Tag Archives: 260

The Tikka T3X TACT A1 260 Remington

July 22, 2021Product review, Shooting hardware260, 260 remington, sako, t3, tact, tikkacoldboremiracle

Rifle fanatic

Being nothing short of a rifle fanatic, I’ve had a bad case of Tikka Fever for some time. No it’s not from licking hand-rails in the Helsinki Airport, but it does come from hands-on experience. I bought my first Tikka a few years back, and it has changed my perspective on a few things. But today we are talking about another Tikka, the T3X TACT A1. This one happens to chambered in one of my favorite calibers, the .260 Remington. Everything seems to be going my way here doesn’t it?

HOW MANY K’s DO YOU NEED?

Sako Tikka T3x TACT — The Tikka T3X TACT lives up to the brand’s record for quality and precision

Tikka is a brand manufactured by Sako – If you haven’t already, go read my piece on the Sako 85 Finnlight – both Sako and their Tikka brand are well known for their quality. They are manufactured in Finland and imported to the U.S. through Beretta.

SHOP TIKKA T3X

The T3X is a two-lug, 90-degree, bolt-action rifle. It features a Sako-style extractor, a two-position safety, and a machined bolt release opposite the bolt handle. The TACT 260 as I tested it also featured a two-stage trigger. Like the other Tikka’s I’ve shot, it is an outstanding trigger. This model featured a 24-inch barrel with a 1-8 twist and 5/8-24 muzzle threads to accept the portly muzzle brake.

The TACT 260 comes in a chassis, making it very adaptable to specific purposes and users. The chassis incorporates detachable 10-round box magazines that are surprisingly short. The handguard of the chassis features a full-length optics rail to adapt to multi-role optics. There is no canted angle in the optics rail.

The buttstock of the chassis folds to the weak side of the rifle, and it locks both in the folded and unfolded positions, which I found to be a welcome feature. The buttstock is compatible with AR-style accessories for those that wish to customize their rifles, a desire I found completely unnecessary. The fully adjustable buttstock can adjust for length of pull, riser height, and angle. There are several QD sling mounts on the chassis as well that are placed strategically for carrying the rifle in either the folded or unfolded configuration.

TO THE RANGE!

After thoroughly fiddling with the rifle and adjusting all the settings to my taste, I grabbed some ammo and headed for the hills where I do my shooting. Ammunition being what it is these days, I couldn’t find what I wanted in the shops. So instead, I found some component bullets, copied some data from a load book, and pressed out a few rounds of my own. After attaching an Atlas Bipod to the front of the rifle, I mounted a Kahles 318i rifle scope. These are two great accessories that are a perfect fit for this rifle. After bore sighting, I stuffed a bunch of cartridges into the magazines and laid behind the Tikka.

My first impression of this rifle seemed to echo my former experiences with Tikka and Sako both – extremely easy feeding and flawless function as cartridges flow through the action. The two-stage trigger feels even crisper when it’s sharpened by recoil. I could run that bolt all day. It was short work to confirm zero, and a few minutes later I was stretching its legs.

The .260 Remington is an impressive performer. It was doing what the Creedmoor does now but even better and a decade earlier. Shooting 140-grain bullets or heavier puts the cartridge well beyond 1,000 yards in my neck of the woods, so I wasted no time getting there. The Kahles scope and hand-loaded Tikka made hits at 950 yards look easy. I was stacking bullets into the hole in the dirt left by the previous shot. The rifle seemed to perform even better when I added a suppressor to the muzzle.

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ACCURACY

As usual, the accuracy of this Tikka was excellent. Groups under an inch are typical and, when using top quality match grade ammunition, half-inch groups are also possible. I was able to find a box of Federal Fusion 120 grain, and it shot very well in the Tikka.

With accuracy potential that good, this would be a superb rifle for shooting Precision Rifle Competition matches. I’d also imagine there are a few police agencies that would choose this rifle for marksmen.

WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE?

So far, it’s been a pretty positive review, right? It’s hard to hide my admiration of this rifle, but there are a couple of things I’d change about it.

First on the list is the weight. At 10.4 pounds, it’s a little tubby. That may sound unfair coming from a guy with an affinity for fat rifles, but that brings me to my second gripe. This thing is a bit long for my taste. A 10-pound rifle with an overall length of 30 inches isn’t too bad. But when it’s 45 inches long, there is a lot of weight out there in the end. This makes the rifle a little more difficult to maneuver and handle, but it shoots like a dream once you get it in place.

That’s it. If I had my way, the rifle would be a 20-inch barrel that had been put on the carbon diet, which is nice because Tikka offers several different barrel options on this rifle.

