About done trying to find a load

[johnnybow]

I bought a tikka 7 mag superlight last year and it's been very picky on bullets. I was hoping to take it on a cape plains hunt with Kudu being the biggest animal. I've loaded 130 barnes, 160 accubonds, 150 accubonds and 139 hornady soft point boatails ao far. It shot the 139 hornady the best by far. I'm going to try 150 grain sierra tippped gamekings next and I'm not sure if I'm going to try anything else with this gun. I'm either going to use the 139 hornady or buy a different rifle. The hornady is the only one giving me 1" moa. I've read the hornady bullets terminal performance on game is questionable then I've read that it will do just fine. Any thoughts on using the hornady on plains game? Thanks

 

[farmer_john]

Ok few questions to start.
Is your rifle glass/pillar bedded and free floated?
When shooting how many rounds are you shooting in a string? (How many shots in what timeframe between shots/total/

Walk me through your load development process.

 

[Nhoro]

Hornady Interbond would work but Interlock and other cup and core bullets would be put under a lot of pressure at high velocity and close range. My suggestion is to try heavier bullets, maybe 175 gr or so. You seem to have used lighter bullets only. Also try Barnes TTSX, they are well suited to the rem mags high velocity.

 

[APB]

Just sighted my son's tikka T3x in 30-06 in with federal fusion soft points 180gn for a black bear hunt. It's shooting 1 MOA at 100. We're using factory ammo for this one but they are available for reloading.

 

[Pheroze]

Have you played with seating depth? If not, I have found seating depth can make a big difference when the bullet refuses to cooperate. And it’s not always closer to the lands, but I found monos and A Frames like a bit of jump. Get the best with the set depth and then move it around. knowing your max COAL and whether a longer cartridge will feed properly will be important. Good luck.

 

[ARHinAK]

A lot of variables going on here. Once in a blue moon there will be a Tikka that doesn’t live up to tikkas claim to fame. Whether this being about a 6.5 lb rifle in 7 rem mag is an issue, could go either way. Pick one good tough bullet whatever flavor and focus on doing everything you can do to get it to shoot. Eliminate one variable at a time. I’ve been guilty of the shotgun approach myself many times.

 

[samson7x]

Have you tried multiple powders? Sometimes that makes all the difference for me. Seating depth can be another major factor. Some bullets like a jump, some don't.

Have you tried any factory ammo?

 

[farmer_john]

A lot of variables going on here. Once in a blue moon there will be a Tikka that doesn’t live up to tikkas claim to fame. Whether this being about a 6.5 lb rifle in 7 rem mag is an issue, could go either way. Pick one good tough bullet whatever flavor and focus on doing everything you can do to get it to shoot. Eliminate one variable at a time. I’ve been guilty of the shotgun approach myself many times.

I agree.

That said first thing i do is bed rifles and ensure there free floated. And all your screws are torqued to spec.


Second try a box or two factory ammo to get initial zero and test groups.

I take apart my bolt and put a dummy round together and keep seating deeper till bolt closes 0 resistsnce. And measure ( this is my theoretical max length)

I load my initial loads to recomended length.
Start with low ish and do 5 rounds in .5 grain increments to the max.
Example from hogdon reloading.

I would start at 70 grn
70.5
71
71.5
72
72.5
73
73.5
73.8
I would then shoot those 5 shot groups. With a pre fouled barrel.
1 shot (cold bore) then wait 5-10 minutes between shots to let barrel cool. And note the groupings.

The issue with alot of your super lightweighr barrels is as they heat up your POI can change alot. Like 1-3 moa. On pencil barrels. Now alot of times once it heats up its somewhat consistant but your cold bore to warm barrel can be a big difference.

Once i get a load that works i might tinker with seating depth to refine.

 

[AJ Peacock]

Good comments so far. I've hunted with a 7 mag for 4 decades and used a bunch of different powders/bullets. I've also been around and reloaded for 5 other 7mm RM's. My go to combo is RL22 and Accubond 160gr. 162gr Hornady match can be loaded to shoot in pretty much the same hole, so you get a tough bullet and a light skinned bullet that shoot almost identically. Adjust the powder and jump for each bullet.

One other thing, for this load I've found better consistency (lower std-dev and extreme velocity spreads) using non-mag primers. I use Norma brass, as it is thinner and gives me a little more powder capacity.

Your mileage will certainly vary, but this is a good combo that has worked in several rifles.

