Has anyone had a 1-8 Tikka .223 that didn't shoot well with 77gr?

[Fireflyfishing]

Did you physically check the twist of your barrel?

 

[Kyguy]

These shoot well in mine.
And kill whitetail just like the TMK.
Pretty affordable and easy to find.
ADI 55’s for practice.

ADI 55 and 69 have shot well in every rifles I've tried them in.

 

[Kyguy]

Do people even read an entire thread before making a comment nowadays?

The rifle hasn't been bought yet. I'm not asking about handloads, or anything like that. Factory heavy 77 grain ammo and a Tikka 223 1-8. All I want to know is people's experience with it. Does your rifle shoot it or not? If you don't have a Tikka 223 that's 1-8, no need to comment. If you only hand load, no need to comment. Thanks

 

[naked wombats]

My stainless tikka .223 1-8 shoots the 77tmk from bonefrog into basically one ragged hole. Haven't even tried other ammo yet its that good. Am close to sea level as well.

I did hog out the barrel channel quite a bit and torque and loctite the action screws first thing.

 

[WyldGoose]

Not sure how mine shot out of the box, first thing I did was take it all apart and hog out the barrel channel…but it shoots 77’s better than the 55 and 62 grain stuff I’ve tried.

To clarify, my gun is an 8 twist Tikka .223 and the only 77gr ammo I’ve shot is factory AAC OTM and Bone Frog TMK.

 

[Golt199]

It's not that the 1:8 Tikka can't shoot 77s. It's that it might require you to work a lot harder than you expected to find the magic combination. If you're willing to single-feed or tinker with seating depths way outside the norm, you can probably get there. If you need a magazine-fed hammer that shoots 77s right out of the box, the Tikka might make you pull your hair out first.

Mine eventually became a shooter, but only after I accepted that I had to feed it one round at a time to get the best accuracy.

 

[Matt5266]

Mine shoots them great

 

[skipper907]

And how did it shoot after?

it was a great improvement groups went from problay 2+ inch to about an inch with mixed brass reloads

 

[BLJ]

It's not that the 1:8 Tikka can't shoot 77s. It's that it might require you to work a lot harder than you expected to find the magic combination. If you're willing to single-feed or tinker with seating depths way outside the norm, you can probably get there. If you need a magazine-fed hammer that shoots 77s right out of the box, the Tikka might make you pull your hair out first.

Mine eventually became a shooter, but only after I accepted that I had to feed it one round at a time to get the best accuracy.

WTS Thread 'Complete Tikka magazines - Orange, flush, extended COAL, etc.'

Feb 9, 2026

PLEASE EMAIL your order request to [email protected] , requests will be first come first served for inventory and being added onto my build list if inventory is depleted. Posting in this thread will not initiate an order (I will reply asking you to email me if needed).

I need to clearly know quantity, color, and what cartridge / size (ie round count) you are asking for so I can accurately advise on inventory status, fulfill the order and/or add to my build list.

Product discussion thread here, please read and ask product questions here as needed...

• pods8 (Rugged Stitching)
• Replies: 11
• Forum: Guns Classifieds

May want to check these out for some longer 223 mags.

 

[heavyhorns]

FWIW, I’m a sea level My CTR has a 1-8 Twist. Not stabilizing 77s is a non issue.
View attachment 1028493

This is awesome. I had similar experience.

 

[Castle Rock]

Certain loads don’t agree with certain rifles, my Tikka 223 was hammering with 88s to 1500 yards this weekend.

 

[SloppyJ]

You're going to be limited in an 8 twist at your elevation. We have the advantage out here where the 8 twists stabilize the heavies better than they do for you guys at lower elevations

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Im at 1200'. Not sea level but certainly not out west elevations either. No issues here. I know plenty of guys a negative sea level who use them. Might want to not give advice on things youre not sure on.

 

[vonb]

I'm b/t 750'-1800' ASL. My tikka .223 20" 1/8 was shooting about a 1-inch groups at 100 yards. This was both with 77 gr TMKs and older 75 gr AMAX. That was with a 2.260 OAL. I went back and tried different loads with both bullets being seated .020 off the lands. For me, that meant that the 77 TMKs were loaded to 2.331 OAL and the 75 gr AMAX were 2.415 OAL. This was instant success with the gun cutting holes @ 100 yards. Velocities were in the 2,760 fps range.

I was originally doubting the 1/8 twist stabilizing the two bullets. Nope, it just didin't like the original OAL I was loading. Try loading longer and see if it doesn't change things.

 

[sneaky]

FWIW, I’m a sea level My CTR has a 1-8 Twist. Not stabilizing 77s is a non issue.
View attachment 1028493

I think the conversation was centered on TMKs, not SMKs

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[sneaky]

Im at 1200'. Not sea level but certainly not out west elevations either. No issues here. I know plenty of guys a negative sea level who use them. Might want to not give advice on things youre not sure on.

Oooohhhh.... your sample size of a couple doesn't interest me. Perhaps you should stay in your own lane. I've shot plenty of them out of different twist barrels. Some worked, some didn't. I'll report on what I know since you can apparently point to your examples as being the only true results.

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[kopmantrey]

Just like the title says.... anyone had a 1-8 Tikka .223 not shoot the 77 gr loads well?

I have two one shoots 1.6 moa with 77tmk/TAC .8moa with 77tmk/benchmark. The other I have only tried the 77/benchmark combo and it was 1.7 moa that one seems to like 75bthp better(1moa) all 10 shot groups.

 

[Balderdash]

No. Mine loves the 77's. Near 1 hole groups. And that's with a 6x SWFA; could probably squeeze a little more accuracy out of it with higher X, but haven't touched that rig in 6 or 7 years, and gets shot and carried a lot.

Does almost just as well with the Hornady 80's. Running both over 24 grn Tac.

 

[Matt5266]

Just switched scopes yesterday and and re-sighted in. Mine hammers them. This was the last 8 rounds I fired into a dot. Approximately 3/4"