Looking for Tikka 243 8 twist pet loads

[bcmntgoathunter.]

How many rounds on the bore? Shoot it at least 150-200 rounds.

So far it has 340-360 rounds down it

 

[eyeguy]

103 eldx are better than the 108 eldm in my tikka, 47.2 gr of h1000 seated out .02 from the lands has been .8 moa the last 3x out. thinking the velocity is 2940 if I recall.

 

[General RE LEE]

Just a warning, H4350 will eat up barrel life. Slower, cooler burning powders will drastically improve the life of your .243s. My friend and I are well versed in the ways of the kung243foo.

What other powders besides H1000? What about H4831SC and Retumbo?

 

[83cj-7]

I would think either one of those would be good too. I just went straight from H 4350 to H1000.

 

[ACHILLES]

 

[General RE LEE]

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Is this pretty reliable?

 

[Castle Rock]

No

 

[ACHILLES]

I think so I’m a general sense. It doesn’t account for group size/acceptable accuracy or bullet bearing surface though. Ryan has stated he went through several 300rum barrels with n570 and got 600-700rds awhile back. The calculator shows 630. I’ve tracked what comp guys are pulling barrels at in the past with specific loads ands it comes close.
Most guys pull 6creed barrels at 1500-2000rds the calculator shows 1730. I wouldn’t take it as exact but it’s a good tool to use for reference.

 

[Mrwoodard]

I'm using 46 grains of H4831 with a 108 ELDM in Winchester brass. 3100 fps in a 26" barrel with a suppressor. Single digit SD and 10 shot groups are less than 3/4".
This is in a 20 pound accuracy international.

 

[offthebeatenpath]

I’m working on this right now with my new 1:8 243, 20” barrel, so I know my velocity will be down.

I worked up some initial loads with 103 eldx plus 108 and 109 eldm’s that I was able bum a few off of Professor Carl.
Started with H4350, and all of them were garbage, groups of 10.
109’s grouped at 4”
108’s grouped at 3”
103’s grouped at 2.5”

Tried 6.5 Staball, not any better.
All seated at 2.8000”
Now out of bullets.

Picked up a box of 103’s since those had the most promise, set out to find some H1000 and H4831. Got a can of H1000. Worked load of 47gr. These grouped okay, 1.3” for 9 shots, plus 1 flyer that I know I pulled.
Velocity average was only 2860, with es of 72.5 and sd of 19.9, which isn’t very impressive.

I was hoping for much better performance so far, but I’m not exactly sure where to go next. Still looking for some H4831, might need to find some Bergers to stuff in there and see what happens.

 

[MT-nuffgun]

Might not hurt to fart around with different brass

 

[coues craze]

I’m working on this right now with my new 1:8 243, 20” barrel, so I know my velocity will be down.

I worked up some initial loads with 103 eldx plus 108 and 109 eldm’s that I was able bum a few off of Professor Carl.
Started with H4350, and all of them were garbage, groups of 10.
109’s grouped at 4”
108’s grouped at 3”
103’s grouped at 2.5”

Tried 6.5 Staball, not any better.
All seated at 2.8000”
Now out of bullets.

Picked up a box of 103’s since those had the most promise, set out to find some H1000 and H4831. Got a can of H1000. Worked load of 47gr. These grouped okay, 1.3” for 9 shots, plus 1 flyer that I know I pulled.
Velocity average was only 2860, with es of 72.5 and sd of 19.9, which isn’t very impressive.

I was hoping for much better performance so far, but I’m not exactly sure where to go next. Still looking for some H4831, might need to find some Bergers to stuff in there and see what happens.

I’ve got this exact rifle and the worst groups mine have shot are in line with the best groups you are getting. I’ve shot 108 Berger’s, 108 eldm, 105 VLD, and 95 VLDs for bullets and H4350, IMR4350, RL16, and H4831sc for powder. Any of those combinations work in my rifle. 95gr or 105gr VLDs with IMR4350 shoot extremely well.

 

[offthebeatenpath]

Might not hurt to fart around with different brass

You’re not wrong, I was hoping not to.
It’s brand new Starline.

 

[MT-nuffgun]

You’re not wrong, I was hoping not to.
It’s brand new Starline.

