Rip Off Britain
Dear Farther Christmas
I have been a reasonably good boy this year. I have made a little bit of money & in doing so, I haven’t displaced any tribesmen with logging schemes, been involved in the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods or destroyed sensitive arctic environments with oil exploration activities.
Whist I haven’t actively campaigned for third world debt relief, neither have I short sold substantial blocks of vulnerable stock – OK some of my ‘contacts of difference’ trades have been a bit marginal, but I am not under investigation for any of them.
So please could I have one of these for Christmas:
In the December issue of The Field, the T3 gets an excellent review. Built by Tikka of Finland, on the same machines that make the legendary Sako rifles, the T3 combines the best of modern design & production techniques with traditional build quality & accuracy. In .270, with that calibres flat trajectory & good down range energy, it would be an ideal weapon suitable for any deer in the British Isles – accurate & powerful without the meat spoiling wounds often caused by .308 Win / .30-06 on the smaller deer species.
I think that the Lite version would be ideal, although I would get the free floating barrel rebedded as I often shoot with a target style two point sling. The Field gives the recommended retail prices (inc VAT) in the UK of the five models as follows;
Hunter £625
Lite £565
Lite Stainless £665
Laminated Stainless £750
Synthetic Varmint Stainless £750
I cross-referenced the article with the October issue of American Rifleman. That publication also gives the T3 an excellent write up. It is interesting to note however that it gives the prices for the range as follows:
Hunter $618
Lite $549
Lite Stainless $618
Laminated Stainless $618
Synthetic Varmint Stainless $646
Now, I am sure that these prices don’t include state sales tax, but I suspect that this could be offset by dealer discounts. Therefore, assuming this mornings £:$ exchange rate of it means that the model I’d like is 45% more expensive in Great Britain. The Liminated Stainless model is a huge 53%more expensive.
Of course I appreciate that Tikka will have a far greater market in the US than in the UK, thereby benefiting from various economies of scale. The however will be partially countreacted by the distance that the products have to be shipped. In any case, I don't suppose that a Nokia mobile phone costs any more in the US than it does in the UK - now thats a Finnish product, but hell, it will probably come all the way from Malaysia!
So, Father Christmas, I know its a rip off but can I have one anyway!
Comments
See below.
Posted by: Les Waldron | December 17, 2003 12:03 PM
GIRD THY LOINS.
Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.
Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.
Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.
So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.
As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.
Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.
While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.
An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.
Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.
You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.
A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.
Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.
For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.
While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.
While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.
But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.
Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.
While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.
My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?
And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.
Posted by: Les Waldron | December 17, 2003 12:06 PM
Mr. Free Market--I don't believe you would notice a bit of difference in amount of meat spoiled between the .270 and .308. I have seen a Helluva lot of whitetails killed by the 130 grain .270 and the 150 grain .308, and I couldn't tell ya which loads killed which deer in a million years. Meat loss is identical, assuming similar placement.
All I would say is if you are going to use the Nosler Ballistip Tips (or any of the recent variants) don't hold on the shoulder of a game animal inside 25 yards, if that animal weighs more than 150 lbs. That bullet is going to disintergate on that big shoulder, and you'll still kill the deer, but you'll have polycarbonate tip fragments all the way down through the body cavity, even into the offside ham. It is needlessly messy.
If you handload, keep your muzzle velocities under 3000 fps with those Ballistic Tips. I shoot a .280 with the 140 grain Ballistic Tip and I use 52.5 grains of IMR 4350. Seat the bullet shallow,call it .01 of an inch from the lands.
That Tikka is a nice rifle. You might also want to consider the new Savage with the accutrigger.
Shoot low, they're riding Shetlands,
Posted by: George Lee | December 17, 2003 10:03 PM
Hey, if you are friends with this Les Waldron guy, put a real cold cloth on his forehead and elevate his feet. I betcha he'll be fine in no time...I just won't betcha all that much, hehehehe...
Posted by: George Lee | December 17, 2003 10:06 PM