Suggested factory ammo for

Picking up my new T3X from Gunworks later this week then straight into 2 weeks holiday so need some factory ammo for sighting and first hunting trips.
I know most on here will say reload something to suit but I'm absolutely new so that'll be way way way into future!
It's 7mm Rem Mag. For now what do I try? Don't have chance this week to visit shops so limited to what they'll have when I collect it. According to their website have Hornady 139gr American Whitetail ($56), Feneral 150gr SP ($63), Hornady 139pr SST ($80) & Hornady 154gr SST ($82). Which do I start with? Or is there something else thats so so good in a standard Tikka that I should somehow get some?

i have some hornady factory ammo you could try,: hornady 162 grain sst
pm me if you want some

What are you gonna shoot with it? At what range?

Once sighted in the wishful answer is deer and close.
The often reality answer is nothing as every animal will be unseen or very far away!
The somewhere between answer and hopeful that its the occasional reality is deer and sometimes chamois or thar at range 150-450m.
The longer to 600m stuff will be well into future when have plenty of experience. Before then as close as possible but I'm being realistic how close I'll be able to get in open terrain. I'm saying those animals and distance as have bach at Lake Clearwater so it'll be used at least 80% of time in that mid Canterbury high country tussock, matagouri, Spaniards & scree.

No one can tell you what you gun will like even other tikka owners every rifle is different
But remington coreloct and federal blue box are normally pretty safe bets for a good grab it and go hunting
Found it shoots well enough in most rifles to satisfy the normal hunting use

My rifle likes the 154 SST, really likes!

For the likes of deer and Tahr etc I would be looking at bullet weights between 150- 162 gr, any of those Hornady bullets should be good its just a matter of finding one that shoots well in your rifle.

Thanks guys. Sounds like I can't go far wrong with whatever they stock or recommend and then over time try a few until get one that seems to suit the rifle best.

Ive never met a tikka that doesn’t like coreloct but there’s always the odd one out which is why I say we can’t tell you 100%

Best to grab 3 or 4 packets and go to the range the rifle will soon tell you which one it prefer’s

I’d probably try the federal 150gn

Try a box of each that you mentioned and see what shoots best.

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Originally Posted by dogmatix

Try a box of each that you mentioned and see what shoots best.

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Limited funds so I don't want to waste money buying something that doesn't work for most people. Buying 20's and it being obvious after 6 that they're not working would get pricey real quick! By asking peoples opinions/experience I'm trying to limit the options, then I'll try a couple of types. I'll keep an eye out for part packs too.

You need to remember that people’s opinions are just that. They really have no idea what will shoot well in your rifle.
Ammunition in the big scheme of things is small fry when compared to a $1500 rifle and what you spent on the scope.
Trial and error is really the only way. Don’t look at any left over ammo (brands that your rifle doesn’t really like) as a waste, see it as practise time at the range for you to get used to your rifle. Which can only be a good thing.

Understood, but doubt the Mrs will look at it that way

You can then sell the once fired brass on Trademe and make sure you tell the wife how much it sold for.
‘Wow, somebody just paid $xx for this fired brass! So the ammo is almost paying for itself!’
(Only a little white lie).

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Originally Posted by uk_exile

Understood, but doubt the Mrs will look at it that way

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you poor bugga, every rifle i get the wife claims as hers

She's seen an article in one of the hunting magazines that added up the total value of venison. If I recall correctly it was about $960 butchered off a 55kg deer. Should have kept a copy!
But I need to actually shoot a deer to be able to use that reasoning for spending $$$. Oh well ;-)

The 154 sst superformance is pretty hot, was getting 3150 from a 26 inch barrel, good group and worked well.

Would suggest the Federal Blue box if you just want to get something and go hunting, and don't have the time to test a bunch of different ammo.
We use it for our training days..I sighted in 10 brand new Tikka rifles the other day, a bunch of different calibers, all with the Blue Box. All shot well. I shot a sub 1 inch group at 200m with it. Not bad for a basic hunting load.

Would advise against the Hornady Superformance. While some rifles may shoot it well, its very hit & miss. We don't use it.
Attachment 106548

Yeah start with the cheaper stuff/blue box, I've been lucky in that all of my tikkas have liked cheap factory stuff. Chances are it will shoot MOD out to 300 or so and work as a bush load.

Once you have this down as a bush/ all purpose load you can spend a bit more money and find something like hornady precision hunter as a long range load.

Although to be honest at 80-100 a packet it doesn't take much shooting until a cheap $200 lee reloading kit starts to make financial sense.

Thanks ChrisW and Nick-D. That's just the info I was after i.e. info on what works for most and then work on the best for my particular rifle later. Cheers

What scope/mounts are you going to use ?

Took advice from people on this forum and got a good used scope. From the buy sell on here got a mint condition Nikon 3-15x42 Monarch 5 for $500.
Using the supplied Tikka rings as Gunworks said this "If your scope is a 1” scope tube then the rings that come with the rifle will be fine, alternatively you can change them to talley’s but to be honest the factory rings are fine."

