New Arrival, 7 lbs and cute as a button

[Chronos]

Well I'm over the moon with the new arrival in our house. And here she is





She's a Tikka Hunter Stainless Fluted in .308

With the goal of keeping it a light weight walk around hunter I fitted up a Leupold VXii 3-9x40 (I've owned for 5 years) in a DNZ Game Reaper one piece mount. I set the trigger pressure just about 1 1/2lbs and gave it a quick clean ready fir sighting in tomorrow with 130gr Speer hollow points

The finished rifle ready to go weighs bang on 7lbs






She has taken pride of place at the front of the safe tonight and I'm sure with 130 and 150gr bullets she will shoot sub 2" at 200 m and hopefully serve me as a go to goat, pig and deer hunting rig for years to come.

Chronos

[Baldrick314]

Congratulations! Very nice mate. Should give you years of happiness

[cruze82]

very nice ! not as ugly as most new born ! have you named him or he yet ?

[Stevo]

Very nice, looking forward to seeing what she does

[MeccaOz]

Very Fine !

[zook60]

Looks great are they low DNZ mounts or mediums?
Love the shot thru the scope

[Chronos]

Looks great are they low DNZ mounts or mediums?
Love the shot thru the scope

Yeah game reaper low mount. Surprisingly light for such a strong mount.

Chronos

[Westy]

Well I was starting to wonder about you Chronos but you are obviously a man of fine breading and taste.
LOL
I have the same rifle with a blued barrel in 6.5x55,best hunting rifle a man ever owned and this man has quite a few.
Great Choice and good luck

P:S is that a Limbsaver on it already?????

[bobnob]

Nice rifle. Not a huge Tikka fan myself but there's heaps to like about yours.

Wood looks nice.

[zook60]

Yeah game reaper low mount. Surprisingly light for such a strong mount.

Yep I have been running them for years, I'm surprised they took so long to take off. I think they are the best value mounting system you can buy.

The fact that they look good is just a bonus.

[Lorgar]

Looking good

[von_klitzing]

Congrats on the new arrival! Arr har har.

[Chronos]

Well I was starting to wonder about you Chronos but you are obviously a man of fine breading and taste.
LOL
I have the same rifle with a blued barrel in 6.5x55,best hunting rifle a man ever owned and this man has quite a few.
Great Choice and good luck

P:S is that a Limbsaver on it already?????

Ha ha, no limbsaver.......yet!

But i do have one on my 7-08 varmint. Thought I'd shoot it without first to show I'm not a big girl then steel it for the hunter. But only because I need the length of pull of course. Not because the light weight rifle kicks me and makes me cry of course

Chronos

[handofcod]

Just wish Tikka did the fluted barrels for lefty actions. Grrrrr

[Noisydad]

Nawww is that just the cutest! Did you have the "nursery" ready in time?...and what about the play ground?

[headspace]

Mother and child both well, Birth canal at the LGS in good order.
JD

[Chronos]

A quick range report from today

I was at st Mary's for a .22 shoot today and took the tikka to sight it in.

Shooting prone at 50m Using a front rest i fired one shot which hit 6" high and 2" left. First impression was "it jumps a bit"

I left the rifle to cool down and clicked onto the center of the target and settled down to fire a 5 shot group with 130gr federal factory hollow points

The result? The first shot from a cold bore a bit low on center and the next 4 touching just right of the first.

Pretty happy and keen to get out to 200m to test cold bore and the effects hot stringing has on the skinny fluted barrel

Here's a pic, only 50m but I'd say tikka's 1moa guarantee is pretty safe

Chronos

[artimu]

Fancy mounting there.

Not a fan of regular 2-piece rings?

[RDobber]

You're mostly into target shooting right Chronos?

Moving into hunting with this one?

[inventurkey]

First impression was "it jumps a bit"

I worried a bit about that when I started shooting tikka's too. I've used a few fluted barrels and 'lite' models with mates.

Jumping aside they still hit the mark

[Chronos]

You're mostly into target shooting right Chronos?

Moving into hunting with this one?

Been target shooting most weekends for about 6 years and only hunting for a year or two. Mostly small game with the .22 and the odd pig with the 7-08 but I'm looking at my hunting opportunities for deer, goats and pigs and realised carrying the tikka varmint is not a great prospect for spending the day hunting on foot.

I've also uplifted for the NSW national parks hunting program and NPWS will only allow factory ammo ( 7-08 could cost upwards of $3 a round ) and will provide free ammo for volunteers from their armoury ( only .22lr, .22mag, .223 and .308. ) so a .308 is the obvious choice, free .308 or $60 a box 7/08

artimu, I've only ever used 2 piece rings but these are cheaper and lighter than my steel rings of choice ( warne ) and should stop me removing the scope every five minutes

Chronos

[Gregg]

...realised carrying the tikka varmint is not a great prospect for spending the day hunting on foot.

That s**t gets old. Quick!

[artimu]

artimu, I've only ever used 2 piece rings but these are cheaper and lighter than my steel rings of choice ( warne ) and should stop me removing the scope every five minutes

Ha ha.

What's removing them about? OCD about keeping it clean?

Fair enough if they're lighter.

[Hadoku]

So close!

Gotta shave that late 0.1oz off somewhere for the even 7

[Lorgar]

I've also uplifted for the NSW national parks hunting program and NPWS will only allow factory ammo ( 7-08 could cost upwards of $3 a round )

Only factory ammo hey. Well that sucks.

I wouldn't mind paying for my own ammo, but my hand loads are 90c a pop (with hunting projectiles).

Bugger paying $3 per for factory ammo.

[scrolllock]

90c is for Ballistic Tips right Lorgar?

[Lorgar]

Yeah mate.

7mm 140gr BT. 2208 powder, CCI BR2 primers roughly 90c per shot.

A few cents more or less depending on brass life, but close enough...

[Chronos]

So close!

Gotta shave that late 0.1oz off somewhere for the even 7

Or do what others do, fit a steel DBM, pic rail, alloy bolt shroud, tactical bolt knob, 10 round mag and a 56mm high mag tactical scope.

Let's see if it can hit 10lbs. Lol

Nah this ones staying light. The only mod I might do is if it looks like a bit of hunting in a rough or wet environment I might throw it in a synthetic varmint stock I have spare just to preserve that nice timber a bit

Chronos

[AussieTimmeh]

Looks great and an interesting discussion as well! I haven't seen that sort of mount before. I love the stainless and timber look.

[RDobber]

The only mod I might do is if it looks like a bit of hunting in a rough or wet environment I might throw it in a synthetic varmint stock I have spare just to preserve that nice timber a bit.

Hmm, no point protecting it if you're not using it.

I like the walnut a lot. Not so much synthetic...

I'd live with a little wear and use the nice stock all the time