I will start this review off buy saying I got this rifle half through where it is now. It came in a Bell & Carlson stock and with the Bartlin 260 AI barrel on it. So cant speak for some of the factory items on the rifle.
Tikka CTR:
I have be impressed with this action and DBM from the get go. Its smooth, the factory trigger is clean and crisp. Not sure why tikka doesn't put a 20 MOA Rail on the action from the factory. Major disappointment there. But other than that for 1K price range I don't think there is a better rifle out there. I never shot the factory 260 REM Tube, but the previous owner said it was a hammer. The DBM that comes with it is awesome and rock solid. The magazines are better than ACIS mags and feed a whole hell of a lot smoother. And the 10RND mags are flush with the bottom of the trigger guard. People often complain about the tikka mags being expensive and hard to find, a quick google search pulled up three vendors and selling the 10 and 5 rnd mags for 70$. So same price point as AICS metal mags. OAL length you can use is right at 2.950, so you can load long. Honestly, I find no reason to switch to AICS (however I did due to wanting a Chassis). I have found a few places that will inlet your stock for the tikka DBM. and I highly recommend staying with it.
MPA chassis:
Propyl one of the best chassis out there. Not overly heavy and has loads of features. Tool less adjustment for the butt plate and check piece, Which are a must IMHO if you plan on doing various things with the rifle and shooting in different Climates. I'm not a fan of the mono pod. I find it hard to use and gets jumpy under recoil on hard surfaces like concrete. I do like using the spigot mount and getting the bipod farther out front. I will be replacing the Harris with a atlas. Cant give you a review on the ARCA/RAT rail as I'm not a fan and no desire to use it. I do wish I would of picked up and folding stock model for easier transport. The Recoil pad is adjustable up and down, left and rifle a small but nice feature to help get the butt in you shoulder how you want it. Install was a breeze. Dropped the action in and bolted down per MPA's instruction. I'm going to end up taking the NV bridge off so I can run my sunshade. And finally the grip. The grip they include is probably the most comfortable and natural hand position I have ever felt on a rifle.
Vortex Razor Gen 2.
I love it. Crystal clear tracks like no other. Passed the tall target test with flying colors. Only complaint is the turrets. Way easier to zero of you have someone adjust them while you hold the rifle. More to this will follow. I want to get more range time with it before I go to in depth.
260 AI:
This cartridge has a lot of potential to go places and do things. I've been slinging 140 Nosler CC at 2850 right now over some H4350. I've got 500 Hornady 147gr ELD-M and some Reloader 26. Really looking forward to playing with these. I should be able to get them going up to 3000 FPS. One of the guys is running them in his 26Inch 260 AI at 3010 and getting 6.6 MIL's at 1k here in El Paso. This rnd IMHO is a mini version of the 6.5 GAP 4S. Barrel life can be across the board. Either really good or meh. The 147 ELD-M at 3010 netted him about 1700 rnds of barrel life. I plan on running them about 2900-2950 and get some more barrel life, I'm not loaded with cash, So I'm trying to find and balance between performance and barrel life. If you keep the 260 AI at 2900 or less barrel life should be around 2500. I plan on taking a elk this year with is and will be shooting the 143 ELD-X at hopefully 3000 FPS and will report back this fall with the results.
Fire Forming. I'm going to touch on this but not go to deep. Everyone has there way to do it. I don't buy that cream of wheat crap. I've seen it destroy a muzzle break. I started in the middle of 260 Remington data and worked up from there. I have 140 Nosler CC going at 2785 to fire form. Makes a great plinking and local match load.
This is what I've got so far. I like the rifle. Finally got it where I like it and will now hit the range hard and provide a update to this later this week.
Scott
Tikka CTR:
I have be impressed with this action and DBM from the get go. Its smooth, the factory trigger is clean and crisp. Not sure why tikka doesn't put a 20 MOA Rail on the action from the factory. Major disappointment there. But other than that for 1K price range I don't think there is a better rifle out there. I never shot the factory 260 REM Tube, but the previous owner said it was a hammer. The DBM that comes with it is awesome and rock solid. The magazines are better than ACIS mags and feed a whole hell of a lot smoother. And the 10RND mags are flush with the bottom of the trigger guard. People often complain about the tikka mags being expensive and hard to find, a quick google search pulled up three vendors and selling the 10 and 5 rnd mags for 70$. So same price point as AICS metal mags. OAL length you can use is right at 2.950, so you can load long. Honestly, I find no reason to switch to AICS (however I did due to wanting a Chassis). I have found a few places that will inlet your stock for the tikka DBM. and I highly recommend staying with it.
MPA chassis:
Propyl one of the best chassis out there. Not overly heavy and has loads of features. Tool less adjustment for the butt plate and check piece, Which are a must IMHO if you plan on doing various things with the rifle and shooting in different Climates. I'm not a fan of the mono pod. I find it hard to use and gets jumpy under recoil on hard surfaces like concrete. I do like using the spigot mount and getting the bipod farther out front. I will be replacing the Harris with a atlas. Cant give you a review on the ARCA/RAT rail as I'm not a fan and no desire to use it. I do wish I would of picked up and folding stock model for easier transport. The Recoil pad is adjustable up and down, left and rifle a small but nice feature to help get the butt in you shoulder how you want it. Install was a breeze. Dropped the action in and bolted down per MPA's instruction. I'm going to end up taking the NV bridge off so I can run my sunshade. And finally the grip. The grip they include is probably the most comfortable and natural hand position I have ever felt on a rifle.
Vortex Razor Gen 2.
I love it. Crystal clear tracks like no other. Passed the tall target test with flying colors. Only complaint is the turrets. Way easier to zero of you have someone adjust them while you hold the rifle. More to this will follow. I want to get more range time with it before I go to in depth.
260 AI:
This cartridge has a lot of potential to go places and do things. I've been slinging 140 Nosler CC at 2850 right now over some H4350. I've got 500 Hornady 147gr ELD-M and some Reloader 26. Really looking forward to playing with these. I should be able to get them going up to 3000 FPS. One of the guys is running them in his 26Inch 260 AI at 3010 and getting 6.6 MIL's at 1k here in El Paso. This rnd IMHO is a mini version of the 6.5 GAP 4S. Barrel life can be across the board. Either really good or meh. The 147 ELD-M at 3010 netted him about 1700 rnds of barrel life. I plan on running them about 2900-2950 and get some more barrel life, I'm not loaded with cash, So I'm trying to find and balance between performance and barrel life. If you keep the 260 AI at 2900 or less barrel life should be around 2500. I plan on taking a elk this year with is and will be shooting the 143 ELD-X at hopefully 3000 FPS and will report back this fall with the results.
Fire Forming. I'm going to touch on this but not go to deep. Everyone has there way to do it. I don't buy that cream of wheat crap. I've seen it destroy a muzzle break. I started in the middle of 260 Remington data and worked up from there. I have 140 Nosler CC going at 2785 to fire form. Makes a great plinking and local match load.
This is what I've got so far. I like the rifle. Finally got it where I like it and will now hit the range hard and provide a update to this later this week.
Scott
