tikka t3 6.5x55 reloading help

jcbruno

jcbruno

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hello all i have been loading for my cz 550 fs 308 for some time but have just aquired a tikka t3 hunter in 6.5x55 i have purchased some bulk bullets privi 139graing soft points and some hornady 140 gr ballistic tip rounds i am cureently reloading with RL22 was wondering what some of you may sugest as a good load or another powder/combination?

but my biggest question is what COL are people generally going with in t3 rifles in this calliber ?
 
Wouldn't it be in your best interest to make up some dummy rounds and by trial and error, determine the best OAL in YOUR RIFLE and YOUR CHAMBER? Keeping in mind, magazine limitations as to length, and shooting dif. lengths as all rifles have diff. likes and dislikes. Some rifles like the bullets just a couple thou. off the lands, some rifles/mags. don't allow that.
 
Ben's advice is good, but I will take a stab at it anyways. You will most likely find that your 6.5x55 has a long throat to accomodate the 160gr RN bullets. You can load a 140gr SP out as far as is practical and not get even close to the lands because of this. I load at 3.150" OAL in my BSA using 140gr SST's and am not close to the lands. It still shoots fine despite this, though. You will most probably find that the magazine is what limits OAL before anything else.

This is a pic of one of my 140gr SST loads with a factory Norma 160gr. RN for comparison. You can clearly see how a chamber cut to use the 160gr bullets will be very long with any spire point bullet.

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Mark
 
Your gonna have to seat your bullets so that they function good and don't hang up in your magazine. I love the 6.5 x 55 cal...one of my favorites! I almost bought a Tikka in 65x55...but I had 3 M96's already!...I had to sell two of them to fund my Stainless TIKKA 223 Varmint/Target rifle project! A good friend has a 98 mauser that will group them Hdy 160 RN's into 3/4 "@ 100 yds....all the time...EVERY TIME!!...Best of luck!
 
I load for a friends T3 varmint in 6.5x55 and honestly it shoots everything very well. 129gr SST over H4350 shoot bug hole groups. We've aslo had success with H4831.
 
Here is a load that has worked extremely well in many 6.5x55 rifles. Use your 140 grain Hornady interlock with 44 grains of IMR4350 and seat to the very bottom of the crimping groove. I use CCI 200 primers mostly but have also assembled this load with Winchester and Remington primers with no difficulty. You should be getting 2600+ with that load and it's an excellent big game load.
 
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