tikka 223 bullet problem

[Guest alan fox]

hi everyone,hope you can help,a friend of mine as recently purchased a tikka 223 it has a 1:8 twist and he as been told it can shoot up to 80gn bullets,he had some homeloaded for him but they wont load in the magazine as they are to long by as much as 2mm in some cases,this happens when loading more than 55gn bullets,he mentioned this to the shop he bought it from and they said he would have to load them in singles,is this correct ? or can he buy a larger mag to take the longer ammunition?? many thanks

[rifleshooter 0]

well for a start i would not use someone else's home loads ,perhaps the head's havnt been seated deep enough ,i had a friend who knows a thing or two about home loading measure my rifle's chamber with a oal gauge i now seat my head's two thou of the rifling they look to be seated to deep but everything shoots fine although i only use 55 gr so i dont know what length gr are if i was your friend i would invest in some home loading equipment and try diferent bullet weights and load's to find which suites his rifle best

[Guest alan fox]

hi everyone,hope you can help,a friend of mine as recently purchased a tikka 223 it has a 1:8 twist and he as been told it can shoot up to 80gn bullets,he had some homeloaded for him but they wont load in the magazine as they are to long by as much as 2mm in some cases,this happens when loading more than 55gn bullets,he mentioned this to the shop he bought it from and they said he would have to load them in singles,is this correct ? or can he buy a larger mag to take the longer ammunition?? many thanks

thanks foxshot,as far as i can tell you by what hes said is that the person who is loading them for has all the balistic data,overall bullet length,etc but when he loads them they are to long for the mag,he says the head can b pushed deeper but looks all wrong,he hasnt fired any because he isnt sure how they are seating with the rifleing

[rifleshooter 0]

hi everyone,hope you can help,a friend of mine as recently purchased a tikka 223 it has a 1:8 twist and he as been told it can shoot up to 80gn bullets,he had some homeloaded for him but they wont load in the magazine as they are to long by as much as 2mm in some cases,this happens when loading more than 55gn bullets,he mentioned this to the shop he bought it from and they said he would have to load them in singles,is this correct ? or can he buy a larger mag to take the longer ammunition?? many thanks

thanks foxshot,as far as i can tell you by what hes said is that the person who is loading them for has all the balistic data,overall bullet length,etc but when he loads them they are to long for the mag,he says the head can b pushed deeper but looks all wrong,he hasnt fired any because he isnt sure how they are seating with the rifleing

the best thing to do is find someone that can measure the chamber if possible , i used a set of digital caliper's with a set of comparators to measure the seating depth .Using rcbs comp dies i was able to adjust the depth very easily at first when i loaded my bullet's i wasnt sure about the seating depth but the friend that used the oal guage said they were fine to use ,and what he dosent know about homeloading isnt worth knowing, i dont know well this guy is into homeloading and what equipment he has but if he knows his stuf he should be able to load the bullet's so they do fit then fire a couple and tell if they are creating to much preasure and are safe to use ,

[Guest baldie]

All .223 tikka,s are now 1 in 8 .He can load the bullets further back in the case, but shouldnt go above half way up the powder charge, and watch for pressure signs.Another option, is to have a look at the magazine [and i,m going to look at the one in the shop tomorrow], it will have a blanking spacer in it, because all the t3,s are made on the long action, and the shorter cases like the 223 have a mag filler in. This may be able to be shortened a little.Is he using VLD bullets, as these are usually longer than std. Try the sierra 69 grain hpbt, officially a match bullet, deadly on fox, and not over long.

[pegandgun 52]

If you are wanting to measure your chamber try a Stoney point overall length gauge.Ounce you have your overall length try and seat them about 5thaw off the lanze for five rounds and if your not getting the accuracy you want try different seating depths.(spelling).I believe you will have trouble stablizing 80gr bullets on a cold day even when loaded on the hot side.I would try a 75gr VMax,77Sierra or a 75 Berger if you want heavier bullets.A 1 in 7 barrel is more suited to a 80gr bullet but your 1 in 8 will struggle to stablize 80gr,which is a long bullet

Good luck anyway mate

[v-max 2]

Hello seating depth's are important these sound like they are too long a stoney point OAL gauge help's with this but you could smoke the head's with a candle then try them in a safe place & see if the bullet's are in the bore if so they are to long & need seated deeper.I would never sell a rifle with my homeload's anything go's wrong you get sued but these load's sound they are to long.