After about 6-9 months of research, list making, video watching, and forum reading last week all the parts finally came together and I now have a workstation to reload for my Tikka T3X Tac A1 in 6.5 Creedmoor. I decided to go mostly with Hornady equipment and supplemented additional items as needed. With the bullet rebates that Hornady is offering right now in their GetLoaded promo I will be getting 800 129SP in a few weeks time.
I started all my reloading with 200 once fired cases from a bulk box of Hornady American Gunner that were fired through my rifle. I tumbled, full length resized, de-primed, re-tumbled, charged and seated the bullets over the course of 2 days with more research along the way.
I had measured COAL for my rifle and found a measurement of 2.919". In my seating length I opted to go with 2.81" and 2.85" and will research more about finding the max charge for my rifle. The data shows that the average muzzle velocities don't vary that much between the 2.81 and 2.85 lengths. My guess is that with the H4350 powder I can load a bit hotter as my velocities were not averaging as to what they are documented to be in the Hornady handbook.
Of the 100 cartridges tested only 1 failed to chamber.
The rifle was zeroed at 100yards prior to running the hand loads but somehow my windage was bumped prior to taking the first shot. Not wanting to introduce any additional variables I proceeded to test all 100 hand loads and keeping the exact same point of aim center of box.
My first day at the range with the hand loads was yesterday and I have put all the data into a couple tabs on the spread sheet.
I would appreciate any and all wisdom from the members to further develop the next batch of loads. Very excited to see this all coming together and developing a new skill.
I started all my reloading with 200 once fired cases from a bulk box of Hornady American Gunner that were fired through my rifle. I tumbled, full length resized, de-primed, re-tumbled, charged and seated the bullets over the course of 2 days with more research along the way.
I had measured COAL for my rifle and found a measurement of 2.919". In my seating length I opted to go with 2.81" and 2.85" and will research more about finding the max charge for my rifle. The data shows that the average muzzle velocities don't vary that much between the 2.81 and 2.85 lengths. My guess is that with the H4350 powder I can load a bit hotter as my velocities were not averaging as to what they are documented to be in the Hornady handbook.
Of the 100 cartridges tested only 1 failed to chamber.
The rifle was zeroed at 100yards prior to running the hand loads but somehow my windage was bumped prior to taking the first shot. Not wanting to introduce any additional variables I proceeded to test all 100 hand loads and keeping the exact same point of aim center of box.
My first day at the range with the hand loads was yesterday and I have put all the data into a couple tabs on the spread sheet.
I would appreciate any and all wisdom from the members to further develop the next batch of loads. Very excited to see this all coming together and developing a new skill.
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