Tikka started out as a budget rifle. Popularity has driven prices higher. It retains a a lot of ease-of-manufacturing shortcuts. One-size-fits-all receiver length, tubular reciever, inability to top of the magazinbe without removing it. And all that's fine if it works well. But the one thing I simply can't stand is that weird recoil lug design - where the is a loose aluminum recoil lug wedge that is pressed into the stock and engages a notch in the bottom of the receiver. Since that design was introduced, the net has been replete with comments on that fact that those wedges get deformed over time, that they inadequately engage the receiver, that they get lost - so much so to the point that some users shoot them without the lug. The recoil lug needs to be integral with the receiver like on Mausers, Win M70s and Ruger M77s, or between the barrel like on Rem 700s and Browning X-Bolts. The recoil lug should not be a little loose piece that can be lost, or has to be glued into the stock, or has to be replaced with an after-market steel lug due deformation of the stock aluminum lug. To me, of all the things in a Tikka, that recoil lug screams "cheap." Otherwise, they apparently work fine, and to me look nice.
Since the T3x came on the scene it has a steel lug. The shroud is also steel. The Lug is certainly a PITA at times but is effective, a lot of rifles have done away with the conventional recoil lug whether it is sandwiched between the barrel and receiver or a piece of the action.
