TIKKA T3 reloading barnes bullets

[BMF]

Looking at reloading some Barnes bulllets and I recall seeing a thread where someone had indicated a COAL value that worked good in the Tikka T3. There seems to be a lot of variation in personnal preference for a accurate COAL. I just checked a box of barnes TTSX and there was a diffence of 8/1000. Wondering if anyone has a personnel opinion on this. Unless you buy a match bullet there is variation in the length of each bulllet, so really how accurate or important is a precise COAL. Rock chucker suggest when reloading once you find where the shoulder of the bullet seats on the lands then back the die off one full turn and this will be an accurate seating distance for any hunting application.

If someone has some suggestions I would be happy to hear them. Thanks in advance.

[whitetailhntr]

Barnes bullets seemed to work better when seated around 50 thou off the lands. You will have to set your coal according to your rifle and chamber. There are a few different ways to figure this out. A search of the web will give you many proven methodsto do so. I always seem to have good luck with the Barnes if I seat them away from the lands.

[Ice Fishing Maniac]

For my with my Tikka T3 rifles, my reloads can only slide a single sheet of paper b/w the bullet tip and the inside edge of the magazine. Both the Accubonds and TTSX

Find what your rifle likes to shoot and tinker from there on seating depth.

[Cowtown guy]

The COAL is different for each rifle because chambers are very rarely the same dimensions. Even from Tikka to Tikka. Different bullets prefer different amounts of jump. Barmes prefer a bigger jump than others.

Find where the bullet meets the lands. Then back of 50 thou from there if you are using Barnes Bullets.

If you measure the COAL from the ogive of the bullet (which is where the bullet first measures the correct calibre size of .308, .284 etc.) to the bottom of the case, then the distance is the same to the lands each time(jump). Measuring from the tip of the bullet to the bottom of the case will give variations in the distance from the lands (jump) between alot of different bullets in a given lot#. Even with match bullets. Sometimes substantial sometimes not.

Look into a COAL gauge from Hornady.

[M70]

Another knock against the T3 is that the magazine restricts the use of longer bullets. A cartridge with the longer COAL will fit the chamber but they have to be single loaded awkwardly through the small ejection port. My .223 with the
1 in 8 twist, shoots 75 grain A-Max bullets pretty well but the frustration of trying to load it one by one just isn't worth it.