I know this will probably differ from country to country, but I am curious. Thanks in advance for your responses.

9.3,

A quick but purely subjective personal response for the Fatherland.

Sako & Tikka are both very popular with American G.I.'s here in Germany, the Sako having the market High End and the Tikka the middle road. This group is a pretty small & exclusive market niche.

Have never in all my many years of Germany residency & hunting seen a German with a Sako or Tikka, they tend in my observations to be pretty true to their Tuetonic heritage, Mauser, Blaser, Sauer, Kriko, Anschutz, Steyr, Merkel, etc.

I agree with your assumption though, I venture the responses will vary widely from one country to the next.

In Italy too Sako/Tikka are quite unknown brands. I know over 100 hunters but only 2 or 3 own a Tikka. I personally own 2 Tikkas, a 695 lux cal.300 WM and a T3 Lite cal. 270 WSM; IMO both are excellent rifles, with a good value-for-money.

Both popular in UK. mainly due to extensive advertising by GMK who import Beretta range (which would be the most popular new shotguns)
was for many years AYA.
Numerically I guess there are more tikkas sold than sako. Probably 2:1. But they are 60% of sako price and more than 60% of quality/ accuracey/ longevity etc

Both would be market leading brands in the UK.Sako would be a high end rifle in the UK and Tikka the budget version. Tikka possibly outsells Sako. German rifles are rare as are a lot of the American rifles.
I could be wrong but that how it appears in our hunting/shooting club.

Mark

When we were in the Cz Rep in January, no-one was much interested in my Sauer or Liam's Mannlicher, but everyone wanted to see Pat's Sako, as none of them seemed to have seen one before.

In NI, Sako's are seen as premium rifles, Tikka's as middle of the road. Both are about equally common. CZ's are budget rifles. You see a fair few Sauers, I know of about 7 or 8, the occasional Blaser. You rarely see a Yank rifle here, the odd Remington. I don't think I have ever had a Winchester in my hands here.

I think that the T3"s were a departure away from the 595/695 that saw many stainless synthetic fans buying Tikka T3 synthetics, leaving the better finished wood/blue Sako"s as a more traditional, prettier option(I"d love one myself!)
I know both are available as wood or synthetic, but I"m just going on what I"ve seen here.
There"s a lot of Steyrs here as well, with Pro-hunters as stalking/sporting rifles, and SSG"S as sporting/tactical rifles.
good shooting.

While living in Andalucia in SW Spain I never saw a Sako, but knew a few that had them. I did see the odd Tikka for sale in the shops.

CZ was really common and then is stepped up to Blaser or Steyr. The odd Merkel, a few Chapuis, a lots of Sabatti or Zoli stuff, lots of Browning and a few Remingtons or Winchesters.

Here in Italy it's mostly Sabatti or Zoli a few Blasers, and a bit of the German stuff.

I shoot a lot of Sakos, but I seem to be the exception in this respect on my range (Canton Zurich in SWitzerland). Sakos, Tikkas, CZs, Winchesters, Remingtons, Rugers, Brownings etc are the "also rans" - swimming in a sea of Blasers and other German rifles. A lot of combination guns as well - Drillings, over-and-under combinations (BBFs).

- mike

Here in the country of their origin, both are well known and much used, as you might guess. And as elsewhere, Sakos have been known as the high-end brand and Tikka as the budget version. They are actually the most popular rifle brands of all and the American brands, as well as Sauer, Heym and CZ:s are quite rare.

The status of Sako as the better gun and Tikka as the "cheapie" is changing at the moment, since the Sako doesn't have that much advantage to Tikka in quality anymore. In fact, I think it hasn't had it for a long time, if ever, but the Sako has had better looks and better international advertising, which have given it a better reputation.

If I had to choose one hunting rifle from all their models, it would be the Tikka M65 standard model from the 1970s' in .30-06. You can hardly find a stronger action and better balanced rifle today. The second would be Tikka LSA-55 in .308 Win from early 1970's. Third would be a Sako Mauser (Sako High Power) from the 1950's in 8x60 Mauser.

Not often encountered in Belgium. I see some in shooting circles but hunters prefer high end German or Belgian handmade rifles.

Here in Iceland they are “the Rifle†I got 2. a heavy barreled 222 and Sako 75 DL in 300WM.

Sako and Tikka are very popular in Norway, I have owned 2 tikka rifles and would buy another anytime. I have always thought that Sako were too expensive compared with the Tikka.

There were rumours of bad quality stainless steel on the new T3 kan anyone confirm this ?

Kaldevass: Two years ago some Tikka and also Sako stainless rifle barrels exploded and resulted in injuries for the shooters. They managed to get back all the rest of the dangerous rifles and there haven't been any more accidents after that.

The bad quality of certain stainless steel lot was the official explanation, but that was probably not the real reason. More likely it was because their new production system tried to make barrels from less material than they used to, and whereas this worked OK with other steels, it didn't work with the stainless quality and explosions resulted.

Since the accident they have given up their new barrel machine, which made the exploded barrels, and have gone back to their old barrel making system, so there should be no problems and hasn't been so far (knock, knock!),

Whilst hardly Europe I thought some of you might like to hear how these two rifles are viewed here in New Zealand.
Sako have a cult status, their reputation goes back to the days of the deer cullers who waxed lyrical about the Vixen and Hunter models.
Tikka have a solid reputation. The T3 S/S has a good following here and are seen as a rifle which shoots as well as, and often better than Sakos, at 60% of the cost.
I have had several Sako and Tikka rifles, the one I rave about is a T3 in 6.5x55.
The great thing about the Tikka in 6.5x55 is its' ability to handle long 156 grain Lapua bullets with ease. The Sako in 6.5x55 is too heavy.

After having bought 7 Steyr Pro Hunters in various calibers, I bought a Tikka T3 Varmint in 6,5x55 today. Before that, I compared it very carefully to the Sako and I have to say, that there is not really a big differnce in the workmanship or quality, and the barrels are absolutely the same in Sako's and Tikka's. Sure, the action of the Sako seems to be smoother, but.....the Tikka T3 is only 60% of the price of a Sako and it will fit the bill in the same way....

Here in denmark they seem to be popular...but I have never cared much for them. Steyr & Sauer I believe are more predominant.

As officer at an important shooting range I saw many Sako and some Tikka.
I think that Tikka can increase the presence because now it is distributed by Franchi.

Here in Iceland Sako and Tikka are very popular. I got 2 Sako´s a heavy barrelled .223 Varmint and Sako 75 Hunter in .338WM. Love them both.
Bye,
Ingvar Johann.