Tikka T3 laminate stainless vs Remington 700 LLS

[savage25xtreme]

I have been doing a ton of research on the internet about what my next gun will be and all roads pointed me to the Tikka T3. I want my next gun to be stainless and I love the way laminate stocks look so... I went to my local bass pro shops and handled the T3 in Lite stainless, and to be honest it felt very cheesey to me... so then I wondered if I could buy the lite stainless for hunting and get a laminate stock for it at the range when I wasnt going to be beating it around... no such luck I have spent many hours looking for "aftermarket" stocks for Tikka's... no such luck... or anything aftermarket for the Tikka for that matter. so then I get on gunbroker and saw a Remington 700 LSS in 30-06 for about the same price with a stainless trigger guard and floor plate mag (which I would like better than a drop out mag) and now I'm totally confused as what to get... the Remington 700 does not have a floating barrel right? the Tikka trigger was AWESOME I thought very easy to pull and felt the same the entire time and just went "click". How is the Rem 700s trigger?

I go deer hunting once a year and I would like to get Elk hunting at some point... but I will be going to the range atleast once a month to punch some paper, and I want a respectiable 5 shot group at 300 yards.

a side note... I desided on .30-06 because its a good all around caliber that can take anything in the lower US except brown bear... and I afford the ammo.

please give me some THR advice!

 

[Polish_Pounder]

First off, the .30-06 has taken a good many brown bear, and I am not talking 50 years ago. With a well constructed 180gr bullet it will kill any bear on the planet. If I go on a Grizzly hunt, it will be with an '06.

I ordered my T3 Lite Stainless in .30-06 just this morning and will have it by Thursday . You can buy the Tikka laminate stock, but it is around $350, which is unacceptable to me. For that price you can have a custom-made stock, although the way recoil lug is on the Tikka varies from most rifles. Side by side I thought the T3 stock was much nicer than the Remington synthetic stock, but I guess that is a personal thing. If $350 isn't too much for a stock for you, you can buy the factory laminate. Why would you want separate stocks anyway? They are within a few ounces of each other weight wise, which seems odd to me but it is true.

-Polish

 

[savage25xtreme]

to be honest, I want the synthetic so that I can beat on it and not really care... if its banging into my ladder stand for half a mile on the way to my tree opening morning I dont really care... but then when I get home and want something that looks nice at the range... I want the laminate stock. for me it donesnt have must to do with the weight at all.

 

[Polish_Pounder]

Here is the site:

http://www.tjgeneralstore.com/sako_rifle_stocks.htm

I was wrong, the laminate stocks are $448!! I intend to keep mine in the synthetic stock for stalking. I won't be shooting from the bench much at all.

-Polish

 

[savage25xtreme]

what would it cost to make the remington 700 LSS shoot as good as the Tikka? or would it out-of-the-box?

 

[Polish_Pounder]

Hard to say. The few Remingtons I have experience with (friend's guns) shoot very well with no work done, meaning groups right around 1" with ammo they like. Some people get lemons, but Remington will usually make it right if you bought the gun new. I have personal knowledge of a 7mm Mag CDL, and Model 7 in .260 Rem, an SPS in .308, and a 700 in 7mm-08, so the performance seems to be across models. For me, the choice of a tikka was about the trigger(Nice on the T3), 70 degree bolt rotation, and lightweight. To be honest, the choice between these 2 guns is more about aesthetics and price/caliber availability than anything else.

As for the Remington trigger, I have felt some nice factory triggers and some workable factory triggers. None as nice as the T3, but there are many aftermarket options. I don't know if that helped at all.

-Polish