Very slow Tikka??

last winter I shot a brand spanking new T3x 243 with factory 87gr Vmax ammo from Hornady. This is literally the first few shots through this rifle.

Ammo is rated at 3240 fps 24" barrel

Ammo temp was -18c

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[TABLE="width: 1088"]
[TR]
[TD]Stats - Average[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]3001.01[/TD]
[TD]fps[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]                                [/TD]
[TD][/TD]
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[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Stats - Highest[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]3019.56[/TD]
[TD]fps[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]                                [/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
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[TD][/TD]
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[TD][/TD]
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[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Stats - Lowest[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2984.64[/TD]
[TD]fps[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]                                 [/TD]
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[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Stats - Ext. Spread[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]34.92[/TD]
[TD]fps[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]                              [/TD]
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[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Stats - Std. Dev[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]14.34[/TD]
[TD]fps[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]                                 [/TD]
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[TD][/TD]
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[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Shot ID[/TD]
[TD]V0[/TD]
[TD]V4[/TD]
[TD]V75[/TD]
[TD]V125[/TD]
[TD]V175[/TD]
[TD]V250[/TD]
[TD]Ke0[/TD]
[TD]Ke4[/TD]
[TD]Ke75[/TD]
[TD]Ke125[/TD]
[TD]Ke175[/TD]
[TD]Ke250[/TD]
[TD]PF4[/TD]
[TD]Proj. Weight[/TD]
[TD]Date[/TD]
[TD]Time[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2985[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2976[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2812[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1720[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1710[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1527[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]258.91[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]87[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1/07/22[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]15:19:34[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]2[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2999[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2990[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2823[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1737[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1726[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1539[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]260.13[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]87[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1/07/22[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]15:22:13[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]3[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]3001[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2992[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2826[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1739[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1728[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1542[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]260.3[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]87[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1/07/22[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]15:22:31[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"]4[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]3020[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]3011[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2843[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1761[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1750[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1561[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]261.96[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]87[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1/07/22[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]15:22:46[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
 
I can't remember what the 6.5CM Hornady 140 & 147 did vs the box speed in my TAC A! or T3X, if there was one, both were 2700ish as I remember. Herter's said 2820 on a 129gr, it shot 2750-2775. Forget what the Fed 130 Berger was. the Browning 130gr Sierra said 2900, it did 2900 in both guns. At the moment, I have 136gr in the low 2800 range, haven't taken them to max type charges yet, not sure I'll bother, still 1-1/2 to 2 gr under depending on whose data you use.
I have a Ruger #1 and a Rem 700 in 7-08, 130fps difference on the same load, Rem has .002 longer fired cases.
 
Last summer i was testing a pair of 260 Rem rifles, a Salvage 116 with a 22" barrel and a Rem 700with a 24" barrel. On every load i tried the Salvage was faster, some less than 50fps some more. The Rem was better in the accuracy department, both were sporter barrels. The Salvage also showed a better ES on each load, these loads were not developed for each rifle , just load 10 the same and each got 5. Was a head scratcher as the shorter barrel should have been slower, both had the same twist rate as well.
Just kind of shows that there are exceptions to everything i guess.
 
In addition to what’s been said above, I’d also try a couple different powders, Nosler reload lists several, none of which is cfe223. Varget seems to work well and both 4350 flavours. I’ve got several Tikkas, and I don’t ever remember any of them shooting particularly slow. As was said above, I’ll often get slower than book speed, but sometimes it’s faster too. But if you try to load hotter with your cfe223 be careful please, do it slowly.
 
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My 20" Tikka T3x CTR in 6.5 Creedmoor shot factory 140gr ammo @ 2518 fps - talk about a slow Tikka!

However it will also push 147gr ELDm handloads with RL26 up to 2740 fps - so is it really a slow Tikka?
 
My Tikka 695 is 100 to 150 fps faster than the manual on the loads I chronographed. Max book loads do tend to be max in this rifle.
 
Kyndrick said:
I’m hoping someone here may have some insight to share on my situation. I have a Tikka T3 in .243 win that I’ve been loading 70 grain speer projectiles for. The book load data is 35.1 - 38.8 of cfe223 to get a velocity of 3216 - 3449…. The crazy thing is that my loads at 38.4 which are giving me like .6 moa accuracy are only doing 3045 on average…. When I drop the powder to 38, 37 etc it lowers the velocity as you would expect, example at 36 grains it averages 2918. If I’m reading the load data correctly, which both Speer and hodgdon seem very similar to each other—I’m like 375ish fps slower than I should be. That seems crazy to me…. Any thoughts? Is it just the “Tikka” are slow explanation?
Click to expand...
Load data is a reference, not a bible.
Start low and work your way up.
I always try factory ammo with the grains i'm looking for.
It gives me a reference. (fps )
 
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Kyndrick said:
I’m hoping someone here may have some insight to share on my situation. I have a Tikka T3 in .243 win that I’ve been loading 70 grain speer projectiles for. The book load data is 35.1 - 38.8 of cfe223 to get a velocity of 3216 - 3449…. The crazy thing is that my loads at 38.4 which are giving me like .6 moa accuracy are only doing 3045 on average…. When I drop the powder to 38, 37 etc it lowers the velocity as you would expect, example at 36 grains it averages 2918. If I’m reading the load data correctly, which both Speer and hodgdon seem very similar to each other—I’m like 375ish fps slower than I should be. That seems crazy to me…. Any thoughts? Is it just the “Tikka” are slow explanation?
Click to expand...

I'm looking my data book, I tried the CFE223 with the 70gr nosler BT.
38.5 = 3075 fps
40.0 = 3135 fps
41.0 = 3280 fps
42.0 = 3490 fps (too fast)
41.5gr should be pretty close but this is in my rifle, they are not the same, start low and work your way up...
 
naktabar72 said:
I'm looking my data book, I tried the CFE223 with the 70gr nosler BT.
38.5 = 3075 fps
40.0 = 3135 fps
41.0 = 3280 fps
42.0 = 3490 fps (too fast)
41.5gr should be pretty close but this is in my rifle, they are not the same, start low and work your way up...
Click to expand...

next page: I tried 41.1 : 3380 fps, but different COL. so it tells me to adjust your COL properly and test fire...
 
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