PRS Talk Production Class Narrowed down to 3 Guns

[firstboltbuild]

Hey everyone! So I've done a ton of research in regards to my budget and options. I continuously get different feed back and told to buy different things but need more options to make a decision. I have narrowed everything down to 3 guns that fit in my price range. Bergara B-14 HMR Match Bolt Action, Tikka T3X Tac A1, and Howa HCR the rifles (whichever one is chosen) will be set in 6.5 Creedmor. I need to know what everyone thinks will be the best overall value but also the best one out of the group.

 

[Jefe's Dope]

Tikka.

Yesterday my wife hit 9 of 10 at 600 yards, and 10 of 10 at 500 yards. She had never fired a bolt action rifle before. Never shot at those distances. And had never shot my Tikka. I was impressed when I hit all 20 but was astonished, and my pride hurt a bit , when she hit 19 of 20. I was scoring her and her 500 group was less than 12" across. Center mass.

10 rounds at 100 during load development.

If not the Tikka, the PVA.

 

[b6graham]

Tikka.

Yesterday my wife hit 9 of 10 at 600 yards, and 10 of 10 at 500 yards. She had never fired a bolt action rifle before. Never shot at those distances. And had never shot my Tikka. I was impressed when I hit all 20 but was astonished, and my pride hurt a bit , when she hit 19 of 20. I was scoring her and her 500 group was less than 12" across. Center mass.


View attachment 6966098


10 rounds at 100 during load development.

View attachment 6966099

If not the Tikka, the PVA.

this

if you really want to shoot against yourself in production

otherwise that $2K could go a lot further

 

[King_beardsly]

Dont get me wrong production class is fun and great if you just want to dip your toes, but in my personal experience open class is a little more fun. I'm in the process of building an open gun and I'm just over the 2K mark with a pretty solid build, its nothing cutting edge or crazy but it'll grow with me as i go deeper down the rabbit hole. With open class the world is your oyster, you can have any caliber you want, any chassis/stock you can make teh rifle your own your only limit is your budget, production class you have only off the shelf offerings with no real ability to modify your rig to fit you.

 

[SpeedyR]

I"m in the same boat. I've got a Burris XTR II for optics and have been budgeting towards a $1300-2k rifle. As soon as I have the cash I'll probably get the Tikka as it just seems to be the best all around rifle in the class. BUT I have read a lot about the PVA John Hancock and the BadRock South Fork rifle and if either was more available (AFAIK both are 5-8 month wait times if you order now) I would probably save up a bit more and go with one of those.

The advantage IMHO with going with the PVA/BR is you have a very good action and barrel so if you want to bump from the production class, you could outfit it with whatever chassis you want, and upgrade the trigger as well, then optics. With the Tikka, I think you could upgrade the barrel and chassis (personal preference) but having a more "custom" action would be nice.

 

[Codiekfx400]

All good options but here’s another one. https://masterpiecearms.com/shop/mpa-ba-lite-pcr-competition-rifle/

 

[King_beardsly]

I was going to do one of the PVA Hancock's but instead got a barreled origin action from them and built my own. It's running a TT diamond trigger with a krg bravo, so its sorta like a Hancock for a tiny bit more but I already have a production rifle.

 

[Forward543]

If you want straight budget entry, ruger precision for $800. They shoot great. If going to the next level up, the john hancock is pretty attractive. Its not a huge cost jump over the tikka/ bergara, but the things you get are worth while.

 

[ThePretzel]

All good options but here’s another one. https://masterpiecearms.com/shop/mpa-ba-lite-pcr-competition-rifle/

Wait if you want to buy an MPA, Here's an email I received from MPA when I asked them about whether they will swap to Curtis Custom actions for their production rigs because there's been rumors and debate as to whether they are modifying a factory rifle by using a Rem700 action.

Our plan is to use an MPA Branded action per the rules clarification. Yes We are working with Curtis however we have not worked everything out.

At this Time MPA Rifles built on Remington's are grandfathered in.

Once they make the swap to an action from Curtis Customs I think they'll be right up there with the John Hancock in terms of bang for your buck in a production class rifle.

 

[b6graham]

Wait if you want to buy an MPA, Here's an email I received from MPA when I asked them about whether they will swap to Curtis Custom actions for their production rigs because there's been rumors and debate as to whether they are modifying a factory rifle by using a Rem700 action.



Once they make the swap to an action from Curtis Customs I think they'll be right up there with the John Hancock in terms of bang for your buck in a production class rifle.

Pretty tall order to add an action that costs double considering chassis cost difference between JHR and MPA PCR

 

[Codiekfx400]

For some reason I believe Phil’s phone might blow up on Monday. Probably a cat he didn’t want out of the bag.

 

[ThePretzel]

For some reason I believe Phil’s phone might blow up on Monday. Probably a cat he didn’t want out of the bag.

This was an email from back in April. I just sent an email to their bolt action customer service email (Al Oliver) and got that response back. I don't have any special insider information, just contacted them via their publicly available email about a rumor I'd heard and got that response.

It's been known for a while that they were going to have to switch to their own branded action due to the rules clarification for production division. They already have partnerships with Curtis Customs so it makes sense that they'd be working with them to try and create their own branded action as well. I don't think there really was any cat in the bag there, it just wasn't super widespread information that they'd have to switch to a different action unless you knew about the rules clarification.

The email doesn't necessarily confirm that they will switch to Curtis Custom actions on their production rifle, just that they've been working with Curtis Customs to try and make it work. I imagine Curtis Customs might also be interested in potentially developing a lower cost action to compete with stuff like the Bighorn Origin and the Defiance Tenacity. Their Axoim, IMO, competes well already with the Nucleus since they're both similarly priced 3-lug actions even if their features are different (the Axoim seems to focus on a light bolt lift with their roller ball cocking piece, while the Nucleus has other features it focuses on, which definitely makes it a lot lighter of a lift than the Nucleus having compared them side by side).

I know if they have a new action ready for their production guns by next summer and it turns out to be a Curtis Custom, I will 100% be ordering one. That would fix the only weak point (who wants to shoot a Rem700 action, even if it's trued?) in what otherwise would be a top tier contender for the best production rig. My current build is a BR, so I'd probably order one of the hotter 6's like a Creedmoor assuming they keep the same caliber offerings. It even comes with a 10 round mag and a hard case with custom foam inserts, at least in its current iteration.

 

[stello1001]

I have a Howa HCR and it is a great shooter. For the price, you won't find anything better. Even if you go up on budget, the Howa will still compete against those pricier options. Yesterday I went to the range to get a 100 yard zero on my new scope. With dirt cheap ammo, I shot this 3 shot group on the picture below.

If I wanted to buy something else rather than a Howa, it'd be a Tikka, maybe not specifically the Tac A1 because I already have a chassis rifle. Their actions are real smooth and just as accurate. However, my Howa loses nothing to a Tikka!

Just my $0.02!!!