Tikka actions vs Custom Actions

[Formidilosus]

I was just curious, because while there are many actions with the 700 footprint, and though deemed “clones” they vary widely in design. The Aero Precision Solus, for example, has the 700 footprint, but that is about all that it has in common with a 700. Three lugs, integral recoil lug, integral rail. Oh, and I guess the trigger. All the 700 clones will accept the same trigger. Is the trigger the point of failure on the 700 “clones?”

John

The trigger is the primary problem- and it is systematic. It cannot be fixed and several/lots of companies have tried. The Geissele Super 700 is the most reliable R700 trigger on the market and yet just a tiny bit of moisture in freezing weather and there is about a 50/50 chance it will not fire- at least in that BAT. They do better with factory R700’s and stronger firing pin springs but still malfunction or fail with very little debris.

While the trigger is far and away the largest issue, the other major one is the relatively open architecture of almost all the aftermarket actions (which part of that is again due to the trigger). Just looking at them you can see that there is space everywhere for debris, sand, dust, snow, and water to get into. Combine those two things with manufactures using very little, or incorrect tolerances and you get guns that have problems.

Off the top of my head since last year we have had:

ARC Mausingfields
ARC CDG
Defiance’s
Pierce’s
BAT’s
R700 factory’s
ADG
Seekins PH2 and PH3’s

And several others I can’t recall right now. All built by some of the, or “the best” shops/names in the business and in several cases the owners stated they brought them to prove to us that custom 700’s work just fine… It hasn’t worked out that way for anyone so far.

 

[JohnJohnson]

I think of it as a Glock vs cajunized CZ Shadow 2 sort of thing. The high end R700 clones are high performance but that comes with the fact that they'll fail more under certain conditions. Whether they're worth it comes down to whether you are actually capable of getting that little bit more of performance out of them (or their accessories like triggers, stocks, etc). That has to be weighed against the consequences for the reliability dropoff. And whether that little bit extra is even worth it for the thing you're doing. If you're a top PRS (or in the case of the pistol analogy, USPSA CO) shooter, it probably is. Most other people that's not the case.

I have a Lone Peak, a Mausingfield, and a Tikka. I'm quite enjoying shooting the Lone Peak right now but I don't have any doubt the Tikka is more reliable if I was on a hunt.

 

[OneGunTex]

Where do Zermatt's fall in this discussion? I'd call them semi-custom, still on an R700 footprint. More or less reliable than your average rifle?

 

[V35B]

I can get on the whole 700 trigger deal, I have experienced it, and seen it a lot in highly dusty conditions among several shooters. I have also seen the Tikka fail, but less often.
Latest personal example -
Here is inside my Zeus after a weekend of use in terribly dusty, windy conditions. I was on a target, made one impact, went to the next and “click” no bang. I stayed on target, started to raise the bolt and it fired. 100% trigger problem. Everyone was trying to tell me it was the bolt, they knew everything, but after I quickly removed the firing pin assembly, showed them the thing was clean, washed the trigger with lighter fluid, they all said huh, I didnt know that. I hoped they learned from that, Its amazing how little most know about their own rifles. I saw a good number of rifles of all makes go to the truck that day, some wouldn't cycle the bolt, some wouldn't feed, some wouldn’t fire, those guys just gave up.

 

[Marbles]

I can share deformed recoil lugs made of aluminum and I can share upgrading to steel and still having multiple 375h&hs in 85s having issues, recoil lugs getting loose in the bedding in laminate stocks and losing accuracy, also ejection issues with brass falling down in the port during a hunt and having a failure to close an action.

Look man like what you like, don’t care, the quality is fine, it’s just the money savings design that gets me on something’s so simple that shouldn’t be. Hell, even tikka says it in their own ads about the original t3 and how their t3x is better with the steel.

Again it’s not about quality, the new tikkas, s20s, and trg type notch cut actions are fine in a metal chassis, even with larger calibers and high round counts. No issues, only in wood/laminate with larger calibers is when I’ve had a few issues. Each their own.

Cheers.

The aluminum lugs are a sub $50 fix, and were fixed by Tikka 10 years ago.

Regarding loosening/cracking pockets and accuracy loss, this has been documented on actions with a lug attached to the action (even on smaller rounds like a 30-06). So, not fixed by an integrated lug.

Brass falling back into the action isn't related to the recoil lug, and I'm guessing was on a scoped rifle. Rem700 footprint actions have had the same issue.