Who Shoots heavy 30 cal pills out of an 11 twist Tikka/Sako Barrel

[micus]

Hey Gang,

well I am doing some tweaking this off season to my baby. I am working on extending my effective shooting/killing range with my 30-06 SAKO85 Finnlight in field conditions. Curently I am only 100% confident to 400yds off a backpack.

Thus far the Zeiss 3-9 (bdc) has been replaced with a 3.5-15 NF NXS.

I currently shoot 165Interlock BTSP's and find them to be quite effective on game, however, they have the BC of a barn door.

I would like to start shooting something significantly more slippery. I am wanting to shoot 208 ELDMs, or the 210ABLR, maybe a Berger offering? suggestions?

I think the 11 twist barrel is going to kaibosh my plans, are any of you Tikka/SAKO 30cal guys having any luck with heavy projectiles or have a combo that is working for you. I would appreciate having some kind of starting point instead of blowing through 3-4 bullet variants before finding something that works.

thanks,

Mike.

 

[Formidilosus]

How heavy is your rifle all up, and how far are you wanting to shoot?

There are no issues with heavies and a 1/11" twist. While not optimum they'll do fine. However, for a lot of reasons I would also look at the Berger 185gr Hybrid/Juggernaut.

 

[calico pig]

Hey Gang,

well I am doing some tweaking this off season to my baby. I am working on extending my effective shooting/killing range with my 30-06 SAKO85 Finnlight in field conditions. Curently I am only 100% confident to 400yds off a backpack.

Thus far the Zeiss 3-9 (bdc) has been replaced with a 3.5-15 NF NXS.

I currently shoot 165Interlock BTSP's and find them to be quite effective on game, however, they have the BC of a barn door.

I would like to start shooting something significantly more slippery. I am wanting to shoot 208 ELDMs, or the 210ABLR, maybe a Berger offering? suggestions?

I think the 11 twist barrel is going to kaibosh my plans, are any of you Tikka/SAKO 30cal guys having any luck with heavy projectiles or have a combo that is working for you. I would appreciate having some kind of starting point instead of blowing through 3-4 bullet variants before finding something that works.

thanks,

Mike.

I have a Sako 85 Finnlite in 300 Win mag with a Swarovski X5. It's 9.5 pounds all up including sling. So should be within a few oz of yours with the NXS you have. I have shot it out to 1000 yards and it shoots great. I run the 185gr Berger Hybrid and 165 gr Barnes TTSX. The 185 berger hybrid shoots lights out. It would be like peanut butter and jelly with a 30-06. Personally I'd start there or with the VLD with the 30-06 and a 1:11 as Formidulous recommended. They will shoot to 1k with ease and to 700-800 on game if you do your part.

 

[FURMAN]

I can assure you I would not buy an 11 twist planning on shooting 212s or larger. I’ve seen reports of them not even making it to the target never mind the bc you’ll be giving up.


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[JP100]

We run 200gn ELD X in our Tikka .300wsm, getting about 2750 fps from a 21" barrel
Shoots well. No problems with the bullet shooting nor performance on everything we have shot.
Only used at 'normal' ranges so far. 30-350 yards

for a more all round bullet I would use the ELD X over any other long range bullet I have seen/used. Alot of the super high BC 'long range' bullets do not reliably perform on game at closer ranges.

 

[Yellowknife]

My 11:1 30-06 shoots 200 ELD-X fine in warm weather, but group size doubles when temps get down around 0F. Could be stability or it could be the powder, I haven’t drilled down to figure it out. 175 LRX are also really long and also seemed to open up a bit in colder weather also. Not enough data points to draw a firm conclusion as too cause (too many variables as this point), but a standard 180 with vanilla 4350 will shoot just fine at any temp in this gun so I wonder.


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[mtnwrunner]

My tikka 06 ackley shoots 185 Berger classics just fine.

Randy

 

[micus]

That's some solid info, thanks !
a few things im curious about

Formidolosus, You mention the juggernaut/OTM. Is there a reason to go this route and not the elite hunter which edges it out a bit as far as BC is concerned? - I have no experience at all with Bergers.- Also, im not 100% on weight, I will have to grab some new batts for my digi scale. I would like to be able to connect reliably at 700 -800 yds, ring steel to the point things start going trans sonic. I know shooting these ranges is a lot about time behind the gun and volume of rounds- I shoot biweekly at least and am committed to this.

Yellowknife: you have me kindof worried about temps man... I hunt from +30c to -20c haha.. now you have me thinking.

im glad to hear so many of you guys are making the higher BC pills work, ill hit the range shortly and update this thread with what I end up with. I know my LGS has the Bergers recommended and 178ELDX's...

