I’m thinking of building my own tikka with an action that I already have. I’m wanting to do it all myself with a prefit barrel. Has anyone else done this and if so I would love to see some pictures.
This is an older post but I have been contemplating some tikka upgrades as well. Would love to know how others’ experience has been. Stocks, barrels, etc.
This is an interesting blog I found that gave a cool example of what is possible. DIY Backcountry Hunting Rifle Build — Mark’s Upgraded Tikka – Exo Mtn Gear
Would love to revive this thread in case there are any other cool builds out there folks would be willing to share.
I haven’t done one yet, but sounds cool. Can’t wait to see what you make.
Here is my Tikka T3x Superlite in 6.5 Creedmoor. Built it to be a hybrid hunting/PRS rifle. Vortex Viper PST Gen II 5-25x50 FFP, Warne Med. height rings, Vortex throw lever, Vortex scope caps, Limbsaver recoil pad, wrought iron bolt fluting from LRI, 5 round magazine factory from Tikka, vertical grip from Tikka, bolt knob from Lumley, Caldwell bipod, and my favorite addition was the aftermarket cheek riser from KalixTeknik (Well worth the price and wait time to get here from Sweden). Still waiting on my arca rail to show up from Salmon River Solutions to put on the bottom of it so I can shoot off a tripod while hunting out here in AZ.
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Wow, that looks amazing. I love the oversized bolt knob and cheek riser! When you have shot it for PRS, do you find it heats up quickly and causes group expansion? I have heard both–that barrel fluting like on the superlite would heat up too fast, and also that the fluting will help it cool down more quickly. What is your experience? I don’t yet own anything with fluting.
Inherently yes, since it is a sporter contour barrel it does heat up very quickly under sustained shooting. I can see it going both ways though that makes it cool faster since it has fluting. Personally I haven’t done any testing on that. I mainly just wanted it because I’m a sucker for fluting lol I think it makes any rifle look pretty. Eventually I will replace it with a Proof Research pre-fit carbon fiber barrel with a thicker contour. But for now it does it’s job perfectly. I use it in PRS more as a way to practice with a weapon system that’s used for hunting rather than a dedicated competition gun, so it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles such as a heavy competition barrel and chassis or 10 round magazine.
I have been toying with the idea of cutting down the barrel on my Tikka T3x Lite (stainless, not fluted), and threading it. This would of course be impossible or very difficult to do with a fluted version. Anyway, I have a gunsmith near me who believes he could do this, but that it would be 1/2x28 instead of 5/8x24. This isn’t too big of a deal as I believe there are adaptors available that can get me from one to the other. I want to say the normal barrel length on the rifle is 22.4" or something like that, and I want to go down to 18". The closest Tikka offers to this is the CTR which they have in 20" barrel, and threaded 5/8x24, but it is a much heavier contour as well, which also adds weight. To keep it light I think I may stick with what I have and cut it down/thread it. Eventually I think I may go the route you described as well with a proof research barrel but that is further out. As I make progress on this I’ll post pictures.
I got it done in 280 AI
Got a 30-06 T3X and changed the barrel to 280AI cause I really wanted the 280
Love it
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