bpshooter13
Member
I thought I'd share my experiences with my new rifle a Tikka T3 CTR Stainless in .308 win under a SWFA 3-15x42 scope. THR poster and fellow CTR owner Gtscotty helped me pick the correct rings (SWFA SS-Tac 30mm/1" Rings-Low) and he steered me right, they mount the scope with a perfect cheek weld / sight alignment with the factory stock. Also, the bolt clears the pigtail magnification post on my variable power scope with these mounts. This post is in part thanks to him for helping me with the mount selection and to share my load development so far.
I really think I hit on a great combination of rifle and scope. I have the rifle shooting around .5 MOA with my handloads out to 200 yards so far off of sandbags. I have settled on 178gr. AMAX after trying Norma 168gr. Match HPBT, Hornady 168 gr. Match HPBT and Hornady 178 gr. Match HPBT. My original intent was to go with Sierra Match Kings but when I was ready to order Midway had them on backorder and Hornady bullets were on sale. Similarly, I decided to go with IMR 4064 in spite of all the great things I hear about Varget. Component availability is part of my calculation.
What is this Varget of which they speak? It probably ran off with my favorite pistol powder Winchester 231.
Anyway, My local Bass Pro and two local gun stores seem to have 4064 off and on the shelf pretty regularly as well as 8 lb. cans available on line now as well. I bought a box of the 178 gr. Hornady AMAX at Bass pro. They don't carry SMK's and Midway still has Sierra 168's on backorder at the time of this posting.
I made two modifications to this setup. 1) I replaced the aluminum recoil lug with a hardened steel recoil lug from Mountain Tactical. I am enclosing a photo of the original factory lug and you can see the indention from is starting to appear on the lug. Honestly, I was in the middle of load development when I swapped it out and can not attest to any reduction or improvement in accuracy with the swap but it was not an expensive replacement and seemed a prudent investment. The swap was done after about 75 rounds.
2) I came across a forum that steered me to an aftermarket modification to the SWFA scope elevation knob, the installation of a set of shims to make a "zero stop". I installed them and it was straightforward, inexpensive and works great. Tim has a video on youtube showing the install.
So here's some groups. Federal factory GMM shown for comparison.
My winner was:
Lapua cases
Winchester WLR primer
42.5gr. IMR 4064
Hornady AMAX 178gr
O.L. = 2.895"
The long bullet seating length available in this 10 round magazine is worth noting. I had the 178 gr. Hornady Match HPBT bullets loaded all the way out 2.951" and they cycled in the magazine although without much clearance but they fed without a single problem. I noticed my accuracy suffered on this particular match bullet when seating deeper at .010 off of lands vs. .006 off of lands. I'm running the AMAX .006 off of lands as well.
I have to agree with Gtscotty, this is the most accurate rifle I own.
Cheers,
bpshooter13
I really think I hit on a great combination of rifle and scope. I have the rifle shooting around .5 MOA with my handloads out to 200 yards so far off of sandbags. I have settled on 178gr. AMAX after trying Norma 168gr. Match HPBT, Hornady 168 gr. Match HPBT and Hornady 178 gr. Match HPBT. My original intent was to go with Sierra Match Kings but when I was ready to order Midway had them on backorder and Hornady bullets were on sale. Similarly, I decided to go with IMR 4064 in spite of all the great things I hear about Varget. Component availability is part of my calculation.
What is this Varget of which they speak? It probably ran off with my favorite pistol powder Winchester 231.
Anyway, My local Bass Pro and two local gun stores seem to have 4064 off and on the shelf pretty regularly as well as 8 lb. cans available on line now as well. I bought a box of the 178 gr. Hornady AMAX at Bass pro. They don't carry SMK's and Midway still has Sierra 168's on backorder at the time of this posting.
I made two modifications to this setup. 1) I replaced the aluminum recoil lug with a hardened steel recoil lug from Mountain Tactical. I am enclosing a photo of the original factory lug and you can see the indention from is starting to appear on the lug. Honestly, I was in the middle of load development when I swapped it out and can not attest to any reduction or improvement in accuracy with the swap but it was not an expensive replacement and seemed a prudent investment. The swap was done after about 75 rounds.
2) I came across a forum that steered me to an aftermarket modification to the SWFA scope elevation knob, the installation of a set of shims to make a "zero stop". I installed them and it was straightforward, inexpensive and works great. Tim has a video on youtube showing the install.
So here's some groups. Federal factory GMM shown for comparison.
My winner was:
Lapua cases
Winchester WLR primer
42.5gr. IMR 4064
Hornady AMAX 178gr
O.L. = 2.895"
The long bullet seating length available in this 10 round magazine is worth noting. I had the 178 gr. Hornady Match HPBT bullets loaded all the way out 2.951" and they cycled in the magazine although without much clearance but they fed without a single problem. I noticed my accuracy suffered on this particular match bullet when seating deeper at .010 off of lands vs. .006 off of lands. I'm running the AMAX .006 off of lands as well.
I have to agree with Gtscotty, this is the most accurate rifle I own.
Cheers,
bpshooter13
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