Tikka T3X Roughtech 6.5 Creedmoor - learning to shoot

Marplot said:

On the way to me Tikka T3X Roughtech 6.5 Creedmoor with a Trijicon HX 6x24x50

I want to learn precision shooting. I have other rifles including Drillings, and a double rifle, mostly collector antiques, but am now focussed on getting a good tech rifle. The TIKKA seems a good one to start.

I have a Forstner Co Ax press and want to learn using this along with the Tikka. All set up and ready to go. Bought some Winchester 129 grain ammo from Walmart. I have brass and match grade bullets coming from Graf & Son. A friend gave me about a half pound Trail Boss and another of Unique.

Maybe I need other kind of powder?
Don't know what other questions to ask?

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Good choices for a rifle to practice marksmanship with. I’ve got a Tikka T3X CTR and it really shoots the 140 grain American gunner ammo well. The Hornady 147 grain ELD match ammo also shoots well.

I highly recommend the long range Shooting handbook by Ryan Cleckner. If in the US, I’d suggest taking an Appleseed course and if in Canada the Mapleseed course. A day practicing natural point of aim, trigger squeeze, and other essential shooting techniques with rimfires will improve your shooting more than you would believe. I’ve done a number of long-distance shooting courses and have been instructing Mapleseed for a couple of years now. I’m planning to take one of these courses again myself as a refresher.

As far as being a member of “the club “, I wouldn’t worry about it. I am a proud member myself. If you want to learn long range precision shooting a Tikka in 6.5 Creedmoor with a vortex scope is pretty much the easy button…. There are other good choices, but none better if affordability and accessibility are considered IMO. Your trijicon optic is a fine one and should do everything you need.

I should mention that one of the big advantages of the 6.5 Creedmoor is widely available, affordable, accurate ammunition. If you find a factory load, your rifle likes, you should be able to replicate it or even improve upon it.

Marplot said:

Will get some H4350 Powder. I did order Hornady match bt, but 129gr

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I did get the H4350 38.7gr, Hornady 140 HPBT Match, Some brass and loading. Seems to be working.

I can't say this is the best, but best for me so far. Boresighted the scope on a 25yd target and moved over to the 100yd. Local range has the Konigsberg digital targets, the last shot is in yellow.

kgarrett said:

I highly recommend the long range Shooting handbook by Ryan Cleckner.

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On the way to me on Amazon. I have never seen anything well liked in reviews. About 96%!

Will find out about Appleseed as well. Thank you very much!

Marplot said:

I did get the H4350 38.7gr, Hornady 140 HPBT Match, Some brass and loading. Seems to be working.

I can't say this is the best, but best for me so far. Boresighted the scope on a 25yd target and moved over to the 100yd. Local range has the Konigsberg digital targets, the last shot is in yellow.

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Not bad shooting at all my man, main thing to remember is that it’s supposed to be fun! Don’t stress, don’t gear chase, just shoot what ya have & enjoy your time outside.

Loving all the comments and advice. I bought a 6.5 CMin Tikka 3x Lite - annual parking lot sale at a good gun shop (Reps, etc) - under $600 just for long range plinking. Also - for openers - picked up a Burris 4.5 x 14 - 40 MM is it ? ($300 ?) - Talley Rings ($50?) and have to set it up - and shoot a couple boxes of good factory ammo - and come back and reread all this. Thanks.

Marplot said:

I did get the H4350 38.7gr, Hornady 140 HPBT Match, Some brass and loading. Seems to be working.

I can't say this is the best, but best for me so far. Boresighted the scope on a 25yd target and moved over to the 100yd. Local range has the Konigsberg digital targets, the last shot is in yellow.

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There’s lots of good reloading videos on YouTube. I’m just getting back into it after not doing it for 30 years.
My favorite series is Panhandle Precision . Sam does an excellent job of explaining things.

LouisianaHunter said:

There's lots of good reloading videos on YouTube. I'm just getting back into it after not doing it for 30 years.
My favorite series is Panhandle Precision . Sam does an excellent job of explaining things.

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Thank you! I will check this out.

The original load released by Hornady for the 6.5 Creedmoor was 41.6 grains of H4350 with the 140 grain A-Max and was printed on the box.
I’m partial to Berger Bullets since I’m the head engineer at Berger and se hundreds and hundreds of tests shot day in and day out, both with our bullets and our competitors bullets in our 300 meter test tunnel. There are several good bullets that will shoot sub 1/2 MOA but when you stretch them out to long range, the Bergers pull ahead of the pack. That is because of the consistency of the BC. They simply hold a tighter vertical dispersion at 1000 yards because the standard deviation of the BC is less than 1% of the BC. No other bullet I have tested that is appropriate for long range will do this and the 140 grain hybrid target and Elite Hunter are among the best of the best. There are many short low BC bullets that will make 1% or less but not with a BC above .32 G7.
This won’t matter much as learning your rifle but will make a great deal of difference once you have mastered your rifle, and wind reading skills.
I’m obviously biased because I work for Berger, but I’m also a Distinguished Rifleman and always interested in helping new shooters learn what I have learned.

redneckbmxer24 said:

The easy button is H4350, Lapua or Alpha small rifle primer brass, CCI 450's and Berger 140 hybrids. .020" off the lands and start around 40.5gr and work up to 43gr. You'll usually find a node at 41.5-41.6 and then again 42.2-42.7. Varget also works well with 130gr class bullets and is cleaner than H4340, more consistent lot to lot, and more temperature stable. It also doesn't create the nightmarish carbon rings that H4350 does. It's too fast for 140's though.

