Proof carbon tikka prefit 300 wsm favorite ammo & handloads?

davsco

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so i replaced my factory tikka 300 wsm barrel with a proof carbon prefit. only had it out once (barrel break in /zero/etc) but i couldn't get any great groups out of it with a wide variety of ammo (hornady 200 eldx, hsm 185 vld hunting, fed terminal ascent 200, fed 180 tbt, etc). good news is they all shot decent, just barely over 1 moa. but i have another tikka, and then a tl3, with proof carbon prefits and they're both easily sub moa, albeit in lighter calibers 6.5 creed and prc.

i do have some bullets in hornady 200 eldx and berger 205 hunting to try out some handloads, and rl 23 & 26 and h4350 and h1000 powders. right now, the factory ammo above fills up the factory wsm magazines. i have the hornady OAL case length gauge on order. to load longer ammo, if the OAL gauge says i have room, not sure if i can just get 300 win mag magazines or it's more complicated?

in any event, if you have experience with proof tikka prefits in 300wsm i'd appreciate input on accurate factory and handloaded ammo, thanks!
 

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Ucsdryder

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What stock do you have on it? You have any issues with recoil sensitivity?
 

amassi

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My first proof prefit was absolutely filthy, I'm not sure if it was machine oil or whatever but I couldn't get a patch down the barrel and had to spray wipe out foam in it and brush it out, then clean. After it was cleaned out it was a great accurate barrel

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davsco

davsco

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What stock do you have on it? You have any issues with recoil sensitivity?
i have it in a mesa altitude. with that and the area419 hellfire brake, there is pretty much no recoil.

exact same setup as my other proof/tikka/mesa albeit that's in 6.5 creed.
 
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davsco

davsco

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My first proof prefit was absolutely filthy, I'm not sure if it was machine oil or whatever but I couldn't get a patch down the barrel and had to spray wipe out foam in it and brush it out, then clean. After it was cleaned out it was a great accurate barrel
what's your def'n of 'accurate?' mine came clean and i did follow proof's break-in procedures.
 

amassi

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what's your def'n of 'accurate?' mine came clean and i did follow proof's break-in procedures.
Sub moa with factory ammo, better with handloads.
I didn't do any break-in procedure, just cleaned out whatever gunk was in barrel from the factory and started banging away.

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ID_Matt

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I am guessing here but you may find when you get your OAL gauge that you are jumping a long ways. I am not sure what the proof chamber is like. If you are handloading, it would probably be beneficial to change out the bolt stop and the mags so that you can load longer. I believe the WSM tikka's are set up in short action mag wise and bolt stop wise but I could be wrong.
 
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davsco

davsco

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ok, i got the OAL gauge today and took some measurements. the only one i have a bullet and a cartridge for (without pulling any) is the Hornady 200 ELD-X. the cartridges are measuring ~2.855 on average (pretty big spreads though) and the bullet in the hornady gauge indicates 2.925 to the lands, so a .0700 jump for the factory hornady 200 eldx ammo.

what is a good jump in this situation?

the factory rounds are pretty tight front to back in the wsm magazine. could/should i get a 300 or 7 mag magazine and would that work with 300wsm rounds and what if any modification would be needed? bottom "metal" is all factory tikka.
 

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gbflyer

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I’ve only messed with 1 T3 but I believe you can order a long action bolt stop, easy change…lots of YouTube’s, and long mag for 300 WM. These guys can hook you up with the bolt stop and their mags or you can buy factory.


You won’t know about the .070 jump until you try it. Maybe load long and single feed a couple as a test.

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Ucsdryder

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I’m confused.

You’ll want a long action bolt stop for sure if you’re loading long. It can be installed (by you) in 5 minutes.

Did you do load work up? Here’s what I did…

.020” off the lands and go in .3gr increments at 600 yards. I stopped when I hit pressure. I looked for a good grouping among different powder loads showing me what is probably a more forgiving “node”.

Then I shot 3 shot groups at 100 yard with the identified “node” with different seating depths, .020, .040, .060, .080, .100”. I loaded 6 bullets at each depth. Shot 3 shot groups and then shot an additional 3 shot group with the best to confirm it wasn’t a fluke. The other bullets got pulled.

There are lots of ways to do this, and I’m far from an expert but this seemed to work for me.

Oh and don’t do this on a brand new barrel or on virgin brass. The barrel will speed up and 1x fired brass will show different pressure than virgin.
 
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davsco

davsco

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yeah i've done bolt stops. really haven't worked up a load for rifles yet, thanks for your help i'll give your process a try.
 

Ucsdryder

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yeah i've done bolt stops. really haven't worked up a load for rifles yet, thanks for your help i'll give your process a try.
Couple tips…go well above where you THINK you’ll hit max pressure…it’s easier to go home and pull the bullets than run out of bullets and have to go back a different day…ask me how I know!

Get a BIG piece of cardboard. Bring 5-6 minimum charge weight rounds to get on paper then start charting your shots. You’ll need to mark them every time you shoot which is a PIA. As you increase powder, the bullets will impact higher and higher so your POA should be fairly low. I used a 3’x5’ piece of cardboard. Should looks something like this. As you can see my last 2 shots grouped very well. Ran out of rounds and had to go back and load with higher powder charges!


The farther you can shoot from the more dramatic the results. I believe these were 650 yards.
 

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