For the record - I never compared a p-64 to a Tikka either.
Simply stated - that the YOUNGEST p-64 a person could possibly own right now is 52 years old (give or take some months I suppose).
ANYTHING in this sport/lifestyle that is 52 years old + lasted because it was made well to begin with. Those that weren't didn't live to see their 52nd birthday.
That's my point. Law of averages tells me that some p-64's are no longer with us because they were discarded along the way - a bad one got out or was butchered by some kitchen gunsmith. If I want to buy a p-64 Winchester today - my odds of getting a real nice one are much better than maybe buying one in 1966 when the market hadn't corrected any issues with the ones fresh from the factory just yet, as few as some would like there to think there would be....
And the odds of getting a good one today/tomorrow is only going to go up as they age.
Sorta like in 2036 - if you buy a Ruger tang M77 - original, odds are it's going to have a good barrel on it, not one of the crap ones that got out as those will have been weeded out of the market by then.
(damn - my first rifle was a tang M77 in 30-06 and I didn't realize they went to the MKII in 1984 - forever and just yesterday ago...)
