Tikka T3 action vs Bergara Premier

[TNBuck2]

I’ve got an older T3 that I want to upgrade. I found a company that will swap out my factory barrel for one of their prefits. Not going to try this myself because of all I’ve read about Tikka factory barrel torque. Planned on dropping it in a KRG chassis.

Now I see where I can buy a Bergara Premier Competition barreled action. Dropping that in a chassis. I could sell my Tikka and spend almost exactly the same money as the Tikka rebarrel.

I’ve not seen a Bergara Premier action but the internet says they’re smooth. Anybody have a comparison and maybe a recommendation?

At the end of the day I really care most about how the gun shoots. Bergara guarantees 1 moa. The company making and installing the Tikka barrel doesn’t want to touch any kind of guarantee - I think that’s pretty standard when selling only the barrel.

The current rifle just barely shoots 1 moa with my 7mm08 hand loads. Does that mean anything regarding rebarrel and the way it would shoot? The action is smooth but I don’t know if there’s something I should look out for with the action?

Knowing me the way I do, I wouldn’t be happy with anything less than .5 moa.

Does one of those options seem better to you?

Thanks for listening!

 

[sierracharlie338]

Don’t gamble on the begara. Send the tikka to a reputable barrel company and you should be more than happy with the results and its accuracy.

IMO the tikka is the better action and you aren’t having to worry about whether you are getting a dud barrel out of a factory. I’ve handled and shot both. Tikka is the winner.

 

[Redleg84]

I've had both, stick with the Tikka. The brand new premier barreled action I bought ended up having ignition issues, they had to send me a new action spring.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

I’ve not seen a Bergara Premier action but the internet says they’re smooth. Anybody have a comparison and maybe a recommendation?

At the end of the day I really care most about how the gun shoots. Bergara guarantees 1 moa. The company making and installing the Tikka barrel doesn’t want to touch any kind of guarantee - I think that’s pretty standard when selling only the barrel.

The current rifle just barely shoots 1 moa with my 7mm08 hand loads. Does that mean anything regarding rebarrel and the way it would shoot? The action is smooth but I don’t know if there’s something I should look out for with the action?

Knowing me the way I do, I wouldn’t be happy with anything less than .5 moa.

Does one of those options seem better to you?

Thanks for listening!

The Tikka is probably going to be the smoother action.

How many shots is the Bergara guaranteed group? They are usually 3-shot group guarantees, which are worthless. Almost any rifle can shoot a nice 3-shot group, given enough attempts. That’s all most companies guarantee.

If you are only happy with a 0.5” group, you have unrealistic expectations for any statistically significant group size.

Stick with the Tikka.

 

[swavescatter]

I bought two Bergarbages. Sent both down the road after disappointment and frustration. Bergara CS is a joke.

I've bought like 7 or so Tikkas now without a hiccup on factory hardware.

 

[TNBuck2]

The Tikka is probably going to be the smoother action.

How many shots is the Bergara guaranteed group? They are usually 3-shot group guarantees, which are worthless. Almost any rifle can shoot a nice 3-shot group, given enough attempts. That’s all most companies guarantee.

If you are only happy with a 0.5” group, you have unrealistic expectations for any statistically significant group size.

Stick with the Tikka.

Fair enough. Bergara’s accuracy guarantee is for 3 shot groups. I do have a White Oak upper in 5.56 that shoots 5 shot groups I’m happy with.

What kind of 5 or 10 shot groups would you expect with a prefit barrel on the Tikka action? This would be with a proven scope and hand loads.

Thanks!

 

[TaperPin]

If you’re looking for 1/2 MOA that’s most likely in a top name custom barrel. Not guaranteed, but more likely. I’d keep the Tikka and spend all the money on a good barrel.

 

[JohnJohnson]

The Tikka with a good barrel is much more likely to give you the results you want.

What kind of 5 or 10 shot groups would you expect with a prefit barrel on the Tikka action?

If you can put 10 shots under 1 MOA, 20 under 1.25, and 30 under 1.5 that's kind of my goal at least. I have a new PVA 6CM prefit on my Tikka and from the first real range trip with it a couple days ago, it's showing a lot of promise.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Fair enough. Bergara’s accuracy guarantee is for 3 shot groups. I do have a White Oak upper in 5.56 that shoots 5 shot groups I’m happy with.

What kind of 5 or 10 shot groups would you expect with a prefit barrel on the Tikka action? This would be with a proven scope and hand loads.

Thanks!

My Tikka 6.5 CM (factory barrel cut to 20”) gets consistent 1.3-1.5” 10-shot groups with Hornady 140-grain factory loads.

My Tikka T3 .223 (factory barrel cut to 16.1”) gets consistent .9-1.2” 10-shot groups with ADI 55-grain factory, 69-grain factory, and Frontier 62-grain factory ammo.

I haven’t reloaded for either of those yet, but I expect to shoot 10-shot .5-1” groups from those rifles if I reload for them. If I can’t get 1.5” groups with factory or under 1” from reloads, I won’t waste the time on the rifle. Life is too short to accept mediocrity or chase perfection.

Edit - my only experience with custom barrels is a PAC-NOR 6.5 Grendel on my CZ 527. It shoots consistently under an inch with Hornady Black.

My other custom barrel is from Douglas. My FN Mauser .25-06 with a new Douglas barrel is turning in .9” groups with Federal Premium. I expect it to be consistently around 0.5” with good reloads.

 

[bnewt3]

I watched a YT vid yesterday that explained a concept in barrels in a way that really lays out barrel accuracy in a way I hadnt thought about it before.

Every barrel manufacturer makes barrels that fall within a range of accuracy. Even premium companies. The main question is how wide is that range, and how high does it go?

So lets say that a factory T3x barrel has accuracy in the 60th-75th percentiles(this may be way low but its just a hypothetical so IDK). Mean of 67.5, I think the mode means more than mean in this case but thats nearly impossible to find because there are thousands of other factors.

A good barrel manufacturer may make barrels in the 70th-85th percentiles. Mean of 77.5 much better, but again I think the mode matters most. The really high end ones are probably 85th-95th, 90th-99th, maybe 95th-99th....somewhere in there.

So in this example it is entirely possible to have a Tikka at or near that 75th percentile, and you could get a new barrel in the 70th percentile.

So you spin on the new barrel and it shoots worse.

Not very likely, but entirely possible.

I had to run out and do our Christmas message video in the factory and now ive forgotten where I was going with this.

Edit: I think i was headed towards something like: unless you are getting a truly premium barrel, there is the potential that theres overlap between a barrel company's worst barrels and X Factory brand's best barrels.