Need help with my first Tikka.

T

TA0502

Regular
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Location
Alberta
Hey, so I've decided to cut down on my handguns and get more into rifles. I currently own a stainless Browning BLR in .300 WM and a Savage 10TR in .308 and am really enjoying them. A local gun shop told me I needed to check out Tikka so I've been doing some research and I'm almost ready to buy but I'm stuck between a T3X Varmint stainless in .300 WM or .308. Or a T3X CTR in .308, I love shooting both calibers but with barrel life in consideration I'm leaning more towards .308 for either.

Both rifles are very similar, run the same price and have great reviews so it's a tough choice. For a little background I will probably be running the rifle as a dual purpose target/hunting rifle but mostly target shooting. I won't be running a brake, just a bipod and a scope, also recoil and weight aren't a big deal for me. I can run my 10TR standing at the range all day and that thing is a tank compared to everything else I've shot.
 
I've owned the 10TR in .308 and the CTR in .308 and the latter is a bit more svelte. The Varmints will probably handle more like the 10TR. Note the biggest difference is the mag capacity of the Varmints will be 3 or 4 (I believe) in those calibres and the CTR has a very expensive 10 round magazine. The bottom metals on the Varmint and CTR are different too.

If you don't plan to ever put the Tikka into a chassis then go with barrel length and/or capacity as the driving factor. Accuracy will likely be similar between the Varmint and CTR.
 
I have heard that the 20" barrel is the way to go because of the minimal velocity / length trade off of going to a 24". My 10TR is a 24". I do like the extra ammo capacity but it is a bolt action so the 5 vs 10 round mag difference isn't that huge to me. It also may go into a chassis eventually, I'm going to be selling my Savage after I buy a Tikka and that money will probably go into optics and upgrades. When it comes to stainless vs blued they both seem to function awesome based on reviews but I haven't found any direct comparisons.
 
I would vote for the CTR myself. I am in the midsts of a choice dilemma between the CTR and the Bergara B14 HMR but the CTR is a solid choice for sure. Drops right into an MDT ESS chassis and even with the 20” barrel guys are reaching past 1000 withough issue
 
So I'm thinking I'm going to go with the CTR. There's a special edition model with a set trigger and some extra add ons like a muzzle brake, etc but it's $300 over the standard model. Anybody here have the model with a set trigger?
 
Perfect thanks, it's easy enough to find set trigger info but finding info on Tikka set triggers is pretty hard. I know which model I'm going for now, thanks for everybodys input.
 
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