Hello all

Hi all and greetings.

I live in Gauteng and have been hunting for a couple of years now.

I owna Ruger 77MK22 in 30-06 and a Tikka LSA 55 in .243 Wichester as well as Pedersolli Rolling Block 1875 muzzleloader.

Look forward to chatting with you in the future.

Cheers
Dale

Apologies, should read Ruger 77 mark 2 (not 22)

dale,

I don't have alot of experience with the Tikka, but, I have owned quite a few of the Rugers, in various calibers. Ruger build a top notch factory rifle, no bells or whistles, just a reliable fairly attractive rifle. The best M77 I ever owned, which is the one Ruger I wish I had never gotten rid of, it was a laminated, stainless in 338 win mag. it shot factory ammo better than any other Ruger i have owned. It is one I will always look for.

Second hand rifles I think are the best to buy, besides cost, they are generally broke in and you can visually see if there is something you don't like about them. Scott.

I too am a big fan of Ruger firearms. Used an older model Mk 1 77 RS in .338 Win mag in RSA in 2009 and it performed flawlessly, wish I could say the same about the nut behind the bolt! Big fan also of the newer #1 rifles. Currently shooting 1-A Light sporters in .257 Roberts, 7x57 and the new .303 British and all shoot very well. I cant tell you how many guys have come up and said, "I wont own of THOSE rifles because they wont shoot". Since Ruger started making their own barrels some years ago and started paying more attention to the forearm fitting, these beautiful rifles have been shooting much better and often right with a good bolt gun plus they have uniformly better out of the box triggers than most bolt guns and that is not an exaggeration. You will note that the oft mentioned Craig Boddington is often seen hunting in Africa with a #1 rifle and other Ruger's as well.

You've got a couple of nice rifles there Dale. The Tikka LSA 55's are a popular model here in Australia. The current Tikka T3's are a very good seller here as well.
I bought my first Ruger, a 77 in 243 in 1977 and I don't think I've been without a Ruger in the safe ever since. I've currently got three, Hawkeyes in 257 Roberts and 338 Federal and a late model No1 in 7x57.
Sestopelman, I second what you say about the later No1s. When I first got mine, I was playing around with some loads and I had some Norma factory 156gr factory loads on the bench as well. Just to see how they'd go I fired a couple of 3 shot groups and both went around .8in. I came back home and put the dies away and now I'm just using the Normas.

I'm really fighting the temptation of a No1 in 300 H&H. I don't need it, but when did need come into the picture.

Welcome to AH dale!