Tikka Twist Rates & Copper Bullets

[FreeRange]

Looking to see who has experience with Tikka's and copper bullets. Their twist rates have me a little concerned. Curious who's done it in a 300 win mag or 7 rem mag. In case things have changed Tikka's now ship with an 11" on the 300win mag and 9.5" on the 7mm rem mag in the superlite. Leaning towards the 300 at the moment.

Being in CA I'm stuck with copper bullets and don't want to change up for out of state hunts. I'm not going to shoot Barnes through this gun, want to go with either Cutting Edge or Hammer. I've killed a deer and antelope with LRX out of my 6.5C and don't have confidence to do anything other than shoulder shots which is effective but not ideal as far as meat loss and margin of error. A bullet that sheds petals will give me much more confidence.

I'm going to build this gun specifically for elk and want it to be capable at moderately long range, something that can drop an elk at 600 yards without compromise would make me happy and target shoot at further ranges. For that reason I'm looking to push my bullet weight up as much as can be hoped for, this is where I'm worried and I don't want to buy the Tikka and find myself dissapointed.

As it stands right now off the website specs I couldn't go over 152 gr Hammer Hunters or 150gr MTH from Cutting edge without going against their recommended twist rates which I've read I should take seriously.

Any input would be helpful, thanks.

 

[KClark]

I've no experience with those 2 bullets in my 1-11 twist 300 T3 but it puts the 180gr Nosler E tip all copper into 3/4" or less at 100 yards and my longest elk kill with this combo so far is 442 yards.

Good luck out there.

 

[TauPhi111]

I shoot cutting edge and I'd say heed their twist recommendations. If your twist is too slow, i don't think you'd have enough speed to stabilize it. I tried their 140 grain MTH is my 7.5 twist 260 AI and they keyhole. Not sure if my barrel is actually a little slow or they mispublished the required twist (i've seen 1:7 elsewhere for that bullet), but either way they don't work in that gun. The 130's are money though.

Tikkas slow twists are the main reason I haven't bought one yet. I feel any modern 30 cal should have at least a 10 twist, esp if it is bigger than a 308 or 30-06. My advice would be to see if the 180 class bullets stabilize, and if not, drop down to the 165-168 class. At least then you'll have a super flat trajectory in 300 WM and with all copper bullets you know you'll get penetration.

If you're worried about bullet weight, you can always look to the hammer sledge hammer line as well. They don't require as fast a twist as the hammer hunters.

Why no confidence in the Barnes though? I shoot the 168 TTSX in my 30-06 and I'll take lung shots all day with it.

 

[HiMtnHntr]

I've use bullets up to 210 gn in an 11 twist 300 wsm. I've most commonly ran 180 gn Barnes tsx with good results.

 

[Macintosh]

Also Curious about the barnes? My Tikka is a 7-08 so different animal but it likes barnes bullets. I Have only shot deer sized
Animals with it out to a little over 200 yds with very good results, but I havent heard much bad about them.

 

[HiMtnHntr]

Also Curious about the barnes? My Tikka is a 7-08 so different animal but it likes barnes bullets. I Have only shot deer sized
Animals with it out to a little over 200 yds with very good results, but I havent heard much bad about them.

Sounds like you're getting good results. I'm running the Barnes 139 gn lrx in a tikka superlite in 7mm-08. So far, the only game taken has been an antelope. Happy so far...

 

[kickemall]

It will cost more but the 2018 Browning Hells Canyon LRs have 1 in 8 twist rate for their .300 wm.

 

[TauPhi111]

It will cost more but the 2018 Browning Hells Canyon LRs have 1 in 8 twist rate for their .300 wm.

God damn that's a tight twist. You can shoot the really heave monos with that.

 

[robescc]

Bringing back an old post. I also missed the 1 in 9 or faster twist rate when I purchased the bullets. I have a T3X in 7mm Rem Mag and loaded three different charges with the Barnes LRX 168 gr. No mater the charge, the bullets keyholed. I got terrible performance out of them which was very disappointing because I wanted to use them on a cow elk hunt in Oregon this year.

 

[robescc]

 

[Rob5589]

Bringing back an old post. I also missed the 1 in 9 or faster twist rate when I purchased the bullets. I have a T3X in 7mm Rem Mag and loaded three different charges with the Barnes LRX 168 gr. No mater the charge, the bullets keyholed. I got terrible performance out of them which was very disappointing because I wanted to use them on a cow elk hunt in Oregon this year.

According to the Berger stability calculator, even the 139 is marginal depending on elevation. I shoot the 140 TTSX from mine with very good accuracy. Anything over about 1.3" bullet length is too long for the 9.5 twisted Tikkas.

 

[rootacres]

My Dad has a 300 win mag in the Lite Stainless model. He shot a few different factory loads through it before landing on the 180gr TTSX. His rifle preferred those over accubonds and a couple others. Id say not to hesitate running the 180s. I think you could run into some issues if you tried shooting the heavier all copper pills.

250 yard shoulder shot

 

[SDHNTR]

The 9.5 in the 7 mag is closer to ideal than the 11 twist in the .300 wm. For the sake of versatility (I live in CA too), I like 1-9 in my 7 mag and 1-10 in my .300. My 7 mag will shoot any mono I’ve fed it but really likes 150 GMX. I’m sure it would shoot much heavier well too. My .300 shoots both 180 gr Ttsx and Hammer Hunter 181 gr really well. I don’t want for anything more in either bullet. I have no interest in “hunting” at 1000 yards so the really high BC heavies that require a super tight twist are nothing more than a novelty to me. If you’re dead set on a Tikka, the 7 mag is closer to an optimal twist rate, imo.

 

[chukwithak]

The 9.5 in the 7 mag is closer to ideal than the 11 twist in the .300 wm. For the sake of versatility (I live in CA too), I like 1-9 in my 7 mag and 1-10 in my .300. My 7 mag will shoot any mono I’ve fed it but really likes 150 GMX. I’m sure it would shoot much heavier well too. My .300 shoots both 180 gr Ttsx and Hammer Hunter 181 gr really well. I don’t want for anything more in either bullet. I have no interest in “hunting” at 1000 yards so the really high BC heavies that require a super tight twist are nothing more than a novelty to me. If you’re dead set on a Tikka, the 7 mag is closer to an optimal twist rate, imo.

Not to jump a thread, but have you looked at the 139 GMX? Velocity, Energy and trajectory are all greater at 500 yards.

 

[SDHNTR]

Not to jump a thread, but have you looked at the 139 GMX? Velocity, Energy and trajectory are all greater at 500 yards.

The 150 shot better. Accuracy trumps minimal ballistic gains on paper, imo.

 

[RMajors]

I also highly recommend Barnes. Don't know what range you're planning on shooting animals at, but a 150gr TTSX is a flat shooting killing machine out of a 300wm out to 400 or 500 yards. I won't take shots on whitetails past 400 personally. But I saw someone else here said they'd take lung shots all day, which they will do fine, but I shoot my deer through both shoulders and I've NEVER recovered a bullet. Barnes seem to perform like a heavier cup and core bullet, don't let the lighter weight fool you into thinking that they won't perform. Here is a video featuring a 130gr Barnes out of a 30-378 Weatherby. The results are impressive to me.https://youtu.be/bG5fcXQNaBA