I have had various lightweight tikka rifles (Including the compact, lite, stainless lite, and some sort of cabelas special)...but currently own both a tikka t3x CTR, a stainless varmint, a browning xbolt pro (gen 2), and sold my other xbp gen 2 just recently...slightly different in material and cost. Overall experiences:
Tikka:
-Smooth action
-Great accuracy
-Plastic mags are a snug fit, feed perfectly
-Extracts perfectly
-Generally good trigger, there are ways to make it lighter but you must remove the barrelled action out of the stock to do this.
-70* throw
-2 position safety (some like it, others dont..I work with what i got)
Browning
-Smooth action, can get to tikka smooth over time
-Great accuracy
-Flush fit mags, great for packing through the bush. Feeds perfectly.
-Extracts perfectly
-Decent trigger, can buy the Mcarbo trigger sping and RE/RE if you want, but there are ways to lighten the factory trigger..must remove barreld action out of the stock to do this.
-60* throw
-2 position safety, however the bolt has a button on it that allows you to remove a live round with the safety on "fire". Very handy, but again not a requirement.
The tikka rifle has a larger aftermarket support if you want to mess with things (stock, trigger, etc). But in no way did I ever feel that the browning needed anything. I think if you want to just grab a rifle and go hunting either will be totally fine from the factory...Try to go to a store and handle both and see how you like holding it, working the bolt, general carry-ability.
