I love that you can just buy a long action mag and change the bolt stop and be able to seat your ammo longer - that's really cool! That Tikka really has some advantages.
Thx man, with 22” barrel and 3.14” OAL, it shoots the 134 ELDM over H1000 at 2900+ MV +/- depending on load. With 26” barrel 3000+ MV is easy and recoil is a piece of cake around 15-16 ft lbs. I run mine suppressed, and I estimate it’s closer to 12 ft lbs. Brass is simple one-step neck down with Redding die with 6.5-284 brass. The beauty of upgrading to the 25-284 and 6.5-284 in a Tikka is that you can upgrade the bolt stop and mags and not have to get a magnum bolt. On my 7-08, I chopped the barrel to 18” and replaced the recoil pad with a Limbsaver. Bottom metal will take 45 ft lbs without issues and I’ve seen excellent accuracy. My max OAL with factory chamber is around 2.88”. I’ve had great luck with 162 ELDX, 150 Fusion, and 120 Nosler BT. Very forgiving and easy to load for. I'm running the light bullets with Varget and the heavies with Staball 6.5 for maximum velocity. Big Game is another good powder for the 7-08 for velocity. My 150 Fusion load is warm/max at 48.5 gr of SB 6.5 and the 162 is 46.7. Book max for 162 is close to 48, but I hit pressure at 47.2. Enjoy your 7-08, there is little that it can't do in the lower 48!
@@hopefulballistics Not too big of a selection for the high B.C. .277 bullets. It’ll be a backcountry hunting rifle so I’ll probably use the 155 Barnes or the 165 ABLR’s. But wouldn’t mind trying the 170 Berger, or 175 Sierra TGK’s for fun target shooting.
@@PastorinoFarms Nice. I don’t know that you need to go to 1:8 to stabilize any of those. I believe 1:9 would do that with any of those at any altitude. My understanding is that more rpm’s than you need can over emphasize any imperfections in your projectiles resulting in results in accuracy that are not what you are hoping for. Doesn’t mean in fact. Just in theory! I hope it goes well for you.👍🏻
Mornin' Thats how I built my 6mm Rem. Its on a 30/06 action. So I had it throated for a 3.2 oal with a 108g Berger. My rewards have been 3200 fps with that bullet.
Tikka’s are great and I love the 7mm-08. If you do get bored with that caliber for some reason, you could just ream out your barrel to 280AI and go, since you already did the bolt stop and magazine. The Tikka is the only gun that I know of that you could do that with. Have fun with it and straight shooting!
Good morning! The more you shoot it - the more you will love it. I am just an old man, but will throw my two cents in on the bottom metal issue. I replaced mine with Mountain Tactical and it has two or three advantages: 1) it adds rigidity to your stock - and rigidity can affect accuracy; and 2) it has a much larger area for your trigger finger if you are hunting and wearing gloves. I also put a vertical grip on the 308 I just purchased and really like the feel of it. I think Tikkas are simply the best bang for the buck when specifically related to overall quality. There are cheaper guns out there that do shoot quite nicely - but I will still take my Tikkas. :)
Very good points but when you have a Tikka that shoots several handloaded bullets into one hole with the factory polymer parts, it's a little tougher to consider replacing it. That said, I did tell Hopeful Ballistics that the primary reason I have not replaced any of my Tikka bottom kits is because I'd have to buy a TON of them. If I had 3 to 4 Tikkas or less, I would likely seriously consider upgrading to the Mountain Tactical bottom kit and for me, it would literally be just to feel fuzzy and good about it and I do like new stuff. In terms of the average guy hunting, the factory polymer is excellent - light weight, cheap, easy to get extra mags to have on hand.
60+ years hunting reloading and collecting rifles and what you say just about sums it up for us old guys, not that I would know anything after owning about 2,400 rifles over the years😳
@@Accuracy1st hi Derek - I absolutely agree with your comment regarding the bottom metal issue. I shot the best group of my life with my 708, covering three shots with a dime at 200 yards (yes, good deal of luck), and the gun still had the original polymer bottom metal on it. I was shooting 120 grain Sierra Pro-Hunters and my rifle simply loves those bullets.
