Short, Accurate Ohio Deer Rifle: Bergara or Tikka?

hzj105 · Aug 31, 2025

It's been a while since I've been in the market for a bolt action, so I wanted to get some thoughts before I made my purchase. I have been looking for an accurate, 16"-ish .350 Legend for Ohio deer hunting and getting back into marksmanship on something other than an AR. I don't have any suppressors now, but ultimately I'd like to hunt with one. I started off wanting a Ruger American Gen II, but I wasn't impressed with cycling the bolt.

Around the same time, I saw some great prices on the 16-inch Tikka T3x Lite and really liked the action. However, it's not threaded and the barrel contour is super thin. (I talked to LRI about threading it, and they told me it was possible with an adapter which seemed less than ideal.) This led to me the Tikka T3x Roughtech Ranch, but it is almost twice the price of the previous rifles.

I also looked at a Bergara B-14 Stoke and really liked it. In fact, I like almost everything--stock, ease of operating the safety, mag release, mags themselves--better than the stock Tikka, but I keep returning to how much I like the short throw on the Tikka. (For what it's worth, I haven't dry fired either rifle.) If I upgrade the stock on the Roughtech Ranch to something comparable or better, it will end up being a very expensive rifle for the purpose.

Right now, I'm leaning the Bergara. Anyone have any recommendations/thoughts?

flyfisher117 · 2025-09-06T09:57:57-0400

I’m on the Tikka bandwagon. For cheap factory rifles I love the trigger and action. If you really want to get frisky you can throw a $8 spring in the trigger and make it even ligther.

More and more threaded Tikkas are showing up but you can get the unthreaded ones for good prices right now. Sure a thread adapter isn’t ideal but it’s not the end of the world if you go that route.

TheBigCountry · 2025-09-06T10:12:51-0400

hzj105 said:
It's been a while since I've been in the market for a bolt action, so I wanted to get some thoughts before I made my purchase. I have been looking for an accurate, 16"-ish .350 Legend for Ohio deer hunting and getting back into marksmanship on something other than an AR. I don't have any suppressors now, but ultimately I'd like to hunt with one. I started off wanting a Ruger American Gen II, but I wasn't impressed with cycling the bolt.

Around the same time, I saw some great prices on the 16-inch Tikka T3x Lite and really liked the action. However, it's not threaded and the barrel contour is super thin. (I talked to LRI about threading it, and they told me it was possible with an adapter which seemed less than ideal.) This led to me the Tikka T3x Roughtech Ranch, but it is almost twice the price of the previous rifles.

I also looked at a Bergara B-14 Stoke and really liked it. In fact, I like almost everything--stock, ease of operating the safety, mag release, mags themselves--better than the stock Tikka, but I keep returning to how much I like the short throw on the Tikka. (For what it's worth, I haven't dry fired either rifle.) If I upgrade the stock on the Roughtech Ranch to something comparable or better, it will end up being a very expensive rifle for the purpose.

Right now, I'm leaning the Bergara. Anyone have any recommendations/thoughts?

https://www.eurooptic.com/tikka-t3x-ranahan-350-legend-20-116-bbl-roughtech-tanblued-3rd-ranch-rifle-jrtxwv313-20

https://www.eurooptic.com/tikka-t3x-hunter-350-legend-16-1-16-bbl-rifle-jrtxa313sb

H4MM3R · 2025-09-06T11:59:17-0400

Fellow ohioian here. Ruger american/ ruger ranch are good options. Cheap, light, accurate, and can get 16in barrel. I had one till I decided to get a 12.5 in 10twist barrel for my zues qc pistol.

Genin · 2025-09-06T12:20:38-0400

Tikka for sure.

roostercogburn98 · 2025-09-06T12:40:10-0400

Hard to argue against a nice lever gun in 44 mag for deer as well.

tacoman69 · 2025-09-06T12:47:44-0400

Definitely Tikka. I wouldn't trust a 700 trigger when it gets cold and bergaras can be picky with ammo. Ruger Americans struggle to feed I wouldn't even consider. Just spend a little more and get the Tikka, they just work

fdkay · 2025-09-06T13:11:45-0400

Howa mini action in 350 legend. Comes with a 16.5" threaded barrel.
Far superior to the ruger product.
Tikka is an excellent option, though there is a lot of unused space in that action, which is nothing but useless weight.

H4MM3R · 2025-09-06T13:21:46-0400

Forgot about the howa mini, those are great.

