Tikka T3 Thread

My 6.5 ctr is arriving tomorrow and the question that’s been asked a million times but haven’t seen a great answer.
Shooting to 1k
Athlon Cronus or T5x 56mm scope (no caps)

Attempt to remove the factory rail? I’m handy but will need to buy a heat gun or torch plus clean up all the leftover residue

Get a sphur or will a standard ARC unimount not be too high?

Or is 20 MoA not needed?
 
My 6.5 ctr is arriving tomorrow and the question that’s been asked a million times but haven’t seen a great answer.
Shooting to 1k
Athlon Cronus or T5x 56mm scope (no caps)

Attempt to remove the factory rail? I’m handy but will need to buy a heat gun or torch plus clean up all the leftover residue

Get a sphur or will a standard ARC unimount not be too high?

Or is 20 MoA not needed?
I removed my factory rail last week. It was easy! I put a clothing iron (no steam) on the rail for about 10 minutes, set on high. I removed the iron and quickly unscrewed the retaining screws using a small Bosch 12v impact driver. I slid a scope ring over the rail and pulled up and it came right off.

Ethanol, isopropanol, brake cleaner, Breakfree CLP, Kroil, and Hoppes #9 would not remove the remaining adhesive. I used a razor blade to carefully scrape off the old stuff. I degreased the new rail (a Burris Xtreme 25 MOA 1-pc steel base) and applied a thin coat of red Loctite to the bottom and installed it.

I mounted a Weaver Tactical 6-30x56 in Seekins 34mm 1" high rings. The scope clears the barrel just barely. The Vortex caps I bought rub unless I install the sunshade.
 
  • Like
Reactions: coltm4
I removed my factory rail last week. It was easy! I put a clothing iron (no steam) on the rail for about 10 minutes, set on high. I removed the iron and quickly unscrewed the retaining screws using a small Bosch 12v impact driver. I slid a scope ring over the rail and pulled up and it came right off.

Ethanol, isopropanol, brake cleaner, Breakfree CLP, Kroil, and Hoppes #9 would not remove the remaining adhesive. I used a razor blade to carefully scrape off the old stuff. I degreased the new rail (a Burris Xtreme 25 MOA 1-pc steel base) and applied a thin coat of red Loctite to the bottom and installed it.

I mounted a Weaver Tactical 6-30x56 in Seekins 34mm 1" high rings. The scope clears the barrel just barely. The Vortex caps I bought rub unless I install the sunshade.

That sounds easy enough and great idea with the scope ring to pull up on the rail. I have a Makita electric impact driver and will try it! Should save some pennies
 
Nate? GA Precision does it all I believe. The action came from my Tikka ..243 and George suggested I try the 6 Creedmoor for coyotes. Used a heavy Bartlein barrel 7.7 twist rate, blueprinted the action and bedded to a Bell/Carlson stock. Great shooting gun does better then I can. Its great having George and Ken here locally in NKC.
IMG_1966.JPG
I've changed out scopes and just put on an Athlon Ares BTR that I picked up locally ( great price too) as they are located in Olathe.
 
  • Like
Reactions: viking78
My 6.5 ctr is arriving tomorrow and the question that’s been asked a million times but haven’t seen a great answer.
Shooting to 1k
Athlon Cronus or T5x 56mm scope (no caps)

Attempt to remove the factory rail? I’m handy but will need to buy a heat gun or torch plus clean up all the leftover residue

Get a sphur or will a standard ARC unimount not be too high?

Or is 20 MoA not needed?

Clothing iron works well. No need for open flames or high temp air. I use a Spuhr 20 MOA but I also shoot to 1000 yds pretty frequently now so 20 MOA helps.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jwhjwh54
I removed my factory rail last week. It was easy! I put a clothing iron (no steam) on the rail for about 10 minutes, set on high. I removed the iron and quickly unscrewed the retaining screws using a small Bosch 12v impact driver. I slid a scope ring over the rail and pulled up and it came right off.

Ethanol, isopropanol, brake cleaner, Breakfree CLP, Kroil, and Hoppes #9 would not remove the remaining adhesive. I used a razor blade to carefully scrape off the old stuff. I degreased the new rail (a Burris Xtreme 25 MOA 1-pc steel base) and applied a thin coat of red Loctite to the bottom and installed it.

I mounted a Weaver Tactical 6-30x56 in Seekins 34mm 1" high rings. The scope clears the barrel just barely. The Vortex caps I bought rub unless I install the sunshade.


What replacement rail did you use ?
 
I have a 223 and 243 in t3 with MDT chassis but would like to purchase a 22-250. I see they have two different twist options 1:14 and 1:8. I will mostly be shooting 50-55 gr bullets would either of these stabilize these 50s? Would I be better of with one over the other? Thank you!
 
