> I've always got the impression from their marketing material that the Europeans are selling a product, whereas the Americans are always selling a lifestyle.

A lot of people say the same thing about Harley-Davidson motorcycles. FortNine had a video made the rounds a little while ago:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOwxxsPaogY

The Tikka T3 is a fantastic rifle, but a Ruger American is competitive. If you get one of the Ruger Americans with a muzzle brake, it can give you a better overall experience, especially in the punchy calibers common in this type of rifle, like 308. The Tikka will probably be more accurate out of the box, but very few shooters can do their part to the level of either gun.

The big old school companies like Remington or Marlin have become lifestyle brands, for sure, but there are still some US companies making quality products. This is particularly true for more traditional American guns: you'd have a hard time beating a S&W or Ruger revolver, or a Henry lever action, with a foreign brand.

> I've always got the impression from their marketing material that the Europeans are selling a product, whereas the Americans are always selling a lifestyle.

Reminds me of “We Don’t Sell Saddles Here” by Stewart Butterfield around the time Slack launched.

https://medium.com/@stewart/we-dont-sell-saddles-here-4c5952...

Painful. Rifle weighs around 6.5lbs. it needs a stock pad to be usable. And if you go through a box of ammo at the range you will be sore for a week. But it's accurate to around .5 MOA and I stick a giant Burris eliminator 3 scope on there to take some of the bite out of the recoil.