new to reloading

tikkat3270wsm

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Sep 26, 2010
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West lawn Pa
i am new to reloading and looking for any help that could be offered. i have a Tikka T3 in 270wsm( hence the screen name), i had a load worked up for me by a custom gunsmith/ long range shooter. 140gr. nosler ballistics,61 gr. of reloader 19,fed 215 mag primer,win. cases. velocity-2750,average group .437.
my questions are, i am going to reload this when i start doing it myself,does anyone think there is room for improvement , should i even bother trying,has anyone had better luck with some other load in the same gun?
thanks for putting up with question, i will try and keep them shorter from now on
craig
 
Craig, you will likely run into some small variables when you begin. First of all save 1 or 2 of the loaded rounds that the other guy loaded for reference in terms of bullet seating depth. That is one major thing. The other is that you will be using a different lot number of powder in Reloder 19 unless you supplied him with your powder to begin with.

Also, his dies were set up to form your cases and you will have to set your dies up exactly the same. For example, his sizer die may have bumped your shoulder back .002, .001, .004. He will know and you should get this info from him.

Other than that and maybe a few more things, your loads should be very close to his.

Finally, I would recommend that you measure the outside neck diameter of a fired case. Measure the diameter of a case that you sized WITHOUT using the neck expander, then finally measure the neck after sizing WITH the expander. Some sizer dies are set up to really choke the neck during the downsizing and the expander opens it back up to about .001 less than a loaded round. If there is a big difference in the largest v. the smallest diameter, then it is my opinion that you are overworking your brass and causing work hardening to the neck.

Prior to getting my sizer dies worked on, my Redding dies were reducing my fired cases about 13-15 thousandths. That is rediculous, and in my opinion, that die should have never left the factory.

If your die does that, then I highly recommend you anneal your cases after every 1-3 shots because you are doing a lot of work hardening on those necks.

Make sure your case prep matches that of the guy currently loading for you.
 
I would look for some more velocity! I run 140's 3300+ with a stout load of Retumbo but I've shot the barrel out and I'm still running them 3100fps.
 
thanks bigngreen, i know he had worked up some hotter loads , but the accuracy was not there. the barrle is thin on the tikka and heats up really, really fast! 3 shots and almost to hot to touch. i will keep that in mind though. this going to be my hunting gun, but i plan on spending alot of time at the range, trying for the best groups i can shoot. my plan is to be able to shoot this as good as i can shoot my bow, having to shoot at differnt spots on the target so as not to wreck arrow.(60 yrds).
thanks again,
craig
 
If either of you want a stainless Lilja 3 groove 10T, #3 contour I have an extra sitting in my safe. I paid $315 plus shipping. I'd let it go for $300 shipped. If not, no big deal, I'll use it sometime in the future.
 
what is a lilja 3 groove? i dont meen to sound stupid, but you have peaked my interest:rolleyes:

Dan Lilja is a custom barrel maker. I have several rifles with his barrels on them and they are extremely accurate. Take a look at his borescope video. This is the difference between a handlapped precision barrel compared to a Remington factory barrel that is brand new.

YouTube - Lilja BoreScope Video
 
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