CONCLUSION

I could very easily overlook my gripes with this rifle because it is just such a smooth character. I let a few buddies run some shots through the gun, and they were equally impressed. If you are looking for a precision chassis rifle right from the factory, you’d be a fool to look past the Tikka. You would need to spend a lot more to get anything significantly better than the T3X TACT.

One thing I can guarantee is that there are more Tikkas in my future.

-CBM

The 2019 Late Season for Elk

January 3, 2020hunting260, 6.5creedmoor, cow, elk, elk hunting, hunting, wintercoldboremiracle

Video at the bottom of article

Every winter, after the cold snow starts to build up in these Rocky Mountains, I get a bit of fever going. Not the kind of fever that normally comes with the cold season, this fever is far more profound. Its a fever born not from germs or microorganisms, but rather comes from my DNA. Like many of you I was born to hunt, and the knowledge that hunting season is around the corner fills me with excitement and a feverish desire to get after it. The late-season elk hunts in our state of Utah give a much-needed extension to this natural high, and it’s one we all seek out every year. This year was certainly no exception.

My herd of elk is a small one, it consists mainly of cows and their offspring. There is usually a few yearling cows, and spikes as well, and even more infrequent are the occasional mature bulls that follow them onto the winter range. Every year they come back the same pass they did the year before, and miles away, hunched behind a spotting scope gnawing on a cheese stick you will find me. Usually, I have all my gear ready by the time they show up, and this year it was only a matter of hours before we were on them.

Both friends and family participate in this yearly ritual, and today it was me and a good friend who we’ll call “Russ”. We had seen part of the herd heading in the right direction the evening before, and this morning we returned to our glassing post to see if they were still there. I say the right direction meaning a place where we knew we could get a downed elk out without extreme difficulty, we made our way towards the small group as they fed through the snow.

At seven thousand feet the air is thin and cold, and the fifteen to twenty mile an hour winds were not making it any better. We continued our stalk through the cold wind, knowing at least that it would cover both our sound and scent. We closed the distance to five hundred and twenty yards, any closer we would lose them with the rise of the hill. So we planted ourselves and set up our equipment, Russ was shooting a custom-built .260 Remington Ackley improved, on the end he had a Delta P Design 6.5 suppressor, and a Bushnell Elite Tactical scope mounted on top. In the magazine were a handful of Hornady 140 grain ELD-m handloads. Russ pushed his rifle up a snowy embankment pointing towards the elk herd, and I slid up to another spot, with my Desert Tech SRS A2 sitting in the saddle of my Precision Rifle Solutions tripod. I had been using the twenty-four inch 6.5 Creedmoor barrel in my rifle, and had very recently installed a new optic, the Riton Optics RT-S Mod 7 4-32 riflescope. I was shooting a new experimental lathe-turned solid bullet from Patriot Valley Arms, it is a 123 grain copper solid hollow point. Both of our rifles were shooting very close ballistic patterns, in fact, at the five-hundred and twenty yards we both dialed 2.2 MRAD of elevation, and with the wind blowing at a slight angle, we both held about .2 MRAD left wind. A wind call we would later rejoice over.

As we lay there freezing in the snow, we had to wait for a good shot. The low angle against the ridge made interference from brush and branches an issue, so we waited as the wind carried snow over our rifles and faces. The plan was to execute a command fire, both of us shooting in near unison to hit both animals before the rifle report ever reached them. Sounds easy enough, unless your trigger finger is freezing into a stiff hook while you wait. After a few long and shivery moments, we had two cows that offered us an acceptable shot. After loudly whispering back and forth about who was shooting at what, we counted down, fingers on triggers. In my mind, I decided it would be better to just shoot upon hearing the report of Russ’ rifle, so that’s what I did.
I was already pressing the trigger shoe on my SRS when I heard the rip of his 260 go off, so I finished my pull and sent the second round uphill towards the unsuspecting elk. Russ’ bullet found its mark perfectly, hitting just behind the left shoulder. She immediately lurched forward from the startling impact, while a few yards behind her, the second cow chewed bark from some of the brush. She may have seen the other cow leap forward, but it was too late. My bullet also impacted just behind her shoulder passing through her lungs and tapping her vertebrae as it passed by. This impact dropped her in her tracks, and she rolled down the steep and slippery slope. The first cow had just made it perhaps forty or fifty yards, both of us still trained on her with our rifles. And we watched as she stumbled, and tipped over, leaving a bright red blood trail through the pure white snow. It was over so fast, and yet my trigger finger was nearly frozen. I stowed it between my cheek and gum for a few minutes to bring back sensation.

