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It's Been Too Long........Loading some 7mm-08 TTSX 120gr


Lawdwaz
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Last year I grabbed two boxes of Barnes 120gr .284 TTSX for my beloved 7mm-08.  It's been quite awhile since I loaded anything for this gun due to how well it's shot the 120gr Nosler BT bullets.  I've shot Barnes X, TSX and TTSX out of a few guns (currently just my 243 with 80gr TTSX) and always had success and great performance from all versions.

So due to life getting in the way the past few years I haven't pulled the handle on the press on any brass till tonight.  I only prepped 14 pieces of brass and will load them up tomorrow night and then hit the range to check my numbers.  Then I'll load up enough to cover me for a few years.

I kinda missed it! 

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Edited by Lawdwaz
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good for you Lawdwaz !  I never had the time , and the patience to reload . I will forever be a consumer of factory ammo . One of my hunting buddies reloads everything. But he has no choice. He owns 15 machine guns. He is a collector. One of the gun clubs he belongs to holds some shooting exhibitions at the firing range with the public welcome. People can buy a ticket to fire the machine guns. Under supervision of course.  I dont remember how many rounds they are allowed per ticket. He donates the ammo and the use of the guns to the club. He is the top supervisor and instructor on those guns. He can go through 30,000 rounds on one of those days. I dont believe I have fired 30,000 rounds in my entire life LOL

Edited by SportsmanNH
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2 minutes ago, SportsmanNH said:

good for you Lawdwaz !  I never had the time , and the patience to reload . I will forever be a consumer of factory ammo . One of my hunting buddies reloads everything. But he has no choice. He owns 15 machine guns. He is a collector. One of the gun clubs he belongs to holds some shooting exhibitions at the firing range with the public welcome. People can buy a ticket to fire the machine guns. Under supervision of course.  I dont remember how many rounds they are allowed per ticket. He donates the ammo and the use of the guns to the club. He is the top supervisor and instructor on those guns. He can go through 30,000 rounds on one of those days

Wow…..that’d be neat to see or do I bet.   Zero experience with heavy artillery for me.  

Edited by Lawdwaz
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5 hours ago, SportsmanNH said:

good for you Lawdwaz !  I never had the time , and the patience to reload . I will forever be a consumer of factory ammo . One of my hunting buddies reloads everything. But he has no choice. He owns 15 machine guns. He is a collector. One of the gun clubs he belongs to holds some shooting exhibitions at the firing range with the public welcome. People can buy a ticket to fire the machine guns. Under supervision of course.  I dont remember how many rounds they are allowed per ticket. He donates the ammo and the use of the guns to the club. He is the top supervisor and instructor on those guns. He can go through 30,000 rounds on one of those days. I dont believe I have fired 30,000 rounds in my entire life LOL

30,000 in a day wow. That just sounds like fun . 

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I just picked up a few boxes of barnes ttxs for my 3006.This will be my first time reloading with them.I went with the 165gr. boattail but probably should've doped down to the 150's.If all goes well i'll hunt with them and use my lead for practice.

Good luck at the range lets us see the results.

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Same, I wish I had that ability to focus and the time. Reloading is one of those things that I have on my bucket list to learn how to do when I retire - like fly fishing.

Larry, curious since you said it's been a few years, but is it something like riding a bicycle or is there a "don't use it you lose it" skill involved? IE is it skill that is learned or simply just following a process to get good reloads?

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I've only been reloading for three years now. Got started with the help of a few members here. Spent a year reading manuals, gathering equipment, supplies, and all the odds and ends before actually making my first bullet! I absolutely love doing it, and find it to be peaceful work, with total concentration to small details. Pretty cool to have a DRT deer, with a round you loaded yourself! 

 

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My 7-08s and 260Rem both shoot Barnes 120 TTSX factory ammo, consistently, just under an inch. No need to reload, though I have been wanting to get back into it for years now. Been looking for replacement equip for the last year or so, since I had to ditch my original stuff when I separated from my first wife. It's either nonexistent, or sellers are very proud of what they have.

 

2 hours ago, grampy said:

I've only been reloading for three years now. Got started with the help of a few members here. Spent a year reading manuals, gathering equipment, supplies, and all the odds and ends before actually making my first bullet! I absolutely love doing it, and find it to be peaceful work, with total concentration to small details. Pretty cool to have a DRT deer, with a round you loaded yourself! 

 

Yep, same feeling as catching a 26" Brown or Rainbow on a size 20 dry that you tied yourself. 

Edited by eaglemountainman
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11 hours ago, phade said:

 

Larry, curious since you said it's been a few years, but is it something like riding a bicycle or is there a "don't use it you lose it" skill involved? IE is it skill that is learned or simply just following a process to get good reloads?