 

[Formidilosus]

That's some solid info, thanks !
a few things im curious about

Formidolosus, You mention the juggernaut/OTM. Is there a reason to go this route and not the elite hunter which edges it out a bit as far as BC is concerned? - I have no experience at all with Bergers.- Also, im not 100% on weight, I will have to grab some new batts for my digi scale. I would like to be able to connect reliably at 700 -800 yds, ring steel to the point things start going trans sonic. I know shooting these ranges is a lot about time beehind the gun and volume of rounds- I shoot biweekly at least and am committed to this.

Either Berger will be fine. The Juggernauts have a bit thicker jacket and hold together a little more as well as transitioning through transonic very well.


The reason that I asked about weight is recoil and muzzle flip. Hitting animals at long range involves more than just ballistic performance. No matter how good you get, you will miss and being able to see the miss and correct off of it to get a hit is extremely important. For that reason in your shoes I would probably choose a high BC 155gr bullet- i.e. Lapua Scenar, Berger VLD, etc. especially for practice, but would have no issue hunting with them as well. External ballistic performance won't be as good as the heavies, but it will have way less recoil and muzzle flip and with good technique and lots of correct practice you should be able to start seeing your own trace and splash.


Unless you have a dedicated partner to spot for you and correct, you have to consider how you are going to spot for yourself.

 

[wind gypsy]

The elite hunter 180s will perform the best ballistically but they have an especially long nose and might not be great for a constrained mag box. Spotting shots with a light unbraked '06 is no easy feat in the field.

 

[Kameero]

My finnlight 300 WM preferred Berger 210.gr Vld over all others. 1-11 twist

 

[ID_Matt]

My tikka 308 shoots the 178 eld-x pretty well, which is somewhat heavy for caliber I guess. My 300 Win Sako A7 does not like the heavier bullets (200 gr eld-x) but I would blame that more on mag length than twist rate.... It does shoot the 185 berger CH hunters very well though. But that isn't heavy.

 

[mtmuley]

I'd feed it 200 grain Accubonds. mtmuley

 

[Conrad101st]

Moderately heavy

I have a 75 Finnlight in 300 WM.

Was shooting 180 TSX with 77.5 grains of H1000 at 2918 FPS and get .625 MOA.

Shot an elk at 605 yards. 2 hits, with second round recovered. Looked like a advertising photo of perfect 4 petal peel back.

This year I went to the 200 grain accubonds with 77.5 grains of H1000 at 2852 FPS and get .75MOA.

Use federal brass with federal match magnum primers. Same powder charge ironically but no pressure signs on the heavier load but its only .5 above book max. I had tried the 180 TSX up to 80 grains of H1000 but accuracy got weird.

The accubonds give me more comfort on the longer ranges of 600 to 750 yards based on what i have read on terminal performance for the two loads. 750 is about the farthest I feel comfortable at on an elk as I don't want to chase blood trails down canyons.

I honestly think the heavier accubonds kick less also and just give more of a push rather than that bitch slap of the TSX.

Got a rag horn at 200 yard this year with the 200 A/B. First round passed through both lungs and he just turned around to try and follow cows. I immediately put second round through front shoulders and he literally dropped straight down. Second round was recovered on far hide and it was an ugly mushroom of death after double blading. .

 

[micus]

Awesome,

thanks guys! I have some 200 ABs loaded as well as three diff charge weights of the 178 eldx.

I picked up
190 Berger VLD hunting
208 ELDM
200NAB
212 ELDX
178 ELDX
168 AMAX
168 Speer SPBT

I only got through the 212 ELDX's and the Bergers before it got too cold for me and I stopped feeling my fingers.

Best was 1.25" with the 212elx and a .9 out of the Berger VLD's. Ill get pics or maybe a vid up with whatever ends up dialing in the best. I am curious to try the 200NAB's as ever kind of accubond ive ever had has seemed to have shot really really well. Id love for this bullet to work.

 

[ramont]

I've built a very good load using 200 grain Hornady ELD-X bullets in my 20" barreled 30-06 with a 1:10" twist. I use RL-17 and am getting 2600 fps from the loads. Yes, I get slightly larger groups when the temperatures drop and I believe it's due to the slower velocity but I still get less than 2" at 100 yards.

 

[2five7]

Maybe I missed it, but has anyone asked what altitude you'll be hunting at? After barrel twist, altitude is the #2 factor in determining bullet stability.

Twist Rate Stability Calculator | Berger Bullets

 

[micus]

Hmm interesting stuff! id never known Alt had anything to do with stability.

im at 3000ft so hunting btw 3-8000ft mark.

 

[fightthenoise]

You shouldn’t have stability issues at those altitudes. Have you run Litz’s calculator?


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[micus]

You shouldn’t have stability issues at those altitudes. Have you run Litz’s calculator?


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No not at all, I haven't even heard of it to be honest!