Unknown Munitions Tikka T3x Customized Rifle Overview

The Unknown Munitions Tikka T3x is a {custom} rifle primarily based across the common, dependable, and correct T3x motion. Hunters world wide love the Tikka rifles that use this motion, however as at all times there are methods to enhance it. Amongst Unknown’s specialties are lightening the usual Tikka motion and re-fitting it with a premium cut-rifled barrel. Their full T3x construct retains what’s nice in regards to the platform, improves what may very well be higher, and provides you a rifle you received’t wish to cease taking pictures.

Unknown Munitions Customized Tikka T3x Specs

• Motion: Tikka T3x, two-lug
• Inventory: Rokstok, carbon-fiber, manufactured by Stocky’s Shares
• Cartridge: 6 CM (examined), 22 CM, 6 UM, 6.5 CM, 6.5 PRC, 6.5 SAUM IMP, 6.5/7 PRC IMP, 7 SAUM, 7 PRC, .308 Win., .300 WSM
• Capability: 4 rounds
• Weight: 6 kilos, 7 ounces (measured with out rings or muzzle gadget)
• Set off: Set off spring improve,  1 pound, 9 ounces (measured)
• Barrel: 20 inches, 1:7.5 twist, Ace cut-rifled barrel, No.3 profile, fluted, thread adapter to ⅝-24
• Size: 40 inches, 44 inches (with OG suppressor)
• Value: Beginning at $2,850

Key Options

• Lightened Tikka motion and fluted bolt
• Rokstok carbon-fiber inventory
• Ace cut-rifled barrel, fluted and threaded
• SRS Picatinny rail on fore-end
• QD sling cups
• Facet port muzzle brake 
• UM Tikka scope rings

Unknown Munitions Customized Tikka T3x Accuracy

Tikkas are recognized for delivering positive precision, and for underneath a thousand bucks, the T3x has gathered a rabid cult following of hunters and shooters who stand able to brag on its accuracy. 

Commonplace Tikka T3x Accuracy

The manufacturing facility Tikka T3x is an efficient shooter, however efficiency of normal searching fashions is commonly exaggerated. A number of tiny teams doesn’t precisely signify how a gun may be anticipated to shoot, so that you’ll see our current outcomes additionally tabulated in 20-shot group-size aggregates. It’s a change we’ve been compelled to make after realizing that five-shot information simply doesn’t inform us a lot. Imply radius is essentially the most telling metric for these samples as a result of it takes each shot into consideration, not simply the worst two. Many people like to say their Tikka is a half-MOA-all-day rifle, so it’s essential that, when contemplating costly upgrades, we check out some onerous baseline information first. Right here’s a have a look at accuracy information I just lately gathered from a manufacturing facility Tikka T3x Laminate Stainless rifle chambered in 6.5 CM

Accuracy Outcomes for the Unknown Munitions Tikka T3x

My custom-made Unknown Munitions — or UM for brief — Tikka is chambered in 6mm Creedmoor and I primarily wish to hand load for it. I examined it with two totally different manufacturing facility choices, and it’s notably extra correct than the manufacturing searching Tikkas I’ve evaluated. Along with outcomes listed beneath, I loaded Hornady 103-grain ELD-X bullets and Tubbs’s 115-grain DTAC with nosering and each hundreds produced 20-shot group aggregates of about 1.25 inches and Imply radii within the mid .3 inches.

Take into account that manufacturing facility Tikkas are actually correct sufficient to hunt at any cheap vary, however there’s a actual efficiency soar with the improve to the Ace barrel. Over 1000’s of rounds of testing, we’ve discovered that a normal or light-weight searching rifle that may produce a  imply radius of .3 inches or much less over 20 photographs is excellent. 

Anatomy of the Unknown Munitions Upgraded Tikka T3x

Unknown Munitions takes a manufacturing facility Tikka T3x and tears it all the way down to the studs. They do their very own machine work on the motion, chamber a barrel, add an improved inventory, and no main element is left untouched.

