Tikka......been shooting them since 1998. Just can't beat 'em, period. Nice looking rifle.

Magpul bipods?

I told my buddy he had my permission to kick my as- sideways next time I bought anything different. In 1998 you had to be one of the first hunters to see the light.

A suppressor would make that tube much more tolerable

I have four T3’s, including these two in 30-06 and 6.5x55. Their all great tack drives and other two are a 270 & 308.

Honestly, it's hard to beat a Tikka. I got my first in 2004 time frame which was a .243 win. Back in 2011 I decided to have another custom rifle build. I had Chad Dixon at LongRifles Inc do the build. The one thing I always loved about the Tikka was the buttery smooth action, so smooth you could barely feel it pick up the next round. I went to Sturgis SD to Chad's shop to try out a bunch of custom actions for my new build. I also, brought my Tikka as I had an idea floating around in my head. I tried probably a dozen plus of the best custom actions that were out there. As I went from one to the other, I kept racking the bolt on the Tikka. John his lead gunsmith at the time, said it was uncanny how smooth the tikka was. I asked John what he really thought about the Tikka action and would it be a solid foundation for a custom rifle. After he really looked it over, john said heck yeah. I asked him his thoughts of what he'd do to truly accurize it. He said he would take the recess face off the front of the action and square it up. Next he would design and build a tombstone octagon recoil lug to match the octagon receiver. His thought was the factory recoil lug system was the weakest link in the rifle and not ideal for a custom build. He would pin the new recoil to the action. Replace the plastic bolt shroud with an aluminum one. Tune the trigger to two crisp pounds. Add a 24" K&P match barrel chambered in 6.5 CM. Bed into a McMillan hunter stock. I've since, replaced the plastic trigger/;magazine guard with an after market aluminum bottom metal that uses Tikka magazines.

When the rifle was finished, Chad called me to let me know it was done. He said he was blown away by the end results. He told me it shot in high .2's and low .3's with Hornady 143 gr ELD-X factory ammo. I've never hit the .2's but have shot many groups in the .3s. The barrel is laser engraved 6.5CM ELD-X. He said I'm not sure how much better it could shoot with custom reloads. Now the interesting part of the build. John, his gunsmith liked my rifle so much, he built a sister rifle for him. Though he used a manners stock. He competed with it in many competitions and uses to hunt with last time I heard from him , which has been years.

Word got out on the build and Chad started to produce the tombstone recoil lugs for gunsmiths and has built quite a few custom rifles on the Tikka actions.

Tikkas were designed right and they flat out shoot great!

Funny that the OP went to a Bergara in .308. Over the Summer, I felt my 2004-vintage T3 .308 was getting a little long in the tooth. The first rifle I bought that was truly mine, not a hand-me-down or second hand rifle. M.I.N.E. Mine. I bought it with one of my first paychecks from my first 'real job' out of college. Somehow this year, the basic wood stock and blued metal felt ... boring.

I broke. I bought a new fancy-schmancy Bergara in .308 this past August. Immediately I felt dirty; like I was being unfaithful to the ol' reliable T3 and our two decades of hunting pursuits.

Fast forward to now and the Bergara has only had three rounds through it to get it to zero. In the safe it has sat for the last 10 months. I cannot convince myself to grab anything but my old friend, the trusty .308 T3 for a day afield.

Since '04 many rifles have passed thorough my safe. Some were Tikkas, but most of the ones that I got rid of weren't. I have let a few Tikkas go on here in the Classifieds, but I have definitely bought more than I have sold. I have a variety of calibers of Tikkas, but the one that goes with me is that .308.

If I could shoot dove and ducks with it, I wouldn't use another firearm.

Love me a Tikka. Especially MY .308.