Show your Tikka ten round groups

DJL2

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
May 22, 2020
Messages
250
I haven't really made an effort to shoot 10 round groups...I've been all over the place at the range, swapping between ammo, different rifles, nearly blowing my MSv3 to pieces, fighting crowds, that sort of thing. That said, it occured to me that I did shoot a 10 round group unintentionally today that I'm pretty excited about.
20200624_200943.jpg

Now, if you run that in Ballistic-X (which I did...but my formatting is jacked...and it's a 4MB PNG file...daft), you'll come out with like a 1.3 MOA group. I know what you're thinking - "Dave, man, this is the internet, that's shite. No one even posts if it's not <1 MOA you plonker. What on earth could you possibly be excited about?"

I fired that as a 10 round ladder @ 300 yards (clearly misguided...) as a storm came in. That means that my T3x produced a 1.3 MOA 10 round group with switchy winds and a 162 grain SST loaded over between 64.3 and 67 grains of RL23. I thought that was pretty cool.

The circles are the inside and outside of a duct tape roll I had handy. Right about 5 1/8" OD and matched up pretty nicely with my scope's reticle.
 
OP
H
Joined
Feb 2, 2020
Messages
1,992
I haven't really made an effort to shoot 10 round groups...I've been all over the place at the range, swapping between ammo, different rifles, nearly blowing my MSv3 to pieces, fighting crowds, that sort of thing. That said, it occured to me that I did shoot a 10 round group unintentionally today that I'm pretty excited about.
View attachment 192004

Now, if you run that in Ballistic-X (which I did...but my formatting is jacked...and it's a 4MB PNG file...daft), you'll come out with like a 1.3 MOA group. I know what you're thinking - "Dave, man, this is the internet, that's shite. No one even posts if it's not <1 MOA you plonker. What on earth could you possibly be excited about?"

I fired that as a 10 round ladder @ 300 yards (clearly misguided...) as a storm came in. That means that my T3x produced a 1.3 MOA 10 round group with switchy winds and a 162 grain SST loaded over between 64.3 and 67 grains of RL23. I thought that was pretty cool.

The circles are the inside and outside of a duct tape roll I had handy. Right about 5 1/8" OD and matched up pretty nicely with my scope's reticle.

Nice shooting! What cartridge?
 

DJL2

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
May 22, 2020
Messages
250
Ah, yes, my T3x is a 7mm Rem Mag. I've had it on a weight gain plan, so it's up to around 8.75 lbs now with scope and sling (as well as the world's ugliest bedding job).

As unproductive as the ladders themselves were, yesterday was great for inspiring confidence in the T3x. It'll clearly put the 162 SST to POA through witchcraft. I'd just dialed my come up for the factory 162 SST SF and...voila.
 

Dobermann

WKR
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I posted this in the 'Tikkas are boring thread', but putting here also, as this thread is likely to remain lively for longer ... and it possibly adds to the evidence for all of the Tikka doubters (of which I was one!).

Just got a new Tikka T3x in 223. On request of the gun shop, gave it to a more experienced shooter at my club to shoot the first groups before sending away for threading.

He shot one round which established we weren't on paper. He roughly boresighted (by eye, not using a laser), and then shot the next six shots into the the group below.

Here's the thing - I'd given him two different kinds of ammo, and asked him to shoot two different groups (with the idea that we could see if either gave different results / for initial load testing).

He misunderstood, and shot both the two three-shot groups with the different ammo into the same point of aim ... yet still one ragged hole. Admittedly, this was still at just 50 m for the sake of seeing a basic group, but still ...

(And in case anyone asks - loads were Hornady Black, 223 REM, 75 gr BTHP, and Fiocchi 223MKD, 77 gr Sierra Matchking HPBT.)

In sum: brand new gun. Not cleaned before group shot. After one shot before rough boresight, this is the first six rounds - no test rounds after boresighting. Two different ammo types. Gun and scope not set up for shooter; shooter had never shot gun before. Left-handed gun and right-handed shooter.

I'm a happy camper! :)

Tikka-223-group-by-AS-12.gif
 
OP
H
Joined
Feb 2, 2020
Messages
1,992
Still not a Tikka, but I was at the range this morning and figured I'd post some more results.

Lone Peak Arms Razor Action
Benchmark 26" Barrel
Timney 510 Trigger
Manners T4A

Factory Prime 130gr 6.5 cm ammo

For the first time in this barrels life, I cleaned for copper (about 840 rounds), and it's been a few hundred rounds since the last carbon cleaning. The first shot was a cold shooter & fouling round so I won't include it. There was also a shot that I called as shooter error. Total of 22 rounds were fired:

View attachment 200149

View attachment 200150

View attachment 200151

View attachment 200152

View attachment 200153

These results are similar to the last time I went through this exercise in terms of determining zero. I've been of the mindset that one or two 5-shot groups should be used for zeroing. But It seems like 3-rounds is all I really need.

