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Any experience with 175 TMK in 308 win?

Texas10

I've been shooting 168 grain SMK over Varget and wanted to try the 175 TMK over IMR 4064. Barrel is Shilen 26 in, 1/10 select match and I am thinking 41.75 grs with a 210M primer is the load used in the mil spec round.

I've read everything I can find, and any personal experience would be appreciated.
 
I shoot the 175 MK in my 308 for the 1000 yard matches. I tried Varget first but settled on Reloader 15. I am shooting a Tikka with 20 inch barrel. It is not ideal but it is the best shooting 308 that I have at the moment. I shoot in the FTR F-Class.
 
I've been shooting the Sierra 168 MK over 40.8 grains of IMR 4064 , Varget , RL-15 and 4064 are very close in speed , being I'm using a mild load but very accurate at 200 yards , if your testing for accuracy a a fixed range find the lowest node at first . I never went for speed only accuracy , it's always safe to start low but once I found that mild load that shot well I went no further , better all around . Why didn't you try the tipped 168 first , I been shooting the 168 MK's only for years but at the end of this lot of 500 I will give the tipped 168's a try .
 
I found a great deal on 500 -175gr TMK so I tried them out. I still have almost 400 of them . I found them to be much harder to find a good load with . They are more like a VLD compared to the standard MK . Depending on the rifle this can make them jump temperamental. I believe I found this to be the case with the ones I was testing . To be honest I've not given them my full effort because I got discouraged and went back to the traditional 175gr SMK.

I’ll get back to them some day but with them costing more and I do better with the others I’m in no hurry .
 
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Texas10 said:
I've been shooting 168 grain SMK over Varget and wanted to try the 175 TMK over IMR 4064. Barrel is Shilen 26 in, 1/10 select match and I am thinking 41.75 grs with a 210M primer is the load used in the mil spec round.

I've read everything I can find, and any personal experience would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Steve
I think you’ll be fine with 4064, should give you a nice smooth push all the way to the x ring.
Personally I would run an abbreviated ladder covering both sides of your suggested powder charge followed by a seating test.
Please post your results as you get time.
Good luck Buddy
Jim
 
Metal God.
I've been jamming the 168's +.005 into the lands and getting better results than off the lands. If the TMK is more like a VLD, I'll probably start with it in, rather than out while working the charge.

Jim,
I've never done well with ladder tests. Can't separate my error prone shooting from load changes. :oops:

I typically use the three shot OCW test, then work seating depth. Today I'll be annealing brass before starting loading. Tuesday a cold front is supposed to come through giving us a break from the 100* hot and humid weather for a couple of days (whew!). I plan on being ready!

I'll be sure to follow up here. Basically I'm using up some stock I got from a fellow shooter. Once they're gone, I'll be back to the 168's as there is no 1000 yd range available nearby at this time unless I want to drive half a day for an hour of shooting.....NOT.
 
I have for years been shooting the 175 SMK in my .308. 44 grains Varget, CCI BR2, Lapua brass. Now I am shooting a rem 700P, only mod is a trigger job. They shot pretty well, and like someone here mentioned I also found a great deal on a box of 500. I have loaded them exactly the same as the non tipped and found they have tightened the group at all ranges a bit. Just got lucky I guess.
 
Metal God said:
I found a great deal on 500 -175gr TMK so I tried them out. I still have almost 400 of them . I found them to be much harder to find a good load with . They are more like a VLD compared to the standard MK . Depending on the rifle this can make them jump temperamental. I believe I found this to be ghe case with the ones I was testing . To be honest I not given them my full effort because I got discouraged and went back to the traditional 175gr SMK.

I’ll get back to them some day but with them costing more and I do better with the others I’m in no hurry .
Click to expand...


This was my experience with the 6.5 130 grain TMK. I found it very temperamental to seating depth. More temperamental than the 130 Berger VLD I usually use. I hope that doesn't carry over to the 168 and 175 TMK but it is sounding like it does.


To the OP. I have found 4064 to be an excellent powder for 168 and 175 grain pills in my 308 but I tend to default to Varget simply because I also use it in my 243.
 
If you guys are finding them hard to tune, i recommend following Bergers VLD seating depth test.
 
BW64
How do you sit down with balls that big . I shot a group like that but knew I'd screw it up if I fired 4 and 5 , stopped at 3 . Saved the target , nice shooting .
 
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For what it's worth my 30-06 likes the 195gr TMK at .005 off and the 210 sierra mk and most mk bullets like .015+ off. So the TMK seems to like a little less jump. The 195 TMK shoot great, all most as good as the 200 20x. Depends on the day.
 
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Tried them about a year ago , and found out two things about them .
#1 they seemed to shoot best in my rifle at .005 off touch .
#2 My rifle would not shoot them even decently for competition , so after two hundred rounds wasted money , I went back to Berger's .
BTW ; I got the same kind of result @BW did at 100 yrds. , but they would not hold group at 600 out of a Kelby / Brux 30" - 1 / 10 twist .
 
cw308 said:
BW64
How do you sit down with balls that big . I shot a group like that but knew I'd screw it up if I fired 4 and 5 , stopped at 3 . Saved the target , nice shooting .
Click to expand...

Thank you but it's 90% the rifle. This thing is a freak. Built by Tim Smith & John Armstrong & they can't believe what it does for a .308. Take it to 1100, 1760 & 1880 regularly & it gets there. Hangs close to my 6.5 CM just not as fast. LOL

BW
 
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