Motion and Barrel

Two of the three most attribute options of this practice Tikka are its lightened motion and Ace barrel — the third being the inventory, which I’ll contact on in a minute. They then machine pockets into the surface of the receiver and flute the bolt to take away about 4 ounces of metal. The work is exact and compliments the already good-quality machining accomplished on the manufacturing facility.

The manufacturing facility barrel is spun off and changed with a No. 3 profile Ace premium barrel. That is much like a light-weight sporter or similar-weight barrel that’s discovered on many customary searching rifles, and the fluting lightens it up considerably. As a result of small diameter on the muzzle, it’s threaded and capped with a thread adapter to extend thread dimension to ⅝-24 — customary for mounting searching suppressors bigger than .224-cal.

I had the motion and barrel completed in Cerakote, however each the bolt and raceways are nitride coated. Many actions which are absolutely Cerakoted get gummy and sticky, however the ultra-slick nitride coating permits the two-lug bolt to glide from side to side like a Prius on black ice. 

The set off is manufacturing facility however has an upgraded set off spring that reduces pull weight to at least one pound, 9 ounces on my rifle. It’s crisp and fantastic, and all of the screws and fasteners have been thread-locked with a paint pen. Atop the motion is a set of Unknown Munitions proprietary Tikka scope rings. Tikkas nonetheless function an odd dovetail optic mounting system and these rings are made to clamp onto that and are secured from linear motion by posts that match into the holes atop the motion. They’re heavy-duty, sturdy rings, they usually remove the necessity for added rails on the motion.

The Rokstok

The inventory is the third notable improve from manufacturing facility situation on this T3x — and essentially the most eye-catching. It’s the Rokstok (impressed by the searching discussion board Rokslide) that was developed and is bought by way of Unknown Munitions and made by Stocky’s Shares. It’s a TK-ounce carbon-fiber inventory with a stable bedding block and a novel steep damaging comb. It comes with a flush becoming Salmon River Options fore-end rail that’s obtainable in numerous configurations. Mine is Picatinny with a QD sling cup and socket for the Spartan Precision Javelin bipod system. The inventory additionally has a QD sling cup embedded on the left facet of the fore-end and on the left facet of the buttstock. It has a close to vertical grip with grippy texturing on the grip and fore-end.

The inventory matches properly and the barrel channel is even. A few of the assembly factors of metal and carbon aren’t fairly as refined as what you’ll see on top-end hand-fit shares — this one may very well be beveled to fulfill the metallic on the backside of the ejection port, together with a pair different custom-level touches. UM has added the recoil lug, which is embedded within the inventory and, total, it’s very good work. My rifle makes use of the unique polymer backside metallic and journal, however the inventory is exponentially higher than what you’ll discover on a fundamental T3x. One downside is that the steep comb forces you to take away the motion to scrub with a normal cleansing rod.

The Rokstok is an unsightly duckling, however its design serves a objective. The steep reverse comb and flat backside of the buttstock make it appear like some form of upside-down manufacturing facility mixup, however it’s designed to assist recoil administration. The buckaroos rolling their eyes ought to notice that this improved recoil administration isn’t meant to maintain sissy boys from bruising their delicate shoulders. It merely reduces disruption of the sight image throughout recoil, enhancing the shooter’s potential to name their shot and see the affect. 

Recoil Administration

The reverse comb pulls the inventory to drag away out of your face throughout recoil relatively than bumping your head out of place, and the flat backside strikes easily entrance to again on a rear help. A extra conventional inventory that angles upward on the underside tends to drop the butt of the gun and lift the muzzle because it strikes throughout a rear help because of recoil.

The Rokstok has a 13.5-inch size of pull, which is a few half-inch quick for me, and the gap from the grip to the set off can be quick for my fingers. Regardless of that, the inventory tracks splendidly underneath recoil. I’ve fired it from numerous rests together with baggage and bipods, and I shoot it very properly with minimal sight disruption. 

