Debating an Upgrade from Ruger to Tikka CTR or UPR

[Southernfried]

I'd be interested in your UPR stock as well. I wouldn't sell it though. I had KRG Bravos and prefer the UPR stock. It's lighter, has a great vertical grip and palm swell and has better ergos for hunting IMO. My 20" barrel 6.5 CM UPR is my primary hunting rifle.

Not to thread jack, but how stiff are the UPR stocks? It is stiffer than the CTR and Sako S20? Thought my magpul hunter on a Rem 700 was stiff until I grabbed it the other day out of the rack and noticed I can squeeze the stock to the barrel at the end of the stock which tells me it could make contact fairly easy with the barrel if I am not careful. Thanks.

 

[General RE LEE]

Here’s my 20” .308.
View attachment 751968
It shoots like this at 100.
View attachment 751969
And like this at 600.
View attachment 751971

Honestly, I haven’t found any monos it likes. Tried Barnes and Hammers. I’ll stick with the leaded options as it shoots well with those, as shown above.

Have you tried the 130 gn Barnes factory loads? Maybe those can give you a starting point for loading? Try some Fed Gold Medal Match and see if it shoots. The .308 should be fairly easy to load and shoot with good groups.

What load is that? I also have a 20" CTR 308 and I get similar groups from 168 Berger Classic Hunters, 168 ELDMs and 178 ELDX handloads.

 

[General RE LEE]

Not to thread jack, but how stiff are the UPR stocks? It is stiffer than the CTR and Sako S20? Thought my magpul hunter on a Rem 700 was stiff until I grabbed it the other day out of the rack and noticed I can squeeze the stock to the barrel at the end of the stock which tells me it could make contact fairly easy with the barrel if I am not careful. Thanks.

I am unable to squeeze the fore end and have the channel contact the barrel. They are stiff.

 

[Southernfried]

I am unable to squeeze the fore end and have the channel contact the barrel. They are stiff.

Thanks just trying to decide between the CTR, UPR and S20.

 

[Fireflyfishing]

What load is that? I also have a 20" CTR 308 and I get similar groups from 168 Berger Classic Hunters, 168 ELDMs and 178 ELDX handloads.

155 TMKs. Varget

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Lighter than most rifles I carry in the woods. I train, so no issues here.

You train???

 

[General RE LEE]

Thanks just trying to decide between the CTR, UPR and S20.

CTR has a 0 MOA rail, Sako S20 has a 0 MOA pic rail machined into action, UPR comes equipped with a 20 MOA rail.

The UPR has the best stock of the 3 IMO.

 

[General RE LEE]

FYI the UPR is simply a CTR barreled action with a 20 MOA rail. I bought a 308 UPR and put my 6.5 CM CTR barreled action in the UPR stock and the 308 in the CTR stock. You can swap them around.

 

[General RE LEE]

155 TMKs. Varget

Typical groups with my 308 CTR and 178 ELDX.

 

[sdupontjr]

155 TMKs. Varget

Have you tried shooting with these? With an advertised BC of .519, they have a better BC that the 155 scenars of .460

The 155 scenars hammer in my CTR, and there is a thread on the campfire of tons of game kills with them even though they are advertised as a target round.

 

[Bidwell]

My CTR 20" on a diet (4-16x50 Trijicon Credo 25.5oz with UM rings, removed the CTR rail)

View attachment 752664

Weighs less that 1 lb than my T3 Lite (4-16x56 Schmidt Bender Polar T96 28.5oz, Vortex precision matched rings with Mountain tactical rail)
View attachment 752665

The CTR stock, bottom metal, and mag weight more than the T3/T3x versions. Thus saving weight. There is a thread that many have done, even myself because I have both, that compares the two. Its really closer than you would think. Unless you take a T3x superlite and put a 3-9x32 superlite scope on it.

If you did try the 130's, I know that Barnes claims to start at .050" off lands. My load is 49g varget, R-P brass, CCI-200, seated 2.825" which is more than .050" jump and shoots sub 1/2" moa in the T3 all day if I do my part. Haven't messed with them in the CTR yet. But I do know that they like to be jumped and not close to lands. Hell, even the Barnes website load data has them at 2.735". Thats seated pretty deep.
View attachment 752667

Oh and one more thing, you mention varget and TAC. TAC is supposed to gain more velocity, however its temp sensitive. I would stick with Varget if you have it.

Yeah Varget seams to be giving the best accuracy so far. And the cold bore shot poi is basically within the margin of error of any subsequent shots as well which is great.

Thanks the load data. I'm at 45.7 grains with the varget so lots of room left for experimentation left. Using lapua brass, remington primers. Do you notice any accuracy improvements with different primers? I have some federal too, but haven't tried them yet. With 49 grains of varget, are you using a compressed load at this point? Haven't tried that yet.

 

[sdupontjr]

49g is pretty full but I don't hear any crunching. It could be slightly compressed.

I did have a load with TAC at 50g with fed 210m primers, but TAC was hard to find and I have about 4lbs of varget. Thus me finding a load with it. Didn't try TAC with the cci200's, so really no comparison. But I'm good with the 49g of varget. You may just need to bump up the load and watch for pressure. Your a good 3g less than me and what others run. Velocity is the key with the 130's. Try to drive them close to 3000 fps or more.

