Even though I have a few rifles in the safe the .223 (Mighty Mouse) has always been a hard rifle not to take on a trip as I simply love it as I find the caliber punches well above its weight where I've shot in excess of 60 sika and a couple of Fallow.
So here we are at the present where for some time I'd been weighing up going lighter on the rifle by means of obtaining a lighter stock but the question was what and from whom.
Then there is our very own forum member "Stug" who also makes stocks http://www.sggunstocks.co.nz/ who I came across the first time I went hunting in Fiordland a few years back.
Due to Stug having a full time job and the stocks are made on the side, there is a lengthy waiting time once you've made your order to get a stock but for me I wasn't in any rush and the months flew by quickly.
I had the stock made up to the same specs as the T3 stock as I quite liked it and had stainless steel studs installed along with a lightweight pachmayr recoil pad not that the .223 was going to give me big recoil!
The only thing I had to do was send the action and barrel down to Stug where he bedded the rifle for me into the stock and then return it back to me.
At the same time I sent the rifle down I also sent down to him some stainless steel action screws to replace the factory Tikka screws which I obtained through Gunworks and at the same time I ordered those I also ordered a set of screws to replace the current factory screws in the Tikka rings so I knew that the rifle was as weather resistant as I could make it.
The rifle came back to me beautifully done where the carbon fibre stock weighed in at 559 grams as opposed to 805 grams for the standard T3 stock.
It was at around the same time I sent the scope that was on the rifle which is a Leupold VX3 2.5-8x38 through to the Leupold custom shop in the states where I had them install a CDS elevation turret and fortunately I did this before the exchange rate went to shit!
Once the rifle was back and the scope arrived I put the scope back on with the Tikka rings and sighted her in.
As for accuracy its still punching nice little clover leaf groups at 100 metres with the 55 gr Sierras.
Since having the rifle back its been out on a few walks since.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children."
That stock is wicked.Now for improvements. Scope...Leupy 3.5-10 VX3. Pill...Sierra 65gr GK with 24gr BM2. Recoil..we put Pachmayr slip on from Gunworks. No recoil with DPT 5 baffles.Trigger...wound down to 2lbs.Love the T3. We have 5 of them in addition to 75 Sako.Nice fotos bro.
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Micky Duck
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Re: Evolution of the Mighty Mouse (Tikka .223) Reply #4 - Feb 4th, 2016 at 5:36pm
My rifle has taken a similar progression to yours. Numerous changes of scopes, barrel being cut down and suppressed, change of suppressor, bolt getting fluted and now it's currently getting a STUG stock fitted too.
A mate of mine has one of those big after market Tikka bolt knobs which he bought from Gunworks, it feels pretty good when auctioning the bolt and I thought I might try something like that but didn't want to spend the big dollars.
I saw that Tikka produce a little round ball which slides over the existing bolt handle on the Tikka and thought this might be a cheap way to go as at least I won't worry about a few dollars if it doesn't pan out.
I contacted Beretta NZ and was quoted around $100 for this round ball which put me off until I looked through ebay and could get the same one into the country from England for $24.00 including postage so I ordered one!
I put it on the .223 which was pretty easy requiring a bit of force to squeeze it over the bolt handle.
So far it feels ok but I need to give it some testing and some time to get used to it to see whether I like it or hate it.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children."
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TJ
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Re: Evolution of the Mighty Mouse (Tikka .223) Reply #8 - Oct 22nd, 2016 at 3:31am
As of late I've been playing with a mates "Labradar" as their supposedly the best on the market… I've had some hiccups along the way getting it to work... operator fault but finally figured out the settings thanks to "uncle google" of how to use it with a suppressor!
Anyway, I got to try a couple of favourite projectiles, powders, with and without suppressor and the results are quite cool and interesting as you'll see so you be the judge!
This is a Tikka T3 with 18 inch barrel!
WITHOUT SUPPRESSOR: 55 gr Hornady - 25 gr BM2 Average: 2878 fps
55 gr Sierra (#1345) - 26 gr AR2206H Average: 2933 fps
WITH SUPPRESSOR: 55 gr Hornady SP - 25 gr BM2 Average: 2930 fps
55 gr Sierra (#1345) - 26 gr AR2206H Average: 3005 fps
63 gr Sierra - 24 gr BM2 Average: 2761 fps
63 gr Sierra - 25.5 gr AR2206H Average: 2952 fps
It's interesting to see with the results that with the suppressor (DPT) on its gives faster results.
As for accuracy, everything shot pretty much to the same point of impact at 100 mtrs & 200 mtrs apart from slight deviation and accuracy for all of the above loads was well under an 3/4 inch with best accuracy coming from 63 Sierras with AR2206H giving four leaf clover's
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children."
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Huntsouth
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Re: Evolution of the Mighty Mouse (Tikka .223) Reply #12 - Jul 4th, 2018 at 11:01pm
Those round bolt knobs are now about $41.00 - Tikka brand and come with an allen screw to fit over the bolt end. There are other types - rubber ball than is a force fit for about $21.00. Available at places like Guncity.
Robbie Tiffin wrote and article for NZHunter a while back and mentioned the "free bore boost" a suppressor gives. There are still some gases pushing behind the projectile while it is in the suppressor.
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JaSa
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Re: Evolution of the Mighty Mouse (Tikka .223) Reply #14 - Jul 5th, 2018 at 7:19am
Wouldn't mind getting my hand loaded 53gr Vmax, the 55gr Nosler BST and the 55gr Barnes TTSX out of the 16" .223 measured one day. Please let me know if you are ever in Tokoroa on a weekend