Ok, so this past year I had it pretty rough and had to sell some guns. One of the ones that went was my only hunting rifle, a 300 win mag senders. Now I loved it and was thinking on just picking up a Remington tactical SPS and throwing a new stock on it, but then I started thinking about all I hated on the Sendero. The 26" barrel got snagged on everything. It weighed 14 pounds with scope, sling, bipod, and cheek pad. The stainless glittered like a disco ball.o it's out. So I started thinking about a new Winchester m70 featherweight. The rifle will be used for all my hunting, basically deer, hogs, and yotes. But there are so many good options. So tell me what rifle you like, and what you like about them.
Here's a list of what I'm looking at.
Winchester M70 featherweight
Tills T3
Browning X-bolt
Remington SPS tactical
Cz 550 American
Kimber 84 I think
Ruger 77 Hawkeye
Any models I'm just missing? I don't like Savage.
Chime in with what you like and don't. I'm problem going 308.
Of the rifles you are looking at - if the T3 means the Tikka T3 - then that is the one I would pick.
The reasons for my choice are because I carried out the same exercise as yourself - wanting a lightweight hunting rifle that was reasonably cheap as a back up to my Sauer 202 Take Down - and chose the T3 in 300WSM - after thinking it through very carefully.
The advantages are as follows - the action of the T3 is fully enclosed - the design is a lightweight version of a Benchrest Action such as a BAT or a Stolle Panda. I have 4 BAT actions and 2 Stolle Panda's - I shoot F Class like you - and use these on my F Class rifles and the extra rigidity of the action enables the accuracy of the rifle barrel to be maximised. It flexes less under recoil and this is an advantage when shooting magnum calibres with heavy bullets as the torque from the bullet twisting down the rifle will flex a lightweight action. So if you want "lightweight" going for an enclosed action design, which is the most rigid of all, is the best option.
This can be simply tested and shown. Take a .308/30-06 and fit it with a Harris bi-pod. It does'nt matter if the barrel twist is not suited to heavy bullets this is not an accuracy test. It is to show the effect of "torque". Take 5 bullets at 155g and shoot them using the bi-pod set on sand or wet mud. The lighter bullet places far less torque on the barrel and because all barrels are right hand groove and twist the torque effect will depress the right hand leg of the bi-pod deeper into the sand/mud. This is hardly noticeable in the weights of 155g to 180g. Then take 5 rounds with 230g or 240g bullets. The depression into the sand/mud of the right leg on the bi-pod is far more noticeable. You can even feel the twist of the torque in the rifle when you shoot it. This is magnified much more when shooting at higher velocities such as in .300 Magnum calibres. So having a rigid action which can resist the torque flex is a plus when looking for ultimate accuracy.
Then there is the length of the action. The T3 is always on a long action. Not needed in theory for a .308 or a WSM but in reality it is a considerable benefit. All factory rifles come with a SAAMI chambering which is "generous" dimension wise and to maximise the accuracy of many bullets the seating depth of the bullet to the lands of the rifle is critical. Essentially you want to load the bullets far out to reduce the jump and to do this with .30 cal VLD's can mean on a short action that the Over All Length of the bullet is too long to reliably feed in a short action. The advantage then is that in a long action you can buy .30-06 magazines and load .308 bullets with long seated rounds perfectly. The magazine in a T3 is a standard size - it uses a reducer at the rear to cater for different bullet lengths. Being plastic they are cheap and if you ordered a 30-06 mag having bought a .308 you have the option to reliably feed the longest of bullets.
Then there are the compatible scope mounts done by Tikka - they use the same rings as Sako but different bases and have a rubber inner ring washer which sits between the ring and the scope. This enables you to shim the rear base between the base and the ring to provide an incline on the scope without needing a custom base or custom rings. You can achieve the same effect as a 20MOA base by doing this and this enables you to retain far more inner scope movement to shoot much further out than you would normally be able to do with a standard parrallel set of scope rings usually found on hunting rifles. The rubber washer rotates and moves when tightening up the scope and prevents putting a dint or scratch mark on the scope body. I use old 35mm camera film for shims and cut them to shape. For many the long range capability this gives you is not what they are looking for in a hunting rifle. For me I like to have this benefit. Why not ?
When the rifle shoots .25 MOA after proper load development and can match my F Class rifles on three shot groups out to 1000 yards ( after 3 shots the thin barrel can start to wander due to heat build up ) I like to be able to have "fun" testing myself on long range vermin culling. I have taken Crows at crazy ranges using this rifle.
Then there is the barrel. Tikka and Sako share their barrels as both rifles come out of the same factory. The quality of these barrels is superb. Hammer Forged from great steel ( this last part is the key to their brilliance ) - they have always been comparable for me to the best custom barrels. I have owned 3 Sako and two Tikka T3 rifles and all were superbly accurate barrels once the bullet load was developed.
The final part is the trigger which for me needs a little work. Mainly because I am used to shooting lightweight Jewel triggers. You can get the factory trigger down to around 2 Ib but I had specially made trigger springs which replicated the factory length but were able to hold tension at a much lighter setting. My trigger is down to 1.1 Ib and feels lighter due to being very "crisp". The factory trigger though is perfectly adequate. Way ahead of most.
My .300 WSM shoots as good as any rifle can shoot. As good as my custom rifles until the barrel becomes too hot for sustained "grouping". In the cheap "value for money range" it is hard to beat.