Hmm.. that’s the same brass I shoot out of my tikka 8 twist. My load landed at 45.0 gr H 4831SC with a cci 200 primer with a 108 eldm. Ten shot groups are running between .9 and 1.1 at 100. I followed forms advise on aggressively free floating and degrease/paint pen every bolt/screw. Sd for that load is 11-12FPS. My rifle did not like the hornady 105 HPBT with staball 6.5 or H4831sc. Nor did it like staball 6.5 with the 108 eldm.

 

[satchamo]

I’m working on this right now with my new 1:8 243, 20” barrel, so I know my velocity will be down.

I worked up some initial loads with 103 eldx plus 108 and 109 eldm’s that I was able bum a few off of Professor Carl.
Started with H4350, and all of them were garbage, groups of 10.
109’s grouped at 4”
108’s grouped at 3”
103’s grouped at 2.5”

Tried 6.5 Staball, not any better.
All seated at 2.8000”
Now out of bullets.

Picked up a box of 103’s since those had the most promise, set out to find some H1000 and H4831. Got a can of H1000. Worked load of 47gr. These grouped okay, 1.3” for 9 shots, plus 1 flyer that I know I pulled.
Velocity average was only 2860, with es of 72.5 and sd of 19.9, which isn’t very impressive.

I was hoping for much better performance so far, but I’m not exactly sure where to go next. Still looking for some H4831, might need to find some Bergers to stuff in there and see what happens.

How many grains of 4350? Mine shoots 108s stupid well with 4350 but I’m standing on mine pretty hard with starline. Actually too hard since I got 2 loadings out of a lot of it - I backed off a bit on some Lapua and I’m seeing the same accuracy.

 

[MT-nuffgun]

How many grains of 4350? Mine shoots 108s stupid well with 4350 but I’m standing on mine pretty hard with starline. Actually too hard since I got 2 loadings out of a lot of it - I backed off a bit on some Lapua and I’m seeing the same accuracy.

just shot some steel this this evening, I’m on the 6th firing on star line brass and I’m starting to notice a line forming at the case head. Do you think if I buy lapua brass next I could use the same load of 45 grains of H4831sc and get more reloads out of that brass and possibly less trimming?

 

[offthebeatenpath]

I’ve got this exact rifle and the worst groups mine have shot are in line with the best groups you are getting. I’ve shot 108 Berger’s, 108 eldm, 105 VLD, and 95 VLDs for bullets and H4350, IMR4350, RL16, and H4831sc for powder. Any of those combinations work in my rifle. 95gr or 105gr VLDs with IMR4350 shoot extremely well.

Yeah, that's most of what I've heard, so my experience has me a little perplexed, but I'm not too worried just yet.
Just need to keep working at it, apparently a little harder than I hoped.

 

[offthebeatenpath]

How many grains of 4350? Mine shoots 108s stupid well with 4350 but I’m standing on mine pretty hard with starline. Actually too hard since I got 2 loadings out of a lot of it - I backed off a bit on some Lapua and I’m seeing the same accuracy.

I shot one group with 41gr and one group with 42gr, after doing an initial 5 shot string of 38/39/40/41/42 grains.

 

[Castle Rock]

just shot some steel this this evening, I’m on the 6th firing on star line brass and I’m starting to notice a line forming at the case head. Do you think if I buy lapua brass next I could use the same load of 45 grains of H4831sc and get more reloads out of that brass and possibly less trimming?

If you’re trimming and losing brass, it’s because you’re doing the sizing wrong nothing to do with the brand of brass

 

[satchamo]

just shot some steel this this evening, I’m on the 6th firing on star line brass and I’m starting to notice a line forming at the case head. Do you think if I buy lapua brass next I could use the same load of 45 grains of H4831sc and get more reloads out of that brass and possibly less trimming?

6 firings on a piece of brass - given the price of starline - is very good IMO. I got 2 firings on mine with annealing with 42 grains of 4350 before I was seeing that same line indicating case head separation and also blown out primer pockets. I’m in the Midwest and the heat’s been brutal and I think for me I can’t run that ragged edge in these temps like some could in cooler climates. So I pulled back a half grain and I’ll be running that in the Lapua.

Im just diving into this whole reloading game so I’m not gonna tell you that Lapua will be better than starline because I don’t have enough info - also I’m backing off on my powder charge so my comparison won’t be apples to apples unfortunately. I just couldn’t resist getting some Lapua when optics planet had their 12% off and I had some loyalty dollars to blow