I have a Tikka T3 in Swede. 22" stock barrel w 1:8 twist.
I bought this for long range hunting for deer and coyote and the possibility of a future Elk hunt using a 156+.
With the hopes of being able to reach out to 1000 yards on yotes I slapped on a LRHS 4.5-18 and had some custom loads worked up from Copper Creek Ammo to try to get some extra velocity.
They sent me a load development pack with 5 different charges and I shot groups with each of them and the one with the best group was selected.
That load as it turned out was the one with the "hottest" load of the 5 they sent.
Hornady Brass and VLD 140s with a COAL of 3.14". (not given the recipe)
I then ordered 50 more rounds of that specific load and took them to the range where I put them through a Pro-Chrono Digital. I was disappointed to find the avg velocity was only 2498 FPS (they were consistent and grouped very well).
When I reached out to copper creek they advised the expected velocity from that load and a 22" barrel should be 2750-2850 fps. They suggested I double check the chrono so yesterday I headed back to the range and brought along a buddy's Ruger American in 6.5 creedmoor along with some off the shelf Hornady AMAX 140s.
Once again my avg with the Swede was 2512 (a little better but not much).
I then ran a string with the creedmoor and it came out at 2768.
Not sure what to think at this point as I have seen many posts about achieving 2750+ out of a 22" Swede.
Is this a situation were I simply have to invest in reloading myself? I really don't want to do that due to time constraints/other obligations, but not sure where else to go here .
thoughts?