@@GeraldSteele-v4l That's really good shooting. Here's something that is such a great characteristic of the Tikkas. You can buy 1 aftermarket stock, 1 mountain tactical recoil lug if needed, and 1 aftermarket bottom metal kit. Buy all the Tikkas you want, but since you can only shoot 1 at a time, just keep screwing your different barreled actions into that stock and use that 1 bottom kit and take it shooting/hunting. Even if you get it bedded it still fits each action like a glove because they are CNC made.
7-08 is awesome sauce! Little tip with the new trigger spring; turn it all the way in, then back out to lightest range of adjustment. Compressing that spring will get you just a little less pull weight at your lightest weight if you want it. No need to upgrade the recoil lug on a T3X, imho. Factory bottom metal is good to go up to about 45 in lbs torque on action screws. Worth the upgrade to at least get the MT bottom metal I think, but obviously not completely necessary. The billet LA mag from MT also gets you a bit more internal COL if you need it for any reason. 3.400” internal I think. Unknown Munitions DBM and Mag set up gets you to 3.500-ish internal if you want to run even longer.
Federal offered an Academy Sports exclusive load in '08 that was using the 140gr Fusion bullet. My T3X Hunter hated that load. PRVI 140gr 1 3/8" groups @100 yards, similar with the Winchester 140gr PP and Hornady 139gr Whitetail. The Fusion load was "Patterning" 7"-8" @100 yards. My smallest groups came from Norma's 150gr ( bonded? ) SP ( Elk on the box not the one with the deer ).
That Tikka action I believe covers from the 204 ruger to 338 win mag. I recently swapped out my barrel and bolt stop changing the rifle from 308 to 30-06. Hardest part was cracking the factory set 308 barrel
I tested a few in my Tikka 708 - Federal Power Shok 150 grain, Norma Whitetail 150 grain (insane accuracy), Hornady American Whitetail (lousy at first but the more bullets I put down the barrel the better this ammo did, down to 0.5")
The t3x. Has the upgraded recoil lug from factory. If you have a t3. Then you should upgrade it. But your model does not need it. Really. My 300 win did not damage the recoil lug like the t3 did. They went from aluminum to steel in the revamped model.
My son has that same rifle he purchased from a gun shop that specializes in mountain hunting and they reamed The chamber to 280 ai. Works extremely well!
By the way, take your trigger spring screw and bottom it out compressing that new spring for a day, then back it out all the way again and retest pull weight
I have same stainless Tikka, in varmint version with 23.7" 1:9 twist factory barrel. My max. chamber O.A.L is 75.9mm, and I load 162gr ELD-M with 75.4mm with factory long action magazine. This rifle and 7mm08 Rem caliber is a miracle, reloaders dream choice. Very efficient cartridge. I think, Tikka made this long throat chamber for reloaders who use modern high BC heavy and long bullets. The older model have 1:9.5 twist rate, but the newest have 1:9.
I’ve done the same thing to my 270wsm tikka t3. Shooting modern high bc bullets can’t be seated anywhere near the lands otherwise without single feeding building custom rifles at high costs.
Very nice!! Years ago, when I was selling firearms, the limitation with Tikka was the stock. Every Tikka stock was touching the barrel OR was so easily deformed it would touch the barrel. We had to send every rifle back to the distributor because of this issue. Looks like they've fixed it.
Huge Tikka fan. Use them almost exclusively. The stock still kinda sucks. Usable, but not great. KRG Echo is so cheap it doesn’t make sense to mess with the factory stock for very long, imho. Or pick up a used UPR stock, use with the CTR/UPR BM and Mag or modify it to use the MT bottom metal and factory T3 Lite mags. Tons of options, but I don’t end up keep in the factory stock for very long.
My t3 supervarmint in 300wm is around 8yrs old and getting up around 500 rounds. Never a single issue with anything, let alone recoil lug, bottom plastic or shroud. Changing them is purely for looks.
Do you think you could thread that barrel? That’s the only Tikka in left hand that’s chambered in 300 WSM. Probably could do the same trick with the 300 WSM and putting in longer high bc bullets.
My T3X Hunter '08 has been finicky in my early reloading for it. Good thing I am flush with factory ammo till I figure it out. Have some Speer 160gr pills I am eager to play with in the 7mm-08
It should. It’s OAL is shorter than 30-06 by a hair. I would start with a 300WM as it would have the correct bolt face already. Literally theoretically just a barrel swap to get a Tikka 257 weatherby.
