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One of the most impressive firearms I own is the 22LR Tikka T1x MTR…multi-task rimfire rifle.
The Tikka has a phenomenal trigger. To match it on my Known Distance 10/22 build required a KIDD trigger kit.
My T1x features an accurate 16” hammer forged barrel. The bolt is as smooth as and almost as short as a light switch.
The synthetic stock is light, but quite rigid. All it requires is a cheek riser…the best being the Mountain Tactical Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer cheek riser kit. Adding the Tikka soft touch vertical grip module helps encourage an exaggerated C-shapped trigger finger.
I have threaded up the Tactical Advantage Armory Titanium FTS Micro Hybrid Brake. Not that the Tikka needs a brake, it just looks cool.
Accurate enough to compete in NRL22 events. At 5.5 pounds, light enough to carry afield hunting snowshoe hares.
The T1x was the accuracy standard that motivated me to build the Known Distance Victor Faxon Vortex 10/22. Costing over twice that of the Tikka.
At nearly 34” long it’s 6” longer than the recently reviewed Walther 20” barrel G22. So to motorcycle backpack the T1x to the shooting range, I disassembled the stock and receiver.
Great trigger, excellent barrel, rigid stock, Mountain Tactical cheek riser, and Vortex Viper HSLR 4-16 makes for exceptional in the field accuracy. Offhand, squat, and prone…the only time I’ve achieved a perfect score on the Project Appleseed AQT is with the T1x.
And then when shooting from the bench with a MagPul bipod, the Tikka was routinely dinking steel out to 250 yards.
Weaknesses? There have been numerous reports of broken firing pins on the T1x. And for a while, T1x firing pins were hard to find. Currently, you can purchase the Tikka Firing Pin Assembly that costs 8.6 Hamiltons.
BoreBuddy offers an aftermarket hardened firing pin far cheaper.
I pre-emptively swapped out my stock firing pin for a ZP Machining titanium firing pin. Also cheaper when available.
Keeping a count of your shots to prevent accidentally dry firing your T1x will help your stock firing pin survive longer.
The T1x magazines are a super light, polymer clamshell construction. Very efficient. And awfully expensive at six Hamiltons. A dozen mags will cost as much as the rifle. Weren’t always so costly.
Magazine changes ARE fast and easy though.
Magazines, Parts, and upgrades are not nearly as ubiquitous as for the 10/22, but it takes those 10/22 upgrades to match the T1x for accuracy.
I know the T1x is often compared to the CZ 457. One of these days I should try a CZ, but it's hard to justify when I so admire the Tikka.
The Tikka has a phenomenal trigger. To match it on my Known Distance 10/22 build required a KIDD trigger kit.
My T1x features an accurate 16” hammer forged barrel. The bolt is as smooth as and almost as short as a light switch.
The synthetic stock is light, but quite rigid. All it requires is a cheek riser…the best being the Mountain Tactical Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer cheek riser kit. Adding the Tikka soft touch vertical grip module helps encourage an exaggerated C-shapped trigger finger.
I have threaded up the Tactical Advantage Armory Titanium FTS Micro Hybrid Brake. Not that the Tikka needs a brake, it just looks cool.
Accurate enough to compete in NRL22 events. At 5.5 pounds, light enough to carry afield hunting snowshoe hares.
The T1x was the accuracy standard that motivated me to build the Known Distance Victor Faxon Vortex 10/22. Costing over twice that of the Tikka.
At nearly 34” long it’s 6” longer than the recently reviewed Walther 20” barrel G22. So to motorcycle backpack the T1x to the shooting range, I disassembled the stock and receiver.
Great trigger, excellent barrel, rigid stock, Mountain Tactical cheek riser, and Vortex Viper HSLR 4-16 makes for exceptional in the field accuracy. Offhand, squat, and prone…the only time I’ve achieved a perfect score on the Project Appleseed AQT is with the T1x.
And then when shooting from the bench with a MagPul bipod, the Tikka was routinely dinking steel out to 250 yards.
Weaknesses? There have been numerous reports of broken firing pins on the T1x. And for a while, T1x firing pins were hard to find. Currently, you can purchase the Tikka Firing Pin Assembly that costs 8.6 Hamiltons.
BoreBuddy offers an aftermarket hardened firing pin far cheaper.
