Tikka!
American Rifleman had a review of the Savage factory about 7 or 8 years ago and showed a picture of an old man with a mirror bending barrels to straighten them! It probablysounded like a novel concept to many readers but to me it raised some serious red flags.

1. Bend barrels means that the barrels are cheaplymade and straightening them will add more stresses to them.

2. An old man with with nothing more than a mirror and years of skill straightening barrels is not exactly ISO 9001. When the old man retires, that piece of skilled labor is gone and some union worker with a lot of years in doing a job that a semiretarded orangutan could be taught to do will post for the job and get it. Nothing is better than a gravy job in a Union shop with no heavy lifting.


If quality is the drive behind your purchase decision the Tikka is far better. If utilitarian purpose of the rifle is your aim the savage will be good enough.