Hi all,
This is my first attempt to reloading, sorry about the lengthy post and bear with me if something sounds stupid
Tikka T3X TAC A1 6,5 CRMR with original Tikka 24" barrel (486 shots before these)
once shot Sako LRP Brass
- Demprimed and then ultrasonic cleaned
- bumped shoulder back 0.002" to 1.558" (Datum) and FL-sized (Redding Type-S Match dies with 0.289" bushing) trimmed to 1.910".
CCI 200 LRP primers
Hornady ELD-M 147gr
Seated the bullet to 2.265" CBTO, which is also close to my Mag max length
Powder is Vihtavuori N555, as there was no loading data available I shot one shot 38-40 gr in 0.5gr increments to test for pressure and then proceeded to shoot 5 shots in 0.3 gr increments.
Unfortunately my labradar died (battery) after the first five shots of 40.3 gr so I shot one shot each load to test for pressures. That's also the reason why i shot 4 shot strings today. The 40.3 gr gave me AVG=773m/s / 2536fps (powder temp +27C / 80.6F)
First I shot the CB and fouled the barrel with 5 shots of Sako Range.
Range was 150m / 164 yards, after 41.2gr i took 0.1 mrad down to avoid aiming at the POI. Waited about 10 min after every 4 shots to let the chamber and barrell cool down a bit.
40.6 gr (Powder temp +18.7C / 65.7F)
AVG=778 m/s (2552fps), ES=6, SD=3.0
1: 780 m/s
2: 776 m/s
3: 781 m/s
4: 774 m/s
40.9 gr
AVG=778 m/s (2552fps), ES=7, SD=2.9
1: 777 m/s
2: 782 m/s
3: 775 m/s
4: 779 m/s
41.2 gr
AVG=786 m/s (2578fps), ES=1, SD=0.3
1: 786 m/s
2: 786 m/s
3: 786 m/s
4: 786 m/s
41.5 gr
AVG=792 m/s (2598fps), ES=3, SD=1.4
1: 793 m/s
2: 792 m/s
3: 793 m/s
4: 790 m/s
41.8 gr
AVG= 798 m/s (2618fps), ES=5, SD=2.1
1: 798 m/s
2: 796 m/s
3: 799 m/s
4: 801 m/s
42.1 gr
AVG= 804 m/s (2637fps), ES=5, SD=2.4
1: 807 m/s
2: 804 m/s
3: 803 m/s
4: 802 m/s
Colours are not that visible in the pic, but:
1st shot = Green
2nd shot = Red
3rd shot = Blue
4th shot = Brown
Didn't get any clear pressure signs and I'm okay happy with the velocities (Tikka barrells are somewhat slow). I'm not happy with groups, but the shooter is a bit rusty here aswell with couple of flyers that were obvious before going to the targets
What do you guys think?
- Do I need to go forward with more powder? I'm somewhat hesitant because the brass is getting quite full already and if I'm going to start bring the bullet seating depth down in the next phase it's just getting more crowded there. Also 2637fps is getting me to over 1.2 km, which is plenty for this caliper and for me.
- I was thinking of selecting one powder measure here and make three groups of different seating depths and go to 300m or 500m to test the groupings, something like:
3 shots of 2.265" (current CBTO)
3 shots of 2.262" (-0.003")
3 shots of 2.259" etc etc.
What recipe should I select going forward?
Cheers, Valtteri