Just wondering about latest Journal choices ?

Gr8bawana · Apr 17, 2016

I noticed that too. It's the same with the glove review. With a price range of $130 to $205 for a pair of gloves? Get real. I seriously doubt any of us working stiffs would spend that kind of money on a pair of gloves.
It seems like lately the product reviews are geared towards those guys who think they must to have the latest and greatest brand names.

The Dec.-Jan. edition reviews the Kiui Teton "clothing system". The price? $749.92. That's about how much I spend on a week long deer or elk hunt including groceries and gas.

Tim McCoy · Apr 17, 2016

I always find reviews with three or so price ranges useful, budget, middle and high end, as far as prices go. I am sure one could pick 12 different rifles and have a very nice deadly dozen, sooooo many choices out there today.

Slugz · Apr 17, 2016

GKPrice said:
Hi all - New to the forum but old customer for Journal
In reading the review article "The Deadly Dozen" I'm left wondering why the Tikka T3 (superlight at least) and the Kimber Montana were not included ? Not much selection for us "blue collar budget" hunters in this one and both models mentioned typically give outstanding out of the box accuracy while falling well within categorized weight groups - So, what gives ?

George

Agree. I think its time for a little data/metric analysis of the target audience. That same group I suspect is paying most of bills. Literally and figuratively.

boiler · Apr 17, 2016

I guess we'll just have to see which rifles lead the trophy taley at the end of the season! Something tells me that a real life hunting season will show the true "deadly dozen"!

D.Turvey Jr · Apr 18, 2016

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback. The original intent we had with this piece over a year ago was to highlight the top mountain rifles. As such, to get into the lightweight rifle game requires a pretty substantial investment. We wanted to tailor this one to the dedicated above timberline hunters (thus why it's in the Sheep Issue) and vary the spectrum as much as we could on price point. The inclusion of the Kimber Mountain Ascent, the Savage Lightweight Hunter and Weatherby Models were our more budget friendly, off the shelf selections. As you can probably understand with all the options out there today we couldn't include them all and certainly not all across price spectrums. We did our best to stick with what we consider the best mountain rifles starting with weight as our number one consideration then down the list from there. As to your concerns about that group "paying the bills" it's simply not true. There were 11 rifle manufacturers in the review and only three were consistent advertisers when we started this. Though Tikka is a great rifle, it simply doesn't come up much in conversation when talking about the ultimate mountain rifle. Thanks again for your feedback and support. It's great to know we have such a dedicated readership that cares enough to put themselves out there. We greatly appreciate that!

Slugz · Apr 18, 2016

D.Turvey said:
Hey guys, thanks for the feedback. The original intent we had with this piece over a year ago was to highlight the top mountain rifles. As such, to get into the lightweight rifle game requires a pretty substantial investment. We wanted to tailor this one to the dedicated above timberline hunters (thus why it's in the Sheep Issue) and vary the spectrum as much as we could on price point. The inclusion of the Kimber Mountain Ascent, the Savage Lightweight Hunter and Weatherby Models were our more budget friendly, off the shelf selections. As you can probably understand with all the options out there today we couldn't include them all and certainly not all across price spectrums. We did our best to stick with what we consider the best mountain rifles starting with weight as our number one consideration then down the list from there. As to your concerns about that group "paying the bills" it's simply not true. There were 11 rifle manufacturers in the review and only three were consistent advertisers when we started this. Though Tikka is a great rifle, it simply doesn't come up much in conversation when talking about the ultimate mountain rifle. Thanks again for your feedback and support. It's great to know we have such a dedicated readership that cares enough to put themselves out there. We greatly appreciate that!

DT JR,

Thanks for the additional comments. It all makes sense. WRT the "paying the bills" comment I made......it wasn't in reference to the manufacturers/advertisers but in reference to the working class, blue collar, dirt under the fingernail, regular dudes who make up (I suspect) the majority of subscribers to the magazine and participants on the forum is all. Majority target audience. Just feedback and nothing else.

