If a Tikka was every bit as good as a CA, why isn't Tikka asking for the same 1999.00 instead of 999.00? Every company is there to make as much profit as possbile for shareholders/owners. No company anywhere is giving anything away. Tikka owners here spend major money to make them "better".....I spent nothing to make my 2 CA FFT TI rifles better....because they are already "better" right out of the box. To each their own.
Because they have the Sako line of rifles which offer "premium" stocks, actions sized to chambering, set trigger options, flush mount mags, top fed DBM options, aluminum bottom metal, integrated pic rails, etc... Some of these features have snuck over into the Tikka line, increasing the price.
Tikka was brought on as a "budget" line rifle when they are clearly worth as much as a Christensen or more. Better action, better barrel consistency and longevity, better trigger design and function, better safety design and function, better in dust/dirt, better in ice/snow/rain... The list goes on.
They aren't really even comparable rifles from a quality/finish/repeatability/reliability standpoint at all. I actually just twisted off a factory Christensen carbon barrel in July on my father in laws 6.5 PRC Mesa, he's been having issues and wanted to swap barrels. It was so loose it broke free with less than 40 ft lbs and had non locker residue on the threads. Action screws that are supposed to be "spec'd" from Christensen at 65 inch lbs according to the manual were torqued to 25 inch lbs and were greasy...
Christensen rifles could be $500 and I'd still never buy another one.