FYI McMillan currently has several Tikka T3x stocks on sale. Some were over-run. Cheapest is 554.00 at 30% off They are drop in and fit your exact rifle
Is that butt stock hollow? I have filled hollow butt stocks with cut in half tennis balls and others with expanding foam. PS- Don't put your recoil pad back on until 48 hours later. 😮 Don't ask me why.😓
It really does not work good for 7 mag though. Really need 3.5” or greater in mag length. It’s great for short action magnums though. It’s just not a true long action.
@@hopefulballistics back before I understood this I built a custom 7 mag on tikka. Talk about a headache when your that deep in the money pocket and you can’t get it to feed since bullets was going under the action. Eventually had to go back to a gunsmith to notch the feed ramp to get it to work. However no longer viable for factory mags now. Have to use the redsnake bottom metal with an accurate mag for feeding.
@@hopefulballistics one thing you can add to the tikka is the vertical grip which I would recommend. Different helps with the finger alignment for a clean pull. Cheap upgrade to do.
@@hopefulballistics I am and I do. If you wanted to push a bullet that long you could'a used a 280 Rem and downloaded it. Would have been cheaper in the long run
It has been documented to have happened. Also, their Tikka T1x rimfire firing pins frequently break (due to poor design) and Beretta does not back them.,either. I truly wish you well with your Tikka .I hope nothing ever breaks and you never have to deal with Beretta's customer service.
@@JamesClark-lw6sw I have a lot of confidence in the T3x. I talked to quite a number of people before I bought my 1st one and no one has had any issues. Most have had their Tikkas for over 10 years and shoot a lot.
This almost sounds like a neglect issue, like dropping the bolt on a hard surface like concrete. I've had a bunch of tikka rifles and never had an issue like what your referring to.. I had one in 22-250 that the chamber was cut incorrect, called beretta and sent it back, when it came back all was good... That's the 1 and only tikka issue I've ever had..
I love that you can just buy a long action mag and change the bolt stop and be able to seat your ammo longer - that's really cool! That Tikka really has some advantages.
@@8MM.PRC.HUNTER I think so too
Running 25-284 and 7-08 in Tikka T3x with LA bolt stop and L mags. They function flawlessly with ideal COL for high BC bullets in both cartridges.
25-284? That’s awesome
Thx man, with 22” barrel and 3.14” OAL, it shoots the 134 ELDM over H1000 at 2900+ MV +/- depending on load. With 26” barrel 3000+ MV is easy and recoil is a piece of cake around 15-16 ft lbs. I run mine suppressed, and I estimate it’s closer to 12 ft lbs. Brass is simple one-step neck down with Redding die with 6.5-284 brass. The beauty of upgrading to the 25-284 and 6.5-284 in a Tikka is that you can upgrade the bolt stop and mags and not have to get a magnum bolt.
On my 7-08, I chopped the barrel to 18” and replaced the recoil pad with a Limbsaver. Bottom metal will take 45 ft lbs without issues and I’ve seen excellent accuracy. My max OAL with factory chamber is around 2.88”. I’ve had great luck with 162 ELDX, 150 Fusion, and 120 Nosler BT. Very forgiving and easy to load for. I'm running the light bullets with Varget and the heavies with Staball 6.5 for maximum velocity. Big Game is another good powder for the 7-08 for velocity. My 150 Fusion load is warm/max at 48.5 gr of SB 6.5 and the 162 is 46.7. Book max for 162 is close to 48, but I hit pressure at 47.2. Enjoy your 7-08, there is little that it can't do in the lower 48!
Mountain tactical over the past several months has been dropping a lot of good tikka videos.
@@mr.mr.3301 yes they have
I just bought a 270 WSM Oregon Mountain Rifle Tikka Pre-Fit with a 1:8 twist. Planning on seating the high BC .277 bullets wayyyy out!
Right on! Which bullets are you thinking?
@@hopefulballistics Not too big of a selection for the high B.C. .277 bullets. It’ll be a backcountry hunting rifle so I’ll probably use the 155 Barnes or the 165 ABLR’s. But wouldn’t mind trying the 170 Berger, or 175 Sierra TGK’s for fun target shooting.
Did they cut the chamber long to allow for seating the bullets out or did they chamber it with a SAAMI spec reamer?