Keep up the great work, I appreciate it, and I know others do as well. All the best.

Guy · Apr 18, 2016

Thank you for the feedback fellas. We appreciate your input. I do know the Tikka is a very good rifle and comes very highly recommended by hunters I know, and for that reason we maybe should have included it even though the base weight is a bit high. Room for this editorial was very, very tight. We even had to decrease the font size a little bit to get all the text into the magazine.

As for Blue Collar, I personally could not afford most of the rifles on this list without some serious saving, but I did enjoy handeling them while we had them in the office. For the record I shoot a budget friendly Savage. It seems to do me just fine.

Good luck on your hunts guys. Keep the feedback coming and don't be afraid to let us know if we are falling short in any way. -G

Tim McCoy · Apr 18, 2016

If you really want to get folks going, you could rank the 6 best calibers for western big game hunting...

Seriously, you folks do a great job, but you might want to give the Tikka T3 lite in SS a look some time. They have plastic, keeps the cost down I guess, very good triggers, but for about $600, most are real shooters. Maybe a selection of 6 or so each of rifle and scopes, for under $1,000 total when paired, suitable for western hunting. I am fortunate to have a bunch of guns/scopes, but only have two scoped rifles that would not fit that criteria. But I suppose my neck is red enough one could not tell the color of my collar.

Keep up the good work!

shootbrownelk · Apr 19, 2016

GKPrice said:
Guy - thank you for entering into the discussion ! I well remember your article around the Savage Lightweight Hunter
For the record, on pg 68 the summary of 10 rifles stated unscoped weights, the bottom 5 are all clearly heavier than a Tikka T3 superlight in 300 Win Mag for $699 at SW - As a note, the superlight is notoriously accurate in all chamberings, there are quite a few in the line-up

So what does the Tikka T3 superlight weigh? The Savages are around 6 I believe.

Slugz · Apr 19, 2016

GKPrice said:
Guy - thank you for entering into the discussion ! I well remember your article around the Savage Lightweight Hunter
For the record, on pg 68 the summary of 10 rifles stated unscoped weights, the bottom 5 are all clearly heavier than a Tikka T3 superlight in 300 Win Mag for $699 at SW - As a note, the superlight is notoriously accurate in all chamberings, there are quite a few in the line-up

I don't think "notorious"......is the adjective you were looking for......but I'm not a English major. I did though sleep in a Holiday Inn last night!

no·to·ri·ous
nōˈtôrēəs/
adjective
famous or well known, typically for some bad quality or deed.
"Los Angeles is notorious for its smog"
synonyms: infamous, scandalous;

RICMIC · Apr 19, 2016

My Tikka Superlite (30-06) is listed as 5.8#. I believe the lite is 6.2#. Either way, it is way lighter than my old Browning A-bolt w.Boss, and shoots just as good.

Mr Drysdale · Apr 19, 2016

I drank the Tikka Kool-Aid and am glad I did. I've owned about every popular brand at one time or the other over my 58 years and the Tikka quickly became my all-time favorite. May have to get another or two.

Tim McCoy · Apr 19, 2016

RICMIC, both my T3 lites are just over 6 lbs. on my scales, about 7 1/4 scoped, loaded and slinged. So I believe your weights are spot on. After using them, I am now going to sell several rifles I acquired over the years for donor actions. I watched the sales and acquired both 270's for just over 600 each. Happily used the factory rings a bunch on one, changed them off more for my bias than any performance or durability issue. So far, dang fine tools, one in 25-06 keeps calling my name...

HuskyMusky · Apr 20, 2016

The did have a kimber in there didn't they? it just wasn't the montana...

they did list the savage, which is I think the blue collar option.

I was surprised no Tikka/ Sako A7 either, but there's only so much space right?

Just wondering about latest Journal choices ?

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