AusVarmint

Hi guys looking at buying a long range bunny buster in a .223 rem with a fast twist barrel.

Went to the local gun shop and the salesman showed me the Tikka Super Varmint in S/S with a 1:8"barrel. He also had the Rem 700 XCR with a 1:9" barrel. Wanting to get your guys opinions on either rifle from guys who own them? I have read that the Tikka's are hard to beat for out of the box accuracy.

Price was reasonable and it would be hard to go past the Tikka at only $1390. The Remmy was $1690 on special, apparently they are normally 1900.

Cheers Allen

I have no experience with either so, that makes the following a ill informed opinion

Personally, I'd buy the Tikka. Never heard any negatives about them, which is a rare thing for any product these days.

T3 negatives
- It is a magnum length action with an extra long bolt stop - not a functional issue really but some people don't like the look of it.
- The magazines have a reputation for being a bit picky - some work well, others not so much
- Many parts are plastic including the bolt shroud and floor plate

T3 positives
- price
- out of the box accuracy
- better after market service
- a growing range of after market upgrade parts (stocks, bolt shrouds, bolt handles, with AI mag compatible bottom metal coming soon)
- decent trigger, easy to adjust

Rem 700 negatives
- price
- stock quality isn't quite as good
- quality control has slipped a bit and there is a chance you will get a dud
- trigger can be a bit challenging to adjust
- the importer Raytrade couldn't give two hoots about its customers.

Rem 700 positives
- widest range of after market upgrades of any action - including accuracy and functional upgrades. Excellent Aussie made bottom metal compatible with the fantastic AI plastic 10 shot mags
- excellent basic design which is easy to tune.
- generally very accurate
- the XCR coating is excellent, providing highly effective protection.


Just my opinion. You really can't go wrong with those options.

GDay Al

Just sent you a PM

DMC

Tikka hands down, they have go fast bits available too now so Remington have nothing more to offer.

Two different barrel twist rates there, that should make the decision for you just work out what the weight range of the bullets you want to shoot will be and thats that.
As for quality they both work which one feels better in your hands, thats more important.

1:9 sometimes works with 75gr amax sometimes it doesnt. 1:8 will and sometimes the 80gr amax will. The amax would be the pick of the long range varmint bullets. Some rem barrels work, others dont. Therefore I would be all over the tikka and only get the rem if I wanted to change the barrel out for a match grade barrel and have all the trick work done to it. But saying this, for long range stuff, nothing beats more power. A 6BR or 6-6x5x47L would be better cals to buck the wind and provide more splat factor.

Brad, even a barrel change over i think the tikka comes out trumps. in my opinion the action is better designed, machined and compatible with a large selection of cartridges.

never heard of a tikka magazine problem before. I've had 2 and known a few blokes with them. News to me.

The current one is a 22/250 and it really pissed me off at how easy the load development was. Everything shot well

I'd go Tikka. Have seen numerous examples of Tikka's shooting well at longer range
and a few at long range. The whole gun is made better IMHO.

AI compat bottom metal for a Tikka is available already, I have one sitting on my desk
in front of me right now.