i just mainly like the camo) is the same as the varmnit then I may get it if the only differnce is just a hevier barrel. But the majority of the time I would be taking deer from 100 to 200 yards, but also there would be others from 500. Im not too sure that i would be hunting anything else bigger than a deer so should I go with the 308, 30-06, 9.3x62, or 300/338 win mag (for the extra umph)?

The Camo Stainless is basically the same a the Lite Stainless. Here is the Tikka Web Site if you haven't already seen it.

Tikka T3

What are you looking for in a cartridge? Any of those cartridges will do a good job of killing deer. As mentioned earlier, the magnums will burn your barrel out faster but how often are you going to shoot it? If you shoot about a 100 rounds a year out of it, a magnum should easily last 10-15 years with the proper care and cleaning. And then get a rebarrel. If you do want a magnum, I would suggest a WSM because the Tikka Lites have a 22" bbl and the WSM's will give a more efficeint powder burn in a short bbl.

These would my choices in order based on what you have said.

270 WSM, will push a 130 gr bullet 3200 FPS plus and 150 gr bullet 3000 fps plus. Very flat shooting and an inheritly accurate round. It will do the job on any lower 48 game including black bear, elk and moose.

270 Win, will push a 130 gr bullet about 3000 fps and a 150 gr about 2800. Fairly flat shooting, less recoil, possibly longer barrel life and will also kill any lower 48 game but on the low end for bear, elk and moose.

300 WSM, will push a 165 gr bullet about 3100 fps and 180 gr bullet about 2900 fps, it will have about the same trajectory as the 270 WSM with heavier and more effective bullets giving you more killing power down range, a good 700 yd plus round. The 308 and '06 are good rounds but IMHO if I'm going to shoot a 30 cal bullet, I'll get a little more out of it with a mag. Flatter shooting and more punch, especially down range. The 300 WSM is also arguably as good or better than the 308 in accuracy.

338 WM??? It's a good round but WAY more than you need for deer. If you just want a big gun, go for it, but it kicks like a mule.

Also, if your going to be making shots over 300 yds, I would HIGHLY recommend getting a lazer range finder. a 50 yd misscalculation will likely result in a missed shot.

Last...bullets. For higher velocity shots I would recommend well constructed bullets that stay intact, penetrate, break bones and make good wound channels. E-Tips, TSX's and Accubonds come to mind.

Good Hunting

 

[britz]

I appreciate all the advice from all of you, espicaly britz, and I have decide to go with the Tikka t3. If the camo stainless (because i just mainly like the camo) is the same as the varmnit then I may get it if the only differnce is just a hevier barrel. But the majority of the time I would be taking deer from 100 to 200 yards, but also there would be others from 500. Im not too sure that i would be hunting anything else bigger than a deer so should I go with the 308, 30-06, 9.3x62, or 300/338 win mag (for the extra umph)?

Good luck with your search. The question of how much power is going to give you a lot of different opinions. The biggest reason I have suggested the 308 - as James Jones did- is the availability of very very good factory ammo. I handload so if I was going to get another long range deer rifle I'd seriously consider a 260 rem, but they are harder to find factory ammo for. I shoot a 300 wsm and a 3006. I like them both, but realistically I feel the 308/3006 is big enough for deer out to 500 yards.

Another thing to consider is so many people (myself included) try to get one rifle to do every job. the 3006 is probably the most versitle rifle every designed for NA game, and the 308 is very close balistically. If you ever go on a big Elk hunt and are afraid that the 308 won't have enough power, (it will at moderate ranges first off), consider adding the price of a new rifle on to the couple thousand you are already spending on the trip. If you want to go out varmint hunting, you need a smaller lighter round that won't heat up your barrel and wont have the recoil anyway too.

 

[ol mike]

Buy an American made gun -remington or savage -keep ''us'' working and you'll have the best.

In the future you'll probably want to modify your rifle -remington and savage have tons of aftermarket equipment to choose from.

Me -i'm a hardcore remington man the rem 700 is hard to beat -i have four of them and they are all great shooters..