AJ

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

I bought a tikka 7 mag superlight last year and it's been very picky on bullets. I was hoping to take it on a cape plains hunt with Kudu being the biggest animal. I've loaded 130 barnes, 160 accubonds, 150 accubonds and 139 hornady soft point boatails ao far. It shot the 139 hornady the best by far. I'm going to try 150 grain sierra tippped gamekings next and I'm not sure if I'm going to try anything else with this gun. I'm either going to use the 139 hornady or buy a different rifle. The hornady is the only one giving me 1" moa. I've read the hornady bullets terminal performance on game is questionable then I've read that it will do just fine. Any thoughts on using the hornady on plains game? Thanks

I've no input on Hornady bullets. But in regards to the Barnes, did you make sure the barrel was good and clean? Barnes bullets typically like a clean barrel with little to no copper fouling.

As another suggestion is try 160gr Nosler Partitions with IMR4350. I've worked up a few 7mm Rem Mag rifles and haven't found a rifle yet that didn't shoot these well.

 

[Pheroze]

Someone mentioned action screws. Those have confounded me on more than one occasion, so torque those!

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Someone mentioned action screws. Those have confounded me on more than one occasion, so torque those!

As well as checking the scope on another known rifle/load combination that shoots well. It wouldn't be the first time that a scope went wonky on me that was previously shooting well.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

When shooting how many rounds are you shooting in a string? (How many shots in what timeframe between shots/total/

This is a good question too. I have a .30-06 M70 that I've been working a lot over the winter and spring. I was about done with this rifle and ready to move it to sell. I then tried using Vihtavuori N160 and Hodgdon H4831 in a last desperate attempt to salvage the project. Bam! Both powders showed much improved performance in 180gr bullets.

But what I also noticed about the rifle was how accuracy would drop off after 3 fairly close together shots. So I slowed things down a bit and let the barrel cool, going so far as 2 mins between each of the 3 shots in a group and then 5 minutes before trying next load using a timer on my phone. This tightened things up some more.

 

[FlyGuy]

Provided that everything is tight and torqued correctly, try using a 160 and 175gr Sierra Gameking with at least 3 different powders, while ensuring that the thin barrel doesn’t get too warm.

If a rifle won’t shoot a Gameking, sell it.

 

[C.W. Richter]

With that rig, I'd stray away from hot handloads (bbl too light-whipping/heating/warping) in a 7 mag case. What's the twist rate? bbl length? What COAL did you use? What's standard COAL vs. the mag length? Bullet seating depth is often the most critical detail, but many factory bbls are cut such that Std. COAL is close to the mark. Seating farther out/in often works better with certain bullets. What are you hunting? What range shots will you encounter? How much did the rifle cost? Do what was said above (how does it shoot factory premium ammo, and if good, what's its COAL?-duplicate It.) GL Typically with ultra-lightweight I back off on the case size and/or caliber a bit. The only ultralightweight mountain rifle I have in a mag caliber is a .264 (w/ a Lilja bbl and custom receiver) and everything else is in a (smaller) 06 or 757 case. All shoot mickey mouse groups using handloads and about 0.5" using premium factory when available. My son had similar issues with a 7 RSAUM in factory form...once corrected using magnaporting, HS precision stock (w/ some necessary relief for his particular bbl contours), timney trigger, and re-thinking handloads (hot was bad in that pencil bbl!) it also shoots m o u s e groups. GL

 

[C.W. Richter]

*Just saw the Kudu. Use the heavier bullets (and they should shoot better w/ proper COAL for the gun) as the V will be lower. The avg. deer weighs 120 lbs. The avg. kudu about 500. I agree w/ the 160 NPTs. You may save yourself a lot of grief by raising this issue to Tikka (as they may know the solution.) That said, some lightweight guns void any sort of warranty or liability if factory ammo isn't used these days (I've seen it in the fine print.)

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Have you shot any over a chronograph? That would tell you if the load is otherwise good. While there are exceptions high extreme spreads and standard deviations generally aren’t very accurate.

 

[Philip Glass]

I have the same rifle. Have you tried factory Barnes TTSX in 160g? Swift AFrame or Scirocco in factory ammo? Normally Tikka will shoot anything.

 

[dogcat1]

Been where you are. Have had several "superlight" rifles. The only one I have had success with is a Blaser R8 in the light barrel. Shoots 1/2"-3/4" with 6 types of ammo/bullets. I sold the others.

I cannot and will not own or shoot a rifle that I do not have the utmost confidence in.

My "best" 7mm was an HS Precision takedown. Great shooting rifle. Gave it to a guide I had done a super job for me.

 

[johnnybow]

Have you played with seating depth? If not, I have found seating depth can make a big difference when the bullet refuses to cooperate. And it’s not always closer to the lands, but I found monos and A Frames like a bit of jump. Get the best with the set depth and then move it around. knowing your max COAL and whether a longer cartridge will feed properly will be important. Good luck.

Some but mostly loaded to mag length