Reloading .270 Winchester

[Underclocked]

You can believe this...or not.... but I've shot "scoop" loads of H4831 behind both those 90 grain Sierra HPs and a couple of varieties of 130 grain .277 bullets that went under an inch. I would scoop the powder in the case then trickle a bit while eyeballing the level of powder in the neck until it looked even with the previous. A good .270 Win, H4831 (unless they've changed the formulation over the years), and any decent 130 grain bullet or less - you couldn't exceed max pressures (based upon reloading manuals then).

Try 3 rounds with a 90 grainer using that technique (and powder) and see what you get for accuracy.

 

[alphaburnt]

UC, dont have any 90 grainers. Believe it or not, I just got in to reloading a month or so ago and bought a Dillon Eliminator grain scale (beam type), an RCBS trickler, Lee Classic Loader ( el cheapo, 13.99), Lee primer pocket cleaner, Lee chamfer tool, Lee case cutter-lock stud and have a Starrett dial caliper ( father was a machinist for 33 yrs, gave it to me). I polish my cases by chucking them in a drill with the Lee case holder and use Flitz on a cloth. I bought a pound of H4831, 50 Barnes TSX-130 grains and Winchester Lg rifle primers and Im in bidness :wink:
I use the caliper to check length on finished cases and to set the Lee Loader. It sizes only the neck and I use some 50 or so Remington brass that have only been fired through my gun. So far using this rudimentary equipment and taking care to do everything the same, my finished cases are within .003 of each other. I really dont think Ill get too much more equipment because I have a large family ( 4 great kids and a pretty and understanding wife) and a small budget to spend on muzzleloading, bass fishing, deer hunting, turkey hunting and my new hobby- reloading. I thought about it and researched on the 'net to find the cheapest and most accurate way to go about it and I think I have accomplished my goal for the most part. Ive also got a new .50 Disc Elite that I havent even fired. I have been waiting on Cabelas to send me the new Barnes TMZ's I ordered in January :x . I would recommend the Lee stuff to anybody thinking about getting into it because it seems to be quality for cheap and I read somewhere else they were going to discontinue them soon. Sorry, Im long winded tonight- what were we talking about anyway :?

 

[Underclocked]

"I really dont think Ill get too much more equipment" famous last words! :wink:

I use a lot of Lee stuff in my casting now and have used their stuff in the past for reloading. Have even owned a few Lee Loader kits over the years and you can produce some surprisingly good ammo with those. Nothing like sitting on the floor, watching TV, and tapping in those primers. Women don't seem to like it when you set one off though.

 

[RAF]

One thing that Lee make, that I like, is the shell case trimmer. Put the brass in the shell holder, which I have in the drill, and turn on the drill. The post fits in the neck and tip goes through flash hole and bottoms out on shell holder. This cuts each piece of brass to the same length. While brass is in shell holder can also chamfer and debur each piece with a touch of the trigger on the drill.

 

[alphaburnt]

shot today

Shot 3 different loads this evening, all with H4831 and Barnes TSX:

58.5 gr - 3.475 OAL : 2.3" 5 shot group

59 gr - 3.475 OAL : 1.5" 3 shot group

59 gr - 3.450 OAL : .950" 4 shot group

Do you think I ought to load some 3.45 length with 1/2 grain more powder and shoot it or load some of the longer ones with 2-3 grains less and shoot some more?

 

[squirrelhawker]

One thing that Lee make, that I like, is the shell case trimmer. Put the brass in the shell holder, which I have in the drill, and turn on the drill. The post fits in the neck and tip goes through flash hole and bottoms out on shell holder. This cuts each piece of brass to the same length. While brass is in shell holder can also chamfer and debur each piece with a touch of the trigger on the drill.

I agree, very easy to use and consistent. inexpensive too.


Vince

 

[n8dawg6]

i got in a little late on this one, but my .270 load has always been H4831SC, 59.0 grains weighed, w/ 130 grain nosler ballistic tips. out of my ruger m77 mkII w/ 22 in. barrel, it was actually chronographing over 3000 fps (that load is 1 grain below max). of course, that velocity was recorded during the late MS summer, so it was a bit warm out. velocity may shrink a bit during the winter.

have taken three deer with that load. 1st was a 120+ pound doe shot at approx 35-40 yds. 2nd was a 230 pound buck shot quartering-on at approx. 130 yds. 3d was a 146 pound doe shot at approx. 150 yds. the first deer went about 20 yards before expiring, the buck went about ten yards, and the third deer dropped like a sack of bricks.

havent hunted with the ol' .270 in awhile. got a little fed up with the skeletonized "zytel" stock of the ruger and switched to an older M77 in 7mm mauser that was more comfortable to shoot. lately ive just been hunting with the muzzleloading rifles.

