175 Partition in Tikka T3 1:9.5 twist?

[Jeremybj]

Hello to all,

I am giving my brother in law a pretty generous gift this year. A Tikka T3 Hunter in 7mm Rem Mag with 1:9.5 twist and a Leupold VX-3 with a Boone and Crockett reticle.

He is my hunting partner and he just doesn't have a ton of money to buy new hunting gear as he is a single dad.

He is a big fan of hold over reticles in his scopes, I don't agree with it, but it works for him.

I have been monkeying around with bullet drops and whatnot for handloads for the rifle. I want something that is going to match up very close with the B&C reticle.

I have found that the 175 Nosler Partition at 2800FPS is about as close as a guy can get.

My question is will a 9.5 twist rifle work with a 175 partition? Sometimes we are at 11000 feet in Colorado for elk, and sometimes at 3000 feet in SD for deer and antelope. I know just because it shoots great at 3000 feet doesn't mean it is going to work great at 11000 feet.

Can anyone give me some guidance? If it doesn't work, I'm probably going to go to a 160 partition.

Jeremy

 

[Garycrow]

It's plenty of twist for a 175 partition. That bullet isn't as long as the sleeker VLD style 7mm bullets in vogue now so it should stabilize no problem.

Your reference to it stabilizing at 3000' but maybe not at 11000' is reversed. Bullets require less twist to stabilize as you go up in altitude. One that works at 3000' will have more stability at 11000'. It won't matter either way with the 175 partition, if the rifle won't shoot them it won't be because of twist.