Well calling the guns factory junk maybe wasn' t the right choice of words for you to use. If you think that the Tikka is a great deal for the money I have to disagree. Platic trigger gaurds, plastic magazines, still has to have trigger adjusted, doesn' t shoot any better groups than my Marlin MR7 Bolt action. If you want a benchrest rifle then that' s what you should buy. Besides, buying American made products and doing a little work to them is better than sending my money overseas.

F4YG,I bought a Tikka " Whitetail Hunter" a couple of months ago. I haven' t been to the range with it yet,but I' m impresssed with the workmanship I see.I haven' t looked at a T3 .There might be a big difference in them I don' t know.I do agree with you about keeping our money here and not overseas.I' ve heard so much praise about the Tikka' s I wanted to give one a try.Not sure when I' ll get to the range to try it out but I' m looking forward to going. With hunting season here it will be awhile. I bought the Tikka in 7mm RM.
Ruger Redhawk

Traitor, If Bill Ruger was still with us he' d be disappointed in you.

WHY BUY IT IF YOU DONT LIKE THE TRIGGER AND EVERYTHING ELESE JUST ASKING.DONT TAKE WRONG WAY...

I hate my rem 700 because it doesn' t have rubies and saphires inlaid in the stock, and the metal on the rifle isn' t gold plated.[:@]

I' m no gun tech and I don' t reload (yet). I was never a very good shot and I don' t follow the latest trend in firearms. However 3 years ago I traded 2 old shotguns and still pumped out a pretty penny for a Weatherby Mark V ultralightweight in 30-06. I' ve done nothing to the rifle but shoot it, say what you will about Weatherby I' m a much better shooter than I ever was before and to date have not found a single flaw with this gun. Weatherby promises a 1 1/2 three shot group at 100 yards, and that' s what my rifle does every weekend at the range. By the way that' s with factory ammuniton[:-]

i' ve never owned any tikka or sako, but i got lots of browning' s... shotguns and rifles and i' m thinking what you pay for is usually what you get. just got a new abolt in 7mm WSM and i couldnt be more excited to get it sighted in this weekend!!

How can you expect less than an 8lb pull outa the factory. These companies are only trying to save their own rear-end on safety liability issues. A 2lb trigger means more lawsuits. Not hard to figure out,

Wolf, while I must agree with you on fit, finish, etc., etc., on current factory rifles, I suspect what you are looking for is custom rifles at factory prices. A nationally-known riflesmith recently told me that, if available today, the old Mannlicher-Schoenauer rifles would cost over $5,000 today just due to the amount of handwork that went into them. While such quality was never quite available in the pre-64 Model 70' s, they were much better in final finish and hand-fitting than they are today. The factories just can' t put this kind of work into a production rifle, and still be able to sell it at a profit to the majority of today' s shooters! Those who can afford to pay such prices generally buy custom or hand-made guns to begin with. And just look at the prices on these!! Even semi-custom guns like the Dakota Hunter models sell for almost $2,000!

Kyle, how much more do you think it would cost a company in hand-labor to get a decent 2# pull out of that 8# trigger that they just slap on and ship? Probably about as much as you have to pay a ' smith to lighten and slick it up after you buy it!

If looks is what your after, you should inspect the gun before you buy it.