Not including the fouling round and the called shooter error, the aggregate 20-round group size is 0.650 MOA using factory ammo. Even if you include those two shots, the 22-round group size is 0.731 MOA, and I'm definitely the weak link here.


Sweet! Great shooting. Are you shooting off bags or a bipod? What do you use for carbon cleaning? I'd like to get the carbon out and leave some copper behind. I've been considering trying boretech C4. Would you like to teach me to shoot that well? 😂
 

SIontheHunt

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 16, 2020
Messages
102
im part of the "cant get a decent group out of my tikka" category. I have a t3x in 300wm and have put 165 ttsx, 180 hornady superformance and 180 federal fusions into it and 100 yd groups are 3". Gonna try some federals loaded with 180 accubonds soon and if that doesn't do it i am going to swap the scope. Took the thing apart made sure its all tight and nothing going. It is not me because on the same day i was shooting my old mans christiansen and ringing 6" steel at 400.
 

Wacko

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 6, 2019
Messages
179
im part of the "cant get a decent group out of my tikka" category. I have a t3x in 300wm and have put 165 ttsx, 180 hornady superformance and 180 federal fusions into it and 100 yd groups are 3". Gonna try some federals loaded with 180 accubonds soon and if that doesn't do it i am going to swap the scope. Took the thing apart made sure its all tight and nothing going. It is not me because on the same day i was shooting my old mans christiansen and ringing 6" steel at 400.

It happens. ANY factory rifle can be a poor shooter. Factory rifles are like going to Vegas - place your bets. The best you can do if you buy factory is go with a brand that has a good reputation for accuracy. Tikka is one of them. I will say the customer service to back up their moa guarantee is suspect already - especially so if you modify the rifle in any way.

A .300 WM in a light rifle is hard to shoot well also. I would try a couple other bullets, do your scope idea, then decide where to go.

I have multiple Tikka's that shoot - meh for me as well. Definitely not as good as some of the groups here, but close to the same as some others. Not as good as their rep though for sure. I've tried plenty of "tweaks" and different types of ammo. I'm deciding where to go from here...be satisfied with what I got, get a KRG Bravo stock to see if it helps, rebarrel and customize, or trip 'em and try something else.

It doesn't help on a whim I purchased a savage 110 tactical in 6.5 creed.....it shoots!!!! Better than any tikka I've owned - no special torque, no special bullets, no "break in" of 200 rounds, OUT OF THE BOX....and less $$$
 

gjs4

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jul 24, 2017
Messages
246
I hate this thread.

Did I mention I just bought my first Tikka because of this thread? Lol. Stainless t3x in 7mmRM. My prerogative has changed from haunting it out of interest to haunting it for recipes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Like many things when it comes to firearms - energy, trajectory, bullet construction - I feel like a lot of hunters really go over the top when it comes to accuracy expectations.

The vital size of an elk is 12-15”, let’s go with with 12” to be safe. A true 1moa load will kill an elk to 1200 yards(energy, bullet construction and shooter skill aside) every time. I’d guess 90-95% of hunters don’t shoot past 500-600... that means that “crappy” 1” group will kill every time.

Another thing is sample size - a lot of guys are shooting 3 shot groups, I wonder how many cherry pick the best one to post online?

All this to say - I’d be damn happy with a rifle that would put everything into 1”... even 1.25” isn’t the end of the world... that’s still a dead elk at 1k! Even a 2” group will put down damn near anything at 500-600.

Stop chasing some arbitrary number and just go shoot. Who cares if the guy with the next serial numbered rifle is getting .75 when you’re only getting 1”.
 
OP
H
Joined
Feb 2, 2020
Messages
1,992
Like many things when it comes to firearms - energy, trajectory, bullet construction - I feel like a lot of hunters really go over the top when it comes to accuracy expectations.

The vital size of an elk is 12-15”, let’s go with with 12” to be safe. A true 1moa load will kill an elk to 1200 yards(energy, bullet construction and shooter skill aside) every time. I’d guess 90-95% of hunters don’t shoot past 500-600... that means that “crappy” 1” group will kill every time.

Another thing is sample size - a lot of guys are shooting 3 shot groups, I wonder how many cherry pick the best one to post online?

All this to say - I’d be damn happy with a rifle that would put everything into 1”... even 1.25” isn’t the end of the world... that’s still a dead elk at 1k! Even a 2” group will put down damn near anything at 500-600.

Stop chasing some arbitrary number and just go shoot. Who cares if the guy with the next serial numbered rifle is getting .75 when you’re only getting 1”.


