The Tikka 6.5 Creedmoor Reloading Thread

[07yzryder]

I settled on 41.5 gr of H4350 for the first firing of the brass then went down to 41.3 gr after all the brass was fire formed. My COAL is 2.825". Average velocity is 2682 with low ES and SD. Just a caveat to all this.... I am a pretty rookie reloader.

Found this target from when I was doing load development last year:
View attachment 140587

my go to is 41.5 as well my speed was much slower though, chrono at 10 feet said 2545, adjusted to 2474 in my app which gives me perfect dope out to 600, but still half moa. I can dial 3.5mils and hit the head box on an IPSC target all day as fast as i can shoot. OAL is whatever SAAMI spec is. went in and golf ball sized hole out of my deer.

 

[Stalker69]

I know this is an old thread but thought I would ask, I have a tikka tac a1 and would like to shoot hammer bullets. I have checked it to the lands and if I load it .02- .05 off, I don’t end up with much bullet in the case neck. How much is needed ?

 

[KitShickers]

Hope you all dont mind if I revive this thread. Id love to see if anybody made any further developments pushing these rifles to their limits.

 

[philcox]

124g Hammer Hunter, 40.0g Varget, Lapua SRP, CCI 400, 2945fps

 

[Motown]

135g Berger CH, 49.0g RL26, Starline LRP, CCI BR, 2957FPS

 

[lak2004]

What are you guys that are shooting the lrx getting for speed? I'm right around 2850 with 42.5gr h4350 and the 127gr lrx. Found a good group at that charge and wondering if I should keep pushing or call it good. Probably call it good but just seeing what everyone else has come up with.

 

[DudeBro]

What are you guys that are shooting the lrx getting for speed? I'm right around 2850 with 42.5gr h4350 and the 127gr lrx. Found a good group at that charge and wondering if I should keep pushing or call it good. Probably call it good but just seeing what everyone else has come up with.

How long are loading your rounds? With a Tikka throat, you should be able to load them longer than SAAMI and get higher MVs.

How many rounds are through your barrel? Mine sped up for the first ~200.

I'm not shooting the LRX, but I'm getting 2830-2850 w/ 42.5gn of H4350 behind 143 ELDX out of a 22" proof barrel chambered to SAAMI specs. So, your speed seems pretty slow for a much lighter bullet.

 

[menhaden_man]

I've had good luck with 143 ELD-X in my Tikka T3x lite. Large rifle primers in Hornady brass, 41.5 gr of H4350 loaded to 2.232" base to ogive. That puts them at 2.890" overall (Hornady book says 2.800") - long like guy above said.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

124g Hammer Hunter, 40.0g Varget, Lapua SRP, CCI 400, 2945fps

Tough to beat the 124g HH with a full load of varget. I’ve seen a very similar (nearly exact) load drop moose from a 6.5. I’ll likely take that same thing for mountain goat this year.

I’ve also had really good luck with the 140g ELDM and reloader 17, I’m playing around with the 150g ABLR right now too which is cool but I can’t really find more so I have a limited amount of them to load up.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

What are you guys that are shooting the lrx getting for speed? I'm right around 2850 with 42.5gr h4350 and the 127gr lrx. Found a good group at that charge and wondering if I should keep pushing or call it good. Probably call it good but just seeing what everyone else has come up with.

I’d probably stay there if was working for me.

 

[lak2004]

I’d probably stay there if was working for me.

Kind of my thought. I'm probably not going to shoot anything past 400 yds anyhow. If I go beyond that I'll reach for my 300 wsm.

 

[Seeknelk]

Anyone else ever try Norma Urp in it? I did and got to 2800 with a 140 eldm from 18" barrel with not really any ejector mark but fairly flattened primer , everything else ok but I'm sure that top load has to be quite over pressure no? Anyone able to run it for me in quickload? 140 eldm , Lapua LRP, Cci br 2 primer, 45 grains of URP, COAL is 3.318 about .020 off lands.
It also ran the 136 scenar L at 2722 with 43.5 grains and no pressure I can SEE or feel. Shot them very well also. Anyway so info and thanks for any help!