I pre-emptively swapped out my stock firing pin for a ZP Machining titanium firing pin. Also cheaper when available.
Keeping a count of your shots to prevent accidentally dry firing your T1x will help your stock firing pin survive longer.
The T1x magazines are a super light, polymer clamshell construction. Very efficient. And awfully expensive at six Hamiltons. A dozen mags will cost as much as the rifle. Weren’t always so costly.
Magazine changes ARE fast and easy though.
Magazines, Parts, and upgrades are not nearly as ubiquitous as for the 10/22, but it takes those 10/22 upgrades to match the T1x for accuracy.
I know the T1x is often compared to the CZ 457. One of these days I should try a CZ, but it's hard to justify when I so admire the Tikka.
My Tikka T1x got a Mountain Tactical adjustable cheek riser. A Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer piece that is just a bit more durable and less flexible than the more primitive kydex alternatives. Flush mounting hardware, so ambidextrous friendly.
Proper sight alignment achieved.
To get the Vortex Viper HSLR a bit further forward, I replaced the thick Monstrum rings with the narrower Vortex Pro Series low rings allowing me to shift the optic about 3/16”. The Vortex HSLR has 4” of eye relief. Excessive eye relief is probably the result of Fudds who think more eye relief helps them avoid scope bite. Ignorance of the role that “turkey neck cheek weld” plays not only in repeatable marksmanship, but in avoiding getting tagged by the optic.
Since my rear ring is right behind the ejection port and the Vortex eyepiece flare is right up behind the ring, I can’t get the riflescope any further forward even if I had a couple more slots on the rail.
Nonetheless, with just these two improvements, I took the Tikka out to shoot against the Victor Faxon Vortex, a Ruger 10/22, and a Henry lever. I did well with both the Ruger and the Henry, but the VFV was a few points ahead of each. But with the Tikka I earned my first ever perfect score on the AQT, but not quite repeatable since my second try was a 238 out of 250. Still its second best was better than the other three.
I do think that if I could find an optic with just under 3” of eye relief, perfect 250’s once every 10 tries are in my grasp.
If I were to switch from a sling to a bipod for prone and square up with the Tikka, I think the 4” of eye relief would be acceptable, but then I lose the sling for offhand and squatting.
I probably should just practice more and learn to “improvise, adapt, and overcome”. But a shorter eye relief riflescope is something I’ll watch for…just so I’ll stop complaining.
Proper sight alignment achieved.
To get the Vortex Viper HSLR a bit further forward, I replaced the thick Monstrum rings with the narrower Vortex Pro Series low rings allowing me to shift the optic about 3/16”. The Vortex HSLR has 4” of eye relief. Excessive eye relief is probably the result of Fudds who think more eye relief helps them avoid scope bite. Ignorance of the role that “turkey neck cheek weld” plays not only in repeatable marksmanship, but in avoiding getting tagged by the optic.
Since my rear ring is right behind the ejection port and the Vortex eyepiece flare is right up behind the ring, I can’t get the riflescope any further forward even if I had a couple more slots on the rail.
Nonetheless, with just these two improvements, I took the Tikka out to shoot against the Victor Faxon Vortex, a Ruger 10/22, and a Henry lever. I did well with both the Ruger and the Henry, but the VFV was a few points ahead of each. But with the Tikka I earned my first ever perfect score on the AQT, but not quite repeatable since my second try was a 238 out of 250. Still its second best was better than the other three.
I do think that if I could find an optic with just under 3” of eye relief, perfect 250’s once every 10 tries are in my grasp.
If I were to switch from a sling to a bipod for prone and square up with the Tikka, I think the 4” of eye relief would be acceptable, but then I lose the sling for offhand and squatting.
I probably should just practice more and learn to “improvise, adapt, and overcome”. But a shorter eye relief riflescope is something I’ll watch for…just so I’ll stop complaining.
Update: When driving out the retaining pin behind the firing pin, be sure to not strike the firing pin with the punch. It will break.
ZP Machine Titanium Firing Pin for the Tikka T1x (top) vs stock (bottom)
After getting a Squat AQT score of 220 with the Victor Faxon Vortex 10/22 rifle, I decided to shift the Vortex portion of the 10/22 build to my Tikka T1x. Its rail has a couple extra slots so I can get the scope far enough forward without having the front scope ring dangling off the edge.