To be honest, when I pull the trigger on the first loaded round THAT will answer your question.  :)

Last night when I decided "tonight's the night" I was kind of nervous.  I kept some OK notes and records so felt comfortable after getting everything out and on the bench.  I have a cheat sheet of the basic moves in the order I've used over the years.  After work today I charged 5 cases for the initial test loads, all 43 grains making for a pretty mild load, as seen above for RL15.  I've used 44gr of RL15 in the TSX but it's been years.  Everything should be peachy.....

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Edited by Lawdwaz
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16 minutes ago, 9jNYstarkOH said:

Reloading courses are available through nra trained instructors if someone was interested in learning about reloading and did not have anyone to teach them. But I have personally not taken this course so I am not sure how good or in depth it is.

https://www.nrainstructors.org/Search.aspx

What a great offering, maybe some folks on here can partake?

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Got a chance to shoot the test loads yesterday down in Canadice.  Combined the day trip (my wife was along too) to include a trail camera card pull and add new batteries, visit with my buddy, shoot the rifle and a pretty good dinner at the Village Tavern in Geneseo on the way home.  

I shot the rifle off the bench using my Hart rifle rest and leather bag at 100 yards.  Things were going well after 3 shots so I decided (you can argue 3 shot or 5 shot groups all day for testing loads) to plunk in two more rounds after letting the barrel cool for a few minutes.........resulting in a tiny group that opened up to a whopping 1" group!!  I was thrilled and will finish up loading the remaining prepped cases with the 43gr RL15 and the 120gr bullets.

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Edited by Lawdwaz
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Great job and it looks like your set for whatever you put your sights on.

I've been reloading for over 40 years.

Well, I used to help my dad reload till I was 12, when I bought my fist 12ga shotgun and a MEC loader.

My father wouldn't let us load pistol rounds till we were older, as you can easily double charge them.

Used to re load all the time while up at the cabin with a Lee Classic kit for the 223, 243 and 30-06.

Here's a link and it's a great SHTF kit to have.

Lee Classic kit tutorial

Those kits taught us the basics and we loaded en mass on mounted presses downstate.

I've taught many people how to reload over the years and I'm willing to help anyone learn how to do it, that has the equipment + supplies and lives in or around the Rockland county area.

As Lawdaz proved, it's never to late to get back into or start reloading.

 

 

 

 

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I also load my 7mm-08 rounds with the 120 grain TTSX bullet, but use 42.0 grains of IMR 4064.  I'm getting excellent results.  The cases are once fired Winchester Supreme nickel plated empties that had 140 grain bullets in them when new.  The lighter TTSX bullets shoot faster and flatter.  No trimming is required on the first reload either.

By the way, the copper bullets of the same weight as lead bullets, will be longer since copper is lighter.  You need to drop down in weight with copper to get bullets of the same length.  Longer bullets may not work as well with your barrel's twist rate and the same weight is not required since copper bullets penetrate much better.

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On 7/16/2021 at 7:52 PM, Lawdwaz said:

 

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Those look sexy and evil at the same time. Very nice. I'm glad they shoot well for you. 

A couple questions if you don't mind . . 

1) Might you know who has the 6mm 80gr TTSX bullets in stock? I'm looking for a box of the .308 130gr as well. Midway has the .308's in stock but not the 6mm. Was hoping to get them both from the same place.

2) How far back from the rifling are you seating the TTSX? Barnes recommends starting -0.50" and then working farther away. 

Thanks

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On 7/20/2021 at 7:27 AM, Grouse said:

Your list doesn't say measure case length after resizing and trim if needed.  Are you doing that?

I'm shooting Lapua brass and they're on their third loading all from the same gun.  And yes, they are under the maximum length 2.035".

 

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On 7/21/2021 at 4:11 PM, Enigma said:

Those look sexy and evil at the same time. Very nice. I'm glad they shoot well for you. 

A couple questions if you don't mind . . 

1) Might you know who has the 6mm 80gr TTSX bullets in stock? I'm looking for a box of the .308 130gr as well. Midway has the .308's in stock but not the 6mm. Was hoping to get them both from the same place.

2) How far back from the rifling are you seating the TTSX? Barnes recommends starting -0.50" and then working farther away. 

Thanks

I bought these bullets last year off the web, maybe from Graf & Sons but don't know what there stock is like now.  My OAL length is 2.700".

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I shoot the TSX 120 in my 7MM08 ...Never have tried the TTSX in that rifle because I have had such good results with a TSX for a couple less bucks per box, so why change  ?  44.0 of RL-15  with that bullet groups under an inch in my Rem 700 Mountain Rifle...

I do shoot the 140 TTSX  in my .280...Doesn't group as tight as the 7MM08, but that rifle, while always maintaining acceptable hunting accuracy, has never been a bughole shooter.. .it's a M70 Win lightweight and groups between 1.5-2 " at 100... I've  killed everything from woodchucks to Alaska bull moose with that rifle, including some kills on the far side of 300 yards..

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