by Rod_outbak » 03 Jun 2018, 8:10 am
My $2.50...
I have a Remington 700 Varmint Stainless Fluted, in .308, with a 26" barrel.
Bought it in 2012, had a shooting mate fit it into an MDT TAC-21 chassis, and it has a Nightforce NXS 5.5-22x50 scope on it.
It has been an awesome rifle, and shoots distance very well.
I'm not the worlds best shot by any stretch, and yet I have a half-dozen 450+ metre kills from this rifle. If I practiced more, I'd easily add to that score.
This rifle/scope/chassis was the first to teach me that shooting beyond 150 metres wasnt in the realms of black magic and witchcraft...
HOWEVER, the shooting mates (who shoot competition distance regularly) started to move away from the Rem 700's around that time; they said that there was a lot of inconsistency in the accuracy and build quality of the Rem 700's from new.
[Mine was apparently one of the tightest-grouping any of them had encountered; I think I got really lucky]
When I first had anything to do with them, nearly all of this crew (6 in total) had Remington 700's.
A lot of these guys subsequently migrated to the Tikka T3, in various models, and I'm interested to note that most of them have kept their T3's in various calibres. Many have multiple rifles in this action.
I have a Tikka T3 Stainless Hunter fluted in 7mm-08(2014), and whilst we got off to a rocky start with accuracy, once we had sorted a better stock and scope, the rifle shoots like a dream. The wood stock on my T3 was crap; it will damage if you look at it, and the accuracy issues were resolved once we changed to a mates spare T3 synthetic Varmint stock, and put a Nightforce SHV scope onto it. This rifle nailed me a crow at 350 metres the other day; VERY satisfying.
One of the shooting mates recently bought a Tikka T3 TAC-1, and loves it to death. He has sent me a few amazing pictures of some of his groups with the rifle, and it looks to be a pearler for accuracy.
I have a Ruger Precision Rifle in .308(2017 - Gen2), and I find it okay, but bulky and heavy (not really issues for shooting targets, though). I'm still getting used to the short (20") barrel, and I think I'll need to upgrade the scope to get the best from this rifle. I'm also considering swapping the barrel out for a .260 Remington, in 24".
[Some of the barrel change is to experiment with the ability to change barrels myself, which the RPR offers.]
I walk most mornings and nights with the RPR, and do roughly 1.7kms each walk; looking for grasshoppers that might have come too close to the homestead.
[There are a LOT of dead grasshoppers around here...]
My shooting mate bought a RPR in .223 about 8 months back, and has shot [informal] competitions a few times with it. Each time, the RPR has performed beyond his expectations, and he wins the comp more often than not. He's really impressed with the rifle, and he's doing exactly what you are talking about.
It comes down to the fact that all three of these makes/models will do what you want, but there might be something of a price difference in how you achieve it for each model, and how quickly you'll be in a happy place with your rifle. I'd bet the Remington will end up costing you similar dollars to the other 2, to get it performing the same (unless you are extremely lucky), so it really comes down to what you prefer in your hand, and what time-frame you are talking.
From my mates experience, the RPR in .223 seemed to be the best performer straight out of the box, but many people have likely had other experiences.
[Just to add to what others have said, these shooting mates have also said they have seen many people migrate to the Howa 1500 actions for competitions, and are winning them with rifles that often cost nearly half what the Tikka will cost.]
Cheers,
Rod.
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Sharing the extreme love with cats in Outback QLD