I know I'll take some flack for this, but here goes . . .
This thread kinda reminds me of being at the SHOT show a few years ago. After fighting the crowd, of which half or more of the folks there had no business being there (they were on passes from their buddy the "kitchen table FFL holder"), my boss and I get to the booth to talk over the guns available to Sako dealers thru the Sako Select program - hoping to write an order or get the materials to do so. In front of us are a group of men (not FFL holders, dealers, or distributors) talking to the Beretta rep (who happened to be our rep) and a factory rep from Sako (whom we'd both met previously). From the bits and pieces of the conversations I overheard, it was like this thread. "Sure would be nice if you made XYZ model in ABC caliber, with 123 barrel length" and so on and so on. The look on the face of the two reps was that of "can someone get these guys outta here?" Finally, my boss had had his fill and leaned into the conversation and said something to the effect of "that's a great idea, how many would you commit to order?" One gentleman turned and said he was good for ONE, as did another. At that point my boss looked at them all and basically said "Get the F*** outta here and let folks that are bonafide, brick and mortar dealers do business." There was more, but I'll move on. Jaws dropped, and the group took it upon themselves to leave, post haste. At which point the reps reached out shook my bosses hand, each saying "Thank you!"
The point is, Darrik has taken the time and made an effort to reach out, AND commit to a reasonable number of guns from a couple of manufacturer's and potentially make it worth their while. Whether or not they follow through remains to be seen. One or two, of this and that, won't cut it, nor will 10 or 20. And while the crowd here at the Campfire has feel for what the twist/barrel length/action orientation should be for manufacture X's rifle, or manufacture Y's rifle, and so on, there's just not enough COMMITMENT from any one retailer/distributor or group of retailers/distributors to consider so many variations.
Another thing to consider, when thinking of Sako and/or Tikka, is Beretta is the importer. The engineers at Sako/Tikka can design and have produced just about anything. Convincing the powers that be at the top of Beretta that said design should be produced and imported to the USofA, is an entirely different ball-game. This not supposition, it's a virtual plagerization (sp) of the aforementioned Sako/Tikka factory rep.
Again, I commend Darrik. He has take the bull by the horns, compiled copious amounts of information, and narrowed it down to a couple of reasonable options, presented his side, and COMMITTED to be the first out of the gate with said new offerings.