Went to zero and I had to come down about 20 minute of angle. Hmmm, I don’t recall installing a 20 MOA rail. A Talley base…well I’ll be…it does look like the front is about 20/1000ths lower than the rear.
Shooting all four stages of the AQT squatting, I only managed a 195. Not good enough. I think the Tikka needs a cheek riser that I can sink into. The Vortex setup is slightly taller than the Weaver V3 that I had been running. Rather than blame my marksmanship skills, I’m going to assert that the squatting position is heavily dependent upon a firm cheek weld sandwiching the buttstock between jaw, elbow, and knee.
I’ll get a cheek riser for the Tikka T1x and see what happens.
Went to zero and I had to come down about 20 minute of angle. Hmmm, I don’t recall installing a 20 MOA rail. A Talley base…well I’ll be…it does look like the front is about 20/1000ths lower than the rear.
Shooting all four stages of the AQT squatting, I only managed a 195. Not good enough. I think the Tikka needs a cheek riser that I can sink into. The Vortex setup is slightly taller than the Weaver V3 that I had been running. Rather than blame my marksmanship skills, I’m going to assert that the squatting position is heavily dependent upon a firm cheek weld sandwiching the buttstock between jaw, elbow, and knee.
I’ll get a cheek riser for the Tikka T1x and see what happens.
Re-discovering the charms of the bolt action rifle...especially the bolt action 22LR.
Running the Tikka T1x...mag release, bolt, trigger, and safety. Weaver V3 optic.
REMOVED from YouTube How to upgrade and improve the Tikka T1x rifle stock.
Tikka T3x Recoil Pad. Yes, it also fits the T1x and provides just the right amount of length of pull.
You can probably get the Vertical Grip and recoil pad direct from the Beretta...especially if you wait for one of their sales...also a great time to load up on some T1x magazines.
You can probably get the Vertical Grip and recoil pad direct from the Beretta...especially if you wait for one of their sales...also a great time to load up on some T1x magazines.
Attend a Project Appleseed Rifle Marksmanship Clinic.
Operating in almost every state, these affordable marksmanship clinics should be a prerequisite before spending $1,000's attending any of the other training academies.
The volunteer Instructors complete one of the most rigorous training programs to earn their Project Appleseed Red Hat.
Get a head start with the AmbGun Appleseed Prep video series.
Operating in almost every state, these affordable marksmanship clinics should be a prerequisite before spending $1,000's attending any of the other training academies.
The volunteer Instructors complete one of the most rigorous training programs to earn their Project Appleseed Red Hat.
Get a head start with the AmbGun Appleseed Prep video series.
Warne 30mm Medium (0.99") Dovetail Rings
Bypass the picatinny rail with direct dovetail mounting. Downside is getting proper eye relief when using proper "turkey neck cheek weld". So I went with the Vortex Pro Series Low Rings.
Bypass the picatinny rail with direct dovetail mounting. Downside is getting proper eye relief when using proper "turkey neck cheek weld". So I went with the Vortex Pro Series Low Rings.
AmbGun.com is THE ambidextrous gunfighting resource. Why you should become an ambidextrous gunfighter. How you can become an ambidextrous gunfighter. What the ambidextrous gunfighter requires in his equipment.
Ambidextrous "optimal use of cover", optimal use of terrain for steady hold factors.Training the brain so that both the left and right eye can pick up the sighting system. Perfectly mirrored controls for unconscious, bilateral transfer of skill. operation both left and right handed.
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Ambidextrous "optimal use of cover", optimal use of terrain for steady hold factors.Training the brain so that both the left and right eye can pick up the sighting system. Perfectly mirrored controls for unconscious, bilateral transfer of skill. operation both left and right handed.
Affiliate Disclosure
Some of our posts at AmbGun.com contain affiliate links. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission. Clicking on an affiliate link which earns a commission does not result in additional charges to you or cost you anything extra. Mentions of associated products within the content of AmbGun.com may not be noted as an affiliate in every referrence. Money earned via affiliate links helps keep the AmbGun web site and video production up and running. AmbGun hopes that you'd prefer that our efforts earn a commission rather than bypassing our affiliate links and simply adding to the bottom line of large marketers like Amazon.com
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