They had a recent price increase, it's now $1200.
Custom action over tikka
- Thread starter Kramerica
- Start date
They had a recent price increase, it's now $1200.
And the Tenacity just went full stupid.
That’s a long action. 999 for a short.
Bullet central……..
I have a Mack Brothers long action on a 6.5-06 I just put togethe. It’s a shooter and smooth. I haven’t regretted that choice for a minute.
And the price is great!!
Yessir, mine actually was a package deal with a Triggertech 2 stage trigger. The trigger happens to be a very nice piece as well. It’s right in there with my Geissele Super 700 2 stage. But easier to adjust.
I like the bolt release on the Mack Bros. action. Vs. the under the trigger guard variety. The captured recoil lug is also nice.
dgeesaman
Gold $$ Contributor
A sturdy bolt handle, action sized to the cartridge. More stock options ready to go. I have a nice trigger tech trigger for it but the 700 triggers are everywhere.
I have a custom barrel on my T3x. It’s a good shooter but I’m not convinced it was worth the discount from a basic custom or trued 700.
David
dthomas
Gold $$ Contributor
They doubled in price as soon as Defiance was bought out.
In stock, 999 for a short action, still.
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I own two Tikkas, one stock and one custom. I only hunt and shoot paper so I can extend my effective hunting distance. I really like the Tikkas and 3/4 i have owned shot well for factory rifles, but I did have a bolt shroud (plastic old model) come apart and slightly cut my cheek. Its always on my mind when shooting it now. I dont care for the recoil lugs ether. I dont understand why they dont just make them .25-.35" longer.
I have 2 Tikkas. The .223 t3 lite has been my go to jack rabbit and coyote gun for 15 years. The barrel is loosing accuracy. It has more fiocchi vmax in the 50 rd box through it than I can count. I have always ran a 1.5-5x20 or 2-10x40. With that It has always been about moa, but now pushing 1.5 moa. Im sure a target scope would reduce that. Now that I hand load, i will rebarrel to 20 practical 0fb amd put it in a nice fiberglass stock.
I had a .243 t3 lite i never used. I put on a 28" bartlein heavy varmint in 6 creed. Krg bravo. Had ares btr gen 2 4.5-27x50, but now a tract toric 4-20x50. It shoots consistent .5 average with factory hornady match. Its my long range windy prairie dog rig and fun target gun. I filled the stock with lead an epoxy its very heavy. 1100 yards is too easy. Cant wait to work up a load and see what it can really do.
In summation, if you got one sitting around or a cheap used one its good to build off. With that said, these days with all the time, gas, ammo money, Im over budget builds. There is only so much time and components. Going forward it will be bat or borden actions, march or other premium scope and so on. You know, like 10k a build. A few great ones you shoot a lot is better than a safe full of mediocre to pretty good you never have time to dial in amd burn out barrels. Another thing is even though i have some great shooting factory barrels, they just foul more and are harder to clean than custom barrels. Im looking for any excuse to rebarrel with a custom no matter how good my guns shoot. Of course, I have no kids to pay for lol.
I had a .243 t3 lite i never used. I put on a 28" bartlein heavy varmint in 6 creed. Krg bravo. Had ares btr gen 2 4.5-27x50, but now a tract toric 4-20x50. It shoots consistent .5 average with factory hornady match. Its my long range windy prairie dog rig and fun target gun. I filled the stock with lead an epoxy its very heavy. 1100 yards is too easy. Cant wait to work up a load and see what it can really do.
In summation, if you got one sitting around or a cheap used one its good to build off. With that said, these days with all the time, gas, ammo money, Im over budget builds. There is only so much time and components. Going forward it will be bat or borden actions, march or other premium scope and so on. You know, like 10k a build. A few great ones you shoot a lot is better than a safe full of mediocre to pretty good you never have time to dial in amd burn out barrels. Another thing is even though i have some great shooting factory barrels, they just foul more and are harder to clean than custom barrels. Im looking for any excuse to rebarrel with a custom no matter how good my guns shoot. Of course, I have no kids to pay for lol.
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Rook 6
Silver $$ Contributor
I sort of went the other way. Not exactly a custom action but for hunting elk, I had custom built 700 I bought new in the early 80s. Blueprinted by a reputable smith, PacNor barrel, McMillan stock, Trigger Tech trigger. Served me well in its various stages over the years, but only brought out once in awhile for elk. Now I’m at that age where elk hunting is an iffy proposition and so I decided to put the money to better use so I sold it. If I end up going on another hunt, I’ll buy a T3X and work with it. Agree with all said about the advantages of a custom action though. If I were to need another custom hunting rig it’s way cheaper to start with a custom action than blueprint a factory one.
Dimner
I do believe in Captain Crunch.
Everyone complains about the bolt shroud. But honestly why? I agree it's not the best design, but it's such a small issue/detail that really doesn't affect any real accuracy gains or losses. This is a production action for light weight rifles. You don't choose a tikka for benchrest.
Like many have said, if you already have the action and you want to take a budget step to start playing in long range games, build on it.
If you don't have the tikka, go for the mack bros, kauger, bighorn origin, bat igniter or pierce. The support for the 700 footprint in this world is vast.
If you already have the bug for this type of discipline, and you have the tikka... sell it and get a mid tier custom action at the 1200 range. Your tikka action will hold nearly all its value to fund this purchase
I mulled this over many years ago for months on end. Ended up with a Defiance tenacity, then about a year later I got a Tikka and stripped it to make a 300 wsm.
As far as smoothness i'd honestly give it to the Tikka. Also, with a trigger spring you can get those Tikka triggers to break at very light pull weights as well.
For me, that's about where it stopped.
To my knowledge, other than a RPR id say tikka has the most aftermarket parts for factory rifles, other than the obvious rem700. Any smith can spin a barrel for you, and many chassis are available for the Tikka.
It comes down to what you want to do.
I'd say if you were doing PRS, or hunting, or plinking, absolutely, go with the Tikka all day and don't look back.
So to answer your question, sometimes nothing, other times, everything.
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