Eating Crow

GC said:
Mo money. Take that $460 to improve the American and add the initial purchase price and you are now over the cost of a Tikka or Howa. The budget economy rifle becomes something else.
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Ruger Americans come from the factory with CHF barrels along with everything else that I listed. My Predator 6.5cm was actually $449. I paid a little more for the Ranch 350 legend because they were extremely hard to find at the time. The last Tikka I bought was almost $900. My Tikka is a "nicer" rifle, but at the end of the day both of my Americans are more accurate with a broader selection of factory loads.

I don't mean this to sound like a jack butt, but you guys that think that you still need to spend $1,000+ to get a 1/2'' rifle need to get out and shoot more of today's rifles. Almost every decent rifle manufacturer today guarantees that even their budget rifles will shoot at least 1''.
 
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DoubleLungRage said:
My Tikka is a "nicer" rifle, but at the end of the day both of my Americans are more accurate with a broader selection of factory loads.
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If you have a Tikka that is NOT as accurate as 2 Rugers ............ Well, that's extremely surprising.

Just to be clear, I am a Ruger fan and have been for many years. And my "go to" rifle for hunting is a Ruger. But I have never, ever seen a Tikka that won't outshoot any Ruger right out of the box. I own one that literally puts 5 shots touching at 100 yards with my handloads.

Consider yourself one of very few that are in that boat.
 
DoubleLungRage said:
Ruger Americans come from the factory with CHF barrels along with everything else that I listed. My Predator 6.5cm was actually $449. I paid a little more for the Ranch 350 legend because they were extremely hard to find at the time. The last Tikka I bought was almost $900. My Tikka is a "nicer" rifle, but at the end of the day both of my Americans are more accurate with a broader selection of factory loads.

I don't mean this to sound like a jack butt, but you guys that think that you still need to spend $1,000+ to get a 1/2'' rifle need to get out and shoot more of today's rifles. Almost every decent rifle manufacturer today guarantees that even their budget rifles will shoot at least 1''.
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I misunderstood what you were saying, apologies. I thought that after you bought your rifle you then re-barrelled it, put a new trigger in, etc. Essentially dumping double the money in aftermarket components to make the rifle a better shooter. For the record, my wife has a Ruger American Youth .243 that shoots very well. She has killed deer with it and two of my grandkids have used it to kill deer. My adult son has an American .243 he uses for a beater truck gun. It also shoots very well. They aren't fancy, don't inspire pride of ownership and probably aren't the most rugged durable rifle for expensive wilderness hunts. With that said, they serve a purpose and get the job done for a lot of people.
 
Guess I’m a lucky one too. Own the original American and Predator both in .308’s, a .243, and my son has a 7mm/08. All perform flawlessly.
Waiting on the GenII in .308. Guess I had too many Hank Jr cassettes and later CD’s growing up, lol.
 
I shot the Gen II again today. I only had 5, 52 grain Bergers left but I had some 62 grain SBT and 60 grain SMK. First shot was a Berger, way high and left but was expected as I had the action out of the stock three different times working on the trigger. Dialed to the bullet hole and second shot was 1/2 inch right of the bull. A few clicks left and put three touching the bull. Then the 62 grain SBT's....not good. Then the 60 grain SMK, not good either. Due to a short throat and magazine I can't stretch the longer, heavier bullets out so they are deep in the case. I'm not sure if this is an issue or not. But if the rifle prefers light bullets, I'm OK with that to.
 
Bill, if you have some 60 Partitions or 60 VMax they both usually are great choices in the 223, with the VMax being a bit better. I tried everything in my 223 and finally tried both of those. They both are well under MOA in my rifle. Might be worth a try ....... if you can find them anywhere.
 
Hidalgo said:
If you have a Tikka that is NOT as accurate as 2 Rugers ............ Well, that's extremely surprising.