 

[alphaburnt]

What do most of you .270 shooters find to be the most accurate length ( Overall length)? Please specify the gun youre shooting it in.

 

[alphaburnt]

Anyone?

 

[big6x6]

What do most of you .270 shooters find to be the most accurate length ( Overall length)? Please specify the gun youre shooting it in.

Here goes:

Dakota 76 .270 Win
Sierra Pro Hunter 130gr 3.375 inches
Speer 130gr Spitzer 130gr 3.365 inches

Ruger 77 .270 Win
Sierra Pro Hunter 130gr 3.350 inches
Nosler Partition 130gr 3.355 inches

 

[choc-dog]

findind tour over-all length

Most 270's I have worked with have been LONG THROATED. One 270 a older Rem 760 in 270 throat was so long I could not eject a live round thru
the ejection port yet the round was set .030 off the lands.

My own 270 Model 70 stainless left hand ( rare one) loaded with 130 Hornady SST's the cannulure is 1/4 inch above the case mounth yet is loaded .035 off the lands.

To find your over-all loaded length FOR YOU RIFLE insert a cleaning rod
from the muzzle end until to stops on the closed bolt face. MEASURE THIS
BY MARKING AT THE END OF THE BARREL WTIH TAPE.

Now drop your CHOICE OF BULLET INTO THE CHAMBER AND TAP IT IN.
BLOCK THE END OF YOUR CLEANING ROD WITH SOME TAPE AS TO NOT HAVE THE THREADED END OF THE ROD GO IN TO SAY A SST BULLET.

NOW INSERT YOUR ROD UNTIL IT CONTACTS THE BULLET. NOW PLACE TAPE ON YOUR ROD AT THE EXACT MUZZLE END.

Measure the distance between the 2 lower edges of your taped marks and you have the max overall length for that SPECIFIC BRAND OF BULLET.

IF FOR EXAMPLE YOUR LENGTH IS 3.450 JUST SUBSTACT .030 OF Of THE 3.450 WHICH IS 3.420. tThis a good starting point for most reloads.

Choc-dog

 

[alphaburnt]

I have been measuring Overall length with dial calipers from the base of the shell to the tip of the bullet. Is this the method you all use or do you measure to the ogive?

 

[n8dawg6]

interesting to see this thread resurrected . . . i did a pretty good bit of shooting with my .270 over the summer. i put a replacement bell/carlson stock on it (much more comfortable to me than the old zytel stock) and i put a nikon monarch 3-9x scope on it.

for my handloads, i tried a 130 g. hornady spirepoint . . . not even a boattail, probably one of the cheapest hunting boolets available. i used mixed cases (remington and winchester) and remington large rifle primers. powder was h4831sc. i tinkered with some other powders . . . cant even remember which ones at this point, but it was really pointless. H4831 is pretty much tailor-made to that caliber.

anyway, i wasnt even paying attention to the overall cartridge length (just seated the bullet slightly short of the cannelure . . . im positive that the bullet wasnt touching the lands). i tried a couple of different weights of the 4831 (weighed on an electronic scale). i settled on 59.5 g., although i eventually decided that this wasnt really scientific. i just got a particularly good 5 shot group with this powder weight (just over an inch at 100 meters), so i decided that i would stick with it .

after i had worked up the load of 130 g. spirepoint and 59.5 g. h4831sc, i would bring the .270 with me to the range when i was shooting other rifles. i'd fire three-shot groups and see how it did. for the first three shots starting with a cold barrel, it'd always shoot into 1" at 100 meters. after that, the shots would start to wander as the barrel heated up. i was happy, though! no need for anything more for whitetail deer hunting

unfortunately, i still havent gotten that 7x57 mauser to shoot well!

 

[choc-dog]

Dear MQ32shooter

The answer to your question is no. The ogive on every bullet is different.

The measuring method I outlined in this threads previous post the ogive of each bullet will stop at the rifling/throat area. The overall length of the loaded round will be based on where the bullet stops in the rifle chambers
throat area and once that measurement is determined then you should make a blank sample round using a unprimed case and the bullet used to set a OVER ALL MAX CASE-BULLET length.

