Have been away at the Lake for a few days, came back and glad to find this thread grew some legs. The small lake here in West TX (Lake Alan Henry) was very crowded with boaters and jet ski'ers, as expected, and I was very pleased to note that approximately 80% of boaters were flying either the "Let's Go Brandon" flag, or the more in your face "F&%k Joe Biden" flag.
The reason I laid it out in my OP is simple.....the 3 were easily and quickly available, at or under $1k, and were reported to be exceptionally accurate as anything costing at least twice as much. I also wanted one with a threaded barrel, as I've become a lover of hunting/shooting suppressed. I know Tikkas are, as I've had about 8 of them since 1998. If I were at all interested in spending $3k I would have said so. Not because I can't, but I don't even know if I'll like the cartridge. Bullet testing on hogs will determine how much I like how it kills. I'm 99.9% certain that won't be an issue.
A few years ago I began culling the unused rifles in my safe. I don't, and have never bought rifles to display, store, or impress others. They are simply tools to me. I had several old Sako's, Steyr's, etc that were sold. I still have a couple of customs, one in 7mag, the other 7mm08. I don't really desire any more. If I fall in love with the PRC, I'll likely go the Seekins route, or will likely just keep the Tikka as I highly anticipate it to be another Tikka tack driver.
Anyway, I bought Nathan's Tikka Roughtech here. Appreciate all the contributions here.
I can't imagine that you won't like the 6.5 PRC, especially if you hand load. Even with my slaughtered shooting shoulder, recoil is very manageable. It's much like the Creed in that it's accurate with damn near any load.
