With recent discussions on poor grouping, scope mounts, and other factors in shooting – I thought i would share my results with a new Tikka T3 Lite stainless 270 WSM. I’ll be adding a review of the new Tikka later, as I get a few more trips to the range. But so far, I think I have found my best out-of-the-box pea shooter ever.
However, the initial results would say otherwise, and I think many would have been very discouraged with the initial trip to the range.
Here is a brief outline of of the first 100 rounds
I believe in a break-in procedure, and follow the steps as outlined by Legacy Sports – Legacy Break in Proceedures
For this, I purchased the most inexpensive ammo I could that still had a jacketed bullet. Fortunately, it was Winchester and a desirable brass I wanted for reloading.
I selected multiple boxes of factory ammo based on 2 things – 1) Bullet Weight 2) documented bullet speed In the case of my 270 WSM, the most common used bullet weights are 130gr & 140 gr which represent the mid-point of the offerings to choose from. Next, I wanted speeds that ranged from the slower end of 28xx fps to higher 3200 fps.
During the break in period, I adjusted my scope to meet the current POI (point of impact). After the first 20 rounds, I located to my 125 yrds target.
Shooting 3-4 shot groups, I was looking for strictly pattern, not that the scope was set to the poi. I realize that to many, this is a very expensive short term investment to learn a lot about your rifle.
Very quickly I was able to identify a few things. My rifle LOVES the 140br bullets at over 3100fps and 130gr bullets at around 3280fps.
As you can see in the collage of pics, I was seeing 1/2″ groups to over 3″ groups. Two factory loads stood out as the best for my rifle. Barnes VorTX 140gr (3135fps) and Federal Premium Vital-Shok 130gr (3280 fps)
I chose to continue with the 140 gr Barnes TSX as my primary hunting bullet, so now I can proceed with establishing preliminary load data.
I adjusted my POI for the Barnes 140gr VorTX loads and did a longer range test at 325 yrds. As you can see from my first pic, I could not be much happier with a factory load. A 1″ group at 300 yards represents approximately 1/3″ minute of angle.
I also shot this load through my chronograph at 8′ from the muzzle to see what I recorded Vs the Barnes data. I clocked it at 3112 and the Barnes data states 3135 which is very close.
Now I’ll start my hand loading to match the Barnes VorTX factory load. Since Barnes uses a proprietary powder and won’t give their specific load data, I’ll match it to the load data in my manuals.
Starting with a lower charge and working up, its just a matter of time to get my hand load dialed in!
