Show your Tikka ten round groups

[Maverick1]

This is a nice collection of paper targets. Well done!

 

[DJL2]

The "control" - not a Tikka. Just a baseline for how I'm shooting...



Groups posted in order shot. If my short hand isn't clear, it's factory fodder: Federal 150 gn Nosler Ballistic Tip, Federal 160 gn Nosler Accubond, Hornady 162 gn SST Superformance. Those are all loaded to a shorter COL than the Barnes 139 gn LRX.

The groups were shot with a Trijicon 1.25-4 Accupoint (Gen1) as I wait for the rings for my Athlon Ares BTR. I struggle to hold on target consistently with this setup, so I tried to maximize contrast and give myself a distinct POA. The T3x is stock, save a trigger spring.

ETA: I consider the "control" group to be good and accurate. The goal is get the T3x with me behind it in-line with that performance.

 

[TxxAgg]

Just cut the barrel down on my 6.5 and have a new 223 on the way. I'm looking forward to doing some shooting.

 

[HighUintas]

View attachment 187547
The "control" - not a Tikka. Just a baseline for how I'm shooting...
View attachment 187548
View attachment 187549
View attachment 187550
Groups posted in order shot. If my short hand isn't clear, it's factory fodder: Federal 150 gn Nosler Ballistic Tip, Federal 160 gn Nosler Accubond, Hornady 162 gn SST Superformance. Those are all loaded to a shorter COL than the Barnes 139 gn LRX.

The groups were shot with a Trijicon 1.25-4 Accupoint (Gen1) as I wait for the rings for my Athlon Ares BTR. I struggle to hold on target consistently with this setup, so I tried to maximize contrast and give myself a distinct POA. The T3x is stock, save a trigger spring.

ETA: I consider the "control" group to be good and accurate. The goal is get the T3x with me behind it in-line with that performance.

Just curious (and posting here to not hijack the other guys thread any further); how are your action screws, scope mounts, and scope rings done up? I didn't use thread locker on any of my stuff initially and also didn't degrease as well as I thought I did. I went back and followed Formidilosus' procedure on mounting a scope and doing action screws and found that several of my scope ring screws weren't tight anymore, even though I had torqued everything to spec. After degreasing EVERYTHING and then using threadlocker on EVERYTHING, I noticed a definite improvement in my groups. The only other thing I can think to check, other than the lugs like you mentioned, is the recoil lug contacting the action. Apparently it can get bound up and cause accuracy issues if the lug is sitting too high; ie the top of the lug sitting too high and actually contacting the action. When I bedded my stock, I put electrical tape on top of the lug so that it wouldn't be contacting the action when seated. Now, if I paint some hi spot blue onto my recoil lug and put my action back into place, the only place the blue is transferred to the action is on the front recoil surface of the action lug slot.

 

[DJL2]

Funny you should mention torque values. I actually took my FAT wrench to the range with me. The actions screws seemed to stay tight and I kept after them while on the range. Out of concern for exactly what you describe WRT the recoil lug, I had them at 35 in-lb...which is a big part of why the FAT wrench went with. Clearly that's not a great long term solution.

When I get to the bedding, I intend to relieve the top, sides and back of the lug...just the reverse of what I would do for a traditional lug.

I pulled the scope and mounts after the range session. I have a MTN Tactical 20 MOA base that'll be getting some Seekins rings. I am thinking remounting the base w/ JB Qwik "bedding" for the lug. I'll check out Form's notes to see if there's something critical I'm missing. The T3x starts light enough that I'm not worried about 2 lbs and change of optic/mount. With a sling, ammo and some epoxy it'll still be a ~9 lb gun.

Next step, I want to really nail the mounting/assembly, cool the rifle more aggressively and see what I get.

 

[BjornF16]

I pulled the scope and mounts after the range session. I have a MTN Tactical 20 MOA base that'll be getting some Seekins rings. I am thinking remounting the base w/ JB Qwik "bedding" for the lug. I'll check out Form's notes to see if there's something critical I'm missing. The T3x starts light enough that I'm not worried about 2 lbs and change of optic/mount. With a sling, ammo and some epoxy it'll still be a ~9 lb gun.

Where are "Form's notes"?

 

[HighUintas]

Funny you should mention torque values. I actually took my FAT wrench to the range with me. The actions screws seemed to stay tight and I kept after them while on the range. Out of concern for exactly what you describe WRT the recoil lug, I had them at 35 in-lb...which is a big part of why the FAT wrench went with. Clearly that's not a great long term solution.

When I get to the bedding, I intend to relieve the top, sides and back of the lug...just the reverse of what I would do for a traditional lug.

I pulled the scope and mounts after the range session. I have a MTN Tactical 20 MOA base that'll be getting some Seekins rings. I am thinking remounting the base w/ JB Qwik "bedding" for the lug. I'll check out Form's notes to see if there's something critical I'm missing. The T3x starts light enough that I'm not worried about 2 lbs and change of optic/mount. With a sling, ammo and some epoxy it'll still be a ~9 lb gun.

Next step, I want to really nail the mounting/assembly, cool the rifle more aggressively and see what I get.

I guess it may not be as much of an issue with yours if your gun is 9lbs. Mine was in the ball park of 7lbs when I found they were loose.