That Winchester ammo has shot surprisingly well in everything I've run it through. My Q Fix with Proof barrel was sub 1/2MOA with it and my Seekins PH2 is also sub half MOA and it's pretty consistent out to 800 yards or so for shooting steel.

The Hornady American Gunner 140gr BTHP is another good cheap target load that has shot great in no less than a dozen 6.5CM's for me. You can find it for about $1.20/rd delivered.

Even if you're going to load it's nice to have a couple cases of decent match ammo on hand in case you don't have time to load, don't want to load, or run out of components and they're unavailable.

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American gunner 200rd boxes are great for banging steel

the blur said:

Vortex has a video of the 6.5 out preforming the .308 for hunting. They shot into gel bottles, and the 6.5 performed better every time.
I took a 600 pound moose with a 6.5 CM. I'd do it again in a heart beat. 10 steps.. down.

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Ballistic Gel is not meat and bone, if you own a 308 I would not have a problem shooting a moose or anything else you would shoot with a 6.5 creedmoor...let's not forget it's been doing it before 6.5 CM by 50 year..IMHO

Lots of good people and info you will get on here. Target shooting is a long adventure of constantly learning new things and frustrations beyond belief lol. Don’t get mad or surprised if your rifle isn’t shooting like you had hoped it would at first. Rifles are all different, you can buy the best rifle in the world and a guy with the cheapest might shoot a tighter group than you that day. I have a tikka 308 that I love, it shoots 3/4” groups on a good day and around 1” most days but it’s a hunting rig. I also just got rid of a tikka 308 that would not shoot better than 2” groups no matter what I tried. Went through a pound of powder and tons of different projectiles and never found the spot. That said some of the most accurate rifles I have to date are also some of the pickiest when it comes to loads but man when you find the one that works, holy crap it works. Those are frustrating cause they take awhile to dial in, but you get lots of trigger time and learn your rifle so it’s a win regardless. Then there’s rifles that just flat out shoot everything and well, most of my Remingtons do this shockingly well. So again every rifle is different. Shoot the box stuff you got and enjoy it, I don’t know if it’s all the same weight projectile or not but usually when I buy boxed stuff if at all I buy a box of say 120, 130, 140, 143,156…. Shoot and see if it favors a lighter, heavier or in between and then start with that for your loads. H4350 is definitely a go to powder for that caliber and a must have. CCI Large Rifle Primers are a great choice, brass… read on brass as much as you can. Good brass is good brass, pay attention if you order because you can get this brass with a large rifle primer pocket or a small rifle primer pocket and that obviously makes a difference. Competition dies are extremely nice to have and use, assuming you got the neck bushings with them if they use them? Most of them you need bushings for neck tension and if you are new to reloading I would honestly return those and get a set of regular dies for now until you get comfortable and really start honing in. Take it slow, learn your rifle, figure out a weight for your projectile, find a load in the manual for that weight or ask if anyone on here has known good loads, discretion as always on this so make sure you reference your reloading book as to if it is safe or not until you know how to read signs of pressure… have fun and safe shooting!!!

FireFlyFishing said:

I suppose you can use the junk Winchester ammo to sight in your rifle. Who knows, maybe they'll shoot in your rifle. If using factory ammo, buy good match ammo and save money and time down the road.

Since you're new to long range shooting and reloading, I would suggest shooting factory ammo for a bit to get familiar with your rifle. You can get an idea how capable you and your rifle are at range. Once you have a good feel for the rifle and feel comfortable with it, perhaps then, dive into the rabbit hole of reloading. If you take on too much at once, it may be difficult to diagnose problems down the line as there are too many variables. Keep it simple at first.

Do you have all the equipment needed to reload?
Do you have primers?
What brass and bullets did you order?

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I did that when I won a TC Compass in 6.5 CM for $20 (https://www.longrangehunting.com/threads/i-got-my-first-6-5-cm-for-20.201958/) in 2018. I purchase a couple of boxes of Winchester Season XP 125g for the brass. It was $5 cheaper than anything else.






3-shot group at 200Y.

I went back to the LGS and purchased all they have with the same lot#. It has accounted for 6 deer since 2018 from 200Y to 400Y, and a few porcupines and coyotes. I have yet to load but brass are prepped, as well as having new ADG brass.

FEENIX said:

I did that when I won a TC Compass in 6.5 CM for $20 (https://www.longrangehunting.com/threads/i-got-my-first-6-5-cm-for-20.201958/) in 2018. I purchase a couple of boxes of Winchester Season XP 125g for the brass. It was $5 cheaper than anything else.

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3-shot group at 200Y.

I went back to the LGS and purchased all they have with the same lot#. It has accounted for 6 deer since 2018 from 200Y to 400Y, and a few porcupines and coyotes. I have yet to load but brass are prepped, as well as having new ADG brass.

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If that is not the best $20 you have ever spent it has to be close! This is a perfect example though of why the 6.5 Creed has such a big following. Affordable, EASY TO SHOOT, rifles make precision shooting much more attainable to the average shooter that doesn't have the certain 'obsessive compulsive' shooters gene some on this site and others seem to have.
Not to imply that FEENIX is an average shooter. The example is the $400 rifle putting 3 in .3 at 200. I will bet the results are different with a 30-06 in the same set-up.