@@PastorinoFarms
Nice.
I don’t know that you need to go to 1:8 to stabilize any of those. I believe 1:9 would do that with any of those at any altitude. My understanding is that more rpm’s than you need can over emphasize any imperfections in your projectiles resulting in results in accuracy that are not what you are hoping for. Doesn’t mean in fact. Just in theory! I hope it goes well for you.👍🏻
Mornin'
Thats how I built my 6mm Rem. Its on a 30/06 action. So I had it throated for a 3.2 oal with a 108g Berger.
My rewards have been 3200 fps with that bullet.
@@cw2a very nice!
Tikka’s are great and I love the 7mm-08. If you do get bored with that caliber for some reason, you could just ream out your barrel to 280AI and go, since you already did the bolt stop and magazine. The Tikka is the only gun that I know of that you could do that with. Have fun with it and straight shooting!
I've thought about that too but what about the barrel stamp still indicating it's a 708?
Interesting, thanks.
@@Accuracy1st Drawfile it out and re-stamp.
@@TexasLeverGunner It's a pretty deep stamp in the barrel to file off
You could stamp the old 7mm-08 digits with a cross or a slash or something of that sort. Then, stamp the new digits in an appropriate spot
Good morning! The more you shoot it - the more you will love it. I am just an old man, but will throw my two cents in on the bottom metal issue. I replaced mine with Mountain Tactical and it has two or three advantages: 1) it adds rigidity to your stock - and rigidity can affect accuracy; and 2) it has a much larger area for your trigger finger if you are hunting and wearing gloves.
I also put a vertical grip on the 308 I just purchased and really like the feel of it.
I think Tikkas are simply the best bang for the buck when specifically related to overall quality. There are cheaper guns out there that do shoot quite nicely - but I will still take my Tikkas. :)
@@GeraldSteele-v4l I appreciate the comment
Very good points but when you have a Tikka that shoots several handloaded bullets into one hole with the factory polymer parts, it's a little tougher to consider replacing it. That said, I did tell Hopeful Ballistics that the primary reason I have not replaced any of my Tikka bottom kits is because I'd have to buy a TON of them. If I had 3 to 4 Tikkas or less, I would likely seriously consider upgrading to the Mountain Tactical bottom kit and for me, it would literally be just to feel fuzzy and good about it and I do like new stuff. In terms of the average guy hunting, the factory polymer is excellent - light weight, cheap, easy to get extra mags to have on hand.
60+ years hunting reloading and collecting rifles and what you say just about sums it up for us old guys, not that I would know anything after owning about 2,400 rifles over the years😳
@@Accuracy1st hi Derek - I absolutely agree with your comment regarding the bottom metal issue. I shot the best group of my life with my 708, covering three shots with a dime at 200 yards (yes, good deal of luck), and the gun still had the original polymer bottom metal on it. I was shooting 120 grain Sierra Pro-Hunters and my rifle simply loves those bullets.
@@GeraldSteele-v4l That's really good shooting. Here's something that is such a great characteristic of the Tikkas. You can buy 1 aftermarket stock, 1 mountain tactical recoil lug if needed, and 1 aftermarket bottom metal kit. Buy all the Tikkas you want, but since you can only shoot 1 at a time, just keep screwing your different barreled actions into that stock and use that 1 bottom kit and take it shooting/hunting. Even if you get it bedded it still fits each action like a glove because they are CNC made.
Tikka
Has a $75 rebate currently.
@@mr.mr.3301 I appreciate it
7-08 is awesome sauce!
Little tip with the new trigger spring; turn it all the way in, then back out to lightest range of adjustment. Compressing that spring will get you just a little less pull weight at your lightest weight if you want it.
No need to upgrade the recoil lug on a T3X, imho.
Factory bottom metal is good to go up to about 45 in lbs torque on action screws.
Worth the upgrade to at least get the MT bottom metal I think, but obviously not completely necessary. The billet LA mag from MT also gets you a bit more internal COL if you need it for any reason. 3.400” internal I think.
Unknown Munitions DBM and Mag set up gets you to 3.500-ish internal if you want to run even longer.
@@rubenrodriguez7266 thanks
I'd like to see accuracy tests on Federal Fusion & equivalent bonded bullets thanks.
