Tikka Custom Rifle. 1.0 The Dark Woods Rifle

Having scratched the itch to own a couple of the elegant European stalking rifles, my thoughts turned to the semi-custom lightweights. In the Kiwi style.

I know a very wealthy man, arguably the machinist of his generation, made his money selling ergonomic upgrades to military contracts around the world, and beautify machined parts to the shooting community. He could have any rifle he likes, he shoots Tikka's. The years since the 4,000,000 selling T3 was released have been great for fans of low cost accuracy, with the aftermarket now offering almost as many options as the Remington 700 platform. The ghillies, and cull-teams in Scotland almost always shoot Tikkas, changing them every year or two. So a used action isn't the hardest thing in the world to find.

For reasons, I like rifles in the 6 to 7 millimetre range. Back in the 50's some bright spark necked down a 308 case to make the soft shooting, flatter trajectory, half imperial-half metric 7mm08 AKA the Beatnik-Creedmoor, a .275 Rigby [7x57] for the 20th century. Seemed like a good idea, works well with a short barrel, and will happily punt 150+gr bullets at the biggest Reds and Moose.  

Ed at Edinburgh Rifles saw reason and knocked a lot off the price, I had started out with another excellent brand at 680g , but preferred the pistol grip of the Mesa Precision,  so I swallowed the price hike and extra 70g. 

  

Sterk swept bolt handle. If you've ever had an Anschütz  or an Accuracy International you'll know why

Kalix cheek riser. The shotgun people have a lot to teach us about gun-fit, once upon a time I saw an olympic coach gleefully shouting "where you look it will shoot" he wasn't wrong. 

Spuhr tikka interface mount. Less parts than a rail, more confidence inspiring than Optiloc's.  

Oceania defence mod. The trouble with most super light rifles is the can/moderator/silencer/suppressor moves the centre of balance forward. The total weight you notice across your back dragging a deer across the tussocks or a ploughed field. In your hands its the balance you notice, the cheap solution would be to add weight to the butt like a PRS shooter. Unthinkable in this context. 

This Gat was made for crawling the TAB gear rucksack sling

S&B Polar T96 - the 96 bit is from 96% light transmission. At the beginning and end of the day that 6% is a big difference. I'm sure there will be a chorus of 'bit heavy for a lightweight no?' Peering into those plantations in the failing light it'll seem like a very good idea. I'm in the market for another. 

Saving up for the PROOF barrel. 

Next one will be a Sako in 6XC

More soon

Your pal

SBW.