Where are "Form's notes"?

https://www.rokslide.com/forums/threads/scope-mounting-to-maintain-zero.78482/

 

[DJL2]

My T3x started as 7.6 lbs and is en route to 8.5-9 lbs. If I find that overly cumbersome, I'll have to switch optics. Honestly, with as much recoil as a .30-06/7RM generates, it's probably a fair trade off.

 

[16Bore]

Pretty good tutorial. Denatured alcohol works wonders for me. If you’re out of Loktite, nail polish works. Maybe pass on the kind with glitter in it.

My girls don’t like it wasted!

 

[HighUintas]

Haven't been able to get to the gun range. Here's an 8 arrow group. Now fliers

 

[16Bore]

Minute Of Arrow, very nice.

 

[DJL2]

I'm not posting my bow groups! Folks keep asking me how it's going...not good...definitely not hunt worthy or anyway close to it. I've got a reflex bow, trying to kick it old school...turns out that I'm a much worse shot than I remember being with a plain old recurve.

In the accuracy department, I should at least attempt to be fair to my Tikka. If my Winchester M70 had produced even a five shot group of comparable accuracy to my T3x it might not be off for a truing/blueprinting and a new barrel right now.

 

[menhaden_man]

AutoCAD

Dang, not sure if I can muscle the strength to talk to our engineers so I may be stuck with Ballistic X ;-)

Pretty thoughtful/insightful post, though... now all you have to do is pour salt water on it, bury it in frozen sand, drop it from your deck a few times, shoot twenty thousand rounds, and put a SWFA on it and it'll be worthy of attention on Rokslide and my weekend journey into the hinterlands of Idaho OTC

 

[07yzryder]

Ok got 10 rounds down, 500 yards wind was blowing right to left 15 - 20+. Wind shifted from half to full value and I did not correct for it hence the shift in POI on target. All 10 were shot in about a minute and a half, when it's not 100 degrees and blowing dirt. Still not bad though just over 1 moa.

Here's a photo of the dry lake bed close to my range for reference on the wind lol

 

[slowelk]

Ok got 10 rounds down, 500 yards wind was blowing right to left 15 - 20+. Wind shifted from half to full value and I did not correct for it hence the shift in POI on target. All 10 were shot in about a minute and a half, when it's not 100 degrees and blowing dirt. Still not bad though just over 1 moa.

Here's a photo of the dry lake bed close to my range for reference on the wind lol

View attachment 188945

What caliber? That's impressive considering the wind.

 

[HighUintas]

Ok got 10 rounds down, 500 yards wind was blowing right to left 15 - 20+. Wind shifted from half to full value and I did not correct for it hence the shift in POI on target. All 10 were shot in about a minute and a half, when it's not 100 degrees and blowing dirt. Still not bad though just over 1 moa.

Here's a photo of the dry lake bed close to my range for reference on the wind lol

View attachment 188945

Nice shooting!

 

[07yzryder]

6.5cm
143eld-x
42.5gr h4350

 

[HighUintas]

Since my last post in this thread, I pulled the barreled action and installed a small Area 419 arca rail on the stock. I torqued the BA back into the stock and was able to swing by the range this morning.

RIFLE:
Remington 700, Bartlein 3B contour @ 22", chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, Manners EH-1, Timney 510.

OPTIC:
Bushnell LRTS 3-12 in Seekins Rings and Badger Ordnance Rail

AMMO
"Off the shelf" Copper Creek 140 Berger Elite Hunters

CONDITIONS
50*, light winds (~4 MPH), 98 yards, about 30 min after sunrise, shooting north with the sun right in my face, haha. I was shooting from the prone with a bipod front rest and a 6 oz rear bag.

I didn't wait for the rifle to cool between shots, just enough time to load a mag. I didn't re-zero or shoot any rounds since I pulled the stock and re-torqued. The targets were shot top to bottom as shown in the photo.

View attachment 190610

View attachment 190611

View attachment 190612

Group Size:
Median 3-shot group is barely under 1/2 MOA (many in the 0.3's, a couple in the .2's & 0.1's), median 5-shot group is barely under 3/4 MOA (with several sub-half MOA groups), and the 20 shot gross group size is 0.884 MOA. And again, this includes shooter error, which is without a doubt the biggest problem here. A better shooter, hand loads, and/or using a tunnel & mechanical rest in the worlds bestest lab would absolutely reduce group size.

Rifle Zero:
I will need to re-zero my scope 0.1 mil to the left (which speaks to the repeatability of the Manners mini-chassis). Interestingly, the amount I need to re-zero is reflected in all but one or two 3-shot group and all 5-shot groups.

That's fantastic. I like being able to compare the individual 3 shot group sizes and POIs vs the 5 shot groups and the overall average. It's very interesting.

I'll have some groups to post this evening from monkeying around with loads. They won't be 10shot groups though

 

[HighUintas]

These are some staball loads I've been playing around with since I just got a magneto speed recently. I started using cci200 primers because that's what I had. I had a decently accurate load made for them but then found I had some random velocity outliers. I decided to investigate it with magnum primers and going to the high end of book. These are the charges around the velocity nodes I found. I didn't feel very settled behind the trigger, so I think a couple of those groups might be better. I probably won't continue using that powder with 150gr bullets. If I would have kept up with AutoCAD after high school and were to overlay them, they would all be within my typical 2" POI though.

 

[MidGAHunter]

Shot this today with my T3x 6.5 Creedmoor. Scope is Nightforce SHV 3-10x42. Shot at 100 yards. Handloads.