There are, to the best of my knowledge, only two brands that maintain an almost identical safety set-up on their bolt guns. Ruger and Sako/Tikka.
CZ makes nice guns, but the safeties on their 527s (223) are “backwards”. You have to treat them like a hammer, rather than a traditional safety. And it’s not in the same shape as the 550 (308). And both of those are different, IIRC, from the safeties on their rimfires (but the safeties are identical, regardless of model). What’s worse, though, is that you’ll have to have the 527 rebarreled, if you intend to actually run anything heavier than 55-grains out of it. But, stripped 527 223 actions are available from the factory. (I would be tempted to buy one to make into 300 Blk.)
Kimber and Winchester has safeties that are reasonably similar to those on the Ruger, so an M77/22 in 22 LR and another in 22 Mag would mate well with an 84 in 223 and 308. Only problem is that neither Winchester nor Kimber make 223s with sporter barrel contours. And with the Winchester, you have to go with the identical FNs to get a 223, period.
Rugers bolt guns all have the same safety set-up, except for the Americans. And they offer sporter weight 223s. But their quality is more miss than hit. The actions tend to be extremely rough (some so bad as to border on unusable), regardless of what you may or may not be able to do with accuracy.
That leaves Sako/Tikka. They all have safeties in the same place. They all have the same basic functionality, although the Sako centerfire rifles have an added tab to allow you to work the bolt with the safety on. The best part? You can get their rifles in 223, with sporter barrel contours and rifling with a 1-in-8" twist. You can even get them in a Tikka. The only thing that sucks about them are the integral bases on the Sako 85s. Not a big deal if you’re going to stick to sporter stuff, but it removes the option of running one scope across a multitude of rifles (unless they’re all 85s).
SO. To summarize:
Ruger
+Identical safeties
+Sporter and heavy barrel configurations in all calibers wanted
(Centerfires only)
-Accuracy is hit-or-miss (pun unintended)
-Actions tend to be rough, some to the point of being almost unusable
Ruger Rimfire with Kimber, Winchester, and/or FN Centerfire
+Safeties are pretty close in function and location (but not shape)
-No 223 sporter guns
Sako and Tikka
+Superb accuracy
+Identical safeties across platforms
+Sporter weight and heavy barrel models available in all calibers
+1-in-8" twist available for 223 (in fact, I’ve seen more 1-in-8s than otherwise)
-Proprietary mounting system on the Sako model 85.
The only other real negative I can think of is that the rimfire is going to only be a Sako gun and therefore not inexpensive. But, one does have the option of buying a conversion kit (barrel and magazine) to convert to/from 22 WMR and 22 LR (and 17 HMR and 17 HM2). However, the Tikka sporters tend to be less expensive than Winchesters, FNs, Kimbers, and Ruger M77s. Which can, as a system, off-set the increased price of the rimfire (assuming that you don’t mind the Tikka instead of having to have a full stable of Sakos).