@@craigparker4108 I’ll try make that happen
Federal offered an Academy Sports exclusive load in '08 that was using the 140gr Fusion bullet. My T3X Hunter hated that load. PRVI 140gr 1 3/8" groups @100 yards, similar with the Winchester 140gr PP and Hornady 139gr Whitetail. The Fusion load was "Patterning" 7"-8" @100 yards.
My smallest groups came from Norma's 150gr ( bonded? ) SP ( Elk on the box not the one with the deer ).
Now your starting to get it. Your understanding why the Tikka is a great action to build on. And a nice action at that.
@@Dalesarty definitely
That Tikka action I believe covers from the 204 ruger to 338 win mag. I recently swapped out my barrel and bolt stop changing the rifle from 308 to 30-06. Hardest part was cracking the factory set 308 barrel
Gotcha. That’s cool
I personally would like to see that rifle group with some factory loads.
I tested a few in my Tikka 708 - Federal Power Shok 150 grain, Norma Whitetail 150 grain (insane accuracy), Hornady American Whitetail (lousy at first but the more bullets I put down the barrel the better this ammo did, down to 0.5")
Re-barreled my LA Rem 700 to 7mm-08, works like a charm. Have had an old military M98 barreled to .250/3000, works great. No mods to either.
Awesome!
The t3x. Has the upgraded recoil lug from factory. If you have a t3. Then you should upgrade it. But your model does not need it. Really. My 300 win did not damage the recoil lug like the t3 did. They went from aluminum to steel in the revamped model.
My son has that same rifle he purchased from a gun shop that specializes in mountain hunting and they reamed The chamber to 280 ai. Works extremely well!
@@ronladuke7235 very cool!
That hacksaw on your bench scared me.
lol
By the way, take your trigger spring screw and bottom it out compressing that new spring for a day, then back it out all the way again and retest pull weight
I have same stainless Tikka, in varmint version with 23.7" 1:9 twist factory barrel. My max. chamber O.A.L is 75.9mm, and I load 162gr ELD-M with 75.4mm with factory long action magazine. This rifle and 7mm08 Rem caliber is a miracle, reloaders dream choice. Very efficient cartridge. I think, Tikka made this long throat chamber for reloaders who use modern high BC heavy and long bullets. The older model have 1:9.5 twist rate, but the newest have 1:9.
Awesome!
I’ve done the same thing to my 270wsm tikka t3. Shooting modern high bc bullets can’t be seated anywhere near the lands otherwise without single feeding building custom rifles at high costs.
Without single feeding ‘or’ building custom rifles at high cost that was meant to say.😂
@@MattW-wr7th awesome
Very nice!! Years ago, when I was selling firearms, the limitation with Tikka was the stock. Every Tikka stock was touching the barrel OR was so easily deformed it would touch the barrel. We had to send every rifle back to the distributor because of this issue. Looks like they've fixed it.
Interesting, thanks
Huge Tikka fan. Use them almost exclusively. The stock still kinda sucks. Usable, but not great.
KRG Echo is so cheap it doesn’t make sense to mess with the factory stock for very long, imho.
Or pick up a used UPR stock, use with the CTR/UPR BM and Mag or modify it to use the MT bottom metal and factory T3 Lite mags.
Tons of options, but I don’t end up keep in the factory stock for very long.
How long before your back fire recoil pad gets in. 😊
@@Dalesarty supposedly it’s been sent, I’m starting to wonder
My t3 supervarmint in 300wm is around 8yrs old and getting up around 500 rounds. Never a single issue with anything, let alone recoil lug, bottom plastic or shroud. Changing them is purely for looks.
@@shanevonharten3100 thanks for that
Very cool
@@JamesM-l5g thanks!
Do you think you could thread that barrel? That’s the only Tikka in left hand that’s chambered in 300 WSM. Probably could do the same trick with the 300 WSM and putting in longer high bc bullets.
@@TheWVgoodguy22 I’m sure you could, but it’s not the thickest barrel.
@@hopefulballistics thank you 🙏 that’s what I have been hearing too
My T3X Hunter '08 has been finicky in my early reloading for it. Good thing I am flush with factory ammo till I figure it out. Have some Speer 160gr pills I am eager to play with in the 7mm-08
I’ve got some videos coming out in a week or so. I’ve had some hits and some misses.
