New Tikka Rifle - Drover Ranch Rifle

[LittleLebowski]

I love .308, but I’m tired of it being the only option. 6-6.5mm for those of use with range, please.

[Paul D]

I've handle this gun before: Savage 110 Hog Hunter. I think it's a great gun if you truly want a gun you won't mind abusing a little.

20 inch threaded barrel with 1:10" twist (vs 1:11" twist for the Tikka). 7.3 lbs. Mags are 4 rounds but $40 each. Large bolt handle. Pretty decent adjustable trigger. Sights are probably more useful. You can have detachable rings. Stock is kinda meh. $550 most places.

[Clusterfrack]

I love .308, but I’m tired of it being the only option. 6-6.5mm for those of use with range, please.

Agree. Also please stop with the obsolete stocks that make getting a decent cheekweld impossible.

[GJM]

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/...r-scout-mk-ii/

[ccmdfd]

Agree. Also please stop with the obsolete stocks that make getting a decent cheekweld impossible.

Yeah, I love Tika, have had nothing but good results from several of them. However, they are quite slow to change. They still offer most of their barrels in rather old fashioned twist rates, not designed for the more modern ammo. They are not quick to adopt new cartridges, chamberings. And they do have a rather outdated stock design

I also simply don't need another shortish 308.. maybe in 7 mm-08 that would be a different story

[gato naranja]

The weight is attractive. I was interested in the commercial version of the Canadian Ranger rifle but it was a heavy gun.

I put together a rifle that was extremely similar. I used my 20" stainless threaded barreled action. Then put it in a laminate stock that was cut to accept 10 round AI mags. It was slick. It looked very similar to the Tikka T3 Arctic rifle that the Canadian Rangers were issued recently. However, when it was all said and done, as much as I enjoyed it, I decided it was WAY too heavy for what I wanted to use it for. A large part of the intended use for the rifle would be traversing fairly steep terrain where weight played a factor. So the laminate stock got put aside until I acquire another T3 action, and I put the 20" barreled action back in the McMillan Edge stock. Definitely the right move there.

When I was toying with the idea of s**tcanning all my centerfire rifles and getting one of the (then-new) Tikka Arctics to be my retired geezer multirole rifle, one of the lads shows up with one... and it did seem like a bit much to haul anywhere on foot, and it was probably not going to get lighter as I got older. I have been an ounce-counter now and then WRT other outdoor activities/gear, but I don't let it drive my firearms choices... up to a point.

As much as I like the concept of that Tikka Arctic and some of the Ruger GSRs (an aperture rear sight has been a desideratum and stainless steel an imperative), I put the whole idea on the back burner for the time being.

This Drover Ranch has irons that would likely be difficult for me to use for anything but a snap sighting picture, but I may be coming around to accepting that on a handy rifle as long as I am not intending to use them unless an optic craps out.

[MRW]

Also looks like there are other rifles in the Tikka ranch rifle lineup. Not on their page but on few vendors' pages. Different configurations are available. One with a 16" .308 barrell, but nothing in 6.5.

https://www.eurooptic.com/Tikka-T3x-Ranch-Rifles.aspx

[okie john]

When I was toying with the idea of s**tcanning all my centerfire rifles and getting one of the (then-new) Tikka Arctics to be my retired geezer multirole rifle, one of the lads shows up with one... and it did seem like a bit much to haul anywhere on foot, and it was probably not going to get lighter as I got older. I have been an ounce-counter now and then WRT other outdoor activities/gear, but I don't let it drive my firearms choices... up to a point.

As much as I like the concept of that Tikka Arctic and some of the Ruger GSRs (an aperture rear sight has been a desideratum and stainless steel an imperative), I put the whole idea on the back burner for the time being.

This Drover Ranch has irons that would likely be difficult for me to use for anything but a snap sighting picture, but I may be coming around to accepting that on a handy rifle as long as I am not intending to use them unless an optic craps out.

I’ve gotten to the point where I use a 308 or 30-06 for everything. I grew up on peep sights and I spent years going down rabbit holes on them before I learned a few things:

• Optics are superior to any iron sight in low light. They add 45-60 minutes to each end of the hunting day, and that’s when you’re most likely to find game where I live.
• A peep sight belongs on the bridge of a bolt gun, which interferes with most top mounts. Side mounts put the scope higher than is ideal and balance gets weird. Scout scopes leave the bridge free but bring a host of other issues to the table.
• A rifle properly stocked for conventional irons doesn’t work well with a scope and vice versa. Some of the newer red dot sights are almost low enough to work, but they don't offer any magnification.
• If an optical sight best meets your needs, then the best replacement if it fails is another one. That said, the failures that were common in the 20th century are extremely rare today. A blow sufficient to wreck a good modern optic will probably damage your rifle so badly that replacing the sight will be the least of your worries.
• If your optic does fail and you switch to iron sights, then they should co-witness. That’s easy with black rifles but not with bolt guns. You also need to train using both. Many years ago, I missed a close but fast shot on a spectacular blacktail buck because I failed to do this, and I did it in front of a witness who has never let me forget it.

These days I run a low-powered scope in conventional mounts, with a backup scope in camp or in my truck.

I love the way that iron sights look, but I’m done paying much attention to them.


Okie John

[gato naranja]

I love the way that iron sights look, but I’m done paying much attention to them.

In my case, it is an old man's bugaboo that any rifle must have "backup irons" on it; insisting it be an aperture rear is probably OCD and something beyond mere "belt & suspenders." This may be diminishing a bit as my mortal goalpost gets closer. I am perfectly happy with an "upper mid-tier" LPVO on almost any rifle these days, or a red dot on a PCC (lever or otherwise).

[okie john]

In my case, it is an old man's bugaboo that any rifle must have "backup irons" on it; insisting it be an aperture rear is probably OCD and something beyond mere "belt & suspenders." This may be diminishing a bit as my mortal goalpost gets closer. I am perfectly happy with an "upper mid-tier" LPVO on almost any rifle these days, or a red dot on a PCC (lever or otherwise).

There are worse options than the Remington 700 Youth Model made in the 2000s.




Okie John