 

[willfrye027]

I think my 6.5 barrel is a bit slow. Shooting 140eldm loaded at magazine length. H4350 maxes out at 3670. RL16, staball 6.5 and n555 are getting me another 100fps or so. Settled on RL16 at 3780 which will be fine, but it’s pushing it a little hard. This is in lapua spp brass. Also tried 110hh over Varget and maxing out a little over 3100 with hornady brass. Seems like about 100fps below what I would expect. 10 shot groups are 1.5moa (ie .3moa all day long) so accuracy is good.

 

[SouthPaw]

I think my 6.5 barrel is a bit slow. Shooting 140eldm loaded at magazine length. H4350 maxes out at 3670. RL16, staball 6.5 and n555 are getting me another 100fps or so. Settled on RL16 at 3780 which will be fine, but it’s pushing it a little hard. This is in lapua spp brass. Also tried 110hh over Varget and maxing out a little over 3100 with hornady brass. Seems like about 100fps below what I would expect. 10 shot groups are 1.5moa (ie .3moa all day long) so accuracy is good.

That sounds about right. The factory Tikka 6.5cm has excessive freebore. mine is also a bit slow. 140eldm does 2650 in my 20" tikka barrel with H4350.

 

[lak2004]

How long are loading your rounds? With a Tikka throat, you should be able to load them longer than SAAMI and get higher MVs.

How many rounds are through your barrel? Mine sped up for the first ~200.

I'm not shooting the LRX, but I'm getting 2830-2850 w/ 42.5gn of H4350 behind 143 ELDX out of a 22" proof barrel chambered to SAAMI specs. So, your speed seems pretty slow for a much lighter bullet.

I'm 60 thousandths off the lands as recommended or to the 1st band on the bullet. I was getting right at 2650fps with the 140gr eldm.

 

[OneGunTex]

Anyone roll some with Nosler Partitions or Barnes TTSX? I'd like to try both of those, but it seems there is a huge preference for the ELDX here.

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[ztc92]

Just found pressure with some reloads on my new Tikka CTR so thought I would contribute. I’ll also try to update later on once I get a velocity on my reloads.

I loaded 20 rounds each with 130 ELD-M and 130 TMK with H4350. Hoping both will have similar impact so I can use the ELD-M’s for practice and safe the TMK’s for hunting. Powder charges were 42.5g, 43g, 43.5g and 44g. I had pressure signs (heavy bolt and ejector marks) on 2/5 rounds loaded with 44g of H4350 and 130 ELD-M’s. I did not have any pressure signs with any other load. Going forward I’ll load a batch of each with 43.5g to see how they shoot and hopefully true the velocity with some longer range shots.

Edit: Forgot to mention length. I don’t have a comparator but based on measuring distance to bolt face and then distance to tip of a bullet advanced to the lands my max COAL’s were as follows:
- 130 ELD-M: 2.890”
- 130 TMK: 2.950”

Unfortunately CTR Mag limits me to about 2.930” so I can’t max out the TMK’s and just decided to load them at mag length. I loaded the ELD-M’s at 2.870” to be roughly 0.02” off the lands, similar to the TMK’s.

 

[Stalker69]

You can only load them to what the mag. will allow. Which I believe will be shorter then your measurement ( I know mine is) . Or shoot it as a single shot.

 

[bober90]

You can only load them to what the mag. will allow. Which I believe will be shorter then your measurement ( I know mine is) . Or shoot it as a single shot.

On that point, would it be possible to swap to the LA bolt catch and use the LA mags to allow for longer COAL? Just a thought, I’ve honestly not researched it.


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[Stalker69]

I for one don’t know the answer to that. I am not sure what you would need to do to the mag well in the rifle to increase the length.