Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Which lefty?

My wife is going to buy me a new left-handed rifle for my birthday in Feb. I am thinking something in 7mm Rem. mag. What do you guys think? 700XCR, Tikka T3 stainless, Savage weather warrior, or Ruger Hawkeye stainless laminate? That Ruger seems kind of heavy at 8 1/4lbs. Thanks for any input or opinions.

Ron

Just one mans opinion: xcr would top my list, The ruger at No. 2. No interest in the other 2. Be nice to your wife and buy her a scope for V-Day.

1. Ruger (ditching the laminate will help with the weight)
2. Rem
3. & 4. - Ditto TheShootist

How about a rem 700 sps in 7mm-08, new for 09, also the youth model with 20" barrel available too, just swap out the stock on either one, for a mcmillan stock. That be my first choice.

Out of the box, IMO.

1. Tikka. Accurate, light, and needs nothing. Good, adjustable trigger.
2. Savage. Same thing, but a bit homelier. And that safety is where it belongs. Accu-trigger is marvelous.
3. Remington. Works. Remington QC, though, not as good as Tikka or Savage, unfortunately.
4. Ruger. Heavy. And I could never get used to the safety design for quick shooting. Trigger needs help.

If I'm a tinkerer, I take the Remington, as you can find a part to do anything with it. If not, Tikka or Savage. They may not be purist rifles, but they work.

I have both a Remington and a Savage lefty, but my Remington has almost nothing from its old BDL days beside action and floorplate. The Savage is customized, too. You can't do much with a Tikka, at least not now. But you don't need to.

Good luck. There are no bad guns up there, so pick what you like.

The Ruger Hawkeye is the best rifle going today for a lefty. Fit & feel is fantastic. And they are now offered in short actions...243, 7mm 08 & 308.
Caliber: 7mm-08 Rem.
Capacity: 4 Rounds
Finish: Hawkeye Matte Blued
Stock: American Walnut
Barrel Length: 22"
Groove: 6
Twist: 1:9.5" RH
Overall Length: 42"
Weight: 7 lbs
California Approved: N/A
Massachusetts Approved: N/A
Front Sight(s): None
Rear Sight(s): None
Other Features: Three-Position Manual Safety
Suggested Retail Price: $ 803.00
Miscellaneous: Left-Handed M77 Hawkeye



I have used the Tikas. They are accurate, but just to much plstic for me. The stock is a bit blocky, never did feel right.

I have several left hand Remingtons. I prefer the older ones.

Never had a savage (aside from 99's). My brother hunts with one. VERY accurate. BUT oh so homely looking!

I have a Tika T3 Lite and Savage LH 7 mag and I sold my LH 7 mags in Remington and Ruger.

The Tika is my favorite for weight, trigger and accuracy. The Savage is an older one with good quality factory blued SS barrel in a Ramline stock. Love the safety position.

As accurate as the above two are the Remington was a real tack driver but too heavy IMO. The Ruger was one of the "Hit or Miss" and I got the miss.

If I just wanted a good hunting rifle I'd go Tika. If I wanted a good hunting American rifle I'd go Savage. If I wanted a rifle to add aftermarket goodies to later I'd go Remington. If I wanted a LH American CRF then Ruger.

What a great wife!! I would probably go with the 700 XCR.

1. XCR--finshed better than the Savage and 1/2 again more money but a great rifle. Also not in the 2009 catalog for leftys anymore.
2. 116 Savage--good guns, accurate, tough and Savage appears to be getting better each year
3. Tikka- won't do anything better than the two above, no thanks I'll take an American gun and I hate plastic trigger guards!
Last-> Ruger, too much of a crap shoot as to whether it will have acceptable accuracy. My last Ruger sucks, with the other 3 your odds are good. They are a well built rifle though just not synonymous with accuracy.

270

I just ordered a left hand Remington Model 700 XCR in 7MM MAG. I also noticed that the left hand XCR was not in the new 2009 Remington Catalog. If I am correct that would mean that they only made a left hand version of the Model 700 XCR for one year and that was 2008. I was lucky enough to find a 2008 left hand XCR in 7 MM MAG. I only knew of a couple of places that had the left hand models left over from 2008 and thought I better get one before they were gone. Also I can tell you that the XCR has one heck of a durable finish on it. Don't think you will ever see one rust.

I was bummed when I saw that Remington stopped making the left handed XCR. Today I found out that they started making the 700 SPS in lefty in several calibers (.270, 30-06, 7mm Rem. Mag., and .300 in. Mag.) So that is definitely an option.

Ron

What the Savage lacks in beauty is more than makes up for in performance.

Doc

The Ruger but without a laminated stock.

Travis

right on Doc, i have 3 savages. they all perform great.i also have a tikka t3 in 270win . it has become my favorite carry gun,light weight ,great adjustable trigger and hard to beat for accuratcy. i think you get more for your dollar with the t3. they offer a number of lefty calibers to.

srwshooter

had a remington , browning and ruger
sold them all and now have 3 lefty Tikkas - smooth, accurate , light, priced right .