Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 168 gr TTSX 300 WSM Reloder 17 Velocities

Info is pretty scarce. Is it reasonable to get 3140 fps with a 168 gr TTSX out of a 24" 300WSM with Reloder 17?

Cases look fine, I backed off a grain from where I thought it was too much.

Accuracy is adequate, if a little disappointing. But I haven't played with seating depth, primer, or maybe back off another half grain.

AB, that would be about max for my rifles.

Seems like I get tend to get another 50 to 75 fps with R17 in various rounds but accuracy is giving up a bit. And for me speed isn't the end all. Function, and accuracy and a good bullet are more important to me.

I'd be looking to H4350. That and drop off the speed of the R17 a grain or two and see what happens. I used 67 of R17 with the 155 Scenar though could go to 69. 70 was way hot! 67 gave me my best accuracy with the 155.

Dober

I run the 168 TTSX at 3100 from a 22.5" barrel using 66.5gr of RE17. It's extremely accurate and not even close to max from what I can tell in MY rifle. That combo makes it hard to justify using anything else. If I had any sense, I'd sell off the rest of my rifles and just run that.

68 gr is max according to Alliant (with a cup and core bullet). I didn't get past 65 with a TTSX. 65.5 was too much. I am currently at 64.5 gr at 3140. 65 gave me 3160. Extreme spread of velocity is 32fps, whether at 64.5 or 65.

My rifle is a Kimber Montana and I find it hard to shoot well from the bench. It jumps alot. Great to carry and fine to shoot in the field, even from bipod/prone, but a handfull at the bench. I just don't think I'm at my best when I'm trying to shoot good groups. This is a good start. I believe playing with seating depth, new primers, dropping a bit will result in a great load. With my shooting at this time, I'm getting about 1.5" 3 shot groups. Not great, but adequate. Jack O'Conner probably would do backflips for an unmodified mountain rifle shooting that well. Just with todays rifles and components, we know we can do better, IF WE shoot well.

Thanks for the advice. Just looking for confirmation.

............Each rifle is its own individual. So you load accordingly based on what YOUR rifle, casings, primers, and bolt lifts etc tell you regarding pressure.

Some rifles will not achieve the RL17 charge that Alliant lists, where others might go 1/2 gr or to maybe a full grain over the book max.

No reason to complain with a speed of 3140 with a 168. But if backing off a grain gives you better accuracy, I wouldn`t complain at roughly 3100.

IME, while RL-17 offers greater speeds from my 300 WSM Ruger Frontier compact with enough reasonable accuracy for hunting, the H-4350 offers the better overall accuracy in all of the Berger hunting VLD bullets & bullet weights that I use from the 155s, the 168s, and up to and including the 210s.

Can`t get your 3140 using a 168 because of my 16.5" barrel length. But I won`t complain at a little over 3000 using a 168 VLD ahead of a maximum dose (for my rifle) of RL-17. Groupings now average 3/4" to an inch, whereas before the bedding and free float job the average was from 1 1/4" to 1 3/4". Still good enough accuracy for hunting.

Best speeds for accuracy using the 168 VLDs and RL17 average in the 2940s when backing off of max a little.

Reduce your max RL17 charge by a grain to 1.5 grains and see what happens. Probably see some better accuracy.

AB2506
I had nearly the exact results with the R-17 in my 300WSM.Velocity was great,but the accuracy was just not there.I quit at 66.0grs with a 165gr bullet.I was getting 3220fps but my groups were way to large for my liking.My rifle has a rather short throat,so I suspect I'm getting a pressure spike and with Reloader-17,it's pushing the velocity way up there.With 165gr bullets,I have had good luck and tiny groups with 65.0grs of IMR-4350 @ 3020fps,67.0grs of Ramshot Hunter @ 3070fps and 69.0grs of Reloader-22 @ 3030fps.You might play with your seating depth a little and get the rifle to group better.Set your chronograph up and see what kind of velocity changes you get.I saw an average of 60fps slower speed in my 300 Win Mag seating .060 versus .020 off the lands with the same load,but my groups were much tighter.That's like a whole grain of powder difference.I really haven't played with the seating depth on my 300WSM too much,but it is in my future plans.After seeing what it was doing in the 300 Win Mag,I'm convinced this is probably why I have to keep my loads slightly below published max loads.

Interesting read on this from Hornady
http://www.hornady.com/ballistics-resource/internal

66.8gr gets me 3170 out of my Kimber.

I am getting 3160 with 66.5 gr RL 17 in my M70 with the 165 gr ttsx with no signs of excessive pressure.

Just checked my notes from two and three years ago on Tikka T3 and Kimber Montana 300WSM's.
Testing powders I had on hand with 180 TSX and I could get 3000fps or more from IMR4350, H4350, H100V, H4895, RE15,17,19,22.

3100 was achievable with RE17 and H4350.

They both shot best with H4350. Best groups shot at 150 yards were .66 to .80. with the Tikka. The Kimber's best groups at 150 were about the same AFTER I learned how to shoot it off the bench.

That Montana is a bit sassy and likes to jump off the front rest. The Kimber likes a nice soft pillow or a large sponge to rest on.
When she was shot off a more firm base her groups opened to over an inch. The more firm the base, the larger the group. That may be unique to my rifle, I don't know.

I shot 130, 150, 165, 168 180 TSX, 180 XLC, 150,180 Nos Part, 180 , and a variety of other bullets. The 165 and 168 TSX shot to nearly the same point. The 150 TSX shot about 1.5 inches higher and to the left of them and the 180 was a little lower. I didn't measure nor compare exactly how much lower but I would questimate about an inch. My goal was to develop loads for a moose hunt which I gladly achieved with the 180 TSX.

The question was about 168 TTSX. I shot none but I did shoot the 168 TSX and shot them with both rifles finding I could achieve about 50 fps higher velosity with Re17 but it was not as accurate as H4350. The H4350 was what I settled on.

My 300WSM Kimber Montana shoots most accurately with full house loads. I was shooting the 165/168's on the edge of 3200 with the RE17. I settled on 3184fps average for 21 shots tested with H4350. The H4350 would reduce the groups nearly in half - If I did my job and shot off the sponge.

Yes, 3140 could be achievable with RE17 in my rifles BUT WORK UP SLOWLY AND WATCH FOR PRESSURE.

IN MY RIFLES I found that pressures went up very fast once I reached my first pressure sign with RE17. YMMV

DO NOT EXPECT YOUR RIFLES TO BE SIMILAR TO MINE.

Note, I listed no powder amounts.

Jim

OK. For now the development stops. Dropped to 64grs of RL17. Didn't change anything else, still get average of 3100fps. First group was like this.



Rock on!

You're almost there......

Nice. What rifle?

Kimber Montana