We stood up in the breeze and watched as the remainder of the small herd slowly worked away from us. High fives were exchanged, and even a hug from the excitement. The work, however, had just begun, I doubted we would be getting too much aid in our elk extraction. So we left everything we wouldn’t need and carried only the bare essentials like knives, warm clothes, some rope and a few snacks. The steep mountain and snow-covered ground made the going slow, but an hour or so later, we stood over one of the two elk. After investigating her injuries and condition, we triangulated the other elk’s location based off the tracks leaving the first. The other cow lay exactly where expected, and left us a good trail to find her with.

As we began the decent with our two prizes, the morning had given way to a beautiful and sunny midday. We took our time, rolling and sliding these two ladies down the hill, taking breaks as needed.

As the afternoon went on however the clouds came back in, and threatened to freeze over the whole mountain. As we sat reposed in the snow, I watched as Russ’ dark pants steamed in the sunlight. But as the clouds came over us, it was like an icy blanket, and we both watched as the steam from his pants quickly turned to frost before our eyes. It was time to move.

After another four or so hours, we made it back to the truck, where we were met by other good friends who helped load our prize. An incredible blessing to have good friends to help after such a labor intensive day.

We have shot several other elk this winter, the most common factor is good friends and solid relationships. Elk hunting seems to forge relationships between like minded hunters, the intensity of labor, and overwhelming obstacles seem to sort fair-weather friends from what I consider to be the finest group of dear friends. I consider myself lucky to have them.

-CBM

6.5 Creedmoor

January 12, 2018Product review, Shooting hardware260, 6.5, 6.5creedmoor, 6.5x47, ammunition, deserttech, deserttechmunitionscoldboremiracle

It’s no secret that I am a fan boy for the Desert Tech Stealth Recon Scout, I have spent the last few years getting intimately familiar with its virtues. I have had the chance to use the SRS in many different applications, including hunts of all kinds, as well as competitive, and long range shooting. Today I am writing about one of the many reasons why the SRS system, with its seemingly unlimited options has replaced every other rifle in my safe.

I jumped onto the 6.5/.264 bandwagon a couple years ago, it was a 26” 260 Remington that sealed my opinion of the .264 bore. That original barrel has around 3000 rounds on it, and the bullets it has fired have crossed untold miles of cold mountain canyons, and hot desert plains.
The 6.5 lineup has grown over the years, too many to mention here, but the bulk of the work is done by the 260 Remington, 6.5 Creedmoor, and the 6.5X47 Lapua. We could debate for days (and we often do) about which one of the three is best, and why. But today, I have chosen to focus on the 6.5 Creedmoor.

I appreciate the aesthetics of properly manufactured ammunition, and the Creedmoor loaded by Desert Tech Munitionsis a perfect example. Clean and smooth edges, the discoloration of annealed brass, and a uniform presentation that gives a consumer confidence. Looks certainly are not everything when it comes to ammo, so I wasted no time getting to my shooting position.

It was a cool and breezy evening, a snow storm was inbound, threatening to soak my target, my SRS, and of course me. None the less I hiked with purpose to the spot I go to when time is short.
A quick shot of the rangefinder confirmed my one hundred yards to the target, I found a comfortable position with a good solid rest.
The barrel I was using to test this ammunition was virgin, I had only finished its assembly an hour or so before I left work. So a zero had to be achieved before any accuracy testing could be done.
I opened the first box, and loaded ten rounds.

My first shot landed about 1.5 inches low, I measured with my reticle, and made a corrective adjustment. The next 8-9 shots went into one ragged hole, and but for one shot that I knew was bad when it broke, it was as good as anything I’d ever shot previously. That is of course not saying much, as I’m terrible at shooting groups. But even for me, it seemed quite easy to stack shots on top of each other. I continued to shoot five shot groups one after another, I was more than happy with the patterns that this ammo made, through this brand new barrel. I’m very interested to see how it does after its broken in.

After shooting a few boxes of ammo at 100yds, I called it a day. The snowy weather was making it hard to see anything, and the wind was starting to get worse. So I retreated back down the mountain trail, suspending my testing temporarily for a better day.

As soon as permissible, I made my way back up into the mountains. A few days had passed, and the blue sky stretched as far as I could see across the valley. I made my way up the winding mountain road, my ATV laden with a days’ worth of gear, snacks, and snow. As I climbed higher and higher, the snow got deeper. But silence and solitude was the reward. When I finally found the spot I wanted to shoot from, I had gained nearly 3,000 feet more than my first outing with the Creedmoor. Nothing but a light breeze and sunshine at that altitude.

