Tikka T3X

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TenWords10

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New memeber here so forgive me if this is in the inappropriate area or something. Currently I have two deer rifles. A browning abolt I 270 win blued stalker, and a sako 75 rebarreled with a 1:8 krieger chambered in 7mm WSM. I have taken deer with my sako out to 940 yards (175eldx 3050fps). But my sako is not th problem. I do not want to carry my 12 pound rig with a nightforce up and down thfor mountain for stand locations where I’ll be shooting 400 max with more normal shots being 150-300 yards. The reason I am considering retiring my 270 is that was the first gun i ever had. It was given to me by my dad at a very young age. I would like to keep the battle scars off this gun and only carry it on good weather days. This brings me to my question, would a 7mm Remington mag in a T3X be appropriate for what i am going to ask if this rifle? I have tons of 7mm projectiles laying around that I didn’t use from my sako build, and some how or another I have wound up with 100 pieces of Winchester brass for a 7 mag. Economically a 7mm mag would make slot of sense for me, but would I be better off getting another 270 or maybe a 30-06? Sorry for the rambling, I am new here
 
The 7mm Rem mag has recoil virtually identical to 30-06. It would be fine in a Tikka, especially if you go add a limbsaver recoil pad. But a 7 mag would beat the 7mm WSM you have from a ballistic perspective with slightly more recoil. But there is no law that says you have to load any cartridge to it's limits.

If you're going to limit your shots to 400 yards then 7-08 would be more than enough. But a lot depends on which 7mm bullets you already have. 175's are pushing things in 7-08, generally a 150-160 gr bullet is about as heavy as you can shoot from the 7-08 and get enough speed to be effective at longer ranges. You CAN load and shoot 175's in it, but you can't shoot them fast enough to be a better option than something in the 160 gr range.

At 400 yards your options are wide open, but if you want to stay with 7mm I can understand why. But most anything from 6.5 Creedmoor on up to 7 mag or even 30-06 would be viable options. And the Tikka is a fine lightweight platform to work from.
 
someguy2800 said:
If you are recoil sensitive the light 7lb tikka is going to be a kicker with a heavy loaded 7mm mag. If that doesn't bother you it sounds like a sensible choice. Another viable option would be a 7-08.
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I have never really consided myself recoil sensative. I do a lot of load development for friends of mine. I’ve shot a couple 300rum 9lb guns without a break. Harsh but tolerable to 10ish shots. Thanks for all the replies guys
 
jmr40 said:
The 7mm Rem mag has recoil virtually identical to 30-06. It would be fine in a Tikka, especially if you go add a limbsaver recoil pad. But a 7 mag would beat the 7mm WSM you have from a ballistic perspective with slightly more recoil. But there is no law that says you have to load any cartridge to it's limits.

If you're going to limit your shots to 400 yards then 7-08 would be more than enough. But a lot depends on which 7mm bullets you already have. 175's are pushing things in 7-08, generally a 150-160 gr bullet is about as heavy as you can shoot from the 7-08 and get enough speed to be effective at longer ranges. You CAN load and shoot 175's in it, but you can't shoot them fast enough to be a better option than something in the 160 gr range.

At 400 yards your options are wide open, but if you want to stay with 7mm I can understand why. But most anything from 6.5 Creedmoor on up to 7 mag or even 30-06 would be viable options. And the Tikka is a fine lightweight platform to work from.
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I’ve never
[QUOTE="jmr40, post: 10904096, member: 48261"But a 7 mag would beat the 7mm WSM you have from a ballistic perspective with slightly more recoil.[/QUOTE]
I briefly had a 26” Remington 700 7mm mag. The most velocity I could get with a 160 accubond was 3060 fps after trying many loads. I can get my 7mm wsm up to 3185 with rl23 and fire formed norma 300wsm brass. I don’t see how a 7mm rem can be seen as ballisticlly superior? I have 175s in the 7wsm as fast as my 160s where in my 7mm rem mag?
 
someguy2800 said:
If you are recoil sensitive the light 7lb tikka is going to be a kicker with a heavy loaded 7mm mag. If that doesn't bother you it sounds like a sensible choice. Another viable option would be a 7-08.
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This.

A 7mm mag in a 7 lb. T3x is going to punish you if you spend much time at the bench. My first T3x was a stainless '06, and I had intended it to be my "someday" elk rifle. So I worked up loads with 165 and 180 grain bullets. I finally had to admit to myself that shooting that '06 Tikka with full load 180's was no fun at all. Sure, a shot or two in the field is no biggie. You probably wouldn't even notice it. But I like to shoot and I shoot a lot when I'm working up loads.

Fortunately for me, I lucked into a stainless 7mm-08 T3 that will probably be my lifetime hunting rifle. I worked up loads for 162 ELD-X's with four powders that hit 2700, which delivers nearly 1500 ft. lbs. of energy to 500 yards. More than enough for any whitetail or mule deer.

Personally I'd hold out for an elusive stainless 7mm-08 if I were you. You will love that gun. If you're dead set on 7mm Mag, then go for it but don't say you weren't warned. LOL
 
I've said for a long time now that a 7mm-08 is just a 7mm Mag minus 100 yards. That's it. So whatever you'd consider shooting with a 7mm Mag at 600 yards is still in range with a 7mm-08 at 500. Sometimes I wonder if people ever really think of it that way though.
 
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Well guys I ran up on a good deal on a Sako A7 in 30-06 so looks like I’ll be burning some rl16 behind a 180 grain bullet! Thanks for the input though!!!
 
I'm not a fan of belted magnum cartridges, I personally would prefer a .280 AI.
 
TenWords10 said:
I briefly had a 26” Remington 700 7mm mag. The most velocity I could get with a 160 accubond was 3060 fps after trying many loads. I can get my 7mm wsm up to 3185 with rl23 and fire formed norma 300wsm brass. I don’t see how a 7mm rem can be seen as ballisticlly superior? I have 175s in the 7wsm as fast as my 160s where in my 7mm rem mag?
Click to expand...

I saw those RL23 and RL26 loads for the 7mm WSM one day while flipping through the Alliant Powders manual. Really amazing velocities with the heavies, well above anything the same manual had for 7mm RM.

TenWords10 said:
Well guys I ran up on a good deal on a Sako A7 in 30-06 so looks like I’ll be burning some rl16 behind a 180 grain bullet! Thanks for the input though!!!
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That should be a nice rifle, congrats! RL16 works really well in the old '06, I use 56gr for 2,685 fps with 180gr ABs out of an 18.5" barrel. It's not at all hard to break 2,800 fps in 22" or 24" barrels with good accuracy and very low temp sensitivity.
 
Gtscotty said:
I saw those RL23 and RL26 loads for the 7mm WSM one day while flipping through the Alliant Powders manual. Really amazing velocities with the heavies, well above anything the same manual had for 7mm RM
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That is what sold me to go with the action I have rather than building a 28 Nosler or something else. I wanted a 175 or 180 class bullet over 3,000 FPS. The 7wsm just so happened to fit in the fin light I have. Match made in heaven! Lots of dead critters 400-940 yards say it works very well!

Regarding the 30-06 if I can get 2800 with a 180 class bullet i will be a very happy camper. That may be superformace, rl16, 17, whatever gets me to that number with MOA or better will be the ticket!
 
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