Why doesn't anyone talk about Sako TRG-22s anymore?

I would love to see an experienced TR or F-class shooter invest the time into a TRG the same as they would their own competitive rifle (load development etc.) and genuinely give it a fair shake on the line. For a factory gun I bet it would hold its own against full custom purpose built rigs.
I have a TRG that shoots under 1/2moa with both FGMM 168's and 175's. I have at least 5 different loads that shoot under 1/2moa with bullet weights from 155-185gr. Berger 155.5's will routinely dip into the high .2's and avarage mid .3's when I'm doing my part. If a load doesn't shoot 1/2moa out of the gate with a little tweaking it probably will.
To me, this is the appeal of the TRG... It is such an accurate rifle with just about anything you care to feed it. I'm sure there are more accurate purpose built guns out there with one or two specific loads but I doubt there are many that are as accomodating as a TRG is with any given load. To say they cant match the accuracy of a custom is ridiculous. Anyone who has actually owned one will atest to that.

If a TRG is cost prohibitive, as Caramel points out the SSG 3000 can be had for about 1/2 the price and probably achieve the same or similar results. Tikka T3's are no slouches either if on a budget.
 
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I bought a TRG 42 years ago, the price has gone up every year since. My LGS retail is around $1000 or more than what I paid and I could sell my well used rifle for more than what I paid at any time with ease.

If you ever plan to sell a rifle for any reason or even if you never plan to sell but are forced to I will take a factory high quality rifle over a custom any day just based on resale alone. Not to mention that factory high quality rifles are always good shooters.
 
Machinist said:
Been shooting Fclass for 8 years now and have competed in a lot of Matches ,see a lot of guys and gals bring out their TRG's with expensive glass on them to matches but I have never seen anyone win a match with a TRG, even experienced competitors shooting them can't match a Rem 700 with a match barrel screwed on it , and at half the cost of a TRG, They are cool looking rigs but for the cost of a fully equiped TRG, I think you are better of to build a custom.
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only fair comparisson there would put the same shooter behind both rifles for the same amount of time, load development, rounds fired, etc and then see what wins. In competition it is the shooters skill with rifle, load development, etc that wins. Equipment can not win on it's own
 
Brian46 said:
If you ever plan to sell a rifle for any reason or even if you never plan to sell but are forced to I will take a factory high quality rifle over a custom any day just based on that alone. Not to mention factory high quality rifles are always good shooters.
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I had this conversation with another member a few weeks ago, and their rebuttle was that they invested less for the custom option so they would lose less. You always pay more for a brand but your market is larger with a brand name than an unknown custom.
 
condomboy said:
I had this conversation with another member a few weeks ago, and their rebuttle was that they invested less for the custom option so they would lose less. You always pay more for a brand but your market is larger with a brand name than an unknown custom.
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lose less? you would be gaining with a rifle like the trg since the price has been going up every year steady and it is far from the only make and model this has been happening to.
 
Machinist said:
Been shooting Fclass for 8 years now and have competed in a lot of Matches ,see a lot of guys and gals bring out their TRG's with expensive glass on them to matches but I have never seen anyone win a match with a TRG, even experienced competitors shooting them can't match a Rem 700 with a match barrel screwed on it , and at half the cost of a TRG, They are cool looking rigs but for the cost of a fully equiped TRG, I think you are better of to build a custom.
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A completely unfair comparison. While I agree the TRG with the right shooter, load... may do well in a F class comp, the rifle is NOT an F class rifle, it is a military sniper system used by many across the globe. Take your F class rig into battle and see how long it last, you may not make it home! It's an apples and oranges debate.
 
ivo said:
A completely unfair comparison. While I agree the TRG with the right shooter, load... may do well in a F class comp, the rifle is NOT an F class rifle, it is a military sniper system used by many across the globe. Take your F class rig into battle and see how long it last, you may not make it home! It's an apples and oranges debate.
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Good point!
 
I have never worked on the TRG before but I just put a barrel on one this week. It is a bizarre way to stock a rifle. It is kind of a flimsy bedding block but I will put my money on a Barnard any day in a well bedded stock or with a Barnard block. I hope my customer does not read this! If it shoots then great but I always say that is all that matters!!
 
