Tikka throat length?

[Al in Md]

I am in the market for a seven mag and since I already have a t3 in 223 thats extremely accurate I was going to purchase a t3 hunter in 7 mag.I have seen on here some posts about tikkas having a longer than average throat and there being a loss in velocity of 100-200 ft as a result compared to other rifles with regular or shorter length throats.Im not handloading and will shoot factory ammo but still dont like the idea of losing 200 ft of velocity because of a long throat.Maybe I should purchase another rifle.Anyone have any advice?I dont feel like getting a tikka 7mag that has 280 velocity.

[Zachary]

What you understand is generally correct, unless Tikka has made changes recently.

Yes, you can loose between 100 to 200 fps or so with the Tikka T3s.  In fact, there was an article a while back that said this, and also our members have confirmed same with their chronographs.

Zachary

[Grubbs]

Zachary, my chronographed loads out of my T3 7mag s/s, shooting Hornady Heavy mag 139gr do not back up what you are stating.  In fact they were pretty well on the money and some even a little over the state velocity on the box.  how do you explain that?  Is this just your opinion, what you have heard, or what you have read?

[Shamus99]

One word of caution on this is that the throat length will vary by caliber.  

Some calibers will have more of a gap than others, depending on the bullet length that the manufacturer thinks will most commonly be used.  What I mean is, the same rifle that is build with excessive headspace in one caliber might be just fine in another caliber.

[Al in Md]

Grubbs,What velocity reading are you getting with the hornady heavy mag 139 grain out of your 7 mag t3?I might try that load.Thanks

[Zachary]

Zachary, my chronographed loads out of my T3 7mag s/s, shooting Hornady Heavy mag 139gr do not back up what you are stating.  In fact they were pretty well on the money and some even a little over the state velocity on the box.  how do you explain that?  Is this just your opinion, what you have heard, or what you have read?

Grubbs,

No, what I said was not my opinion but statements that I read in a popular magazine (I think Shooting, but I could be wrong) and also a couple of our members.

The article was in one of the magazines about 6 months or so ago.  It was a Tikka T3 and a Savage of some sorts.  Both guns were, if I remember correctly, .270WSM.

One of our members, I think muddyboots, had one in a .300WSM and he too confirmed the 200 fps loss.

From what I know from the magazine,  and from 2 of our members, is that all three said that the thoats were longer and all three had WSM cartridges.  Perhaps the longer throats were limited to the WSMs?  I don't know.

I don't think that a popular magazine would make such a false statement, and I especially trust one of our members - muddyboots - who has proven to me, not only as a moderator but also as a member - that he is trustworthy.

The only thing that I can think of is that the long throats may have been limited to the WSM line.

You may want to do a search on this forum - and search muddyboots- and I'm sure you will find his reports.

Zachary

[Grubbs]

I consistently got 3210-3255 fps from the Hornady Light Mag, 139 gr SST, moly coated factory loads.  They are extremeley accurate in my T-3 s/s.  Good Luck.

[bchannell]

Of my three Tikkas, two, the 7mm-08 and 25/06 Whitetails have short throats, the third, a 22/250 has a long throat, but not as long as some others. I have yet to shoot the 22/250 yet, but if it's accurate, who cares.

[Grubbs]

They are extremeley accurate....an awesome rifle, especially for the price.  I have both 7mag and 7-08.

[Al in Md]

Does anyone own a 300 mag in a t3,If so hows the recoil and accuracy?

[Iowegan]

I manufacture chamber gauges that are used for measuring optimum bullet seating depth and optimum brass trim length. I had customers return gauges that were purchased for newer Tikka and Sakos because they didn't work well. Naturally, I wanted to know why so I took a few chamber castings of popular T-3 calibers and found their secret to accuracy.

In most rifles, the chamber transitions into the bore through a short section of straight walled free bore. Sako and Tikka use a tapered transition. The taper guides the bullet into the bore like a forcing cone on a revolver. This process causes minimal bullet jump damage, thus great out-of-the-box accuracy. The down side is some expanding gasses get in front of the bullet so there is a loss of velocity. If you use one of my tools or a Stony Point, a Sako/Tikka chamber will appear to have a deeper throat when it's really the taper that spoofs the measurement.

I only tested a few calibers so I'm not sure all their rifles have a tapered transition. I  suspect the taper would make the throat more resistant to erosion, thus a longer barrel life. If you can deal with a little velocity loss, all the other features of their design are very positive.

[Zachary]

Interesting.