Removing the rail was super easy thanks to ya'll

10 mins of iron on the rail ( helped with bipod on the rifle)
I used an Electric impact wrench but I don't think it was needed.
had gloves on and pulled straight up and the rail came off
Not very much glue residue luckily but will get the razor blade to get the tiny bit left on there

Time to order a 20 moa rail!
 
  • Like
Reactions: strat81 and coltm4
Removing the rail was super easy thanks to ya'll

10 mins of iron on the rail ( helped with bipod on the rifle)
I used an Electric impact wrench but I don't think it was needed.
had gloves on and pulled straight up and the rail came off
Not very much glue residue luckily but will get the razor blade to get the tiny bit left on there

Time to order a 20 moa rail!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, simple hand tools is all you need.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jwhjwh54
I just got an email that Area 419 is releasing a 20 MOA pic rail for the T3X as well as a competition package with a scope rail, muzzle break / adapter and bipod rail.
The Tac A1 owners might want to give Jon @area419 a prod towards producing a slanted rail to match up with their existing rails.
 
Anyone???

If you’re only going to shoot short 55s, and never want to try heavier or lead free hunting bullets (Barnes) then the slow (14) twist would work.

That said I would get the 8 twist anyway. It should shoot the lighter bullets just fine, and gives you the option to shoot heavier bullets as well.

For most uses 55gr are as light I’d go anyway, and If I didn’t already have a t3 lite in 243 I’d be buying one of these in 8 twist 22-250 myself and shooting 65-75gr bullets at everything.

With the faster twist (8), If you really pushed very light, thin jacketed varmint bullets hard it’s possible you could see them coming apart after leaving the muzzle due to “over spinning” them, but I’ve only read about this. Some say this is BS and always go with faster twist given the choice.

Lots of guys over on the 24hourcampfire forum bought these 8 twist t3 lites when Whittaker guns first sold a special run of these, do some reading over there for firsthand reports.

I don’t see a whole lot of reason to mess with 14 twist 22-250s any more. Possible exception is for colony varmint hunting with a particular light bullet, 40-50gr. But a t3 lite isn’t the right rifle for that anyway. If you go the 14 twist route it will pretty much only be valued as a donor action should you resell it. The 8 twist lite would be worth more if that matters to you. Of course, all Just my opinion....
 
Last edited:
The "overspinning" of the bullets is a very real phenomenon. I have experienced this in my .220 swift in the past with 40 grain bullets going 4200 fps in a standard 1-10 barrel. With better modern bullet construction it is not the issue it once was like say in the 60's-70's. But real nonetheless. I'd say pick the bullets/shooting you want to do and then match the barrel to that. In the end, the faster twist is going to give you a bigger window.
 
The "overspinning" of the bullets is a very real phenomenon. I have experienced this in my .220 swift in the past with 40 grain bullets going 4200 fps in a standard 1-10 barrel. With better modern bullet construction it is not the issue it once was like say in the 60's-70's. But real nonetheless. I'd say pick the bullets/shooting you want to do and then match the barrel to that. In the end, the faster twist is going to give you a bigger window.

That’s the problem 50-55 is what I’d like to shoot and that’s kind of in the middle.
 
That’s the problem 50-55 is what I’d like to shoot and that’s kind of in the middle.
If you intend to stick to no more than 55 then the 1-14 for a .22-250 is fine. But it limits you on heavy bullets. As long as you know that going in... using light bullets on a fast twist in a .22-250 can lead to "over-stabilization" without having your bullets blow up. Read up on that and decide for yourself. Truth is, there is a window of rpms for given projectiles that is optimum. While we understand a slow spin does not stabilize and is therefore bad, overstabilization is less well understood and discussed. It may not be as detrimental in most cases, but still needs to be considered. Just MHO.
 
That’s the problem 50-55 is what I’d like to shoot and that’s kind of in the middle.

I had a 14 twist tikka lite briefly, it shot Hornady 55 Vmax factory ammo well. I’m sure 50 grain vmax or 55 soft points would’ve worked also.

Is this just a hunting rifle? Colony varmints or coyotes? Are you going to hand load or shoot factory ammo?

Factory ammo is pretty much all 50-55 anyway. 55 SPs are short flat based bullets and should shoot fine in a standard 14 twist.

But I also think most if not all 55 SPs would be fine in the 8 twist, as would 55 Nosler BTs, 55 and 60gr vmax. And if you decide to shoot something bigger than a coyote you can try Sierra 65 game game kings. Or step up to Hornady 75 hpbts for varmints or paper.

On the other hand you said you have a tikka 243, which I assume is a lite model. You can shoot 75s, 85s, 95s in that rifle for predators or medium sized game. Of course you can also just shoot 6mm 55grainers in your 243...

