Tikka M65

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About the Tikka

Tikkakoski was at first a metal workshop established in 1893 in Jyväskylä, Finland, which later, at the end of World War I in 1918 evolved into a factory that produced gun components. One of the most important guns of Tikka in the 20th century is most definitely Suomi KP/-31, which is regarded as one of the most successful submachine guns of World War II.

Tikkakoski and Sako cooperated on a prototype rifle series in 1981 and soon after that, Tikkakoski was acquired by Sako. By the end of the decade, the production of Tikka rifles has already shifted from Jyväskylä to Sako headquarters in Riihimäki. Tikka still holds on to their traditional gunsmith craftsmanship, visually inspecting every rifle barrel and then manually testing the rifle with test shots. In 2009 Beretta group took over Sako, which got Sako and Tikka access to the most advanced production methods.

Tikka M65 Rifle Review

Tikka M65 was in production since 1969 to 1989 and it was called LSA65 in the first two years and then renamed to M65. It was designed to serve as a long action rifle, because M55 could only use cartridges of size up to 55mm, while M65 could use cartridges of length up to 65mm.

On top, it has a 16.5 mm dovetail (with the lack of recoil notch) machined on the receiver for the purpose of attaching optics, along with 4 holes for the screws. The dovetail is fully disconnected, the middle part of the dovetail above the bolt doesn’t have dovetail notch on either side, which means the insertion of cartridges directly into chamber is very accessible at the expense of less rigid rifle and that could potentially lead to worse shot accuracy in some cases.

You can read more about how mounting system changed on Tikka rifles through time here.

Tikka M65

Source:https://greatnorthgunco.ca/product/tikka-m65-30-06/

Tikka M65

Source: https://www.gunauction.com/buy/8085975

Tikka M65 is chambered for:

.25-06 Rem
6.5×55mm
.270 Win
7×57mm
7×64mm
7mm Rem Mag
.308 Win
.30-06 Springfield
.300 Win Mag
.338 Win Mag
9.3×62mm

It comes in variants:

standard
heavy barrel
wildboar
sporter
super sporter

Tikka M65

A: 22 mm
B: 109 mm
C: 22 mm

Which rifles have interchangeable mounts

Two-piece mounts for the following Tikka rifles,

M55
M590/M690
M595/M695

which are meant to be installed on 4 tapped mounting holes will fit this rifle as well.

Our recommendation for mounts

Fixed mounts:

For fixed mounts on this rifle, we recommend Optilock Tikka Base mounting bases. We can insert rings onto these bases, but we must be careful, because Optilock rings are available only for 1inch (25.4mm), 30mm and 34mm diameter scope tubes. One special feature of the Optilock rings are the polymer inserts (except the 34mm ring, which does not include inserts), which prevent scratches on the scope. If we want to install scopes with rails or scopes with tube diameters other than these of Optilock rings, we need to reach for rings of other companies like Recknagel, EAW or Osuma, and they fit Optilock bases as well.

Optilock base for Tikka M55

Detachable repeatable mounts:

For Tikka M65 repeatable mounts, we would recommend to first install Picatinny rails and then install any detachable repeatable mount that fits Picatinny rails on top of them.

If you would prefer to have detachable repeatable mounts without Picatinny rails, we would recommend MAKlassic pivot mounts.

Picatinny rails:

The best option for installation of Picatinny rails would be the rails of Osuma:

It is worth mentioning, that these rails are made of aluminium, while the rifle receiver is made of steel, therefore the combination is not ideal, because of the mechanical reasons. More about that in our article:

Aluminium vs. Steel Picatinny rail

Help us build our riflescope mounts database

If you have this rifle or any other rifle at home, we would really appreciate it if you could send us some photos of the rifle receiver (mounting surface of the rifle when there are no mounts installed), because it would help us expand our rifle mounts database. If you send us a photo of rifle receiver which we don’t already have, that would be of great value to us and we will definitely reward you for your help.

Please send us an email for more information. You can contact us here: info@optics-trade.eu