Just over a week ago I blogged about David Waters, the CMP Distinguished shooters from Australia, who was fired by Goodyear after a co-worker visited his office and took her target rifle out of her car. The blog post attracted 350 comments and I hope came to the attention of Goodyear (USA).

I was not aware that David, and engineer by training, also manufactures rifle magazines. An Australian reader emailed me a link to the Australian International High Power Association who sell David’s Tikka magazines.

David’s magazine vs. Tikka 5 Round Magazine.

These beautiful magazines for the Sako (Beretta) Tikka T3 rifles are made from 6061-T6 aluminium with a flat grey hard anodised finish. They can be disassembled for cleaning. They hold 10 rounds compared to the 5 rounds of Beretta Tikka T3 extended magazines but are not a lot larger.

They are premium luxury magazines and are priced as such. The .223 Base Cartridge model (223 Remington, 222 Remington Magnum, 6×47, 204 Ruger, 17 Remington) sells for $123 USD (at today’s exchange rate). For comparison the factory plastic magazines costs an exorbitant $70 from the Beretta store.

The .308 Base Cartridge model (308 Win, 260 Rem, 7mm-08, 6/08 (608), 6XC, 6×47 Lapua, 243 Win) sells for $137.

They are shipped internationally. Currently they are sold out with a new batch expected next month (December 2015).

Mr. Waters recommends dry lube on the follower (made from Nylon). The reader who sent this in told us that when loading the magazine it is important to put pressure on the center of the magazine, not the front or rear to avoid binding.

Here at TFB Thomas Gomez, Rusty and myself are all big fans of the Tikka T3 Lite rifles. In my opinion they represent the best value bolt action on the market. They are accurate, have good factory triggers and weigh a lot less than rifles in the same price range (a Tikka T3 Lite weighs about 1 lb less than a Remington 700). My Tikka T3 is chambered in 7mm-08 and is suppressed with a Zeiss scope.

Thanks to Tassiebush for the tip.