Having owned a tikka and a ruger,and having fired several or each,my choice would be the tikka.Tikka rifles must shoot a 5 shot 1" group at 100 yards before being sold while ruger,remington,browning,savage and winchester have no such accuracy standard.By the way,I own a 700vssf myself,and my dealer informs me that the stock is a cheaper copy of the h-s stock and is not made by them at all.
Ruger and Tikka
- Thread starter johnny rotten
- Start date
The Tikka is the best out of box shooter, has the best trigger, most consistent quality, and the best value of any of the aforementioned guns.
I have tested and shot literally dozens of all of the above and the Tikka T-3 is the way to go.
I know where you can get a New Tikka-T3 package, Rifle, Tikka Sling, Tikka Guncase and Burris 3-9X40 with rings mounted and boresighted for 1200 bucks.
I'm serious.
I have tested and shot literally dozens of all of the above and the Tikka T-3 is the way to go.
I know where you can get a New Tikka-T3 package, Rifle, Tikka Sling, Tikka Guncase and Burris 3-9X40 with rings mounted and boresighted for 1200 bucks.
I'm serious.
Don't cheap out. Buy a quality rifle, put a good scope on it and have fun. How much quality control can go into a 300$ rifle. It's like the difference between handloading and buying factory ammo, both will do the job but who wants something that is sub-standard. I have heard good things about savage rifles but IMO they just scream "cheap". Personally I like rugers, Tikka's and sako, but don't get me wrong I have bagged quite a few animals with my trusty m.700, but the quality just isn't there like the Tikka or the Sako. That is just my opinion, take it for what it's worth.
I have a Tikka Lite Stainless Synthetic stock with Limbsaver Recoil pad in 308 (also own its twin in 306) and a Remington Model 7 Stainless Synthetic Stock with Pachmayer Deccelorator Recoil Pad. Both about the same cost about $850.00 with Taxes in B.C. Shoot similar groups (under 1" at 100 yards). I prefer the Tikka #1 Bolt is smooth as butter #2 Clip loads the rifle quicker. Both have taken deer and moose and both weigh about the same. 
Got back from my trip to Newfoundland. My uncle summed up my question with a real good question of his own: how often do you plan to use this rifle, if 2 or 3 times a year than take the less expensive one, if you're putting lots of rounds through it than splurge. Having said that, I am still leaning towards the Tikka T3 varmint, just have to think of a good long range scope for it now. Still going over the book for my PAL test next week, not worried about the written test, just hoping i don't skip something on the handling test.
If you haven't killed anyone yet and have been around firearms you should pass no prob. I got 100% on my PAL and I never read the book. I just followed grandpa's advice" Don't point a gun at anything you don't intend to kill"
Ha ha, good advice about where to point the rifle. The handling drills in the book are a bit different than what I have done throughout my military time, especially the " examine the bore drill ". That one really creeped me out big time!
johnny rotten said:
Well once you've looked and felt into the chamber it's just a steel pipe and nothing more. I think you'd rather look down a 2' water pipe than have a chunk of rifle barrel take take your left hand off or get a chunk of receiver in the head because a stick got broken off in the bore and you didn't know.
True enough, once you remove the cartridges, observe the chamber and verify the feed path, there's nothing to worry about when examining the bore.... Anyway the Tikka has it, now to select a good long range scope for targets and perhaps varmints.
scott_r said:
They still do. The dealer must be misinformed.
scott_r said:
Just from my impressions from handling a tikka in the gunshop, I'd tend to agree. For the price of a Tikka, you can get a much better rifle. Noth that there's anything WRONG with the Tikka, it's just a bit overpriced IMHO. Plus, the quality of the Tikka's has seemed to go down quite a bit over the last few years - since Sako bought them out. If I were a conspiracy nut, I'd say this was done deliberately, so as not to compete with the more expensive Sako-branded line.
powder burner
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Alberta, Canada
For 1500 you can grab a savage+scope (dont buy the package though get a scope seperate) and have coin left over to get a nice 22. Then maybe enough coin left to fill up the truck and bring them to a gun range.
- Location
- South Cariboo, B.C.
What rifle is a better value?
IMHO you get more than you pay for with the T3 Lite/Stainless. It has the same trigger as the Sako 75 which one of the very best in the market. The T3 stock fits it's action better than any rifle I have ever seen off the shelf. Perfectly centred and tight as hell.
For cheaper you can get a Savage. Yes you get what you pay for, period. Junk in comparison. Accutrigger is a Gimmick. They don't need the safety feature. Fools people into thinking that trigger is actually light I guess.
Stevens? Give me a break!
All your other choices are going to cost you $$ for that kind of accuracy and the trigger will still be nowhere as good.
No, sorry. I can't agree.
This makes no sense at all. The T3 has exploded in sales. It has forced all the rest of the companies to put a bargain rifle on the shelf. They still don't have the out of the box accuracy neither. This model is making more profit than the Sako 75. That's the reason they built a cheaper made enrty level rifle.
Once my PAL arrives I am going to splurge and get the Tikka plus a nice scope for it. Will probably buy a nice 22 at the same time ( lever action looks like fun ). Will be a big cash outlay for sure, but I plan on having both rifles for a long long time with lots of usage.
