Help with new T3x Lite ammo selection

[Bezamaelee]

Brand new 7Rem Mag for elk and deer. Trying to save myself a ton of testing and narrow it down to 2 or 3 factory loads for starters. Hopefully will get something to group and won’t have to test beyond that.

My T3 in 270 shoots factory 130 partitions and trophy bonded tips both really well. Thought about just starting with 7 mag loads in those two.

Any suggestions? What are y’all shooting in your Tikka big 7’s ?

 

[ReddingArcher]

It’s not a Tikka but I had a Browning that shot the Hornady Precision Hunter stuff really well. My Tikka 300 WM shoots the Hornady stuff really well also. I’d start with those.

 

[JollyRoger]

My Tikka 7mag shoots HSM and Federal Premium loaded with 168gr Bergers really well. To the point I don’t shoot anything else in it.

It shot Hornady 162 ELD-X, and Federal 165 Game kings pretty good too. But the Berger’s just shot a lot better for me.


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[mt100gr.]

X2 for the HSM 168 berger offering. I handload that bullet for tikka 7mmRM but I have shot a few boxes of the factory ammo as well and the HSM was very good.

 

[snowtoy83]

I have a superlite 7rm that likes precision hunters under 1”

 

[zion zig zag]

Federal Premium with Nosler Accubond in 160 shooting well for me. Can find them for about 35 per box too.

 

[DJL2]

I'm working the same challenge. Limited testing so far shows adequate performance with 154 and 162 SST, 160 AB. The 150 BT seems slightly better than that group. I still need to test the Barnes 139 LRX. I'm also handloading some 168 VLD.

At some point I'll likely try the ELD-X, but I've got an old box of SST and AMax to load and burn first plus 300 of these Matrix VLD.

 

[Dalen88]

mine shoots 162 grain eldx great

 

[sdupontjr]

You will be surprised with the ammo it shoots. I have a T3 lite .308 and what I found may help you as well. My kids Rem 700 .308's love the Hornady 165 sst's as well as the cheaper Rem corloks. So I decided to try the Hornady in my Tikka. Shot like chit. at 100 yards it was about 3" groups. I thought something was wrong with the rifle. After doing some research as you are doing right now several mentioned trying Federal blue box 150's from Walmart for about $10. My T3 will clover leaf these and sometimes put them in same hole at 100 yards. Went back and tried the Hornady in same shooting day, 3". Swapped back to Wally world ammo, clover leafs. The guy next to me at range was wondering why I was laughing so much. Told him he could have the remaining rounds in the Hornady box, I'll stick with the Walmart federals. You may get lucky like me, but for about $10, its worth a try.

 

[zion zig zag]

My 7mm t3x also shot these really well: https://www.sportsmans.com/shooting...magnum-150gr-sp-rifle-ammo-20-rounds/p/307099

So, for my level of skill, I've found the Federal Accubond 160's, Federal 150 gr Sp, and Honady 162 eld-x to all shoot about the same. I'm leaning towards the Accubond as a elk round up to 300 yards.

 

[wyosam]

I’d just start with your top choice or two for ballistic and terminal performance and see if they shoot. Chances are very high they will shoot just fine.


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[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Figure out what distances you want to kill elk and deer, and then buy 2-3 different boxes of ammo that meets your desired goals. Your rifle will let you know which one to run. Just use the leftovers for working on fundamentals.

My T3X in 6.5 CM shot the 143 gr Precision Hunter very well. It would not chamber the commercial 142 gr ABLR nor the commercial Berger (do not recall the weight). My T3X in 300 Win Mag shot the 200 gr Precision Hunter and 180 gr Barnes TTSX decently, but loved the 200 gr Federal TLR very well (just could not find any after that). My T1X in 17 HMR did not shoot the lighter grain bullets well but loves the 20 grain.

 

[DJL2]

I've significantly upgraded my opinion of the 162 SST in my rifle. I was out today for a total of 22 rounds. The first and the 11th were factory SST SF ammo...and they printed to POA and on top of one another...and on top of two fired from my previous range session.

The other 20 rounds were two seperate ladders I shot of 10 rounds each with the 162 SST @ 3.230 inches OAL with H4831sc and RL23. Both of those printed to POA based on my come up for the factory ammo and <1.5 MOA @ 300 yards with zero regard for the wind by me (as a storm came in) and charge weights that varied between 63.3-66 and 64.3-67 respectively.

In other words, every shot I fired today would have cleanly taken game from cold to hot, as a storm rolled in, with massively inconsistent ammunition.