Is tikka carbon steel harder than remington carbon steel? My borescope shows minor but plain throat erosion in my 260 rem m700 after maybe 300 rounds. My tikka 6.5x55 is in about the same shape as the remington after about triple the rounds. I have a sporter 6.5x55 that looks virtually new with about the same rounds as my 260. I also had a m700 243 carbon steel that showed moderate erosion at low rounds. I have a tikka 223 stainless that has 1000, 1500, I don't know, through it and I was surprised to see the throat looks new, almost no bevel of erosion at the case mouth and no fire cracking at all although I was not careful of firing a lot of rounds and got it pretty hot sometimes. Although, I have nothing to compare that rifle to.
Steel
- Thread starter porpoise
- Start date
- Location
- Saskatchewan
You're comparing a Remington with a Tikka. Safe to assume the Tikka has better materials, workmanship, and design. Remington went bankrupt for a good reason. They won the Great American Race to the bottom of quality.
As Hitzy said, the 260 rem runs at higher pressure. Higher pressure means higher gas cutting velocity. Erosion is a function of velocity to the third power. Ask me why I own several Swede mausers, and no 260 Rem or 6.5 Creedmoors...
Well - The max pressure for the 260 (short fat cartridge) is 60000 psi, and for the Swede (long skinny cartridge) is 50000 psi. The longer cartridge has a slower burn, flatter work integral, hence less pressure to get comparable velocity.
Last edited:
Pressures for the 6.5x55 are only limited to 50,000 PSI for the 6.5x55 Swedish. The 6.5x55 SKAN (or 6.5x55 SE as labeled by CIP) are designations for modern higher pressure loadings of the 6.5x55. The pressure spec is 3800 bar Pmax (55114 PSI). This standard is only intended for use in modern rifles. The cartridge dimensions are either unchanged for the 6.5 SE I believe according to CIP. It gets a bit confusing from there though as some sources do give slightly shorter dimensions under the name of 6.5 SKAN.
It seems that high pressure loads were developed by shooters and national shooting organizations in Sweden, Norway and Denmark to allow for higher performance in modern rifles. These countries are not CIP members, but CIP eventually adopted this pressure standard with the designation of 6.5x55 SE.
The main point here is that max loads listed for the 6.5x55 Swedish can be very safely exceeded in modern rifles. As the original poster indicates, his .260 Rem loads are not necessarily higher pressure than his 6.5x55 loads.
It is entirely plausible that the better barrel life on the Tikka is due to better steel and better manufacturing processes.
It seems that high pressure loads were developed by shooters and national shooting organizations in Sweden, Norway and Denmark to allow for higher performance in modern rifles. These countries are not CIP members, but CIP eventually adopted this pressure standard with the designation of 6.5x55 SE.
The main point here is that max loads listed for the 6.5x55 Swedish can be very safely exceeded in modern rifles. As the original poster indicates, his .260 Rem loads are not necessarily higher pressure than his 6.5x55 loads.
It is entirely plausible that the better barrel life on the Tikka is due to better steel and better manufacturing processes.
There are so many variables that come into play when barrel life is being discussed that it
is almost always comparing apples to oranges. I have totally burned out quite a number of
barrels in the 6+ decades I have been shooting. Some of these were high quality aftermarket
barrels. There is not a lot of Rhyme nor reason why some barrels wash out the throats sooner
than do others. Dave.
is almost always comparing apples to oranges. I have totally burned out quite a number of
barrels in the 6+ decades I have been shooting. Some of these were high quality aftermarket
barrels. There is not a lot of Rhyme nor reason why some barrels wash out the throats sooner
than do others. Dave.
