Tell me about Tikka Rifles

J

JasonReed

New member
Tikka rifles are getting rave reviews, but people keep mentioning a lot of plastic, and I seem to remember something about the magazines being flimsy or hard to remove, or hard to top off, or something. Did a search and can't find the info again.

So Tikka owners, what's the story on these things? Which specific parts are plastic, and what's going on with the magazines?

I haven't found one in a gun store yet. I almost hesitate to say it, but I'm thinking of using a Tikka as the basis for a scout rifle.
 
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The major parts are the magazines and the trigger guard, but mine doesn't have the magazine removal problem. The interesting thing is, the three round .308 magazine is plastic, but the five round one is steel. IMO, the Tikka one one of the hidden bargains, mine is very accurate, and has the best factory trigger I've ever run across.
 
Other plastic parts are the bolt shroud, magazine release and on some of the older models there is a plastic bolt sleeve.

The 3 round magazines are not difficult to load, remove or insert. The 5 rounders (6 rounds in .233) can be a little tricky to get that last round in but remove and insert easily. FYI, the rifle cannot be top loaded with these magazines.

The Tikkas come in two action sizes -- medium (.308 sized and smaller) and long (30-06 and larger). This makes for a relatively large rifle in .223 Remington. As much as I liked my Tikka, I eventually went with a Sako 75 in .223 because of the smaller action size and the ability to top load. Whether those are issues in developing a scout rifle is up to you.

Tikka makes great rifles at a good price with excellent quality control. I prefer them to Ruger, Savage, Browning and Remington rifles.
 
No toploading huh? So I need to remove the magazine to reload? That seems a bit odd. Any idea what an extra magazine costs?
 
Not all 3 rnd Magazines are plastic,

Most are but I still see plenty around that are metal. They are very durable though. I dropped mine at the range last week fully loaded and there was not a single scratch on the mag. As well, not all the trigger guards are plastic - My continental only has a plastic magazine and mag release, the rest of the gun is completely metal. If I had kept the original magazine than there would have been no plastic on the gun at all. Mags are the only bad thing about Tikka rifles. They are pretty pricey at about 100 to 110 Cdn but who ever carries multiple mags in a Bolt action anyway?
You can still load one rnd at a time through the top but all "extra" rnds needed to be loaded with the mag out. If u want to go with a scout rifle I personally would recommend a Remington Model 7 over a Tikka because they are pretty comparable for price and parts and availibility for the Remington is WAYYYYYY better. If you just want an excellent shooting hunting rifle straight out of the box than go with the Tikka.
 
I'd have to agree with Glock4ever. Having owned both the Model 7 and a Tikka, I'd choose the Model 7 for a scout rifle but only the blued Model 7. The stainless one I owned and others I've seen were not terribly well made IMHO.

I preferred the Tikka and now the Sako because I wanted a rifle I could keep handy but unloaded for varmints. The rifle is always nearby and a loaded mag is in my pocket. If keep a loaded rifle nearby were an option, I might go with the Model 7 after it had a little accuracy work.

As for carrying multiple mags in a bolt action, I've been known to carry a couple with me.
 
The only advantage to multiple mags is convenience...

Multiple mags is nice if u want to quickly switch to different loads but I find that in boltguns it just isn't worth the extra costs. Most times the scope is zeroed for one particular load and switching loads doesn't really save all that much time. I guess because I'm just a poor boy I can't justify spending the extra bucks for that particular convenience. :p
 
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