7mm Rem Mag - 150TSX questions

S

SDVmnt

New member
I finally settled on a load for my 7mm RM Tikka. Using 150gr Barnes TSX's I was grouping around 1 1/2" at the bottom end of the powder charge weight. When I got to the 63gr range They were shooting sub 1/2" groups. .380" 3shot when I checked with the mic. So I went back today with some more loaded up in that range. 5 shot groups were just a shade larger but still under 1/2". Pulled the Chrony out and it's only running 2800fps. Using 63.2 gr of RL22 which is shy of the max in the barnes book of 63.5.

Pulled out a box of factory federal 150gr noslers and they were right at 3000. Are the TSX's slower than the manual leads you to believe? They claim 3000 with a 24" barrel and 63.5gr. The Tikka has a 24.25" barrel and I was only .3 grains off of max.

I'm not really that concerned with the speed guess. Accuracy is more important. It's going to knock the snot out of a whitetail but my .243 shoots flatter! Anyone else have similar experiences or some advice?
 
You'll find every rifle is different. Barnes does have different reloading data than other bullet due to the makeup of the bullets and until the banded bullets came out they were slower than standard jacketed bullets. I understand they do kill well though. I found similar results with the 95 grain Barns 243 bullets.
 
Reloading manuals are very conservative these days due to lawyers.

First R#22 is slow. Suggestion: load two shot groups shooting for accuracy, increasing in powder charge 0.5g, and cease shooting when you see pressure signs.

I am shooting the following load with the 150g Barnes tripple shocks:

Rem brass
Rem 9 1/2 primer
63.0g of IMR 4350
Bullet .050 off the lands
less than 3/4" groups
3100 fps out of my 700 Rem.

Good luck!
 
I'm going to have to go back out there next weekend before the season starts and verify the numbers. I'm only using a 3x9 scope and that has to account for some of the innacuracy when working up loads. These turned out ok though. The 62.9 gr load was actually 2790 and the 63.2gr load was a touch over 2800. The actual numbers are in my notebook, I just quick scribbled those numbers in for the pic. I hate to mess with these groups though. Guess I just need to aim a little higher this year /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif

I checked sportsmans for some IMR to try but the powder room looks like they got robbed. Barely anything left!!

P1000084.jpg
 
my experience with all of the different rifles that I have loaded up Barnes TSX for is that the groups just keep getting tighter the hotter they are. I think that the new Barnes book is extremely modest. In my 7mm Remington I am at 66.5 grains of IMR 4831 with 140 grain TSX. This is actually 3 grains over max. However there are no signs of High Pressure and it is in line with what Barnes said about reloading the TSX before their newest manual came out. It's a little bit late now, but I think that you would have been equally or more satisfied with the 140's. They are faster, flatter, and almost as powerful. I would say to work up a few more loads working up in half grain increments, but I would do three shot groups. If nothing else you can always go back to the load you have now.
 
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