Tikka T3 270wsm bullet seating question

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lawlu

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My best bud is helping me reload for my 270 wsm Tikka T3. He seats his bullets quite far out, and was trying to do the same for mine, however ran into the following problem: The seating depth works fine in the chamber, but the clip length is too short. He was wondering if anyone has modified their clips to all the bullet to seat out further? I have been lurking around a bit here and have never heard of that. Is there any danger or problems I would have? BTW He is getting 3500+ fps out of his loads (RL22 powder, 130gr barnes, 26" Hart barrel.).
 
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Seating bullets at or near the lands isn't necessarily going to improve accuracy. It certainly can, but not always. 3500+ fps? Must be pretty light bullets or he's in dangerous territory. Mag length is typically the limiting factor on seating depth in a lot of rifles. Live with it - it was designed that way. Throats of most modern chambers are only around .001" overbore anyway and cylindrical, not tapered. Another consideration is neck grip or tension. In hunting ammo, you need enough to make sure nothing can move under recoil stresses, typically a minimum of 2/3 bullet diameter. 3500 fps is a dicey speed for hunting bullets - not many will withstand that kind of speed at close range and won't perform as designed with the obvious exceptions of varmint ammo. Your WSM is a fine cartridge - no point trying to turn it into an STW or a Super Macaroni Warbird. You'll only burn it out fast. Accuracy, not sheer max speed, is the key and the .270WSM is perfectly capable of extremely good accuracy. It's the one WSM that might actually displace the original .270 in popularity.
 
your rifle

lawlu said:
My best bud is helping me reload for my 270 wsm Tikka T3. He seats his bullets quite far out, and was trying to do the same for mine, however ran into the following problem: The seating depth works fine in the chamber, but the clip length is too short. He was wondering if anyone has modified their clips to all the bullet to seat out further? I have been lurking around a bit here and have never heard of that. Is there any danger or problems I would have? BTW He is getting 3500+ fps out of his loads (RL22 powder, 130gr barnes, 26" Hart barrel.).
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Lawlu, what load is your best buddy trying in your rifle? I sure hope it isn't the same load he is using in his rifle. get your ammo loaded for your mag length. You want to start messing around with your mag to accomadate longer bullets?
Why? 3500 fps isn't any big deal, at 3200 fps your bullet gets to the animal a nono second slower, accuracy is the main function for a WSM or any cartridge for that matter. FS
 
Hello Fassteel,

He hasn't tried any loads yet, just put a dummy round in the chamber to see how far out he could seat the bullet. He found that the chamber could hold an overall length far greater than the clip could. And I guess that his goal was to ramp up what the rifle could handle. I know he isn't trying to get what his rifle can handle, just a bit more out if mine. Anyhow, he is just wondering if anyone else has had to mod their clip to do so. If not, he is not about to mod the clip. He will just try out a few different loads.
 
Just load them to fit the magazine. My A7 in 270WSM is the same way its seated way out to kiss the lands so I just seat them to fit...

On another not I have owned quite a few Tikka's and I have never had any issues with accuracy when I am just loading them to fit the magazine...
 
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270 wsm

Nosler 130gr BST = ballistic coef. = .433. Rifle sighted for 200yd zero.
At 3500 fps at 300yd point of impact is -4.7 inches. At 3100 fps poi = -6.2 inches.Now at 600 yrds about 15inches difference. Barrel/throat life I would assume would greatly be reduced if your pushing bullets out that hard. Some of the max loads in the Nosler book are up around 3250 fps for the 270wsm, my self I am getting about 3050 fps with 59gr imr4350, 24inch barrel, not a max load but I like to keep my velocity around 3000fps for hunting, I want to extend barrel life so I keep my loads down. With my 243wssm I can spit out bullets easily over 4000fps, the short mags preform, but take a 30-06 and 270 wsm round per round which gun would burn out first? About the clip, only an idea , can he use a clip from a different calibur, 7mm rem mag, 300 win mag?
 
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Sounds like there is not that much benefit to seating it that far out. I tried putting the 270 wsm cartidge into the 300 win mag clip, and it is too narrow by just a tad.
 
I really wouldn't worry about it. Load some up and head to the range. If you check any of the factory ammo that is produced its not gonna be anywhere near the lands either and my experience with Tikka is that its not going to make a difference going thru all the hassle of screwing around with a plastic factory magazine.
 
But that's the fun/purpose of reloading isn't it? Being able to tinker and do things that you can't do with factory - like making ammo more accurate and increasing velocity while doing it.
 
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I thought the fun/purpose of reloading was being able to make more accurate ammo at half the cost, so you get to shoot twice as much.
Pushing the envelope usually ends the same way: broken rifle.
 
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