'Tikka, Tikka, Tikka'

[BusMaster007]

Will someone please verify this? ---

The one thing about the TIKKA T3 that sticks in my mind as being undesirable is the HAVING TO LOAD IT BY USING THE MAGAZINE...

Correct me if I'm wrong T3 owners - - -
You CAN'T load the rifle without removing the magazine FIRST.
You CAN'T load through the port with the magazine in the rifle.

I wouldn't get a T3 based on that alone.
I don't care how much they cost or how accurate they may be.

Is it true or not?
edited: Is this like a dirty little secret about this rifle?


I wonder about the loading of the SAKO 75, now that I think about it!

 

[Jaywalker]

Both the Tikka and the Sako are Push Feed, so there shouldn't be a problem with loading singly.

Jaywalker

 

[BusMaster007]

That's not what I meant Jaywalker.

I mean on the Tikka T3 you CAN'T feed through the port...singly or otherwise.
You MUST remove the magazine to load the gun.


I went back to the SAKO site and found that the 75 CAN be loaded through the port. I imagine that means loading the chamber or the magazine or both. Magazine removal is not necessary.

 

[Jaywalker]

The Tikka T-3 will load singly. I helped a teenager sight one in at my club's sighting-in day.

As far as I know, only Control Feed actions require seating in a magazine before feeding, and it seems to me that if the shell is going to eject from the action, there would have to be room to put it in and clean malfunctions.

Jaywalker

 

[PJR]

Loading any push feed rifle singly is possible but not always convenient. Possibly the question should be can the magazine be top loaded, as in can a round be pressed into the magazine without removing it? It is possible on a Sako 75 and not possible on the Tikka Whitetail Hunter. I doubt the newer T3 can be toploaded but I've only examined one and can't immediately recall one way or the other.

 

[BevrFevr]

pure speculation

I think that because the Tikka plastic mags are so thick ( much thicker than most plastic mags ) that it may be difficult to top load just by pushing one down like with a stripper clip or something. besides I think the real issue is...

SINGLE STACK

most mags that I have seen in my limited experience that allow one to top feed by pressing a round straight down are double stack mags. Even bolt rifles with fixed mags are double stack where the round is held in place by one feed lip. Correct me if I'm wrong but Remy's, Winchesters etc are all like this right. They are Double stack Double Feed right? Wrong? I need to have one in fornt of me.

Single stack mags usually have both feed lips retaining the cartridge so the mag must be removed and a round slid from front to rear.

Case in point My Ishy has a double stack double feed mag and can be top loaded. Same as sks. ak-47, m-16 etc. Of course, the last two require the mag to be removed form the firearm.

-bevr

 

[BusMaster007]

Thanks, guys.
The way you put it was better than what I was asking.
More correctly put, for sure.

TOP LOADING the magazine isn't possible, but single loading the chamber is, only it's not very convenient.
I think that's what I wanted to know...

The TIKKA rifles are fine firearms, I wasn't knocking the gun.
I wouldn't want one because of the loading technique, and the fact it doesn't come in .375 H&H.

(I'm pretty well sold on the SAKO 75, no matter what I've posted in the recent past about which .375 I'm getting! )

It's great to have places like this to get good information.

 

[BevrFevr]

good luck with that .375

That's a manly enough round.

For me I think I can look past the mag issue on the TIKKA but It will be a PIA. I think that will go away as I amaze my friends with the accuracy of that ferin rifle.

besides if could afford a SAKO I would damn sure buy one.

I'm gonna order my tikka tomorrow!

-bevr

 

[BusMaster007]

Bevr,

I've ALWAYS wanted a .375 H&H!
So, I'm gonna cash in a week's vacation and get one!

What caliber TIKKA are you going for?

 

[BevrFevr]

probably a nambly pambly little

.308

It should do for my uses for a while and then later if I need to I can move up a notch.

My bud has a .375 h&h Mod 70 and it will kill and clean the dear if you get a front center shot.

My friends would tell me to get a 30-06 as they have no faith or experience with a .308 but for me I seems about right.

I've mulled over 25-06, .270, 30-06, .243, 300 win mag etc. And I just seem to come back to the old .308. I'm not a recoil wuss but considering they have similar balistics (308/06) I think I'll opt for the lesser kick in such a light rifle.

Now i'm wondering plastic or wood? any suggetions? I'm leaning plastic and stainless.

-bevr

 

[BusMaster007]

WOW.
Looky what I found!

http://www.tikka.fi/

Go to the Varmint Stainless and check out the features...especially the dropped 5-6 round magazine in .308.
---click on the + signs for a close-up view of those sections.
It looks like the cheekpiece and wider forend are 'add-on' pieces and the bbl. is a 'varmint' profile of thicker proportions.

THAT'S the one I'd get, if I were to get a TIKKA rifle.

 

[BevrFevr]

I have been spending way too much time on that site for it to be considered healthy.

I definitely considered the varmit. I just don't know if wally world will order me one. Also I think it may be just out of my price range. I was thinking I could afford about $450 plus tax etc.

Here is another problem. I'm right handed and left eye dominant. Almost all the Tikkas come with a right side palm swell except for the laminate and the varmit. I don't really want to buy a lefty.

I do want as much ambi functionality as I can get so I tend to stay away from monte carlos and such. I can shoot with either eye but when I have to do some fine shooting it is all about the left eye.

So Your suggestion of the Varmint really hits home because it is the most ambi rifle they make. I would have to get the more flush fitting 3 round mag though.

thanks for the suggestions it is helping me with my process of elimination.

-bevr

 

[Surely]

removable mag

the nice thing about a removable magazine is that you can carry extras and if theres enough demand, someone will come out with a "large capacity" version of it eventually. I cant imagine ever needing more than 4 shots in quick sucession but I guess an extra 2 or 3 wouldnt hurt.

 

[Detritus]

slightly OT but..

My friends would tell me to get a 30-06 as they have no faith or experience with a .308 but for me I seems about right.

as you probably know, except at the very upper end of the "load strength scale" (or whatever you want to call it) there is nothing the 30-06 can do that a .308 can not. i simply can not think of anything that I personally would want to do with an '06 that could not be done just as well, and in a shorter action to boot, by a .308 chambered gun. Since i do not hunt elk, moose, etc, which are the realms where the upper end of the 30-06's "range" comes into play, and the ONLY use that comes to mind where i've seen any sort of legit argument for the '06 over the .308.

for deer sized game (as my father once put it) "a .308 is a 30-06 with the excess airspace and case length trimmed off".
and except for the likes of Garands and the ocasional 03 or 03A3 in orignal or sprter config, i've not seen a 30-06 on the line at the rifle matches i've shot in or witnessed (the local High Power, "f-class" HP, and Rifle Silhouette shoots). bolt guns at those same matches tend to be .308s or smaller caliber "hot-rods".

 

[JohnKSa]

Ok, I'm stumped...

What do you want to do with the rifle that makes it imperative that you be able to load from the top.

In nearly every application I can think of it would be much faster and more desirable to simply carry a few spare mags and swap them out.

If you run dry in a pinch, you can still drop a free round into the ejection port and run the bolt forward.

I can't figure out what kind of capability you're losing by not being able to top load

 

[BusMaster007]

I'd like to have the option of loading the detachable mag from the top if I don't want to carry extra mags.
My Remington 700 BDL-DM in .338 could do that.
My Browning BAR MkII in 7mm has that capability, too.

But, all this is a moot point now, as I've finally settled on another Remington BDL in .375 Ultra Mag to scratch my itch and kick my A$$!!!

I'll still be able to load from the top...