As a rifleman, I’m a pretty good writer. Which is to say the only time I’ve pulled the trigger on one over 100 yards was a few years ago at Rancho de los Kees in pursuit of a four-leggend ungulate. And that’s why when Beretta invited a few ink-stained bloggers and other keyboard bangers to The O’Gara Group’s facility in Montross, Virginia, last week, and I saw the agenda included shooting the new Tikka T3x TAC A1 bolt gun, my goal was to avoid embarrassing myself too badly.
In case you missed Jeremy’s detailed look at the rifle from the SHOT Show, here are a few highlights:
– Three calibers: .308, .260 Remington and 6.5 Creedmoor
– Cold hammer forged barrel
– Steel-hinged side-folding stock (AR buffer tube compatible)
– AR pistol grip
– AR-10 compatible 13.5″ M-Lok fore-end
– Adjustable length of pull and cheek piece height
– Two-stage adjustable trigger
– Zero MOA full length rail
– Threaded barrel with included muzzle brake
– Comes with three 10-round mags
– MSRP – $1899
Even a non-rifle guy can see that’s a lot of gun for the money.
Tikka’s aiming the TAC A1 directly at Ruger Precision Rifle buyers (RPR MSRP = $1599). The way they see it, including three $99 mags with the TAC A1 makes the price difference negligible.
After a crash course in rifle fundamentals from Doc John Spears of EAG Tactical, we positioned ourselves behind one of a brace of eight TAC A1s chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor.
Each was equipped with some truly impressive glass from another Beretta-owned brand, Steiner.
We didn’t have a lot of time to adjust the rifles for LOP or drop, but it didn’t much matter.
Feeding the TAC A1 with Hornady 120gr. A-MAX, even I could produce respectable 100-yard three-shot results (flyer aside).
Practice makes perfect. Well, almost.
The other writer sharing my gun, Clay Martin from GunsAmerica, actually knew what he was doing.
We shot the rifles out to 300 yards and the results were largely the same at each distance. We’ll have a TAC A1 to subject to the full review process in the next few weeks. Watch this space.