TRG are excellent rifles out of the box, they don't need work, they don't need custom anything. Buy rifle, buy optic, put optic on gun, shoot. The high end factory rifles like TRG, AI, PGW, DSR will shoot a wider variety of ammo more accurately and will do so under more adverse conditions than a custom rifle.

A custom remington or savage might have more outright accuracy with exactly one specific load under near optimal conditions, again that is a might. not an absolute

A custom 700 can be a 1/4 moa gun at a nice clean range. A TRG can be a 1/4 moa gun in the freezing arctic or the muggy tropical jungle or the desert. As for why they don't talk about TRG? Same reason no one talks about any of the other high end rifle. Not many own them, and those that do don't do much work on them(they don't have to). They are all excellent buys. If you can afford one get one. The end.
 
I used my 26" TRG 22 for a season in FClass - see my avatar - it performed very, very well but not as good as my custom, purpose-built single shot FClass rifles do. I used my 20" TRG in a Tactical / Precision championship where, again, performance was very good - needless to say my FClass rifles would have been unlikely to perform well in that environment due to the limitation of being a single shot. What we all need to recognise is that at completion levels it is best to use the tool designed for the job.
 
r34skyline said:
TRG are excellent rifles out of the box, they don't need work, they don't need custom anything. Buy rifle, buy optic, put optic on gun, shoot. The high end factory rifles like TRG, AI, PGW, DSR will shoot a wider variety of ammo more accurately and will do so under more adverse conditions than a custom rifle.

A custom remington or savage might have more outright accuracy with exactly one specific load under near optimal conditions, again that is a might. not an absolute

A custom 700 can be a 1/4 moa gun at a nice clean range. A TRG can be a 1/4 moa gun in the freezing arctic or the muggy tropical jungle or the desert. As for why they don't talk about TRG? Same reason no one talks about any of the other high end rifle. Not many own them, and those that do don't do much work on them(they don't have to). They are all excellent buys. If you can afford one get one. The end.
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TRGs can be a 1/4 moa in all those conditions?
I think many would be just a tad skeptical on that claim.
Of course they are excellent rifles but it is hard to get anything doing a 1/4 moa.
 
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ivo said:
A completely unfair comparison. While I agree the TRG with the right shooter, load... may do well in a F class comp, the rifle is NOT an F class rifle, it is a military sniper system used by many across the globe. Take your F class rig into battle and see how long it last, you may not make it home! It's an apples and oranges debate.
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^^What he said.

Many custom guns have really tight tolerances . FF to 0:10, does not go boom. Then to 4:30, custom rifle meets dust and dies. TRG's and the like were made to shoot in all environments, conditions, take punishment and function reliably. F class rifles are for the range.

 
Canuck525 said:
TRGs can be a 1/4 moa in all those conditions?
I think many would be just a tad skeptical on that claim.
Of course they are excellent rifles but it is hard to get anything doing a 1/4 moa.
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Ok 1/4 is optimistic. You get my gist. The TRG can do outstanding in adverse weather and do outstanding with a variety of ammunition. Billybobs custom 700 or savage not so much.
 
Lots of good discussion here.

I like the idea of a purpose build factory rifle simply because it means it's had at least one engineer give it some serious thought and some serious testing, all with a serious budget.

I guess if I'm going to buy another precision .308 it's be a decision between building something off of action "x" (500-1000$), barrel "x" (500$) bottom metal "x" (250-500$) and a stock, likely a MacMillan (1000$) so the final cost with the money to put it together will easily put me in the 2500$+ range, which is used TRG money.

I don't think I will be going on any dusty steel safari but I guess it's always nice to know something will be reliable. I didn't see any TRGs in that video, any AIs and they are even more expensive than the TRG.
 
I've said before that a custom tactical rifle can do everything a high end factory can do and you will be happy knowing that it is exactly what you wanted. Problems arise at resale as the custom may often realise only half it's cost whereas the top-end factory ( AI, TRG PGW for example ) will realise a sum much nearer what was invested. For example PGW Coyote cost $4800 + tax and used they run about $4-4600 with, obviously no tax. Now tax is always 'lost money' so you accept that and then you see that there is virtually no depreciation. No compare to the $4500 Tax custom from ATRS, Tac Ord etc and see a resale price often exceeding no more than $2500.

I love both customs and high end factory and own both but don't delude myself which is worth more on a rainy day.
 
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