I'm looking to buy a tikka 25-06I like the weightand shortness 4 inches shorter and almost 4 lbs lighter than my MKIIbut I am wondering if the short barrel 22.7will shoot as good as my ruger heavy barrel 26 inches? are they any drawbacks to the shorter barrel that I should know about? It will be used for varment hunting and deer and I truly love shooting paper out to 300 yds.

You will lose some velocity, as a rule about 100 fps per barrel inch. I would venture to guess the lighter weight gun and shorter barrel will not shoot as well as the heavy barreled Ruger. Remember that shorter, thinner barrel will heat up a whole lot faster than the heavy barreled Ruger, especially if you plan to use it for varmint hunting.Just a couple of points to consider.

Without knowing how good your Ruger MKII shoots, its hard to say if the Tikka will shoot "as good" if not better. You will lose some velocity by going to the shorter barrel, but that will be about all you lose. I have no trouble punching holes in paper out to 300 yards with my Tikka 243.

You will lose some velocity but certainly not 100fps per inch of barrel.More likely around 40fps per inch of barrel.As far as accuracy is concerned the thinner barrel may or may notshoot just as accurately but it will heat up more rapidly.

I think the Tikka will shoot fine but will not shoot with that 26 heavy barrel onthe Ruger. I do 2nd the notion that about 40fps is all you will lose per inch. If your worried about a 22" barrel being ok in a 25-06 then you can sleep fine. I have a 25-06with an 18" barrel on an Encore and 300 yards is no prob with it, youll be fine. Youll enjoy the shorter lighter barrel for normal deer hunting applications.

A heavier barrel doesnt make the rifle more accurate, it simply makes it easier to shoot the rifle well. In other words, the heavy barrel resists you moving it whilst attempting a shot. The inherent accuracy may well be better with the Tikka.

Since a 25-06 uses relatively slow powders, the long barrel length may well be an advantage. You may see some lose in speed, but I doubt you will see a major impact on your hunting ability due to a couple hundred fps loss.

You will lose @ 25-50 fps per inch of barrel depending on your powder burn rate. You may find the Tikka is as accurate as your Ruger but as already said will heat up much faster. Great value and a great round ( I want that same combo myself ) go for it.

Thanks for the Info everyone. I bought it today for 559.00 in SS If it will hit 1and1/2 at a hundred Ill be happy. Thats about the best my heavy MKII would do! I dont realy care if it has plastic on it after all what good is the best built rifle worth if it wont hit the target? My newer truck has a lot of plastic and 80000 miles and no problems! If my new Tikka will last 2000 round taken care of I will be estatic. will know tomarrow. again Thanks to everyone who responded!

With a shorter barrel, you may want to use a little faster burning powder. Mine has a 24 inch barrel, which leaves it just about two inches shy of being able to get the maximum performance possible from the case. I've loaded some 87 grain spire points with IMR 4320 and had some pretty good groups to show.

Of course, I don't have a chronograph to get any indication of speed or trajectory.[]