New model 70 vs Tikka

Technologist said:
I love my Tikka because of the feeding, the reliable accuracy and the fact that the safety locks the bolt and is easy to disengage silently. The landscape is mixed between large fields and dense forests, so I often bump into deer and get a short range shot opportunity.

My Tikka is kitted out with a heavy scope, a heavy chassis and a bipod. I'd love to have a traditionally stocked rifle with similar features for those days when I feel for it. The first option is of course to get another Tikka, but their wood stocks are boring and the front ends are square in profile - very uncomfortable when shooting slinged up. Sako rifles are the same. I have large hands and long arms. I'm also not to keen on the plastic mag, and prefer a hinged floorplate for this purpose.

Enter the Winchester Model 70 Super Grade. The pictures on the web site looks great. It's about a pound heavier than the Tikka. None of my local gunshops keep Winchester guns in stock.

What are new production "Super Grade" model 70's like? Can I expect MOA accuracy? Is the wood half as good as it looks?

Any other manufacturers I should take a look at?

-hinged floorplate
-safety that locks the bolt (Bergara is out)
- nice wood stock with rounded, grippy forend
-solid platform for mounting scopes as low as possible.
Click to expand...
I would look at Howa. Love all of mine. The wood is nothing spectacular though on the few I saw, if you decide you really need the wood stock.
 
I like the feel of the Super Grade and they have some very nice wood on them but do not like the weight, I am leaning towards the Browning X very nice finish and very nice looking wood weight is good and shoulders fine and price is good. I can't see buying a rifle then spending money on a new stock or buying a used rifle
 
I've got a Portuguese model 70 featherweight 300 wsm I won at a banquet. Came with 5 boxes of hornady precision hunter. I didn't have high expectations for the rifle, and was impressed the first time I shot it. Very consistent .75 moa gun with said ammo, and I've never had a feeding issue. Is it as smooth and refined as my '48 model 70s? No, but wouldn't expect so much. I shortened the barrel to 21" and threaded it for a can. Accuracy was unchanged. Never borescoped it as it's only got 2 boxes through it, admittedly there's a bunch of other rifles I grab before this one.
 
I just have the Tikka as a reference because its action is excellent, and I have one. I would like to have another one that is good looking and better handling than the Tikka, which sits in a chassis.

For shooting off hand, I'd prefer a long, rounded forend. The winchester model 70 has that, but it's unnecessarily heavy.

The Kimber 84m looks great, but at the moment, they seem to not ship with wooden stocks. They're also rare to see in Europe.

Is there a good way to convert a Bergara to having the bolt lock when on safe?
 
A customer bought a Super Grade with French walnut. I wasn't that excited, but he was extremely pleased with it. I'm more of a fan of the red stained Winchester wood stocks. I haven't shot the new Winchesters so I cannot give any reviews on it. My 1980's XTR is around 0.75-1.25" groups at 100 yards depending on load. But I may have a parallax issue going on with my scope since I hit small water bottles the size of prairie dogs at 450 yards easily. I am a long time Winchester fan and am a bit biased against Tikkas because of all the fanfare. They are fine rifles. I just remember back in the 2000's they were pretty cheap.
 
xsn10s said:
A customer bought a Super Grade with French walnut. I wasn't that excited, but he was extremely pleased with it. I'm more of a fan of the red stained Winchester wood stocks. I haven't shot the new Winchesters so I cannot give any reviews on it. My 1980's XTR is around 0.75-1.25" groups at 100 yards depending on load. But I may have a parallax issue going on with my scope since I hit small water bottles the size of prairie dogs at 450 yards easily. I am a long time Winchester fan and am a bit biased against Tikkas because of all the fanfare. They are fine rifles. I just remember back in the 2000's they were pretty cheap.
Click to expand...
I think they're priced relative to sako rifles. A new tikka is still cheaper than a new sako.
 
I was in a local sporting goods store a couple days ago and they had a model 70 on a beautiful maple stock. I stared at it for a couple minutes and slowly backed away. The force was strong, but the $1995 price was my shield.
 

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