Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles poll: highest quality *out of the box* rifle currently in production for $1000/less

Tikka for me also. I really want to like the Bergera but they are too heavy for my liking.

Tikka also has a huge aftermarket following for parts. So you can upgrade any plastic pieces you don’t like and most likely still stay under a grand or pretty darn close.

I've followed this thread closely and am surprised

I have 2 Tikkas, T3 Lite SS (2003) & T3X Lite SS (2018) and BOTH triggers are FANTASTIC (emphasis). No creep,
No travel, No over travel, No adjustment needed, - Perfect.

Has something changed on the 'newer' Tikkas?

I have NO criticism of my 2 Tikka rifles. I have other rifles I like TOO but the 70 Classics are too robust.
My XTR is slimmer - trimmer - AND lighter. I have no need for CRF so that is moot.

I'm just relaying my experiences with my Tikkas. I'm not rating them as # 1 but I haven't found anything wrong with them.

Jerry

Between the Ruger M77's, Rem 700's, Howa 1500's, Weatherby Van's and Tikkas that I have owned, modified and worked up loads for... The Tikka takes the cake. Change the trigger spring, easy to load for, light weight, great factory synth stock and very smooth for a $750 rifle.

Same deal here

Do it. I bought one last year and haven’t let the wife shoot it in fear of losing it to her. X-Bolts are damn nice and the HCS is a keeper.

The T3's have aluminum recoil lugs that should be changed out. That's not a problem with the new T3X models though. That's the only "gripe" I had about my T3.

oddball possibility here: Franchi Momentum, about $600 when i bought it about 17 months ago. mine's in .308. crisp trigger at about 3 pounds out of the box. yes, a pig of a plastic stock in looks, but fits me to a T, and puts my shooting eye centered on the reticle in talley lightweight lows. the bolt turn was slightly rough, but a couple-three hundred manipulations slicked it right up. killed three whitetails with it last season. love the bottom metal with mauser style magazine.

I am throwing in a hand grenade. I love me some tikkas as well, but wow the Sauer 100 6.5 lamo i have is stupid accurate, maybe the second most accurate gun I have ever owned behind a 6ppc Sako I had. Shoots legit .5 to .75 moa 5 shot, yes 5 shot groups with 4 of 5 loads I have tried. The bad one was 1.1 moa. Really nice flush magazine system, 3 position safety and takes rem 700 bases. Has a pretty stiff stock with a weird but really well done bedding system. Action is slick as snot on glass door nob. Great adjustable trigger as well. Only real con was the crazy European 14.5 lop and thin pad. I cut it to 13.5 lop with a pachmayr decelerator. It is medium weight gun by today's standards. Not a fly weight but not bad. Balances right with a little muzzle heavy feel.


Let the insults begin. Lol

Spence1875
I did the exact same thing except 9.3x62 Sauer 100xt. Crazy accurate. Like you I didn’t post because I didn’t want the usual insults. Helluva rifle for the price.

I’ve looked at a few Sauer rifles, and they seem really nice. If I could find one in 9.3x62 that I could get my hands on, I would probably buy it.

Tikka T3X or Weatherby Vanguard.

Not so odd. Those look pretty impressive. I think Mule Deer bought one after using it on an “industry hunt”. Newer ones have a DM, but I prefer the classic floorplate setup for hunting.

It is a sad day in America when we can't even make a decent shooting, quality production rifle :-(( Other than an occasional mention of a Win or Kimber ALL have been Euro or Jap made rifles

Yep

I don't share that opinion,

I'd take a model 70, Kimber, Ruger Hawkeye, or most any 700 before any of the euro/jap rifles mentioned.

the OP set the price at under $1,000. the kimber and hawkeye generally are over that, right? how about the model 70? i've no idea. Even savage's MSRP on many models is over $1,000. i've had two RARs; solid, basic rifles WAY under $1,000, but others under $1,000 are better ...

This the OP after several pages.

Quick check on GB:

Kimber Hunter $800-900
70 Featherweight $949
Hawkeye $939

Kinda forgot about the XBolt. I haven't had one for a while, but I'm pretty certain it would be a good shooter. And Browning seems to understand long bullet twist rates better than the most.

We mentioned Rugers, still one of my favorites. My Hawkeye AW .223, restocked in factory walnut, ain’t going anywhere. The market for nice rifles here has dwindled so they aren’t seen very often, especially SS ones. Kimbers are almost unobtanium. Even my local Master Dealer can’t get them, so I finally ended up with an imported M70. He did have some new Remingtons in stock, but three months ago when I was looking, the cupboard was bare almost everywhere, so I jumped on the first suitable candidate.

The stock, at least, is made here.

Clockwork - I found this on Gunsandammo
The Sauer 100 steps away from the traditional European model in favor of the American method. Its barrel is screwed and torqued into the receiver just like we prefer. However, Sauer isn't content to just do what everyone over here does, either.

Sauer's receiver doesn't have the lug abutments (what the bolt lugs seat against) cut into the receiver like almost every American action. Sauer cuts a recess in the receiver and then puts a breech ring in place. The bolt lugs sit against this breech ring when the action is closed and the front of the breech ring acts as an index point for the barrel.

Breech rings are an emerging trend in bolt-action rifles and their popularity will only increase because the advantages they offer both shooter and manufacturer are too compelling to ignore. Let me explain.

Traditional bolt-action manufacturing takes a large cylindrical piece of steel and cuts the lug abutments into the front of it (internally). Once the barrel is threaded into place, the bolt lugs sit on the abutments to lock the action closed so the rifle can safely fire. Because the action is so large, there are wide variations on where those lug abutments actually wind up. Actions made this way need someone trained in headspacing a rifle to get the barrel in the right position.
A breech ring is a small part that uses very rigid tooling, so each one is identical (usually to within .0005 inch). Once the breech ring is inside the receiver, the barrel can just be screwed into the receiver until it touches the breech ring and headspace will be correct. The front of the breech ring gives the barrel a known stopping point in relation to the lug abutments to ensure headpsace is the same every time. No hand fitting is necessary.