Is this for target or hunting ? . if it is for hunting then throw away them heavy bullet's and only use 160ttsx barnes. Speed goes way up, better penetration at any angle, recoil goes down, trajectory flatten's, no lead fragments in your meat. Barnes load data online shows the powders to use. These routinely make 1/2-3/4" groups out of Tikka. These enter at 160 grains and exit at 160 grains. They also hold together if they hit a branch or sappling.
Did you use a saami spec reamer? What's your freebore?
Ya know...those are good questions that I can’t answer. I think my smith, BobGreen, had to order the reamer so my guess is Sammi spec. We weren’t getting too exotic with this build. I usually send Bob a dummy round with my bullet of choice set just above the neck/shoulder junction. I don’t remember but the dummy is in the die box for future reference.
Except to say that I just found this site and my reply may be a little late I have used 69.5 grains of IMR 4350 with a 215 grain Sierra Boat Tail and Remington 91/2 magnum primers since I started reloading for this cartridge in 2003 with about the same results as yours-mine was from a Ruger 77 Mk II. I never had a reason to change. In the navy (that was a long time ago) we had a saying "if it works leave it alone". According to the Sierra Reloading Manual 5th Edition (2003), the most accurate load using the 250 grain Boat Tails. IMR 4831 gave the most accurate load out of the Savage 116 they used for testing. Other powders listed are H4350EXT, RE-19, H4831SC. One could say my load is the pet load for my rifle. It may not be the pet load for yours or anyone else's rifle.
