In the market for a new deer rifle (christmas present from wife). I'm looking at either a Ruger M77 MkII All-Weather or a Tikka T3 Stainless Varmint.

Both rifles are stainless and will be chambered in .300 Win Mag.

The Ruger has a positive feed (mauser) action and the Tikka features a "positive push-feed" action.

The Tikka features a heavy barrel, quasi-bench rest synthetic stock along with an adjustable trigger and removable magazine.

I previously owned the Ruger with the old "paddle-style" syntetic stock. Excellent rife but the trigger is a little stiff. For the price of adding a Timmney adjustable trigger it would be the same cost as the Tikka. I know that Tikka is an off-shoot of Sako and Beretta but I'm looking for someone with experience with their rifles. Do they really compare with the Sako's?

 

the tikka is made by sako and is a fine rifle. it is the sako 75's little brother, and has an adjustible trigger 2-4 lb pull, a forged match grade barrel and will shoot 1 moa out of the box. i have a m77 and its worked great for years...but my next rifle will be a sako 75

 

i own a stainless M77, love it. both rifles are very comarable, the only thing i can suggest without ever using a Tikka is the Ruger might be easier to clean, the bolt comes out and provides plenty of room it seems to cheal the chamber

 

Tikka like Wheatherby or Savage or Colt have other manufactures produce firearms for the commercial market in mass production hence the price difference in a Parker Hale and a Wheatherby .

Oy Tikkakoski Arms and Carl Gustoff Mfg. are the two original firearms manufacturers in Finland and both still manufacture a select line of weapons .

My 7mm mag glass bedded , hand made , recoiless bolt , lifetime guaranteed
was manufactured by Oy Tikkakoski Arms and retails for $1800 Can without sights or scope .

Sako,Ruger and Huskavarna are all now owned by Electrolux and manufacture
firearms for a variety of different companies just as some companies manufacture parts for Ford,GM and Dodge all in the same foundry with about an 8 hour tool & die change up .

The last time I saw one listed a Tikka 7mm knock off was selling for about $500 Can .

The hand made customs can also still be ordered in a left hand bolt and Monte
Carlo stock for those that wish to remain a lefty . Only a hundred bucks extra
too which is not really that bad .

 

Sturm, Ruger & Co. is a publicly owned company, traded on the NYSE.


In any case I own a Tikka Whitetail Hunter or something like that, its not the T3. Mine is .270. It shoots okay, and the bolt is super slick.

I've also got a Ruger M77, slightly tricked out. Okay, majorly tricked out. Its got a custom Shilen fluted CrMo blue barrel in .25/06, A Jewell 2lb trigger, Cherry custom built thumbhole stock, & Swarovski AV-R 3-9X 36MM objective. It shoots flat out amazing. Somewhere on my femputer I have a picture of a target at 500 yards with one big ragged hole in the center.

 

Isn't a .300 Win Mag a little overkill for a deer?

 

No, you've obviously never hunted west Texas where 300+yard shots are the norm. Anyways, I don't believe in "over-kill" I want it to be as quick as possible.

I guess what I'm getting at is would you take a "stock" Ruger over a Tikka or vice versa.

 

I say you can't go wrong with either, nor could you with a 700 BDL or Model 70. If I had to choose between the two you list, I'd go with the Tikka.