Panzerschwein
member
Guys I have been following the program to replace the Canadian Rangers Lee-Enfield rifles for some time. The Canadian Rangers are basically a part of the Canadian Army Reserves and serve essentially as scouts and guides for the main forces and as reconnaissance troops. They patrol the wilderness in the most remote areas of Canada. They have been carrying Lee-Enfield .303 rifles since 1947, and needless to say, they have been long overdue for a modern rifle design since Lee-Enfield parts are becoming harder and harder to find and .303 British ammunition is obsolete in NATO service. They mainly use there rifles for survival, hunting food and protection from aggressive wildlife. That is why they have used Lee-Enfields for so long, they are very reliable in the extremely harsh conditions of rural Canada and are powerful enough to stop a bear or moose with a well placed round. An M4 rifle would be of little use to these guys.
So, they hosted trials for a replacement rifle and in the past year or so they settled on a modified version of the Tikka CTR (Compact Tactical Rifle). The version they have features a laminated stock, iron sights, a 20" barrel, and 10-round detachable box magazine and will be called the C19. It will be made under license by Colt Canada for the Rangers and will gradually be replacing the Lee-Enfields in service in the next few years.
That leads me to the Tikka Arctic.
This is the civilian model of the C19 and is exactly the same except the color of the laminated stock was changed from red highlights to orange ones and the stock does not feature the crest of the Canadian Rangers. Here are some pictures of the Tikka Arctic:
While I'll admit the stock color is a little... different... I can see a high-visibility finish being useful for a survival rifle in case it is dropped or otherwise lost in the woods/snow etc. But how about those irons? They look reminiscent of the diopter sights found on HK rifles. From what I understand they are adjustable from 100-600 meters. The sights look very well thought out. I can't say I can even think of another current production bolt action rifle that comes with "real" sights that look this good. I am an open-sight shooter by nature, so if I were to buy this gun I would keep it as is and not scope it, just as the Canadian Rangers will be using them. The 10-round magazine also looks quite nice. I like how it doesn't extend far past the triggerguard like some detachable magazine bolt guns, such as the Ruger Gunsite Scout and others.
But about buying one, yeah... they are set to be released for sale to the Canadian public in October for... brace yourself... $2700. In American dollars, that's still almost $2100.
People all over the internet are struggling to understand why the rifle is being priced at this level, with no clear answers at this point. Most are saying they should be priced well below $1500, more around $1100-$1200. I've heard a lot of rumors as to the sky-high prices but nothing for sure. I can tell you though that many people are unhappy with this excessive price and I don't think very many of these will sell on the civilian market if this is in fact the true real-world MSRP. Hopefully, someone at Tikka will get off whatever drug(s) they're taking and the price will come down, but only time will tell.
As is, I think it's a great looking rugged wilderness survival rifle. I've been on the lookout for an open sights only .308 bolt gun for a long time now, something akin to a modernized WW2 service rifle. This new Canadian Ranger rifle seems to fit the bill and has a lot of style and potential I think, but man that price just scares me off big time.
What do you guys think? Other than that sky high price tag, what do you think?
So, they hosted trials for a replacement rifle and in the past year or so they settled on a modified version of the Tikka CTR (Compact Tactical Rifle). The version they have features a laminated stock, iron sights, a 20" barrel, and 10-round detachable box magazine and will be called the C19. It will be made under license by Colt Canada for the Rangers and will gradually be replacing the Lee-Enfields in service in the next few years.
That leads me to the Tikka Arctic.
This is the civilian model of the C19 and is exactly the same except the color of the laminated stock was changed from red highlights to orange ones and the stock does not feature the crest of the Canadian Rangers. Here are some pictures of the Tikka Arctic:
While I'll admit the stock color is a little... different... I can see a high-visibility finish being useful for a survival rifle in case it is dropped or otherwise lost in the woods/snow etc. But how about those irons? They look reminiscent of the diopter sights found on HK rifles. From what I understand they are adjustable from 100-600 meters. The sights look very well thought out. I can't say I can even think of another current production bolt action rifle that comes with "real" sights that look this good. I am an open-sight shooter by nature, so if I were to buy this gun I would keep it as is and not scope it, just as the Canadian Rangers will be using them. The 10-round magazine also looks quite nice. I like how it doesn't extend far past the triggerguard like some detachable magazine bolt guns, such as the Ruger Gunsite Scout and others.
But about buying one, yeah... they are set to be released for sale to the Canadian public in October for... brace yourself... $2700. In American dollars, that's still almost $2100.
People all over the internet are struggling to understand why the rifle is being priced at this level, with no clear answers at this point. Most are saying they should be priced well below $1500, more around $1100-$1200. I've heard a lot of rumors as to the sky-high prices but nothing for sure. I can tell you though that many people are unhappy with this excessive price and I don't think very many of these will sell on the civilian market if this is in fact the true real-world MSRP. Hopefully, someone at Tikka will get off whatever drug(s) they're taking and the price will come down, but only time will tell.
As is, I think it's a great looking rugged wilderness survival rifle. I've been on the lookout for an open sights only .308 bolt gun for a long time now, something akin to a modernized WW2 service rifle. This new Canadian Ranger rifle seems to fit the bill and has a lot of style and potential I think, but man that price just scares me off big time.
What do you guys think? Other than that sky high price tag, what do you think?
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