JMHO...but what's not to like about a Tikka T3 Hunter Grade if you can buy one for $500 or less? May not be a Stainless but it is by far the most complete of the so called budget guns being mentioned. Only thing I'd add to the NIB gun was if the shooter was recoil sensitive would be to add a Limbsaver. I do like the wood stocked Hunter Grade waay more better than the Lite's composite stock and answers the critics admonitions of the Lite stock lacking forend rigidity. Better rings would be the next upgrade....but the factory rings are not garbage either ... unless he wants to play musical chairs with constantly changing scopes. CLNY has Minox ZV3 3x9x40's right now startting at $100 bux and hard to beat at that price, with a no fault lifetime warranty.
Out of the 4 T3's I've owned none of them out of the box needed tuning to get to the guaranteed MOA with factory ammo. Does tuning increase the accuracy ... yes but in such small increments for the Return on Investment that I never bothered, concentrating instead on the differences in ammo that the gun liked or not. FWIW My handloads have always been able to reach MOA or sometimes substanially less, as long as I was doing my part.
Ron