There’s plenty of reading out there on fast twist 22-250s and light bullets, study up and don’t let me talk you into one. I’m just giving you my 2 cents. When I had a Ruger rebarreled few years ago I was worried about “over twisting” and used a 10 twist barrel. It shot 50-69 grain bullets well. But id be tempted to go 8 twist if I did it again.
 
Last edited:
I picked up a Manners T6A for my CTR and I'm finding that once I tighten down the action screws I can't seat the magazine. I have to loosen the screws several turns and lift up on the action slightly to get the magazine to go up far enough to catch. I can eventually fix that when I pillar bed it but for the time being is there any sort of shim that can be used to lift the action up enough where the screws can be properly torqued and the magazine seated?
 
I picked up a Manners T6A for my CTR and I'm finding that once I tighten down the action screws I can't seat the magazine. I have to loosen the screws several turns and lift up on the action slightly to get the magazine to go up far enough to catch. I can eventually fix that when I pillar bed it but for the time being is there any sort of shim that can be used to lift the action up enough where the screws can be properly torqued and the magazine seated?
you can buy shim sheets that need to be cut to size.
https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...ms/kit-no-ac-24-steel-shim-stock-prod589.aspx
 
  • Like
Reactions: caporegime
Side note. Took my Tikka T3 300 WM out today to try some different loads. It hated the Hornady Precision hunter ELD-X. the factory Sako Hamerheads shot a 3/4 inch group at 200 yards. The best the Hornady could muster was about 2 1/2 inches.
 
Last edited:
I picked up a Manners T6A for my CTR and I'm finding that once I tighten down the action screws I can't seat the magazine. I have to loosen the screws several turns and lift up on the action slightly to get the magazine to go up far enough to catch. I can eventually fix that when I pillar bed it but for the time being is there any sort of shim that can be used to lift the action up enough where the screws can be properly torqued and the magazine seated?
Or just lower the Bottom Metal which is easier than lifting the action. Put a washer on the second action screw between the stock and the bottom metal. Problem solved. That's what I and two other friends did with our Tikka Manners T6.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cannoncrossfire
I had a 14 twist tikka lite briefly, it shot Hornady 55 Vmax factory ammo well. I’m sure 50 grain vmax or 55 soft points would’ve worked also.

Is this just a hunting rifle? Colony varmints or coyotes? Are you going to hand load or shoot factory ammo?

Factory ammo is pretty much all 50-55 anyway. 55 SPs are short flat based bullets and should shoot fine in a standard 14 twist.

But I also think most if not all 55 SPs would be fine in the 8 twist, as would 55 Nosler BTs, 55 and 60gr vmax. And if you decide to shoot something bigger than a coyote you can try Sierra 65 game game kings. Or step up to Hornady 75 hpbts for varmints or paper.

On the other hand you said you have a tikka 243, which I assume is a lite model. You can shoot 75s, 85s, 95s in that rifle for predators or medium sized game. Of course you can also just shoot 6mm 55grainers in your 243...

There’s plenty of reading out there on fast twist 22-250s and light bullets, study up and don’t let me talk you into one. I’m just giving you my 2 cents. When I had a Ruger rebarreled few years ago I was worried about “over twisting” and used a 10 twist barrel. It shot 50-69 grain bullets well. But id be tempted to go 8 twist if I did it again.

I do no reload (wish I knew how) and will be primarily for predators and long(er) range praise dog hunting.
 
I picked up a Manners T6A for my CTR and I'm finding that once I tighten down the action screws I can't seat the magazine. I have to loosen the screws several turns and lift up on the action slightly to get the magazine to go up far enough to catch. I can eventually fix that when I pillar bed it but for the time being is there any sort of shim that can be used to lift the action up enough where the screws can be properly torqued and the magazine seated?
Hi, i got your pm and just shot you one back. Without geating the other details yet , it sounds like the pillars are to short. You should not have to use any shims at all. We need to make sure that gets corrected. Send me your contact info and i will get you taken care of asap. Thank you Tom Manners
 
I do no reload (wish I knew how) and will be primarily for predators and long(er) range praise dog hunting.

Guess we should’ve asked this question up front.

If you’re just shooting factory ammo a standard 14 twist 22-250 should handle most 50-55grain factory ammo just fine. You can’t take advantage of heavier bullets in this chambering without handloading anyway, so the 8 twist vs 14 twist debate is moot.
 
Hi, i got your pm and just shot you one back. Without geating the other details yet , it sounds like the pillars are to short. You should not have to use any shims at all. We need to make sure that gets corrected. Send me your contact info and i will get you taken care of asap. Thank you Tom Manners

Boom! This is why I love Manners! Fantastic stocks and they stand behind their product.
 
Guess we should’ve asked this question up front.

