Weatherby vs. Tikka

B

BangFlop

Member
Price not being an issue, what is the better of these 2 rifles?

NEW Weatherby Vanguard SUB MOA Matte

or

Tikka T3 Lite

I'm talking about how smooth is the action? How accurate are these rifles compared to each other? Etc.

Thanks for your help.

Steve
 
Have not shot the Weatherby but own a Tikka T3 Lite in 22-250. Now I have not owned a lot of rifles but have handled a lot. The Tikka action will be VERY hard to beat. And the Tikka guarantee is sub 1" MOA @ 100 yards. Thats a guarantee not a promise. As far as the action just handle the two rifles and you should be able to tell. Maybe the Weatherby is better, I have no idea, but I doubt it. I'm getting 3 shot groups that can be covered with a dime out of my tikka at 100 yards. Anything beyond that is totally my error I assume, the gun is far more accurate than I am. The T3 Lite is a great carry rifle, much better than the bull barrel Savage I use to have. Have yet to down a dog with it (only bought it this summer) but I can tell you that no 20oz pop bottle stands a chance at 150 yards or less. Yeah not saying much but 150 is as far as my local range goes.

Mahamari.
 
The Weatherby is a Howa. The Tikka is better IMO. I traded a Weatherby MarkV Deluxe for two Tikka's. It was one of the best moves ever. The Weatherby could not even come close in smoothness, operation, or accuracy.
 
I have a couple of Tikkas, and one Howa, which is the
manufacturer of the Weatherby Vanguard. I understand
that they as similar, but no exactly the same rifle. Although
I believe that both of these barreled actions fit in the same
stock.

For my money, I would buy the Tikka, if you have the
small amount of cash for the difference. My Tikkas(M695,
and T-3), and my Howa 1500, are sub MOA accurate.
But the Tikkas have better, fit and finish, a smoother action,
a much better trigger, and seem to shoot well with a wider
range of loads, and bullets. I like the Howa, but I like the
Tikkas much more!

I did talk to the local gunshop guy, last week, and
he said Weatherby Vanguards were disappearing off
the shelf at a brisk pace, so there may be more to this
rifle than I realize. I think there is some kind of deal
on package rifles, that might be helping this rifle move
off the self, or it could just be that time of year, and
this one is at the right price point. I guess I would
fondle them both, and see which one called to me
the loudest. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Squeeze
 
Price not being a issue. I purchased my Tikka T3 Varmint over the top of the line Varmint/Target models from Remington and Ruger. I did not care that in this case it cost less than the above mentioned, I just wanted what I thought was the best factory varmint/target rifle between $600.00 - $1000.00. I went to a lot of gun shops and took the barrels/actions off right there on the counter, I dry fired triggers, look at everything with a fine tooth comb. I did not care about looks, only function,quality workmanship and accuracy.

I have not looked back even once. I have only become more impressed with it. I try NOT to collect rifles these days, but now I WANT more Tikka's. At the time mine was approx. $640.00 for the Varmint but, they are going up in price and they are still worth it. The Ruger and Remington were very fine rifles also, as are the top of the line Savage's.

For the first time with any rifle I have not had to tweak,adjust,replace or float anything myself.
Sorry, to go on.......but like a good pointing bird dog, I finally got one !

Yes I like Tikka, and thank God for Sako.
 
guns and ammo october 2005 says the weatherby vanguard is sold with a test target. some of these groups are pretty fancy and weatherby is now culling the very best and offering them with an accuracy gurantee. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
My experience with these 2 rifles is that most of them shoot real well. My personal tastes are kind of funny. I'm not a big Weatherby fan, but like the Vanguards. I have one of the very early Vanguards and probably wouldn't trade it for my fancy German made Mark V. Well maybe. The new Weatherby's just don't do it for me. I was talking to the president of Buehler scope mounts the other day, telling him about my German made rifle, blonde wood with knurled walnut grip cap(with diamond) and forend tip, and white-line spacing, and he said, "Oh, you have one of the real rifles, not the crap they're making today". He was a good friend of Roy Weatherby and used to ship mounts to him on a regular basis. He said Roy would turn over in his grave if he saw today's rifles.I've also found(gonna [beeep] off some fans here) that the Vanguards shoot better, in general, than the higher priced "real" Weatherby's. As one person told me a short while back, and I think it was good advice, don't waste the extra money on the sub-moa rifles, most of them shoot that well anyway and your just paying for the little extras on it. However, it may help re-sale value in some people's eyes. Anyway, my tastes on the Tikka's are the opposite. I absolutely love Sako rifles and do not care much for the Tikka's. This is mostly a cosmetic thing though. I do believe Tikka's to be excellent shooters and excellent values, just not in love with the looks of them. Especially the synthetic ones and T3's. The older "whitetail hunters" in wood looked okay, I guess. My advice to you is to buy the one with the best fit and feel for you personally. Either is a good value and should shoot well---2MG
 
