Funny you should ask that question about Bergara versus Tikka rigs.
Nutnfancy (Youtube author) in “The Nutnfancy Project” compares both rigs and he loves them both. So I gotta wade in here. I owned a Tikka LSA 55 (Ithaca Branded) back in my undergrad days at the University of Alberta. I actually owned it for more than 2 years and that’s a stretch for me.
That Tikka shot dimes with hunting ammo! It could do nothing wrong. I loved it so much but when I graduated I traded it in for a Springfield Armory M1A, but that’s another story.
These days I’m a Tikka T1x fanboy among my junior and senior rimfire shooters at my local gun club.
When the T3 Tactical came out with their proprietary magazines (the kiss of death) I was rather annoyed since I pushed many of my clients to the Tikka platform. Phillip Velayo (Youtube Presenter) of Modern Day Sniper Podcast fame has a pet project on the go with this T3 Varmint. He sheds great light on the T3 joy. Long story short, he dropped that T3 Varmint (I believe) into a KRG Whiskey 3 and never looked back.
After watching the Nutnfancy video about his love for both platforms, I bought a tight twist .22-250 (my weakness) B14 HMR with a 9” twist barrel to launch some 75 grain booolits this coming summer and still use that rig for coyotes (I get out hunting but never anchored one) ha ha ha ha
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I’m a fanatic for AICS magazines and I’ll tell ya why. Being a Service Rifle shooter (then slid into the PR world), magazines and loading systems are everything for an SR shooter. Without several magazines, you may as well shoot F Class (and I would still suck). Magazines need to be sorted out and organized and evolved throughout your seasons. You don’t believe me? Come and shoot CQB matches that call for 5 rifle and 2 pistol magazines.
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A previous mentor of mine reminded me that at a polo tournament, you don’t bring a single polo pony; you bring at least 2 of them , preferably 4 ponies. Ha ha ha ha … OUCH, that’s expensive. With my CQB clinics I recommend shooters turn up with at least 10 magazines, hopefully reputable and somewhat tested at home gun club. The purpose being, to stress the magazines in different shooting : positions, stages, courses of fire, angles, drills, etc.
You must understand that all magazines kinda/ generally work well when you ‘re parked on the gun club bench and also drinking a mocha chino latte. Once you’re standing or shooting on the move or changing barricades or tank traps or tire walls, or transitioning from inside the dog house to the roof of the dog house; all bets are off for the smoothest operation of that magazine. It’s gotta feed at all angles, all temperatures, all different precipitations (this is Service Conditions, remember!!).
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So how are you planning to discover which of your many magazines you are willing to shoot a match or several stages with when you show up at Reception Desk for the Meaford LRSC, and you see me bugging you about magazine evolution process? Ha ha ha ha
Now, let’s re-visit the Proprietary Magazine issue (deliberate use of Proper nouns being capitalized, Heh Heh Heh... ). Tikka proprietary magazines are like polo ponies. Bring several… BUT they’re costly and very hard to find. Don’t get me wrong, i don’t want to slag them even if my Winchester Model 70 PBR (Patrol Bolt Rifle) is new-to-me and arriving in a few days. It’s discontinued and the proprietary magazines are difficult to source. Understand I ain’t using it for any matches in PRS, well maybe at my PR match in Garrison Petawawa one day.
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Back in 2017, I bought (my own money, too) a Ruger Precision Rifle in .308 from Wolverine Supplies in MB. I loved that rig because you could use AICS and M14 magazines, both of which I had almost a dozen diffferent specimens to put through and stress. I was most impressed. A PR rifle that was ready to compete right out of the box using magazines from : AI, Magpul, Accurate Mag, MDT, USGI M14, and all sorts of other brands, not to mention Ruger’s own AICS type, too.
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That baby shot pretty tight groups alongside my sponsored Accuracy International AX with a PMII on top. But, that wonderful AX shot proprietary double stack AI magazines and not AICS.
Moving forward, before solving this Tikka situation with more money (read: MDT ACC, KRG Whiskey/Xray/Bravo, and others) and AICS Magazines; What are you tending to do / intending to do with this platform?
What’s your philosophy of use?
Whatever you chose, just don’t be that guy who makes all sorts of mistakes with magazine issues and then ends up on my anecdotal funny stories during my courses.
As a match director, I get to watch it all go down and sometimes swallow my chewing gum (thank goodness I don’t chew tobacco)
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Choose well and evolve your magazines! Train like you compete and compete like you train. That’s from my mentor, TimK. I am forever grateful.
All the Best!!
Cheers, Barney
Peace Be The Journey!
