Found an older article reference I remembered. This Swedish firm tested several common rifles for precision in extreme hot and extreme cold. Also tested for extraction and corrosion resistance. Finally did blocked barrel test.
Fastnar kulan i loppet vill du inte stå med det här vapnet i handen. Två av älgstudsarna klarade inte sprängtestet, när Testfakta lät Försvarets Materielverk prova åtta jaktvapen. I testet som helhet blev det billigaste geväret bäst.
www.testfakta.se
PDF chart of results (in Swedish so will need to translate):
Howa 1500 actually did best which isn't terribly surprising as they are made in Japan of excellent steel and precision for such a low price.
Blaser 93 (article was from 2007 before R8 was introduced) was second place overall.
Sako/Tikka/Mannlicher scored highest in cold weather precision but this was not function testing. Just seemed to test accuracy. Again Sako/Tikka are made by people that live and hunt in extreme cold so this is not surprising.
Best corrosion resistance was the Blaser. Blaser uses a very hard nitride coating on their barrels and other components are well treated/stainless. My Blaser barrel can show some light rust spots if left wet, but mostly it never shows any kind of corrosion. From the translation:
"To find out how well the weapons resist rust, they had to stand for two hours in salt fog and then for 15 hours in a 40 degree warm room with 95 percent humidity, which corresponds to approximately 14 days in an environment close to the sea without weapon maintenance. The least rusted test's most expensive weapon, the Blaser R93. Most rusted Anotonio Zoli Luxury."
Barrel block test the R700 and Browning both blew up and failed the test. Other rifles passed without exploding and risking injury to the shooter.
