I have considered the T3's , and light is a benefit actually.
I have faith in all my gear and it's capabilities , this one just needs to fall into a slot so to say as I have rifles before said slot and after said slot, but I also want something that I won't worry about dings and scrapes and weather and such.
As I have had good experience with the S2 Vanguards I figured another wouldn't a bad choice, but now , I am seeing maybe why the bloke sold it for $400.00.
If this one would of done 1-1.5 MOA consistently I would have called it a day , but as you likely saw from my targets that was far from the case.
Sometimes things just don't work out , I know you appreciate the situation, luckily I didn't make this years draw so I have more time.
What is the throat like on the T3's, can I load long with the long heavies you figure?
The throats on T3 rifles are long enough to handle the heaviest bullets that can be loaded into them and still fit/feed from the magazine. The other noteworthy thing about those throats is the attention Tikka pays to very tight tolerances. I've owned and shot several Tikka T3 rifles, both with walnut and the tupperware stocksets. All of them shot better than I am capable of holding with handloads they liked.
There was only one, chambered in 243Win that I could not get to shoot with any bullet weigh other than cast lead 105 grain flat points/flat base that were powder coated.
Like you, I like the S2 Vanguaurds and wouldn't be afraid to purchase one. My only concern with them is their factory trigger is creepy and mushy. I'm a bit anal about good trigger performance.
As mentioned, every T3 that I've measured the throats on, the diameters are either right on mean or a half thou under. This makes for rifles that are inherently accurate from the factory.
When I order a new reamer or purchase a used reamer, I measure it at several points to make sure all of the flutes are extremely close to being equal. I pay very close attention to the neck and throat sections. Those are the most important sections of the chamber and even then, if the pilot is sloppy on it's spindle or in the bore, you will get a sloppy chamber. That's one of the reasons I order a solid pilot or grind the pilot to the diameter I want it to be be before cutting a chamber. Sloppy pilots lead to chambers that aren't consistent to the axis of the bore. Tikka, along with a few other makers makes a habit of keeping tolerances tight.
Remington had a bad practice of using reamers with undersize pilots and oversize necks and throats. With CNC machinery, they mostly got away with it but when that equipment started to show wear, they started having some serious issues and lost a lot of market share because of it.
One other type of rifle you may want to check out are the Antonio Zoli clones of Husqvarna 1600 rifles. They are smoother than the T3 and when tolerances were within spec also shoot like lasers. I have one in 30-06. I picked it up to swap the barrel for a 280 Rem build. Took it to the range to check out before the swap out and the darn thing will shoot everything I put through it, even mixed in the mag into an inch or less at 100 yards as long as the bullets are the same weight and close in velocity. They aren't common. I now have a lovely Italian made copy of a 1600 with a better trigger and much smoother operating than the original Swede versions.