Just to be clear, I am a Ruger fan and have been for many years. And my "go to" rifle for hunting is a Ruger. But I have never, ever seen a Tikka that won't outshoot any Ruger right out of the box. I own one that literally puts 5 shots touching at 100 yards with my handloads.

Consider yourself one of very few that are in that boat.
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I am not saying that my Tikka isn't accurate, but it did take 4-5 factory loads until I found one that impressed me. Both of my Rugers impressed right out of the box with almost every factory load I tried. I will say that my 6.5 Predator shot the Winchester DeerSeason XPs more of in a shot gun pattern than a rifle group. It does NOT like those rounds. One thing that impresses me most about the 6.5cm Predator is that it shoots both 140gr AND 95gr bullets very well. The 350 legend Ranch isn't picky either.

The main load I wanted the Tikka to like is the 75gr Gold Dot. At first it didn't shoot well at all, but now that I've put some rounds down the barrel it has tightened up to maybe an inch or little more with these rounds.
William Suter said:
I shot the Gen II again today. I only had 5, 52 grain Bergers left but I had some 62 grain SBT and 60 grain SMK. First shot was a Berger, way high and left but was expected as I had the action out of the stock three different times working on the trigger. Dialed to the bullet hole and second shot was 1/2 inch right of the bull. A few clicks left and put three touching the bull. Then the 62 grain SBT's....not good. Then the 60 grain SMK, not good either. Due to a short throat and magazine I can't stretch the longer, heavier bullets out so they are deep in the case. I'm not sure if this is an issue or not. But if the rifle prefers light bullets, I'm OK with that to.
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I hope it's not the case with yours, but I will say that most of the times that I have seen Ruger Americans that were stubborn, they were in 223.

GC said:
I misunderstood what you were saying, apologies. I thought that after you bought your rifle you then re-barrelled it, put a new trigger in, etc. Essentially dumping double the money in aftermarket components to make the rifle a better shooter. For the record, my wife has a Ruger American Youth .243 that shoots very well. She has killed deer with it and two of my grandkids have used it to kill deer. My adult son has an American .243 he uses for a beater truck gun. It also shoots very well. They aren't fancy, don't inspire pride of ownership and probably aren't the most rugged durable rifle for expensive wilderness hunts. With that said, they serve a purpose and get the job done for a lot of people.
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I agree 100%. If someone comes to me and says, "hey, I don't hunt/shoot so I don't know much about guns/rifles, but I want to get my kid who does like to hunt/shoot a really nice rifle that they can leave to their kids"....

I am NOT going to suggest a Ruger American, Savage Axis, CVA Cascade, ETC...

However, if that person says that they want to buy them or their kid a rifle that they can use everyday and not cry if they get a scratch on it. I will without a doubt suggest one of the rifles mentioned above.
 
55 gr NBT's shot lights out in three AR's and a Savage. This was from Bushmaster Predator. 5th shot is touching the right of highest shot (flap closed) opening group to .325". My hunting partner picked up the rifle and shot 5 shot mirror image of this group just to right of centerline.
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Hidalgo said:
Bill, if you have some 60 Partitions or 60 VMax they both usually are great choices in the 223, with the VMax being a bit better. I tried everything in my 223 and finally tried both of those. They both are well under MOA in my rifle. Might be worth a try ....... if you can find them anywhere.
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I may have some. I have lots of 22 caliber bullets!
 
Hidalgo said:
If you have a Tikka that is NOT as accurate as 2 Rugers ............ Well, that's extremely surprising.

Just to be clear, I am a Ruger fan and have been for many years. And my "go to" rifle for hunting is a Ruger. But I have never, ever seen a Tikka that won't outshoot any Ruger right out of the box. I own one that literally puts 5 shots touching at 100 yards with my handloads.

Consider yourself one of very few that are in that boat.
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I have a tikka t3x varmit 22-250 & a ruger g2 223, and it's close, they are both 1/2 moa shooters.
 
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