"One rifle" .243 or 7mm-08 Tikka?

T

TCW

New member
Hi,
I'm pretty set on purchasing a Tikka rifle as my on and only bolt action. It will be for hunting whitetail and target. Which caliber has the most accuracy at 300-400 yds? I'm assuming the 7mm-08 is more effective, but both are good enough for thin-skinned medium game.

How do these two compare at this range?

Recoil?

Oh...I thought about getting a .308, but Beretta bought out Tikka and .308 is no longer available.:mad:

Thanks!
TCW
 
One is not inherently more accurate than the other, but at those distances, you need to keep as much retained energy as possible. I vote for the 7mm-08.
 
Beretta bought out Tikka????-------I thought Sako owned Tikka. And go with the 7mm-08 or why not a long action and .270 or .30-06
 
For one rifle for big game hunting I would go with the 7-08. Ruger the advatages to the short action are a half pound of weight and a stiffer action.
 
If you are buying a target rifle to take hunting I would select the .243 largely because the wide selection of target bullets in this caliber. The benchrest crowd shoots mostly 6mmPPC and the specialized bullets they use can easily be used in a .243. Secondly, the marginally lower recoil would start to matter if you were shooting a lot.

If you are buying a hunting rifle that you want to use on targets for fun and personal satisfaction (probably a better role for the standard Tikka), I would get a 7mm-08 because of the heavier bullets and better hunting performance.

The corporate history of Tikka is that it was bought out by Sako a few years ago and more recently Sako was bought by Beretta. I'm surprised (shocked?) that Tikkas aren't available in .308. That makes no sense at all.
 
Tikka doesn't even have the .243 anymore not since Baretta bought them out. I went to the gun shop yesterday and was thinkin about getting a Tikka and was told they are not making the .243 anylonger and the only thing they had was a .22-250 in stock..
So now Im trying to decide between a Remington 700BDL, Savage 110 package (bad trigger and stock) or the Ruger M77-MKII (Action is stiffer than most)
Im open for suggestions......
 
I'd vote for the 7mm-08 over the .243 for clean kills at 300 to 400 yards. As stated above, heavier bullet = more retained energy.

There is an extremely wide variety of bullets of all sorts for the 7mm. At one time, the 7mm Rem Mag held the world record for accuracy at 1,000 yards. Many match target rifles were once based on some variety of 7mm...

Pragmatically, shots at over 200 yards are uncommon. If one is expecting more varminting that deer hunting, the .243 is quite a nice rig. I've taken some 20 whitetail with mine.

Regards,

Art
 
I just checked Sako's website, and they still show the .308 and .243 available in the Tikka Whitetail Hunter, as well as several other models. Maybe they don't update their website, but that's the information that's available there today.
 
Where did you guys hear all that BS?

TCW, SFS,

I have no idea who told you those stories about 308 and 243 not being available in the list of Tikka calibers.... Just go back ant tell them they are full of baloney!

Let me dispel a few myths here.

1. Sako and Tikka are the same company (just 2 different brand names).

2. The Beretta Holding Group bought Sako in 2000. Consequently, Beretta owns the Tikka brand as well.

3. The lineup of rifles offered through Beretta is (hear ye, hear ye) the same identical as that previously offered through Stoeger. The only difference is the addition of a new model for Sako, the Finnlight.

4. The Tikka Hunter is available in the following calibers: 223, 22-250, 243, 7-08, 308, 25-06, 270, 30-06, 300Win, 7mm Rem Mag and 338Win.

Where did you guys hear all those stories?

Futo: you ask whether Beretta buying out Sako will affect the quality of the latter? Ever since when has Beretta compromised on quality? Just asking.....
 
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