Thoughts on new Tikka T3X TAC A1 shown at Shot?
So I'm in the market for a 6.5 Creedmoor rifle that I will use to enter the hobby of longer range precision shooting. I don't plan to compete at this time and would consider an investment in another firearm for that purpose at the appropriate time if necessary.
Most of my shooting would be at the 400-600 yard range since that's the most that is offered near me for public ranges, there will occasionally be opportunities to shoot out to about 900-1000 though once I feel that I want to push my skills to the next level (I expect that to take a while).
I will be using a NF 4-14X50 F1 riflescope which I've already purchased.
I had narrowed down my choice of firearm to Tikka T3X now that the CTR is offered in 6.5 Creed. The thought was I could shoot with this for a year or two to work on the fundamentals and then, if desired, drop the action and barrel into a chassis setup for better shooting.
Then Tikka announced two things at Shot that threw me off.
The first is the release of the TAC A1. This is basically a factory built chassis setup for lazy or cost conscious people. The chassis looks pretty good and this setup comes with three magazines, the Tikka magazines are normally at least $100 a pop. Chassis is a folder and I'm thinking a similar chassis setup would run me $600-$900 minimum. I had been thinking if I was going to get a chassis it would probably be an XLR Element to keep costs down. The Tikka chassis looks like it might be made by McCreed.
Right now the TAC A1 will only be offered with a 24" barrel in 6.5. While this is the "ideal" barrel length for the cartridge, I had planned to use a suppressor at time (Silencerco Saker) and thought the shorter 20" barrel on the CTR would actually be easier to manage with the suppressor even though it gives up some velocity that would be needed in competition or to push the cartridge to the limits.
Second thing Tikka did is start to ship the CTR in 24". I don't know if I should reconsider my position on 24" vs 20" barrel now that both are going to be available.
Looking for any thoughts from the brain trust on this one.
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