r/canadaguns • u/Donthrowaway45 • Mar 16 '26

Gun and gear reviews First Rifle

Thinking of pairing the T3X CTR .308 ($1500) w/ a Vortex Venom 3-15x44 FFP, 34mm scope ($700) + low Vortex Pro series scope rings ($120) as my first rifle.

Reading that the T3X is pretty solid and should last, whereas the venom is an entry level scope (crazy for $700). But for the very casual plinker I though it'd suffice to get me, and keep me, into it. Any thoughts before I commit?

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u/Anyways_Im_Em Mar 16 '26

I run a tikka t3x ace game in .308 and absolutely love it. Cant speak for the ctr but if its anything like the ace, you wont be disappointed.

Not sure about that scope either as ive never looked into it. But for just a bit more you can get a DNT the one. So far I have been extremely happy with it. Especially at the price point compared to higher end scopes. Basically just a rebranded Arken EP 5 gen II.

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u/Donthrowaway45 Mar 16 '26

I think the ace has a heavier duty barrel. there's something similar in the preowned for 1700.. but I think aesthetically I prefer the ctr. how many rounds have you put yours through? action still feeling buttery?

I was cross shopping the Venom with the EP5. basically just came down to what my buddy was familiar with.

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u/Anyways_Im_Em Mar 16 '26

I think the ctr actually has the heavier barrel. Think its the "semi heavy". Where as the ace game has the fluted "sporter" barrel. And the ace target has the "heavy". But it is a shorter barrel. Ctr is 20" and the ace game is 24". Either way it will be a great gun and with .308 you can also shoot bulk 7.62x51.

I only have about 80 rounds through my ace game so far. Mix of both .308 and 7.52x51. So hardly even broken in. But man is that tikka action smooth out of the box. I was going to get a ruger american preditor gen II untill I had the chance to compare it to a t3x lite. I was instantly sold on getting a tikka after that. And dont even get me started on how much better the trigger was.

I was trying to get an ep5 but couldn't find a gen 2. So I eventually stumbled upon the dnt and it basically the same thing. And loads of good reviews. So instead of getting the ep5 gen 1 in 5-25x56 I was able to get the dnt the one in 7-35x56 and get the little upgrades like the light up reticle. And it was available in mrad or moa. I personally went with the Mrad so I do everything in mil.

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u/Donthrowaway45 Mar 16 '26

right. the ace game. that thing was hefty.

7-35 seems like such a big upgrade from the 3-15 the venom offers. and it's not illuminated. so for an extra $100, seems like the EP5 is the better bargain.

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u/Anyways_Im_Em Mar 16 '26

About as heavy as I would ever want a hunting rifle to be. But about as light as id want a target rifle to be and still be stable. As I plan to do a bit of both with it.

I wasn't able to find a ep5 gen 2 anywhere so I ended up with ordering the dnt from RDSC. The biggest thing for me is I wanted more zoom. So I went with the dnt over the ep5 gen 1, they apparently come from the same factory anyway. If you do want the illuminated reticle and the 7-35 you either have to track down a gen 2 or go with the dnt.

Id definitely reccomend checking some reviews on the dnt though. .50 bmg rated. Fist focal plane. Illuminated reticle. 25-500/infinite parallax adjustment. Available in moa or mrad. Cant go wrong for the price point and gives you a scope to grow into instead of grow out of as you move up in range and guns.