Interesting. The mags are steel but I've only seen/heard of plastic bottom metal on them.
Regarding bad stainless, I recollect Sakos and T3s being recalled in the early 2000s for this, I haven't heard that the 695/595 series had had those issues previously. On the contrary guys who own them seem to swear by them and say the T3 was a step backwards.
As far as picking a winner, I agree its an obsolete platform and I don't expect to see huge demand. But there are no options on the market and these are well liked rifles globally. I've had a handful of people ask me about it so I figure I'd raise the question and see who else might be out there.
Regards,
Paul.
If you search, pretty sure you will find info on barrels recall or failure.
Let’s do the strip down of my M695 Whitetail:
+ Very sturdy action that last decades.
+ Was coming as a package with scope!
+ Fairly accurate.
+ M695 used market is still bringing very good price because of nostalgic baby boomers!
- Action lug was in raw steel and was rusting inside the plastic stock.
- The stainless steel was micro pit surface rusting even with proper maintenance.
- The owners of the M695 stainless models were never notified by neither the manufacturer or the Canadian distributor at the time of the potential danger of barrel blowout. I’ve learned when I brought my M695 for a firing pin repair to my gunsmith!
- If you think that’s is hard to take a barrel off a T3 action, then you should try out a M695!
Good day all. I've had a few requests to make stainless bottom metal for the Tikka 695/595. I'm considering making a small run to test the waters. If anyone if interested, PM me or send me an email.
Regards,
Paul.