Thread: Comparing the old with the new.

There seems to be a lot of love for some of the older rifles that pop up from time to time. Older Tikkas, Vixens etc. I can understand there is a bit of nostalgia value to them but were they actually any better than the new offerings for the money you paid. There are definitely more options these days.

Prefer them much the same way I prefer classic cars to todays offerings.

This will be good !

I will watch and listen before I comment on Really Old vs New

Originally Posted by The bomb

Prefer them much the same way I prefer classic cars to todays offerings.

Difficult comparison. Technology in cars has changed infinitly in the past 50 years. Bolt action rifles, not so much.

My 2 cents - I have a tikka LSA55 and a new Howa superlite sitting side by side. Tikka action is smoother, far superior trigger that has no creep like the howa and breaks crisper. Fit and finish on the tikka is def above the Howa. Bolts weigh the same, tikka action is heavier but shorter. Mag feed feels solid compared to the howa. And as for old Brno ZG47s and model 21’s old Sakos that I’ve had in the past, just super quality rifles, even the Husky 8000’s are smoother than the modern tikkas. I don’t care for the mid aged BSA rifles like the CF2? I think they are called… dog aweful rifles. And as for the new tikka rifles - I think they are great, just that the LSA locks up like a rolls Royce door compared to a Toyota Corolla type feel. As for the newer higher quality rifles… never owned one so can’t comment

Originally Posted by Scott Cowan

My 2 cents - I have a tikka LSA55 and a new Howa superlite sitting side by side. Tikka action is smoother, far superior trigger that has no creep like the howa and breaks crisper. Fit and finish on the tikka is def above the Howa. Bolts weigh the same, tikka action is heavier but shorter. Mag feed feels solid compared to the howa. And as for old Brno ZG47s and model 21’s old Sakos that I’ve had in the past, just super quality rifles, even the Husky 8000’s are smoother than the modern tikkas. I don’t care for the mid aged BSA rifles like the CF2? I think they are called… dog aweful rifles. And as for the new tikka rifles - I think they are great, just that the LSA locks up like a rolls Royce door compared to a Toyota Corolla type feel. As for the newer higher quality rifles… never owned one so can’t comment

Did you buy the LSA55 new? What did they cost? @zimmer.

I think we need to establish some benchmarks and comparisons.

For example:

Budget Rifles,then and now

Medium priced Rifles,then and now

Premium Rifles,then and now.

Originally Posted by Shearer

Did you buy the LSA55 new? What did they cost? @zimmer.

Mmmm, IIRC I paid $128 new somewhere between 1971 and 1973. Memory might be out a tad.
Just b4 the change to decimal currency I paid 59 pounds 17/6 for a Sako Forester in 308W.

Old things have an added attraction when your feeling nostalgic

Secretly we all yearn for the simpler life we had before technology and full time jobs

Thats the life we want and think of when considering old rifles, canvas packs, bullers , air cooled motorbikes and our own bit of land with a hut on it

Subjectively the further away from full time jobs we are the more freedom we enjoy

Genuine freedom starts within a man and propagates outwards


Having said that, and back to the op’s question, some old things are better and some new things are better

Yeah. As I said, a lot less choice back in say the 70s.
A mid priced rifle these days (say a Tikka Superlite for $1900) would have cost just over $100 in 1971. If you paid $400 for a new rifle back in 1971 that's the equivalent of $7156.36 these days. That's a lot of rifle.
https://www.inflationtool.com/new-ze...equency=yearly
For $3500 now I can buy one of these.
https://www.berettanewzealand.com/fi...product_id=656
That's less then $200 in 1971.

Originally Posted by zimmer

Mmmm, IIRC I paid $128 new somewhere between 1971 and 1973. Memory might be out a tad.
Just b4 the change to decimal currency I paid 59 pounds 17/6 for a Sako Forester in 308W.

Ok. $128 is about $2300. Good buy

Regards the LSA I did not buy new. But it’s almost as nice as the Sako A2 series in my opinion. As for level of rifle, I used the tikka LSA and howa superlite as I thought they were comparable in action size, and maybe price range tho I don’t have a handle on olden day prices, superlight being more expensive than the basic t3x means it a mid range value rifle from where I see it.

I like old and new.
Quality is quality old or new. Some of the wood on the older rifles is much nicer looking than the modern equivalents but this is a cosmetic rather than functional difference.

I still use the shotgun I learnt to hunt using fourty years ago.its still as good today as was then. My howa is as good as my model70 lightweight was. They actually very similar

Originally Posted by Scott Cowan

My 2 cents - I have a tikka LSA55 and a new Howa superlite sitting side by side. Tikka action is smoother, far superior trigger that has no creep like the howa and breaks crisper. Fit and finish on the tikka is def above the Howa. Bolts weigh the same, tikka action is heavier but shorter. Mag feed feels solid compared to the howa. And as for old Brno ZG47s and model 21’s old Sakos that I’ve had in the past, just super quality rifles, even the Husky 8000’s are smoother than the modern tikkas. I don’t care for the mid aged BSA rifles like the CF2? I think they are called… dog aweful rifles. And as for the new tikka rifles - I think they are great, just that the LSA locks up like a rolls Royce door compared to a Toyota Corolla type feel. As for the newer higher quality rifles… never owned one so can’t comment

You are semi right. The BSA CF2 was an absolute abomination as a rifle. A moron must have designed it. Railway iron is lighter. Best.