GOODWIN
Well-Known Member
If I had to pick. A tikka stainless in a common caliber and upgrade the stock.
Best factory rifle
- Thread starter knightrider
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I decided I wanted a Tikka… until I handled the T3x stainless. Cheap flimsy plastic stick and heavy clunky long bolt that felt just like the Axis to me. If it were me I'd be buying a Bergara.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
I'm a savage guy
wsm
Well-Known Member
Howa is a good rifle ,a lot of bang for your buck .
TNhunter
Well-Known Member
So I guess I broke two rules being stated in this thread. I just got a new Tikka t3x lite d18 in 6.5 creedmoor. Haven't yugo a deer yet but it is dang sure a tack driver and at its weight is nice to carry into the woods.
Tikka is a great rifle. Smooth bolt, accurate, and no flies on it for the price point. Some may not like them, but to each their own.
Creedmoor gets a lot of ribbing due to the otherworldly fanboy claims of some internet snipers, but a lot of that has died down and the joking is just carryover from that. It's a really good deer round, just doesn't make you an automatic long range shooter due to being as flat as a laser beam or as powerful as a howitzer
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Agreed. I don't have a "problem" with the creedmoors...I just find it drastically overrated. Take away Hornady's marketing team, and it can't do ANYTHING (except fit in a short action) that the swede hasn't been doing for over a hundred years. And there are several 6.5s that are faster, flatter shooting. I've owned a few creedmoors, some 260 rems, a grendel, several swedes, and now a 6.5-284. Take out the grendel and -284, and they are all so close ballistically, that it makes no sense why the creedmoor got the reputation that it did....other than marketing.
Just my opinion.
Well, the creedmoor is a true short action, and is designed well (40 degree shoulder makes it a standard "improved" cartridge), but it absolutely is a ballistic clone of the 6.5 Swede when it's loaded to modern action capabilities (which does exceed SAAMI specs). The Swede is a "tweener" length cartridge that will not fit in a short action, and also is loaded pretty anemic in factory ammo due to some older, weaker rifles that are chambered in this round. Also, 260 Rems are usually twisted slow, so the faster standard twist rate of the creedmoor definitely is designed better for heavier bullets. Hornady just kinda took these two cartridges and "modernized" them into a really good little cartridge, but much of the aura comes from outlandish claims of cartridge disciples that take things well beyond Hornady's marketing claims.
Would I own a 6.5 creedmoor? Absolutely. Low recoil, sufficient horsepower for deer-sized game up to any range that I will shoot (300yd and in), ubiquitous and reasonably priced ammo and component supply. But I would also recognize that it has limitations, and would not go out and buy one to replace something that I already have that will do the trick.
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Here is where i think the Creedmoor controversy comes from. Take out the Grendel and -284, and none of those others had easily available factory high bc ammo plus affordable factory appropriately fast-twist barrels. Creedmoor made legit LR shooting much more accessible and cheaper. All the folks who had been in the LR game with custom rifles and hand loaded target ammo got upset, and thus the haters were born. Then it just spilled over into the hunting community, but it really didn't impact your typical non-LR hunter either way. They just picked sides in the debate.
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I'm not a LR shooter or hunter, but I can see how the creedmoor opened the door to many who aspired to be.
That said, pretty sure my 260 had a 1/9 twist. It shot 140s just fine, granted they weren't the really long match type bullets. The swedes I've owned were all 1/8.5 or faster. As you said, the swede is an intermediate round, but everything it comes in is a long action. Original swedes we're long throated. Being built on a long action, those bullets can be seated waaay out there. As for factory ammo...can't comment. I hand loaded for all of them...still do.
Again, not knocking the creedmoor. I'm neither a hater or a lover of it. To me it's just another 6.5....and I happen to be very fond of 6.5s. I just don't see the glamour of the creedmoor. After all, what would it be if Hornady hadn't dumped millions into promoting it...and offering good ammo? Had Remington done that with the 260 back in the 90's, we wouldn't be having this discussion.
Totally agree. If Rem would have done it first with the .260, then 6.5CM robably wouldn't be a thing.
Like you said, there wasnt really .260 factory match ammo widly available. Little peices were missing here and there, and it required some extra work by the end user to bring it all together if you wanted to really shoot LR. That wasnt an issue for most folks like yourself, thus why all the hype didnt make any real sense and was just annoying. Was just explaining that it wasn't just hype/marketing alone, though it wasn't totally revolutionary either. It was the ability to buy everything off the shelf and go shoot LR the next day... and yes there was the heavy marketing of that in many different ways/spins/hype. They combined those small missing pieces to allow folks to buy into LR shooting off the shelf, which was previously only accessible with work and dedication to the craft. It "cheapened" LR in a sense, and that irritated a lot of folks who had invested a lot of time and hard work into the sport.
Kimber, cz or winchester classic series. I wont mess with a push feed action like a rem. Or a savage
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Cz abandoned the crf actions. Will have to find a used one.
Love that Winchester classic series....slick as owl snot!!
Only problem is i could out shoot both kimbers i bought with a factory savage axis out the box, both kimbers were garbage shooters
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I agree. Had a SS Kimber in 308. Loved the rifle, but it wasn't the best shooter.
Also agree about savage accuracy...hard to beat.
Plateau Hunter
Well-Known Member
No flies on the 6.5 Swede or .260…the cm is just another iteration of those…as for factory rifles…Ruger 77–>crf, one piece bolt handle and body, integral bases, 3 position safety, 5r hammer forged barrel, steel bottom metal, nice rubber butt pad, nice walnut stock if you go that route…
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I didn't know the 77 had 5r barrels....cool.
East TN Hunter
Well-Known Member
Savage and Tikka
Red-Team-98
Well-Known Member
My kimber is deadly accurate for 2 shot groups. It often will throw the 3rd a bit, as the soda straw barrel heats up a bit but it will do sub moa all day.
