Tikka vs Howa 300 win

[duncan61]

Good stuff Tassie.I learned today that the 300 Win Mag and 7mm Rem Mag share the same parent case,The Holland and Holland 375 magnum belted.This shoot off will come down to nerves and experience as both your rifles will shoot 1200.If you can source some target bullets 200gn plus you will notice a big difference in results at 800 plus

[TassieTiger]

Scope mounted - objective lens is now 2.5mm clear instead 25mm.

[TassieTiger]

So - 1st day of the 300 load testing between tikka vs howa...distance was 106 metres.

Tikka was shooting 155 Berger’s with 70.0gns into square.

Howa was shooting 180 sierras with 66.0 at the bottom of spika - update, measured at .55 of an inch.

[Bill]

Close the thread

The Howa has thrashed the Tikka in a head to head

[TassieTiger]

Hold the phone....
After mr tikka shot all his 150’s he started looking at my loads...I’d already settled on 180’s for the 300win and 168’s for my 30/06.

Mr Tikka 300 has then produced this (below) with a completely different bullet - was one I had loaded for myself to try...66gns of 09 pushing a 168 zmax’s but I’d ruled out after the 180’s shot so well.

Mr tikka is recoil sensitive and was NOT happy RE the 168’s but this was def his best group today (below and measured .64 of an inch ) and he’s now accepted 168’s are going to be his go to 300win projectile....overall, there was nothing between the two best over all groupings.
But - more importantly, I now have some fireformed cases and some data to work with...
Interesting - my tikka has some hollow point Berger’s he’d paid $190 for 200. They looked 100% exactly the same as sierras - hollow point, boat tail, etc that I paid $45 for 100...

[TassieTiger]

Just to add a little salt to mr Tikka...was cleaning the howa and found that the action screws were so loose that I thought the stock had broken - it was moving a lot...both screws took 1.5 turns to even start to get tight...looking forward to getting back to range now...would that have impacted shooting ?? Not sure...as once settle in the bags, the scope and barrel are aligned anyway...

[TassieTiger]

Okay, so final results have just been concluded and after much swapping back and forth between shooters - I think the both of us agree re the ikka vs howa 300 win comp.
The HOWA 1500 (Holly) was shooting the sierra 180 gn projectiles quite nicely and with some help from MM and some more accurate scales - I recently had the rifle shooting 1 moa all day, no issues and on occasion, I'd get that down to 3/4. Mr Tikka had a few shots of Holly and sprayed a few here and there to a best of 2 moa.

Mr Tikka has messed around with 150SST, 168 Nosler, 168 Zmax, 180gn Sierra and has settled 100% on 168 Zmax and 168 nosler. He is getting just on 3000fps from 66gns of 2209 and on his best day, is shooting 1 MOA....BUT recently he went hunting with it and could not beat 3 moa at 100m...upset, he asked if we could get together asap to do some retesting.

So, recently, I had to order some things from a shop that wont be named...and I decided to order some 180gn SST's despite advice to the contrary.
Anyways, I loaded up the exact same powder with the 180SST's as I was with the 180 sierras, left the die alone despite the ogive being a fraction shallower than the sierras (giving a slightly shorter oal) and went to our local private range with Mr Tikka to see what could be done...
My Tikka had several charges aligned with his preferenced 168gns and he managed to get his rifle back down to 1.2-1.0 at a stretch. Average would be 1.5 moa but the occasional group was all inside the 1 inch square, excluding the edge of 1st projectile as per nominal measurements.
Off a rear bag and front rest - with Holly not wearing a muzzle break for the first time, we both tried out the SST's before even looking at the sierras and we both shot 1/2 moa multiple times - it was pretty cool...and you could knock me over with a feather, when after the last grouping, ole mate looked across with a huge smile from the bench and said, "Fu$% you TT, I should have bought one of these..." Game over.

Context.
The howa is a fine shooting rifle and Im sure there is more to come with these SST's but it is a heavy bastard at 5.5kgs. It is also a little bit agricultural. It's bolt is a bit loose, the action slide is ever so slightly rough, the stock moves around - worse on hot days...but the guts of it speaks for itself.
The tikka is a 3kg sporter...it's bolt is like glass and action is tight as a Scotsman at the pub. The stock is rigid and it all just "feels" quality.
Was it a fair comparison ? Well given the attention that always seem to fall on tikkas - I think it was...but obviously a heavy barrel vs a light barrel is going to be a huge difference...an insurmountable difference ?...hmmm....

I'm not a brand whore - my signature shows that Ive got 10 guns and I purposefully purchase different brands, so as that each firearm, to me, has a uniqueness to it - but I now need to stop putting poo poo on howas lol.
Has been fun and I have learned a LOT. Thanks to those whom have helped - you know who you are and I will continue to try and develop this thing. (am ordering a new stock as I type).
Cheers
TT.

[Sergeant Hartman]

Nicely done mate. Awesome reading this thread

[marksman]

good on you and Mr Tikka Tassie

this has been very entertaining

[Stix]

Good stuff...

[Faedy]

Great read mate.
Ive got the Howa as well - slotted a bedded and floated Boyyds thumbhole laminate stock on it,VX3 scope, trigger job etc and it is an exceptional rifle for the modest money. Well less than my Sauer 202 .223 lol

[Bill]

Great read and thanks for posting, you only confirmed what I already knew, Tikka make an OK barrel, Howa just makes a better barrel.

[bigfellascott]

Welcome to the Howa Brotherhood! Best bang for buck rifle going around I reckon, easy to get to shoot well and plenty of aftermarket options for them too and way cheaper than the Tikka (I could nearly buy 3 Howas for what I paid for my Tikkler