Normal waking around hunting with Tikkas, no. It’s strapped to the pack. Riding a snow mobile and the like, yes I’ll try to cover it.
This was opening day this year. Rain, turned to ice, turned to snow, then back to rain, then back to snow-
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That was strapped to the pack and covered by a wing and it still looked like that. It worked fine btw.
Last year waiting for it to break to shoot an elk-
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Now, I couldn’t/wouldn’t do that with almost any other rifles. With any rifle that uses a 700 compatible trigger, I wrap them completely and also carry a small can of de-icer… and still end up with a non-functioning rifle at some point.
I don’t have those here now, but they generally don’t do well. Savages are as bad or worse than Remington based actions and triggers, kimber has the same issue that M70’s do- people believe the open trigger is a good thing- it’s not. Open triggers just make it easier for snow and ice to get to the trigger. Weatherby and Browning have been about like Howa From what I’ve seen.
From doing this a lot and hunting in winter conditions that tend to cause issues 100 plus days a year, reliability would be ranked pretty close to this-
1). Properly built AR15- not even close.
2). Blaser- have never seen one that failed, though haven’t seen nearly as many either.
3). AI- almost never have a failure due to ice/snow
4). Tikka- almost never have a failure due to ice/snow
5). Sako TRG- almost never have a failure due to ice/snow
6). Winchester Pre64- not many issues, though the claw extractor and trigger will freeze with ice often enough.
7). Kimber- about the same as the M70.
8). Howa/Browning, Weatherby- issues are common in bad conditions. Would cover and make sure to work the bolt and dry fire the trigger often.
8). Savage- lots of issues and would not choose one based on that alone.
9). The worst- any rifle using a Remington based trigger (all the customs). Not only do most actions do very poorly in ice/snow, but they can not overcome the trigger. The triggers freeze and lock up or become extremely unsafe (as this TriggerTech is) when debris or snow/ice gets in there.