ChesterP
Well-Known Member
If you want something reasonably priced which is well made, has a decent trigger and for casual target work just buy a Tikka. They work, are reliable, are very accurate and are available in 1/8. Used buys are fine as long as you check throat and barrel (borescope or look for evidence of borescope). I would not recommend buying a tacticool precision rifle as your first rifle as in 223, you'd shoot as well using a standard sporting rifle for a lot less money. Remington aren't imho as well made now as they used to be and like Howa, really as standard I don't think are as good as Tikka or Sako out of the box in fit/finish or in the trigger department. Also if spending chassis rifle money, IMHO you are better fitting a T3 action to an MDT chassis and when funds allow fitting a longer barrel for comp work.
New or used tikka T3, 24 inch barrel version, 1/8 twist. You'll find that they're chambered so that you can shoot up to 77/80grn class. Because they're so popular, there are loads of after market bits available so you can further customise them with an MDT chassis or similar, or something like the GRS Sporter adjustable laminate stock as funds permit.
I'll qualify the recommendation by pointing you to the out of the box, bog standard Tikka T3x in Tikka Tac A1 format (chassis stock version) which in 6.5 Remmington cal, currently holds the 600 yd record for a factory rifle having shot close on a 2.6 inch 10 shot group at Bisely a few years back. Factory rifles don't get much better than that.
For serious competition work, you really want a longer barrel than 24, preferably 28 to 30 inches for dedicated target work (eg for shooting 223 in F class) so you'll be looking more towards building a custom rifle and the T3 is a good action to use for that (a rebarrel costs around £800).
New or used tikka T3, 24 inch barrel version, 1/8 twist. You'll find that they're chambered so that you can shoot up to 77/80grn class. Because they're so popular, there are loads of after market bits available so you can further customise them with an MDT chassis or similar, or something like the GRS Sporter adjustable laminate stock as funds permit.
I'll qualify the recommendation by pointing you to the out of the box, bog standard Tikka T3x in Tikka Tac A1 format (chassis stock version) which in 6.5 Remmington cal, currently holds the 600 yd record for a factory rifle having shot close on a 2.6 inch 10 shot group at Bisely a few years back. Factory rifles don't get much better than that.
For serious competition work, you really want a longer barrel than 24, preferably 28 to 30 inches for dedicated target work (eg for shooting 223 in F class) so you'll be looking more towards building a custom rifle and the T3 is a good action to use for that (a rebarrel costs around £800).