Thats interesting about the supplied rings , Gun Works know their stuff and if they say they are OK then I’m sure they will be fine .
I have read that changing the standard screws to tougher ones is a good idea , but I have no first hand knowledge if this is necessary.
We need pictures when you have it all together .
Also did you shorten the barrel when fitting the suppressor or leave it factory .

Factory length as ended up getting SuperLite that's fluted therefore limits ability to shorten. Also recommended length for 7mmRM is same as supplied https://www.gunworks.co.nz/files/rec...ngths_2014.pdf

That Nikon scope will be Beautiful I have 3 nikons they are bloody awesome scopes
Mine are only monarch 3,s and one prostaff on the 22 but the monarch 5 is even better

From what I can tell by hand holding it the image is really sharp. All reviews on them are great and Nikon are popular scopes in US but for some reason not so here in NZ

I have had good results with hornady 162g eld x precision hunter with my Tikka T3x superlite 7mm rem mag. I have also had good results with federal blue box with other tikka rifles.

Buy Norma and a limbsaver deresonator.

Ok. Alt strategy:

Goal is instant usability to 400m with minimum cost.

You won't have time or ammo supply to do trajectory verification. So use a light flat shooting bullet eg 140gr. 160+ will no doubt be better in the long run but needs careful testing and practice so you can't do it for this trip.

Start with a known readily available ammo perhaps the blue box mentioned. Preferably see if it's available on the shelf at 2 retailers in chch right now. Buy one box and take it to the range. If you can shoot 1.5 to 2 " at 100m that's good enough. Go back and buy 2 more boxes. If over 2" repeat and try another brand.

Next go back with your 50 rounds and sight in real good at 200m. Then put manufacturers BCand MV into a calculator and get predicted trajectory for 25 100 300 and 400m. Dont start a shoot up from >300m (200 m if you haven't got a rangefinder). Stick the trajectory onto your rifle butt and you're good to go.

Once you've used up most of your first 60 and got meat in the freezer you can start trialing higher performance or custom hand loaded ammo.

Any updates on this ?
How is your new rifle and what ammo did you end up buying .

Got some Federal blue box as suggested. Had a 2 week holiday where I thought I'd sight it in and go hunting but didn't go to plan.
Roughly sighted it at 25m then took target out to 200m using GPS watch to measure distance. Was hitting 250mm target every time but struggling to get it sighted in accurately as was a 25+deg day and lot of heat haze from the tussock area I was in. Best was about 75mm group so not great but I think that was more eye sight heat haze than rifle ammo.

Planned to go hunting and more sighting in couple of days later but the terrorist attack completely stuffed that up and rifle hasn't left gun safe since. Had to retun from holiday as daughter is a first year of working registered nurse in Chch hospital. Not ideal. Worse my son is a volunteer in civil defense response team and he was an early responder helping with triage at mosque. Very very not ideal. He needed following week off work and still finding things hard at times. Support for responders is not great. Family isn't against guns, they enjoy plinking with air rifle and hunting TV shows, like wild meat, etc. They differentiate the tool from the terrorist but at the moment seeing high powered rifle bring back memories.
So it'll be a couple of weeks before I next get chance to use it as had the 3 days easter & ANZAC off work.
Did manage to scope a $20 bipod. Also $50 for orange fore end and pistol grip. Only using fore end. Its wider feel suits my hand better.

Did some sighting in with a fairly strong crosswind at 100m as couldn't locate a clear 200m area in the tussocks. Was happy enough with this result (edit: don't know why the target photo is rotated)
Would have been better if during the following days I'd actually seen a deer or pig but it wasn't to be. Good walks anyway!

I ran both the federal and hornady super performance over the chrony the federal speed was 240 fps below the stated mv, the hornady was within 25 fps. For a long range rig that adds up to quite a few moa extra at 600 yds for the federal if you hadnt the time to shot a drop chart and relied on data and strelok.
This was part of setting the rifle up (Sauer 100) so no big deal but the hornady grouped better at all ranges

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Originally Posted by Marty Henry

I ran both the federal and hornady super performance over the chrony the federal speed was 240 fps below the stated mv, the hornady was within 25 fps. For a long range rig that adds up to quite a few moa extra at 600 yds for the federal if you hadnt the time to shot a drop chart and relied on data and strelok.
This was part of setting the rifle up (Sauer 100) so no big deal but the hornady grouped better at all ranges

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I'll try Hornady next. Do you suggest 139 or 154gr?
https://gunworks.co.nz/shop/item/hor...-rem-mag-139gr
https://gunworks.co.nz/shop/item/hor...-superformance

This is the Federal I've currently got https://gunworks.co.nz/shop/item/federal-7mm-rem-mag

It was the 154 sst hornady and 150 federal that was run.