How can I get the best from this rifle?

Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf

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Hi Folks,

I generally don't shoot centrefire smokeless powder rifles so be gentle. I just purchased a Tikka T3 Lite in 308cal. How can I get the best performance from this rifle?

I haven't reloaded in years so I will start with a hand loader kit. For ammo I have around 150 rounds of 168gr match grade and around 200 rounds of Austrian 7.62 ball. Is it harmful to the rifle to shoot the Austrian ball ammo?

Any ideas and suggestions appreciated.

Cheers
Kevin
 
"...Is it harmful..." No.
168 grain match bullets work well with IMR4064. Follow your manual religiously. If you don't have any once fire, in your rifle brass, you'll need some. The Lee Handloaders neck size only. That's ok for brass fired in that rifle. Brass fired out of any other rifle requires full length resizing to use it in your rifle. It has to do with chamber dimensions. Every chamber is slightly different. If you don't FL resize, you'll have chambering issues.
Brass fired out of your rifle will be fine with neck sizing only.
Brand new brass needs to be checked for length and trimmed to the same length, the inside the case mouth chamfered and the outside deburred and full length resized.
Pitch the scoops, get a scale, a powder trickler and weigh each powder charge. The scoops can vary the powder charge plus or minus a full grain.
The milsurp brass is a bit thicker so if you reload it, you'll have to reduce the charge by 10%. It'd be best to keep it separate from any other brass for this reason.
Buy a regular reloading kit when you can. They're far more versatile. The hand loader kits are slow, but can turn out good ammo though. A lot of us started out with one.
 
What distance you planning on shooting? If over 300, change over to Sierra 175 or 155. The 168 is a short range bullet and more wind senstitive.

See if youc an get a quantity of new or once fired brass all from the same source - so a local SWAT team. Over the winter you can sort this brass into 1 grain or less lots. I use the plastic tubs fron the casino for this. very expensive tubs, but they work....

4060 is very good. So is Varget and RL15.

Initially, load your bullets about 20 though off the lands. later, try deeper and farther off.

The rifle is good the way it is. Make sure the barrel is clear of the wood. make sure both action screws are tight, without over torquing them.

Invest in a good cleaning rod, like a Parker Hale or Dewey and some good solvent.

You did not mention a sight. A decent scope of 10X to 20X would be good. An adjustable parallex is important.

By all measn shoot the 168's and the ball ammo. It should give you some practice time with the rifle. The abll amoo should group around 2" and the match ammo around 1" if the rifle and scope are ok and you can shoot well off a bench.
 
Good advise here and add:

Use a chronograph which will quickly sort out if a load is too mild. Most .308 Win's shoot best with loads closer to max., although this varies.

OAL effects accuracy and pressure. Adjust and measure results. Usually less or no jump is best in .308, but see what's best in your rifle.

Try a few makes of bullets.

Regards,

Peter
 
peter suggests littleor no jump in 308. Depends on the bullet you use. the manufacturing techniques of the bullet manufactuers varies.

Sierra bullets have a huge variation of the distance from the ogive to bulet tip. If you controlbullet jup by mesuring the OAl of the round, you cannot know or controlhow far the bullet is off the lands because of the variation.

The Sierra spec for match bullet ogive location relative to the bullet tip is in then order of 20 thou. This is why I suggest a 30 thou jump.

The Hornady spec is about half that of the Sierra.

Lapua match bullets are very consistent. Use what ever jump works best (probably touching or in the lands) and trust that the next box of bullets will be the same.
 
GANDERITE said:
The Sierra spec for match bullet ogive location relative to the bullet tip is in then order of 20 thou. This is why I suggest a 30 thou jump.

The tips of Sierra match bullets are very inconsistent. Why would Sierra not spec the ogive location relative to the bullet base which is seems to be more reliable reference? Besides, most bullet seaters do not index on the tip. The last lot of Sierra bullets I measured using the base as a reference I had a variance of only .001. Does Sierra's spec variance apply within the same lot number or from lot to lot? A 20 thou variance seems very high.
Click to expand...
 
That would be lot to lot. I have found Sierra to be the most forgiving as far a seating depth goes, as long as they are all the same from a given lot. They might not do so well if they are seated +-.020 from the same lot.
 
Hi Kevin

Your question was how to get the best out or your rifle and I assume you mean best accuracy. Because you have a Tikka T3 Lite I also assume you will be using it for hunting as the manufacturer intended, not for formal target work. If my assumptions are not correct and you will use the rifle mainly for target work then the advice given here by others will be more useful.

Use your 168 match ammo for practice and as a reference to what the rifle is capable of. Then use your once fired brass to develop a hunting load that will meet or exceed the performance of you match ammo. You must start somewhere with your hunting handloads so I suggest you begin with something like the following;

Bullet; 165gr Nosler Ballistic Tip
Powder; 44.0 grs of Varget
Primer; CCI #BR-2 or Federal 210M
Cases; Your once fired match brass

Your finished overall length (OAL) should be no more that 2.810" measured from the base of the case to the tip of the bullet. This length will ensure safe chamber pressures and reliable feeding from your magazine. To ensure easy chambering (important for hunters, not so much for some competitors) I suggest you full length resize your cartridge cases. The above load should give you very good performance which may equal or better your 168 match loads.

All rifles have individual load preferences and to get the very best from yours requires the testing and recording of many variations of the cartridge components. This is very entertaining for some of us and tedious for others. If you wish to start serious load development you must begin with a good handloading manual and following it religiously. Good luck and have fun.
 
The difference in match bullet tolerance I refer to were explained to me by a an engineer at one of the companies referred to.

it is not a reflection on the qulaity of the bullet, but rather how each company makes their bullet.

The Sierra is a hollow point. The nose cavity is hollow and can vary the position of the bullet tip. The distance from the start of the ogive to the bullet heel is very consistant.

The Hornady bullet fills in the hollow cavity with a palstic tip. This makes the position of the tip in realation to the ogive more consistent.

Lapua is just anal about everyhting.

peter is quite right. A loader trying to make good match ammo should record his OAL in terms of the ogive position.

I assume our poster is more likely a beginner loader or a hunter type loader,not the maker of precision ammo, and will measure OAl from the tip to the base of the case. say, 2.815" so as to make sure it will still fit the mag of his rifle.

If he does that any bullet (except maybe a round nose) will be well clear of the lands, anyway.

All kinds of experience is on this forum, so I mentioned the need to keep Sierra bullets well off the rifling, even though it may not be relevant for the poster.

It is easy to make an excellent tool for measure OAL off the ogive. Ask a gunsmith for 1" section of the correct barrel. This can be a piece of an old barrel or the 1" piece routinly cut off the muzzle of a new barrel.

The piece will look like a super thick washer. To measure the OAL, drop the washer onto the bullet sticking out of the case. It will drop down until it hits the ogive. Measure from the top of the washer to the bottom of the case. This gives you a precise distance you can transfer to any other bullet you wnat to load, and your measurements won't be bothered by variations in bullet length or tip consistancy.
 
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