Tikka M88

About the Tikka M88

The Tikka M88 is a Finnish bolt-action centerfire hunting and sporting rifle series produced by Tikkakoski from around 1989 until it was superseded in the late 1990s. It replaced the earlier Tikka M55 and M65 lines, combining them into a single family: the short-action M558 (successor to the M55) chambered for cartridges such as .222 Remington, .223 Remington, .243 Winchester and .308 Winchester, and the long/magnum-action M658 (successor to the M65) chambered for calibers such as .25-06 Remington, 6.5x55mm Swedish, .270 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield and magnum rounds. The rifle uses a 90-degree rotating two-lug cylindrical bolt in a milled steel receiver of Mauser-influenced design, feeds from a detachable box magazine, and ships with a wooden stock and a receiver drilled and tapped for scope mounts. Production later moved to Sako's Riihimaki factory, and the M88 series was ultimately replaced by the Sako-designed Tikka M595 (short action) and M695 (long action).

The Tikka M88 unified two separate rifle lines - the short-action M55 and the long-action M65 - into one family, bridging Tikkakoski's independent era and its absorption into the Sako group, whose engineers would later replace it with the M595 and M695.

Tikka M88 specifications

The '88' designation reflects the series' late-1980s development. The M558 and M658 members of the M88 series are the direct successors to the Tikka M55 and M65 respectively. Specifications listed here represent a typical short-action .308 Winchester standard configuration; individual variants differed in barrel length (roughly 520-660 mm), overall length and weight (roughly 3.1-4.7 kg) depending on chambering and profile.