For some reason I was just thinking yesterday about building a 257 weatherby Tikka. Looks like fun!
@@phild9813 definitely fun
Will that fit in the long action Tikka mag?
It should. It’s OAL is shorter than 30-06 by a hair. I would start with a 300WM as it would have the correct bolt face already. Literally theoretically just a barrel swap to get a Tikka 257 weatherby.
FYI McMillan currently has several Tikka T3x stocks on sale. Some were over-run. Cheapest is 554.00 at 30% off They are drop in and fit your exact rifle
@@Accuracy1st thanks for telling me
Very Sensible Upgrades and I Think You Are Going To Like The Platforms Performance! I Would Want To Try and Shoot The Heavier Bullets As Well! 🥳
@@ronlowney4700 thanks, Ron
@hopefulballistics I Am Very Excited For You! 🥳
Happy you are liking your tikka I think you will be able to get it to shoot very well at least that's been my experience
@@WayneGent-t2l I appreciate it
Looking at their 243 with 1:8 twist so i can do the same thing
Yes. is it 1 in 8?
That would be gd for the 6mm Rem. for getting more space in the boiler room. Custom build of course.
@@Eric--zs6um yes it would
Love "professional bench"
@@sandybarnett7502 lol
The Best Part About Your Upgrades Is That It Didn't Break Your Piggy Bank Either! 🤑
I agree
What scope did you go with?
@@fiddledog66 Vortex Viper 30mm 4-16x50
Is that butt stock hollow? I have filled hollow butt stocks with cut in half tennis balls and others with expanding foam. PS- Don't put your recoil pad back on until 48 hours later. 😮 Don't ask me why.😓
It’s not hollow.
I'm guessing you have the backstop in route. Hopefully
@@briankopp1369 in hand currently
Good Morning!
@@Accuracy1st morning!
It really does not work good for 7 mag though. Really need 3.5” or greater in mag length. It’s great for short action magnums though. It’s just not a true long action.
I agree it wouldn’t be ideal for 7 mag
@@hopefulballistics back before I understood this I built a custom 7 mag on tikka. Talk about a headache when your that deep in the money pocket and you can’t get it to feed since bullets was going under the action. Eventually had to go back to a gunsmith to notch the feed ramp to get it to work. However no longer viable for factory mags now. Have to use the redsnake bottom metal with an accurate mag for feeding.
@@SpudOutdoors ouch
@@hopefulballistics one thing you can add to the tikka is the vertical grip which I would recommend. Different helps with the finger alignment for a clean pull. Cheap upgrade to do.
1in9 twist? Go big and get the 195 gr Berger EOL lol
@@ReloadingWeatherby that might be too much, lol. I don’t if it would have any speed anyway.
👍
Thanks
I made a mistake buying the Browning x bolt. Should have gotten the Tikka instead but hindsight is always 20/20
trade it
@@Accuracy1st yeah. I might just keep it because it is a nice rifle. Just not a Tikka.
Took a short action and unnecessarily turned it into a long action. Makes sense
@@FurandFowl9 makes perfect sense if you’re a handloader who makes custom ammo.
@@hopefulballistics I am and I do. If you wanted to push a bullet that long you could'a used a 280 Rem and downloaded it. Would have been cheaper in the long run
@@FurandFowl9 I wanted a Tikka. Long action mag in Tikka is only 3.370”.
You will love the gun until the back of the bolt body breaks at the handle dovetail cut and Beretta will not fix it.😮
@@JamesClark-lw6sw happened to you?
Really? I've never heard of this
It has been documented to have happened. Also, their Tikka T1x rimfire firing pins frequently break (due to poor design) and Beretta does not back them.,either. I truly wish you well with your Tikka .I hope nothing ever breaks and you never have to deal with Beretta's customer service.
@@JamesClark-lw6sw I have a lot of confidence in the T3x. I talked to quite a number of people before I bought my 1st one and no one has had any issues. Most have had their Tikkas for over 10 years and shoot a lot.
This almost sounds like a neglect issue, like dropping the bolt on a hard surface like concrete. I've had a bunch of tikka rifles and never had an issue like what your referring to.. I had one in 22-250 that the chamber was cut incorrect, called beretta and sent it back, when it came back all was good... That's the 1 and only tikka issue I've ever had..