I have both. I have a Tikka M695(Whitetail Hunter), SS/Laminate,
in .25-06 Rem, and a Tikka T-3, blued/synthetic, in .223 Rem.
Differences are:
A full length bridge over the ejection port, on the T-3, versus
an open top ejection port on the WH. This makes single shot
loading a pain, but not impossible. Not really an issue for
most shooting scenarios.
The plastic box magazine in the short action WH(M595), has
an issue where if the plastic mag. is loaded, and left out of the gun,
it has a tendency to bulge the sides, and prevent the mag
from being later inserted in the rifle. My gun store guy had
a .243 M595, that he would load the mag, and throw it on the
seat of his truck. Later when driving around for varmints/predators,
he would attempt to load the loaded mag, and it could not
be inserted in the rifle. He sold it because of that issue, but
now regrets selling this very accurate rifle...I wish I would have
known it was on the market! The long action mag.s for the
WH(M695), are steel, and do not have this issue. This would
not prevent me from buying a short action WH(M595), since
I would just load the mags just before it was inserted in the
rifle. I know of one case where a Sako short action steel
mag was modified to work in a short action Tikka WH(M595).
On the T-3 short action mags, reinforcing ribs have been
added to prevent this problem.
The T-3 is a one size fits all rifle, with a bolt stop for short
action calibers. So there might be a small weight savings,
if they had actually made two different action sizes, but the
T-3 is already so light, this really is insignificant.
The Whitetail Hunters are heavier. In heavy recoiling rifles
this is an advantage, at least as far as my shoulder is concerned.
In small caliber rifles, this is a disadvantage. I really like the
heavier rifle, in .25-06 Rem, since my loads are getting all of
the speed out of heavier bullets, I can load for. It does let you
know that when I pull the trigger. In my .223 Rem., I want a
light varmint rifle, and the T-3 is just about perfect. In a heavier
caliber T-3, I would be looking at a Limbsaver Recoil pad,
and expect more felt recoil.
Both rifles are excellent firearms, and these differences would
not prevent me from buying either model, in all available
standard calibers, if the deal was right.
Squeeze
