OzFclass

Hi

I recently purchased a Tikka T3 in 223 with a 8t barrel for a bit of farm use , shooting steel ect .
I have upgraded the magazine and can cycle rounds up to 2.6”

The factory chamber is much much shorter and with 75gr Hornady bthp pills the pill sits below the shoulder .

When I get some 80gr Vlds the problem will be worst .

Is there a common length that people use for the heavier pills ?
I am guessing I need to move the throat forward about .100”

This should get me a grain or so capacity back

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

If you are able to get hold of a couple of 80 grn projectiles first before adjusting the throat and trying them first, I'd do that. I've personally found that the hornady sit deep compared to bergers and sierras. In my savage anyway. One of the guys at north arm shoots 80 vld in a standard tikka throat very well, so i presume that they are the same.
Scott.

I have an 8 twist light tikka and it has a short throat as well, was testing some barnes tsx's yesterday and they sat well below the shoulder to fit in the standard length magazine. I am going to get mine throat'd out.

Try it before you do anything drastic. My t3 8 twist shot a 57.4 with 80gr sierras at 300m a few weeks back and most custom and well tuned rifles shot around that same time were shooting similar scores. Not bad for a factory gun!

Yeah that is true 69 SMK's have beaten the custom jobs at 300 off a bi pod but a bit extra space would be nice for the heavy pills.

70gr nosler rdf’s fit a bit better and for the extra velocity you can push them, the BC is quite good. Much better BC than the 69gr bullets

Try the 77gr sierra match king

Brad what are you loading, the RDF's i have busted a tendon in my left arm go in for surgery today. I have a load for the 69 smk's so will not be able to use my regular 308's for a while, just too heavy oh and if you are where did you get them from

Im running the 80gr smk with 24.5gr 2208 and a br4 primer. Mate is using the 70gr rdf in a shorter freebore varmint chamber. Not sure of his load. But the 80gr smk load works well in my factory tikka t3 varmint. Will check what COAL it’s set at tonight. Pretty sure it was jumping 20 thou. Yes bullets are back past the neck and shoulder junction but I’m happy enough with the performance in a factory rifle.

funny you say 24.5 of 08, i tried some pulled 80 nosler's and that was the load that worked for me too. i see cleavers have 80 eld's for 33 per 100 think i might try some.

Brad
I be keen in seeing the COAL of the 80 smh you are using, I have a Tikka T3 223 as well, its been ok with both the 75 Amax/2206H and the Nosler CC 77/2208 but keen to try something else

1.910” from base of case to ogive of the bullet. Measured with a Sinclair nut comparator.

Thanks Brad

Hey mate I have a t3 8 twist varmint factory throat running 80gr vld's 23.9g 2206h 1.894 OB shot a 60.6 at 300m a couple of weeks back.

Hey Perry Good stuff - i'll have a play around with those now - thanks mate