Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger All Weather Hawkeye vs Tikka T3 Lite Stainless

I wouldn't call T3's disposable as they are as rugged as any other rifle out there. Cabela's is/was selling A7's for $650 if the plastics worry you too much.

None of the rifles in that price range are going to have a great stock. T3 is no different. I don't have any regular synthetics myself; one blued Hunter, one SS Varmint and one blued Varmint.

Get a blind mag and you don't need to worry about lost or broken mags.

As well as a stronger and easier to carry rifle.

I've got a blind mag rifle {savage} and think it's a PITA. I currently have 6 rifles with detachable mags and have never lost a magazine in 40 years of use. I much prefer the convenience of the detachable over top loading.

Guess that's why they make both I suppose.

My personal preference is a blind mag but I'm glad they make detachable mag rifles for those who prefer them.

This would be a boring ass world if we all liked the same things.

Rugged as any rifle out there ? Not with that extraction and ejection system they aren't. Rugers are the closet actions out there that copy the old 98 Mauser design.
If you insist on an all weather and conditions rifle, the Rugers along with the Classic or pre-64 Winchesters and rifles made with the old 98 Mauser action are right at the top for reliability.
If a T3 is good enough in your experience fine. I insist on an edge as my rifles spend alot of time in bad conditions and don't always get the best of care. E

I take 3 weeks vacation during deer season every year and hunt every day rain, snow, sleet or shine. Never had a single "in the field" malfunction or parts breakage with any CF rifle or shotgun in 40 years. That includes 12 years and counting with my Tikka 595. My Win 94 and Marlin 336 have now been through 4 decades of use totalling several hundred days afield with zero failures. Ditto for my old 12 gauge Mossberg 500 and that has been abused unmercifully while waterfowl, predator and deer hunting. I have had a few parts failures over the years though. An 870 firing pin, an extractor on a much used Marlin bolt action .22, a couple bolt buffers on Marlin semi auto .22's, a firing pin on an old Stevens 15 .22 and probably a couple more that escape memory at the moment. I do know all happened while at the range/Plinking and all broken parts were made of steel with the exception of the Marlin bolt buffers. Bottom line is I don't worry in the least about failures afield just because I'm not carrying a Mauser design rifle or a gun with some plastic parts.

I'm a Ruger guy, haven't had one that wouldn't shoot at least 1 1/2" groups. More than accurate enough for hunting. Sounds like lots of computer experts that haven't had many Rugers on here. I've had at least 25 of them over the years. They just work.

Tube socks trump Tikkas!!

Buy the Ruger!!

The polymer detachable mags...........they are great - especially if you loose one.

Went deer hunting with my mate who has a nice T3 in 300 Win Mag. Alas he lost the only mag he had.....he pinpointed the location where he "could" have lost it and spent an hour trying to find it in the dirt.....only to discover he had it all along in his jacket pocket!!!!
Detachable magazines - great things, made to drive you around the bend if you mis-place them

Gus

I want to thank everybody for their thoughts on which rifle to choose. I'm leaning pretty strongly towards the Ruger, right now.

I've owned Mausers, Springfields, Winchesters,Remingtons, Savages and Rugers. On all of them (even my Savage with it's detachable magazine) I've been able to reload from the top with an open bolt.

I don't know if I could learn to remove the mag, reload the mag and reinsert the mag all under the pressure of a hunting situation. I guess I don't know if this old dog could learn this new trick.

Anyway thanks again everybody for you thoughts, I appreciate them.

They do and you could probably attest to them working in some pretty extreme conditions.

My T3 in 270WSM was a sub MOA shooter. My two T3's in 6.5x55 shoot about half again better than that. I've never had a Ruger shoot as good as a T3 and I've had many more Ruger's than Tikka's.

I've got two Hawkeyes and have owned six others.
The new rugers are very accurate.
I have a problem with overseas parts supply.
Some are good, some aren't.
Just a thought.
Also, look at aftermarket parts.
Remington 700's and Ruger 10-22's are on the top of the heap. IMHO