r/canadaguns • u/General_bacon21 • May 31 '26

Buy recommendations Hunting bolt gun recommendations

Hi everyone, I am looking into getting a 308 bolt action rifle for hunting and some range. I want it to be 20 inches or less and I have narrowed it down to these few:

CVA Cascade SB (Threaded barrel, good price but sort of hard to find)

Tikka T3X Lite Compact (Non threaded barrel, probably the most expensive of all, hard to find and the really expensive mags are a con)

Ruger American Ranch Gen2 (Nice looking rifle, I do have some doubts about a 16 inch barrel and I have heard there might be some issues with the feeding sometimes)

Bergara B14 Ridge SP (Also hard to find and the one I know the least about)

I would like yalls opinion on all of these rifles and if you own them what you guys think of them. Note that I think for this one I would like to buy this gun used and I don't think I would be hunting past 250 meters.

Thank you

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u/Murray3-Dvideos May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26

As a .308 Bergara Ridge Rifle owner, cant say I'd recommend one. The sole reason being that there is a notable chance the .308 version of the rifle will be fussy accuracy wise with the ammo you feed it.

This is a very polarizing issue amongst Bergara owners.

I wish i'd just got a Tikka. Ive yet to meet someone in person who has had an issue with their Tikka.

Can't offer any insight regarding Ruger rifles, but 16" barrel wise, I cant imagine it would deminish capabilities from taking big game within 250m in a way that is noticeable. Packing a 16" barrel when hunting in the woods is a very pleasant experience.

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u/Iokua_CDN May 31 '26

I'm noticing a couple folks aren't happy with Bergaras.  Like I'm sure there are plenty who are happy, but I'm noticing more and more on reddit folks who don't like them or are disappointed in one they bought 

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u/Murray3-Dvideos May 31 '26

They seem to be alot like X Bolts... excellent if you get a good one, absolute pie plate accuracy if you are unlucky and get a tempermental one. I recently discovered that mine does love Sierra 175gr matchkings (sub moa 5 shot group potential) which is usually what Bergara tests their barrels with and reconmends. But its annoying that the rifles seems to hate many other popular bullets. My friends Tikkas will shoot everything reasonably well.