rjm158
Handloader
- Oct 15, 2009
- 696
- 578
I took some of the rifles I plan to use during our upcoming deer season with some new loads to try out.
Tikka T-3 25-06 shooting 100 BT's powered by 52.5 RL-19 (Nosler manual accuracy load)
Tikka T-3 6.5 Creedmoor shooting 120 E-Tips over 42.5 (?) RL-17 (can't recall exact load from memory)
Remington 742 308 shooting 150 E-tips over 44.5 Varget
The E-Tips are new to me but I saw many positive comments about them here so I thought I'd give them a try.
The 25-06 was underwhelming since the loads chrono'd were 300 fps below what the Nosler manual called for. I know velocities can vary but I thought this was quite a bit. Accuracy was about an inch but not spectacular.
The 6.5 averaged a little over 2800 which I was fine with but accuracy wasn't great at all. In fairness, though, the barrel isn't broke in so I'm expecting it to improve with time and attention.
The surprise star of the day was the 308. It put 3 rounds into a cluster that measured .49 :shock: . It averaged 2648 FPS which I was happy with too. I bought this rifle a month or so ago just because I have an affinity for 308's. I ran across it in a LGS and could tell it was an early model by the design of the forearm. The stock was broken at the wrist but repaired by a previous owner. It isn't pretty but when I took it apart to clean it, it appeared to have been shot very little. Checking the date code on the barrel revealed it had been manufactured in January, 1962. I had expected it to be a 1-1.5 inch shooter but this performance truly shocked me.
Ron
Tikka T-3 25-06 shooting 100 BT's powered by 52.5 RL-19 (Nosler manual accuracy load)
Tikka T-3 6.5 Creedmoor shooting 120 E-Tips over 42.5 (?) RL-17 (can't recall exact load from memory)
Remington 742 308 shooting 150 E-tips over 44.5 Varget
The E-Tips are new to me but I saw many positive comments about them here so I thought I'd give them a try.
The 25-06 was underwhelming since the loads chrono'd were 300 fps below what the Nosler manual called for. I know velocities can vary but I thought this was quite a bit. Accuracy was about an inch but not spectacular.
The 6.5 averaged a little over 2800 which I was fine with but accuracy wasn't great at all. In fairness, though, the barrel isn't broke in so I'm expecting it to improve with time and attention.
The surprise star of the day was the 308. It put 3 rounds into a cluster that measured .49 :shock: . It averaged 2648 FPS which I was happy with too. I bought this rifle a month or so ago just because I have an affinity for 308's. I ran across it in a LGS and could tell it was an early model by the design of the forearm. The stock was broken at the wrist but repaired by a previous owner. It isn't pretty but when I took it apart to clean it, it appeared to have been shot very little. Checking the date code on the barrel revealed it had been manufactured in January, 1962. I had expected it to be a 1-1.5 inch shooter but this performance truly shocked me.
Ron