If you’re just shooting factory ammo a standard 14 twist 22-250 should handle most 50-55grain factory ammo just fine. You can’t take advantage of heavier bullets in this chambering without handloading anyway, so the 8 twist vs 14 twist debate is moot.

Thank you!
 
I've got a build in the works turning a T3 in 300WM into a 7suam. Still waiting a few months on my Proof barrel but trying to get components lined up. Was planning to use the factory trigger guard/mag... but it is looking like there aren't many options for after market stocks for the long action. Mostly appears everything is designed for the short action CTR. This is going to be primarily a hunting rifle so don't really need a large mag sticking out the bottom. Also guess you could say I'm more of a traditional guy, not really warming up to the rifle chassis.

Thoughts/comments?

Thanks a bunch!
 
I have a Tikka T3x TAC A1 on order. I would like to put a bag rider on the heel of the stock. Does someone make a kit that attaches to the small picatinny rail section?

I know I can get a cover for the pic rail but I doubt that would ride a bag very well.
 
I figured I’d add to the Tikka accuracy conversation on an even more budget friendly note. My wife bought me a Tikka T3 Hunter in .270 a couple years back as a wedding present (per my recommendation ha). It is my go to huntin’ rifle, and consistently shoots 0.75” or better groups with all of the 130 gr. Ammo i’ve Fed it. Haven’t tried any Hornady match 145 gr. Yet, but can only imagine it’ll be even tighter.

Needless to say, the next rifle i’m Eyeballing is most definetly a 24” CTR in 6.5 creed :)

Tikka T3 Hunter in .270
Vortex Viper HS 4-16x44
9D98B35F-F0C9-44B4-8EA5-D0A2E48EAB56.jpeg
 
I've got a build in the works turning a T3 in 300WM into a 7suam. Still waiting a few months on my Proof barrel but trying to get components lined up. Was planning to use the factory trigger guard/mag... but it is looking like there aren't many options for after market stocks for the long action. Mostly appears everything is designed for the short action CTR. This is going to be primarily a hunting rifle so don't really need a large mag sticking out the bottom. Also guess you could say I'm more of a traditional guy, not really warming up to the rifle chassis.

Thoughts/comments?

Thanks a bunch!

All of the standard (non CTR) Tikka bottom metal (plastic) inlets are the same for long and short action calibers. Any stock that is made for a Tikka will work as long as it isn't a CTR bottom metal inlet. Not sure if anyone makes aftermarket AICS bottom metal for SAUM or WSM rounds for the Tikka though.
 
All of the standard (non CTR) Tikka bottom metal (plastic) inlets are the same for long and short action calibers. Any stock that is made for a Tikka will work as long as it isn't a CTR bottom metal inlet. Not sure if anyone makes aftermarket AICS bottom metal for SAUM or WSM rounds for the Tikka though.
There are quite a few companies that make aics bottom metal for standard tikkas
Most people are using the 308 metal magazines without the binder plates and are able to load the fatty's with coal's to 2.95
You can also use the CTR factory mags with the short fatty's if you tweek the feed lips....
 
There are quite a few companies that make aics bottom metal for standard tikkas
Most people are using the 308 metal magazines without the binder plates and are able to load the fatty's with coal's to 2.95
You can also use the CTR factory mags with the short fatty's if you tweek the feed lips....

Now that you say that, I do remember seeing a guy running the 6.5 saum in slightly modified CTR mags. I believe he was getting 6 rounds in it.
 
Now that you say that, I do remember seeing a guy running the 6.5 saum in slightly modified CTR mags. I believe he was getting 6 rounds in it.
Here are some pics of factory 6.5 PRC at 2.95 in a MDT without the binder and also the CTR.
It's close but fits so with the shorter coal of 7 saum,6.5 saum and 300 wsm you will have a "little" more room.
I'm going to do a barrel swap on a 300wm I have after the first of the year so I'm just doing homework trying to see which BDM I want to use.
Also the original 300wm plastic mag that came with the lite I'm using as a donor also takes the fattys with plenty of room.....
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0307a.JPG
    IMG_0307a.JPG
    2.3 MB · Views: 210
  • IMG_0309a.JPG
    IMG_0309a.JPG
    2.6 MB · Views: 193
  • IMG_0289.JPG
    IMG_0289.JPG
    442.6 KB · Views: 179
  • IMG_0290.JPG
    IMG_0290.JPG
    507.6 KB · Views: 180
  • Like
Reactions: Wyzrd and 260284
Maybe I didn't ask clearly before... I've heard a lot about how smooth the Tikka actions are. How much does that change when running AICS mags vs. the factory mags?
I don't think there is much difference at all.
You can get gritty feeling mags in both of them so a little steel wool and compound on the feed lips will usually smooth them right out.
I do mine gritty or not....