My favourite place to shoot with this rifle has been standing, supported by a taking pictures bag atop a tripod. The flat-bottomed fore-end nestles properly right into a bag and there’s sufficient ledge alongside the barrel channel for my thumb to know and pinch the fore-end of the inventory onto the bag. On the vary, I can reliably hit 1.5-MOA plates to distances of 500 and 600 yards from this standing place if the wind isn’t too sporty. I just lately took the rifle to California to hunt pigs and in two run-and-gun stalks I discovered that carrying my tripod allowed me to arrange for standing photographs shortly.  I took two pigs at over 250 yards in that method. 

The rifle’s fast dealing with and intuitive operation make it efficient up shut. I shot a black bear from about 20 yards and was stunned by the pace with which I may chamber one other spherical. My 9-year-old-son additionally enjoys taking pictures it. After attempting a number of totally different rifles from 22 Creedmoor to six.5 Creedmoor, it’s the rifle he felt he shot one of the best. He was plastering metal out to 350 yards with ease, and took a pleasant black bear with it for himself a number of weeks in the past. 

Finishes

Along with their machine work, Unkown Munitions has a wonderful Cerakote store. There are a number of customary patterns you possibly can select from when choosing options on your Tikka, or you possibly can have them do one thing distinctive. The coatings on the barrel, fluting, and motion are all fabulously executed, and with some common route, they created an superior sample and colour scheme for my rifle. 

The OG Suppressor

Together with their rifle constructing, Unknown Munitions additionally just lately launched the OG, their first in a lineup of 3D-printed titanium searching suppressors. It’s a monolithic, single-piece can that options a big reflex chamber — generally known as the blast chamber and solely extends 4 inches past the muzzle. The reflex chamber extends again over the barrel and provides growth house for muzzle exit gasses whereas holding a shorter total rifle size — one of the crucial essential concerns for hunters who use suppressors. 

The OG weighs 10.5 ounces and is barely louder than another light-weight searching cans, however it’s not designed to be absolutely the quietest. It does have a notably lower-pitched, softer, thumpy-sounding tone than different common cans just like the Silencerco Scythe or KGM R30K. These suppressors sound a bit wispy and cracky, and another suppressors have a metallic ring. Sound stage is one among my decrease concerns for a searching suppressor, and also you shouldn’t be taking pictures any important quantity of supersonic ammunition with out listening to safety, even whereas utilizing a can. What I do prioritize is total size, steadiness, weight, recoil discount, and ease.

In 6mm Creedmoor, the .30-cal OG suppressor cuts recoil very properly. In spicier rounds just like the 7mm Backcountry, it didn’t soften recoil as a lot as suppressors with endcap or flow-through brakes just like the KGM R30. That’s to be anticipated. Additionally, being a one-piece printed can, there’s no detachable endcap or rear cap to scrub out all of the printing remnants and stray granules of titanium, so it produced a whole lot of sparking the primary 20 to 40 photographs and after the primary vary session I needed to shake out a pair remnant pebbles left from the printing course of. 

I feel it will develop into one among my favourite searching suppressors, and it really works splendidly on the {custom} Tikka. With the 20-inch barrel, it’s the identical total size, 44 inches, as if I had a normal 24-inch barrel and the steadiness is best with extra of the suppressor weight to the rear. An added and not-so-obvious bonus is the flat endcap can simply be lined with a chunk {of electrical} tape, which retains moisture out and blows off earlier than the bullet reaches it. Most different suppressors have entrance caps that aren’t so pleasant to that.

Remaining Ideas

Many hunters who’re contemplating a {custom} rifle are doing so as a result of they need one high-performance gun that may do nearly every part. Although it’s simple to provide you with new initiatives and aspirations, that’s actually what a {custom} searching rifle ought to be. If you will save up for a premium, custom-upgraded gun, it must be demonstrably higher than the unique and depart you with nothing to complain about. The target accuracy efficiency together with the ergonomics and shootability make this a rifle I wish to shoot and hunt with. Hell, I’ve already burned by way of virtually half the lifetime of this barrel. 

 

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