Again I setup my target at 100 yards, and did a quick zero test. I was pleased to see that my cold bore shot was exactly on my point of aim, and the several shots that followed were right on top of it. Happy that nothing had changed since my last outing, I decided to push the Creedmoor out a bit further. I started at 642 yards, I wasn’t about to walk that far in the deep snow. Instead, I found a small cube shaped rock on a small exposed piece of dirt across a long draw. I estimated the rock to be two or three inches in width, a reasonable sized target for that range. So I set to getting the wind and elevation for the shot. I wanted to see how close the come ups listed on the box were to actual , so I made an estimation from the data printed there, and made a wind call. I loaded the magazine as I went over everything in my head, then settled in behind the rifle. I focused on my trigger pull, and broke the shot, the impact was right at the base of the small stone. I made a small correction hold, and sent three more shots at the rock. All of them found their mark, smashing the rock, and sending its pieces rolling into the snow below.
I repeated the process at 860 yards, and again at 970. I was very impressed with the accuracy, shot after shot was right where I had aimed. And when it wasn’t, I knew it before the rifle had finished recoiling.

Obviously, I am a bit biased in most of my opinions here. But I can certainly say without any bias, this is the most accurate factory ammunition I have ever shot. Consistency is king in this game, and I cant wait to keep stacking shots in the black with this Creedmoor.
-CBM

A Rifle for Coldboremiracle Junior

January 11, 2018blog, Shooting hardware260, 260rem, firstgun, kids, Remington, remington700, Rifle, shortbarrel, Suppressed, youthcoldboremiracle

Coldboremiracle Junior

Some of you have seen CBM Jr. following along on some of my adventures, he’s been my little hunting companion since he first came on the deer hunt when he was three years old. He has grown up quite a bit, not missing a single hunt, to the point that he thinks he’s one of the guys in our hunting group. This year marks a special point in his life, as it will be the first year that he is old enough to hunt himself. Just last month he finished his hunter safety course, and he is excited as ever to go hunt elk, and deer with the big boys. He has long hunted small game with his little .17HMR, but it surely won’t do for anything bigger than rabbits and chucks.

I had anticipated this for some time, and for the last year or so I have been putting together the necessary parts to put him together a proper rifle, one he can use and be proud of as long as he has need for it. A huge thanks goes to the PR community for helping me get the parts put together for a very economic price.

Both my kids come hunting and shooting with me as often as possible

See Junior’s rifle in its first action here!

The game plan I had started with the basics, what action? I wanted this to be good, but cheap. So I figured a good Remington or Savage action would do well, and in short time, I had my hands on a good 700 short action. The next question which I spent a lot of time debating was caliber. Sure, there are plenty of easy options. How many kids start their hunting career with a 243? That was an easy answer, but my kid inherited his Mother’s taste. And he seems to desire elk hunting more so than deer. Granted, plenty of elk are killed every year with 243’s, but I wasn’t sure I wanted something that light for a kid who has big dreams of elk. I also was taking into account the practicality, I already have everything to reload 308, so that would be a valid option as well (downloaded for a small kid of course). So after much debate, going back and forth, I decided to settle on the .260 Remington, the choice of distinguished shooters everywhere.

It didn’t hurt that it’s one of my favorites as well, and I have everything I need to load it. Plus, a 260 fits right in that spot; plenty big to hammer any deer or antelope, and just big enough to work well on elk. With the added benefit of still being short action, and modest recoil when downloaded with light bullets, just right for this kid.
So I started looking for a 264 barrel, and to my surprise, I found the perfect barrel for my project. A slightly used pre-cut AAC barrel made for a Remington. It was a 24″ with an 8 twist, but I had a friend cut it down to 16″, and re-threaded for the much needed muzzle embellishments. The stock was made from an old walnut Remington, that I cut down, and did some whittling to fit a smaller framed hunter. I added a pic rail to the front for a bipod mount, and bottom/side flush cups for sling mounting. A bit of bedding compound, and some grip texturing, followed by some keen squirts of Duracote to handsome up the ensemble.

I started out with a very in expensive 120BTHP from PVRI, loaded up on top of 38g of some Benchmark I had been given. With mag feed seating depth, it gave around 2800 fps from the short little barrel. And with very little adjustment, or load development for that matter, I could pound 8″ targets at 500 yds all day long. That’s about all the shooting I’ve done with it yet, I plan on letting him get comfortable with it, and once he has burned up the 500 120 PVRI bullets, maybe we’ll step him up to the 140’s. At first I had put a Minox 1-6 scope on it, but the scope currently riding on top is a US Optics TS8X in 30mm rings and a 30MOA EGW scope base.

He’s grown up, but he still likes that little rifle.

Believe it or not, I am into this project for less than 500$ (except the scope of course) Thanks to many who either gave me parts, or their time. It’s a fine rifle, one that any kid getting into hunting would be happy to have.
-CBM