Haha part of the challenge of this thread. There's not too many sub moa ten shot groups around.

I would like to be able to get to 1moa on demand, but I don't know if that's possible with my gun. I think I'm realistically around 1.5 or 1.75
 

BAKPAKR

WKR
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May 10, 2018
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Haha part of the challenge of this thread. There's not too many sub moa ten shot groups around.

I would like to be able to get to 1moa on demand, but I don't know if that's possible with my gun. I think I'm realistically around 1.5 or 1.75

I picked up a new T3X SL in 223 Friday so I decided to try a 10 round group. The first photo shows shots 6-15 with 75 gr Prvi Partizan. It is actually two 5 shot groups with cleaning before each one. I don’t know what happened with the 3:00 shot. It may very well have been the fouling shot of the second string.


ECA14682-6319-48C6-8C9D-8258A4A35E28.jpeg

Shots 16-25 were with Black Hills 77 gr OTM.

863F4484-649F-4C06-A076-0644705F2E8B.jpeg

I, too, would like to shoot MOA (or, preferably, sub-MOA), but I fear that I am the weak link. It is my plan to work on that with the 223.
 

slowelk

WKR
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@406Smith what are you trying to prove? This is a tikka 10-round group thread. We get it, your custom and you both shoot well.
 

bsnedeker

WKR
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May 17, 2018
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@406Smith - How do you enter your shots into that application? Do you just take a picture of the target, or do you have to manually enter them? I'm just curious about the precision of it. Thanks!
 
OP
H
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@406Smith what are you trying to prove? This is a tikka 10-round group thread. We get it, your custom and you both shoot well.

I don't think he owns a Tikka. He didn't join the Rokslide/Form/Tikka club.

Go a few pages back. He's put up some awesome data and photos aggregating groups onto a single POA
 
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Messages
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Like many things when it comes to firearms - energy, trajectory, bullet construction - I feel like a lot of hunters really go over the top when it comes to accuracy expectations.

The vital size of an elk is 12-15”, let’s go with with 12” to be safe. A true 1moa load will kill an elk to 1200 yards(energy, bullet construction and shooter skill aside) every time. I’d guess 90-95% of hunters don’t shoot past 500-600... that means that “crappy” 1” group will kill every time.

Another thing is sample size - a lot of guys are shooting 3 shot groups, I wonder how many cherry pick the best one to post online?

All this to say - I’d be damn happy with a rifle that would put everything into 1”... even 1.25” isn’t the end of the world... that’s still a dead elk at 1k! Even a 2” group will put down damn near anything at 500-600.

Stop chasing some arbitrary number and just go shoot. Who cares if the guy with the next serial numbered rifle is getting .75 when you’re only getting 1”.

I agree with your sentiment in general but wanted to point out some things. When you get to distance (5-600 yards+) there is a BIG difference between being able to shoot a 1 MOA group and being able to hit a 1 MOA target. Lots of people punch sub MOA groups into paper at 100 yards all the time and think that means they will hit a MOA target at distance but it doesn't. Spin drift, wind, velocity variance, bc variance, differences in recoil management shot to shot, will all start to cause misses.

Some things that cause a group to be 1 MOA vs 0.5 MOA at 100 could very well cause that group to be larger than 1 MOA as distances extend.
 
Joined
Oct 8, 2019
Messages
2,956
Like many things when it comes to firearms - energy, trajectory, bullet construction - I feel like a lot of hunters really go over the top when it comes to accuracy expectations.

The vital size of an elk is 12-15”, let’s go with with 12” to be safe. A true 1moa load will kill an elk to 1200 yards(energy, bullet construction and shooter skill aside) every time. I’d guess 90-95% of hunters don’t shoot past 500-600... that means that “crappy” 1” group will kill every time.

Another thing is sample size - a lot of guys are shooting 3 shot groups, I wonder how many cherry pick the best one to post online?

All this to say - I’d be damn happy with a rifle that would put everything into 1”... even 1.25” isn’t the end of the world... that’s still a dead elk at 1k! Even a 2” group will put down damn near anything at 500-600.

Stop chasing some arbitrary number and just go shoot. Who cares if the guy with the next serial numbered rifle is getting .75 when you’re only getting 1”.
Sorry for the late delay. Please correct me if I am mistaken.

If the vitals of an elk are 12-15", then that is the diameter. We'd have to divide that by 2 to get the radius. If the gun shoots 1 MOA then the maximum shot distance would be 600-750 yards as the bullet would go somewhere within that radius (6-7.5"). Even this assumes that the shooter aims for the exact center of the vitals. Any deviation from that aim point could mean a miss or bad shot (ex: gun shot).
 
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