 

[Bidwell]

My CTR 20" on a diet (4-16x50 Trijicon Credo 25.5oz with UM rings, removed the CTR rail)

View attachment 752664

Weighs less that 1 lb than my T3 Lite (4-16x56 Schmidt Bender Polar T96 28.5oz, Vortex precision matched rings with Mountain tactical rail)
View attachment 752665

The CTR stock, bottom metal, and mag weight more than the T3/T3x versions. Thus saving weight. There is a thread that many have done, even myself because I have both, that compares the two. Its really closer than you would think. Unless you take a T3x superlite and put a 3-9x32 superlite scope on it.

If you did try the 130's, I know that Barnes claims to start at .050" off lands. My load is 49g varget, R-P brass, CCI-200, seated 2.825" which is more than .050" jump and shoots sub 1/2" moa in the T3 all day if I do my part. Haven't messed with them in the CTR yet. But I do know that they like to be jumped and not close to lands. Hell, even the Barnes website load data has them at 2.735". Thats seated pretty deep.
View attachment 752667

Oh and one more thing, you mention varget and TAC. TAC is supposed to gain more velocity, however its temp sensitive. I would stick with Varget if you have it.

Yeah Varget seams to be giving the best accuracy so far. And the cold bore shot poi is basicall within the margin of error of subsequent shots as well which is great.

Thanks the load data. I'm at 45.7 grains with the varget so lots of room left for experimentation left. Using lapua brass, remington primers. Do you notice any accuracy improvements with different primers? I have some federal too, but haven't tried them yet. With 49 grains of varget, are you using a compressed load at this point? Haven't tried that yet.

49g is pretty full but I don't hear any crunching. It could be slightly compressed.

I did have a load with TAC at 50g with fed 210m primers, but TAC was hard to find and I have about 4lbs of varget. Thus me finding a load with it. Didn't try TAC with the cci200's, so really no comparison. But I'm good with the 49g of varget. You may just need to bump up the load and watch for pressure. Your a good 3g less than me and what others run. Velocity is the key with the 130's. Try to drive them close to 3000 fps or more.

Good to know... I'll start building up to that. What's your increment level for working up to near max pressure? Around .5 grains? Not going to lie, I'm a little nervous!

I’ve gotten to 3000 fps with TAC, I'm curious about what pressure difference is between two powders that push a bullet to reach the same velocity. I have to imagine they'd be close to equal, just different burn rates creating a different pressure ramp. It seams like a faster burning powder like TAC would spike more sharply and potentially be more dangerous, but these are just assumptions. Is the max load for varget more based on case capacity?

 

[General RE LEE]

Dry fire practice tonight with 20” 6.5 CM UPR

 

[waspocrew]

CTR is a great rifle. Haven’t had the chance to handle a UPR yet, so can’t speak to the stock. If you ever feel like you’d eventually swap stocks, then save the $$ between the two and go CTR.

 

[Bidwell]

Dry fire practice tonight with 20” 6.5 CM UPR

View attachment 753162

What do you focus on when dry fire practicing?

 

[Bidwell]

CTR is a great rifle. Haven’t had the chance to handle a UPR yet, so can’t speak to the stock. If you ever feel like you’d eventually swap stocks, then save the $$ between the two and go CTR.

Kinda leaning in that direction. The Roughtech is looking good too. Obviously not going to be as accurate and is off topic, but I was reading about the Howa superlite. Sure sounds nice to carry around at under 4.5 pounds. $1500 is steep though.

 

[Fireflyfishing]

Kinda leaning in that direction. The Roughtech is looking good too. Obviously not going to be as accurate and is off topic, but I was reading about the Howa superlite. Sure sounds nice to carry around at under 4.5 pounds. $1500 is steep though.

Just buy one of each.

 

[General RE LEE]

What do you focus on when dry fire practicing?

Breathing and keeping reticle steady when breaking the trigger. I have a few aim points out behind house.

 

[sdupontjr]

Yeah Varget seams to be giving the best accuracy so far. And the cold bore shot poi is basicall within the margin of error of subsequent shots as well which is great.

Thanks the load data. I'm at 45.7 grains with the varget so lots of room left for experimentation left. Using lapua brass, remington primers. Do you notice any accuracy improvements with different primers? I have some federal too, but haven't tried them yet. With 49 grains of varget, are you using a compressed load at this point? Haven't tried that yet.

Good to know... I'll start building up to that. What's your increment level for working up to near max pressure? Around .5 grains? Not going to lie, I'm a little nervous!

I’ve gotten to 3000 fps with TAC, I'm curious about what pressure difference is between two powders that push a bullet to reach the same velocity. I have to imagine they'd be close to equal, just different burn rates creating a different pressure ramp. It seams like a faster burning powder like TAC would spike more sharply and potentially be more dangerous, but these are just assumptions. Is the max load for varget more based on case capacity?

Yes, .5g increments. Sometimes I go to the range, other times I just shoot it in the ditch. Strictly looking for pressure signs. Once I find pressure, I use to back off 2g. Load 3 at say 47, the 47.5 and so forth up to right at Max pressure. Like in the pic below, at 49.5g, I still didn't hit any pressure signs, however things opened up.



Now, I do the same, but back off .5g from max, load them to where the boat tail meets the neck/shoulder junction and shoot 10 rounds for grouping.

Painless load development (mine)

Thats much better! it was only doing 2730 in 2 different 24 inch Bergaras. Was only 40fps faster than the 6.5 creedmoor factory ammo. Shot great though. Agreed. Different cartridge, but the factory Norma Bondstrike load only averaged 2684 in my .280 with a 22” barrel. It does shoot well though...

rokslide.com

This is a good read and wish I would have found this a long time ago to save on reloading components.