Quote:
My experience with these 2 rifles is that most of them shoot real well. My personal tastes are kind of funny. I'm not a big Weatherby fan, but like the Vanguards. I have one of the very early Vanguards and probably wouldn't trade it for my fancy German made Mark V. Well maybe. The new Weatherby's just don't do it for me. I was talking to the president of Buehler scope mounts the other day, telling him about my German made rifle, blonde wood with knurled walnut grip cap(with diamond) and forend tip, and white-line spacing, and he said, "Oh, you have one of the real rifles, not the crap they're making today". He was a good friend of Roy Weatherby and used to ship mounts to him on a regular basis. He said Roy would turn over in his grave if he saw today's rifles.I've also found(gonna [beeep] off some fans here) that the Vanguards shoot better, in general, than the higher priced "real" Weatherby's. As one person told me a short while back, and I think it was good advice, don't waste the extra money on the sub-moa rifles, most of them shoot that well anyway and your just paying for the little extras on it. However, it may help re-sale value in some people's eyes. Anyway, my tastes on the Tikka's are the opposite. I absolutely love Sako rifles and do not care much for the Tikka's. This is mostly a cosmetic thing though. I do believe Tikka's to be excellent shooters and excellent values, just not in love with the looks of them. Especially the synthetic ones and T3's. The older "whitetail hunters" in wood looked okay, I guess. My advice to you is to buy the one with the best fit and feel for you personally. Either is a good value and should shoot well---2MG





i can agree with most of that, mainly the weatherby, they really turn me off, however I do think the vanguards are alright guns. I say go tikka or........CZ
 
I can barely see the detachable box magazine protruding
from either of my Tikkas(M695 and T-3), when they
are locked in. I saw either a varmint, or a tactical,
model did have a larger mag sticking out. The sporters
are almost flush.

Squeeze
 
A little background:

One of my job responsibilities is as a firearms and tactics instructor. One of the things I am certified to teach is the law enforcement precision (sniper) rifle. As such, I get to try a bunch of rifles. The bottom line is for an out of the box accurate rifle, from all the major brands, I would choose a Savage or a Tikka. Tikka wins hands down in the smoothness of the action category. My only complaint of the heavy barrel Tikka is a lack of caliber choices. At this time you are limited to 22-250,223 and 308.

Both my work partner and I own and use heavy bbl 308 Tikkas. One of the local PDs recently asked me to help them choose new rifles for their snipers. Long story short, they went with Tikka tactical 308s.

The Tikkas are a serious bargain too. I have never seen so much rifle for the money.

On the flip side. I have worked with a number of Weatherbys, accuracy has been hit and miss, some have been good some have been pathetic. I tend to stay away, so do most the long range riflemen I know. Every once in a while you get a shooter, but not often enough to ever buy one in my opinion.

In short, buy a Tikka, you will be glad you did.
 
I'd take the Tikka anyday. I had a Vanguard that was a piece of junk. The barrel was matte finished & the receiver was nicely blued? Never could figure that out. The stock on the Vanguard was rough & cheap plastic. Copper fouled badly. I tried many handload/factory ammo combos & never got any better than 2" groups at 100 yards. They claimed you could adjust trigger pull, but it had a ton of creep & drag. Could not get it adjusted. Sold it for what I paid & bought another 700. I put a HS Precision stock on the 700, adjusted trigger, & have no problems with grouping now. Buddy has a Tikka & it shoots very well, & has a good trigger.

Take care,
HS
 
Back
Top