TheBigCountry · 2025-09-06T14:12:45-0400

roostercogburn98 said:
Hard to argue against a nice lever gun in 44 mag for deer as well.

I see your 44 and raise you a 45-70

LeftyJason · 2025-09-06T14:44:42-0400

hzj105 said:
It's been a while since I've been in the market for a bolt action, so I wanted to get some thoughts before I made my purchase. I have been looking for an accurate, 16"-ish .350 Legend for Ohio deer hunting and getting back into marksmanship on something other than an AR. I don't have any suppressors now, but ultimately I'd like to hunt with one. I started off wanting a Ruger American Gen II, but I wasn't impressed with cycling the bolt.

Around the same time, I saw some great prices on the 16-inch Tikka T3x Lite and really liked the action. However, it's not threaded and the barrel contour is super thin. (I talked to LRI about threading it, and they told me it was possible with an adapter which seemed less than ideal.) This led to me the Tikka T3x Roughtech Ranch, but it is almost twice the price of the previous rifles.

I also looked at a Bergara B-14 Stoke and really liked it. In fact, I like almost everything--stock, ease of operating the safety, mag release, mags themselves--better than the stock Tikka, but I keep returning to how much I like the short throw on the Tikka. (For what it's worth, I haven't dry fired either rifle.) If I upgrade the stock on the Roughtech Ranch to something comparable or better, it will end up being a very expensive rifle for the purpose.

Right now, I'm leaning the Bergara. Anyone have any recommendations/thoughts?

Depends on what you're threading it for, but I had my T3x Lite threaded for a face mount thunderbeast cb brake (uses face of muzzle as shoulder) to mount my ultra 7. Threaded 9/16 by thunderbeast.

carbonbased · 2025-09-06T21:32:12-0400

Unless it’s a Bergara Premier line rifle, go Tikka. I’ve owned both the Premier and Tikka, and they’re about equal. The B-14 line cycles rough (but heck, maybe they shoot?).

Seems like Bergara might be closing down most of the Premier line. Each year they offer fewer models.

david walter · 2025-09-06T21:34:54-0400

Buy a tikka in 223, and eBay is damn near giving away tikka barrels in 350 legend.

Tikka barrels are easy to swap.

That’s what I’d do anyway.

powdahound76 · 2025-09-06T21:51:10-0400

Tikka

Thread as noted.
Plenty of people can do it to a tikka sporter barrel.
Good friend had his done by Black Canyon Customs. Just as accurate as before.

The CB adapter is slick the way it works.

Salmon River makes a HUB mount so you can use any HUB compatible can.

hzj105 · 2025-09-07T11:09:20-0400

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone.

roostercogburn98 said:
Hard to argue against a nice lever gun in 44 mag for deer as well.

Funny enough, I have a JM Marlin in .44 that I bought before the Ruger-era, but I experienced some nasty feeding issues--like take the whole action apart bad. I ended up replacing the lifter and making a very slight modification to the lever, and it seems to run great with .44 SPC and MAG interchangeably. However, I'm still sorting out what to do about sights. I bought an XS rail/sight for it, but it seems like one of the screw holes is misaligned. I bought the rail a while ago; last time I called XS, they weren't keen to help me troubleshoot. I like to tinker, but I don't have the time or space for a project right now. I figured I'd do something different.

fdkay said:
Howa mini action in 350 legend. Comes with a 16.5" threaded barrel.
Far superior to the ruger product.
Tikka is an excellent option, though there is a lot of unused space in that action, which is nothing but useless weight.

I was sleeping on Howa. One of my good friends has had really good experience with Howa. I'm looking hard at this Howa mini on a chassis. Anyone know if this thing take AR mags? The proprietary mini mags don't seem to have the best reputation, and I can't find them for sale anywhere.

LeftyJason said:
Depends on what you're threading it for, but I had my T3x Lite threaded for a face mount thunderbeast cb brake (uses face of muzzle as shoulder) to mount my ultra 7. Threaded 9/16 by thunderbeast.

Looks like a cool setup, I'll have to dig into this and some of the other options mentioned.

david walter said:
Buy a tikka in 223, and eBay is damn near giving away tikka barrels in 350 legend.

Tikka barrels are easy to swap.

That’s what I’d do anyway.

You aren't kidding. The lite in .350 is sub-$500 with a rebate, so I'd probably just get

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