I havent shot them all, but have spent time with tikkas (I own 2, brother has 1), kimber (wood 84m and their low end plastic stocked model), browning xbt and abolt, reminton 700’s in various configurations and vintages, savages, mossberg, winchester (newer 70lightweight and older model 70’s), a couple bergaras, a Fix, several rpr’s, as well as several of the semi-custom 700-clone actions (deviant, origin, etc). Very few have been dogs, although some were really finicky about ammo. The kimbers are the only ones Ive actually had problems with. All of the above would shoot sub-moa 3-shot groups at least once in a while with the right ammo. Personally I think one good 3-shot group is somewhat worthless b/c I havent run into more than a handful of rifles that didnt shoot under an inch every 3rd or fourth group. I put a lot more faith in 5 shot groups. Want to brag about a rifle online, then show me 2 consecutive 10-shot groups—that’ll give you a real sense of how that rifle shoots on average.
Personally Id just pick 3 or 4 of the brands everyone mentions that are in your price range and go somewhere you can handle them, and buy based on how it fits you and how it feels. I really like a detachable
Box magazine and a smooth bolt throw as well as a reasonable amount of aftermarket options, so outside the semi-customs I have leaned toward the tikkas and been happy with them. Remington 700 and the clone actions are the king of aftermarket options, although the Remington guns over the last 10 or 15 years have been pretty darn inconsistent. again its hard to go wrong with any of them, especially if you put some effort into finding ammo that your individual gun likes.
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Originally Posted by CJ1
