There are significantly more malfunctions when you compare a r700 to a Tikka. Competitions like PRS and NRL don’t count because those rifles are often babied. The biggest issue I’ve encountered is the trigger failures on the Remington 700 clones. I’ve lost two really good big game animals because of this—fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
I would argue the NRL matches are at least a little harder on r700s. Occurring in more "field" conditions than PRS and having to keep your bolt open 95% of the day led to problems in the match I shot last year. The match I shot had high winds and blowing dust but it was dry and never below freezing.
I shot in a squad with 5 other shooters. I had a tikka, 2 guys shot factory r700s, and 3 guys had pure precision r700 customs. 2 of the shooters with pure precision rifles had issues.
Pure #1 had feeding issues regularly and light primer strikes on day 1. He tuned his mag feed lips, removed, wiped down, and lubed his firing pin assembly and wiped out his action and didn't have any more major ignition issues the rest of the match.
Pure #2 had a slam fire on the second morning. He was being filmed during it, his finger was no where near the trigger, and he wasn't running the bolt hard. The RO zeroed him on the stage but at least didn't disqualify him. Luckily he was aimed at a target during bolt close.
All 3 Pures were using TT Diamond triggers.
I also had a failure when my Scythe instantaneously separated halfway through a stage, but I can't blame that on the Tikka.
