Tikka 7mm rem mag -OAL

Hi Guys,

I have finally bit the proverbial bullet and brought a second hand Tikka T3 7mm rem mag so I can retire my beautiful-but-heavy Tikka M695 .270win workhorse to lighter duties.

I am just in the beginnings of working up an accurate hunting load for it and was wondering how people have found Hornady 162 grain SST's regarding seating depth. I knew that inevitably I would be restricted in OAL by the Tikka magazine, but how far will I be away from the lands have people found themselves when using 162 grain SSTs in their 7mm mags because of this?

I have seen a lot of posts on here from people using ELD-X and not getting overly close to the lands with the magazine restricting OAL and I am just wondering if 162g grain SSTs will be the same. If I dont have to worry about being close to the lands then I will just seat the bullet relative to the magazine restriction from the get go and save some sheckles that I would otherwise have to spend on a modified case.

Any advice appreciated.

Cheers,

Matt

Really depends on the wear on your barrel. I would be unsurprised if it had at least 0.1" of jump but you'll have to measure it to know.

The 20 thou jump people often try to start at is fairly arbitrary. People quite often find a load that works well there. But that's not the same as it being the only place the bullet will shoot well. I have not found the 162gr SST to be fussy over seating depth. Load to mag length or book length, whatever. It will probably shoot fine.

Thanks Pommy, appreciate your knowledge.

Yip id start at mag legnth and turn a blind eye to how far it may be jumping id say youll find itll just flat out shoot at mag i loaded amax and eldx to tikka mag legnth in multiple rifles including my 85 that had a longer mag and the same load worked very well in all of them

I recently loaded for tikka t3x rem mag and had great results with sst at OAL of 3.309 with 2217. Was short of mag length but didn’t chase anything further as was 0.33moa at 100 yards.

as already said, load to mag length, it will have a massive jump, who cares, its not an Fclass gun.

make sure they feed well from the mag, just because they "JUST" fit, doesn't mean they will feed well. have done a number of loads for the Tikkas and they all seem to be the same with feeding nice once you get the length right.

load some groups of 3 in a ladder with 2217 from 68.5-70.5gn or there abouts depending on brass and action it may like more but work up to it. go shoot em, it will like one of them more than the rest, replicate it and confirm it then that's your load.

job done

Hi Artie, have you made any more progress in this space? What’s your overall goal?

I’m looking at dialling in my 7mm rem which tends to sit in the cupboard collecting dust. Keen to hear your advice.

Cheers

+1 for mag length. Loaded 162gr eldx adi2217 shoots 1/2 moa if I do

can only load to mag length with most projectiles, problem with a one size action

I should probably update this thread. I have since developed my load and have got it shooting well. Loaded at mag length and got groups of 0.7 inch at 100 yards. The barrel was relatively warm and dirty by that point and I was more concerned with the velocity being consistent than the groupings so was probably rushing the shots a bit. It will definitely shot tighter if I do my part. All in all the velocity was very consistent which I am stoked with. It isn't going the fastest at 2838fps but that what a dialable scope is for. It was far easier on my shoulder to than some of the hotter loads which is a bonus too.

Final load:
- 162gr Hornady SST
- Norma brass
-RWS LR Magnum primer
- 63 grains AR2213sc

You would see good velocity gains with slower powders, 2217 or even better 2225. Or RL25 or 26.
I run 2225 with the old 162 AMAX in my 7RM REM700 & getting 3040fps and sub 0.5moa groups. :thumbsup:
COL 3.455

I hear ya chainsaw. Wish I had some other powders lying around but at the time I was working on this load development. Alas, being young and trying to save money I only had AR2213sc handy. It will do the job for now.

I ended up using IMR 8133 in my T3X 7rm,( which i'm told is unavailable now), think its close to Hodgdon Retumbo in burn speed.
using 162gr ELDX with a book max load of 75.5gr which is a compressed load, powder level is right up to base of the neck, but had no problems with projectile seated to fit in the mag. A mv of 2950 seems to match the drops im getting from my 22inch barrell.

Plenty of 2225 around of late

Anyone have good results with RL22?

yes it's a good powder use in 7mm rem mag and 300 win mag