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Tikka T3 308 refinish and stock work
Decided to give my new T3 hunter a few upgrades. I was a little bummed that there is no “deluxe” or safari version of this gun for sale in the states and decided to make my own. This project kind of came out of no where when my girlfriend bought me a T3 hunter for our anniversary after she heard me talking about selling another gun to buy one (she's a keeper I know). She kept it a secret from me for almost 3 months and had to make up reason after reason why I couldnt go buy one which must have driven her nuts because I was itching for this rifle. haha she didnt crack and I was surprised to see it on the coffee table.
Anyway, once I had it I got the itch to do some customizing and went for it. Took me quite a while and a s*** load of work to get from start to finish, but I was pretty pleased with the result. I do not have access to a shop so everything I did I had to use what was in the garage (a miter saw, and a $60 harbor freight disc/belt sander mostly haha) with A LOT of hand filing and block sanding. Once I stripped the finish it actually had some really good looking grain that was pretty masked by the dark finish that comes standard. first, I sawed the end off and created a new tip using gaboon ebony with a curly maple spacer, hand filed the grip down for the cap and made a block for that. Hand filed everything to match, hand filed the barrel channel. I also installed a cross bolt in the stock where the ebony plug is toward the barrel end. I only put one in as the Tikka design does not allow for two but I didnt like the one plug on the stock so I drilled a second hole and made a plug for it and liked the look better. I used general finishes wood dye for the finish, mixing antique cherry and amber and applying it in layer to get the right shade. Used Birchwood casey sealer and filler and tru oil to finish. Then some steel wool and rotten stone to dull the shine a bit to where I liked it and waxed it up. Also had the local gun smith add the iron sights and jewel the barrel. I intend to put some quick detach mounts on later, but for now the DNZ is what I had and it works great. It is also wearing a limb saver recoil pad and a redfield revolution 2-7x which I think is perfect. I am not a huge fan of high power scope on my hunting rifles as I am out for pig and deer in CA mostly so I dont need a ton of magnification. Couldnt be happier with how it turned out and kinda cool knowing there is zero others out there like it. I can put some more details about exactly how I did everything if anyone has questions. Hope you guys enjoy and gives other some ideas. cheers.
**I remember seeing a post on here for tikka of the month a long time ago, is that still around?, lets bring that back 🙂
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