As an example a Hornady spire point 270 cal 130 gr bullet has a short
ogive (hense the spire point name) and that bullet can be seated farther out than say a sierra 130 gr. game king. 2 different bullets/2 different ogives.

P.S. most factory 270's are long throated anyway to keep pressures down

Choc-dog

 

[RogerDailey]

What do most of you .270 shooters find to be the most accurate length ( Overall length)? Please specify the gun youre shooting it in.

I've found OAL to be a very useful load tuning variable. I usually start out as long as practical. For example will it fit in the magazine, does it jam against the throat. For most hunting rifles; I believe you'll find that loading to max magazine length will put the bullet quite a ways off the throat. After establishing the max overall length and finding a load that shows promise; I start by seating bullets .010" shorter and test firing. I'll do this for 5-6 test points. In most cases; I've seen groups change and quite often improve to some point and then start to open up again. It is sort of like having a barrel end tuner.

The best example I remember was a buddy that got a heck of a deal on a 243 with about 500 loaded rounds. It wouldn't hold 2.0" at 100 yards. We started seating the loaded rounds .010" deeper and testing. After a few tests we got good .75" groups. We repeated the tests and got the same results.

The short form:
1) load to the max practical OAL
2) tune the load by seating the bullets .010" deeper
3) watch for extreme pressure as the bullets are seated deeper

 

[Doohan]

"I really dont think Ill get too much more equipment" famous last words!

How about:

" I reload to save money! " :lol: 8) :lol:

 

[SKhunter]

FWIW my experience with the TSX has been .050" off the lans is usually the best place to start and end. I have tinkered up and down but this seems to be where I have ended up in 5 different rifles/cartridges thus far. I usually then play with the components to eek out the best from the load be it powder or primer. In my 7mm rem mag with 140 TSX BT/69 gr RL22/215GMM's I average 3240fps and 3 shot groups of .7 at 100(seated .050). Like others i found the previous versions of barnes to be finnicky to load and heavy on the copper fouling, this is not the case with the TSX. Copper fouling is only a touch more then most bullets and about equally with the bonded style bullets in my rifle. As far on game a super elk and moose but for deer less then impressed. Of the deer it has taken with the classic behind the shoulder it resulted in poor wound channels and poor blood trails. The one buck I shot was through both shoulders and it worked exceptional.

Since I take behind the shoulder shots when given on deer I like standard cup and core or polymer tipped bullets better. More times than not that has been the Nosler Ballistic Tip but I have good results from numerous others. This year I was very impressed with the Hornady IB as a deer taker. 154IB loaded to 3100 fps did a fine job on behind the shoulder shots of 2 plus a double shoulder mule deer buck. I didn't finsih fully tweaking the IB load before season but it is only slightly larger then my NBT load of .5 groups.

As to powder for the .270 win IMR4350 is a standby - not the fastest but usually consistant. Though in most 270 win H4831 and RL19 hold the drivers seat for most bullets I have tried. My 270 is strictly back up duty now, I load 54.5gr of H4831 under 150 gr NP seated .015 off the lans/WW case and 210GMM. It isn't the fastest load at 2850 nor the most accurate at 1" but serves the purpose to be used on deer to moose if called upon.

 

[alphaburnt]

Ive loaded and shot the last of the Barnes TSX, and recently bought some Nosler Ballistic Tip in 130 grains to try. Almost out of Winchester Large Rifle Primers after loading some Noslers and posted a new question as to primers. The best group I achieved with the 130 TSX were around 1". Which could have been better as I discovered my windage adjustment screw of my Redfield Jr base was bent from over tightening ( it appeared that this would allow the ring to move ever so slightly while shooting).

 

[alphaburnt]

Well, I think Im getting somewhere. I added a "pressure point" to the front of my wooden stock ( had one from the factory, which I removed before knowing better). This was accomplished by adding a 8# bag of lead shot to the front swivel post, suspended, while putting bedding epoxy in a place I relieved directly above the post ( the place where the spacer was from factory). I also got rid of the Leupold one piece steel base with windage adjustment screws and added a Leupold Dual Dovetail system. I then checked my max correct overall length as described above by Choc Dog and seated my new handloads about .090" off of this ( why this number I dont know- just did). This left me with an overall length of 3.443" and tried 58, 59, and 60 grains of H4831. While shooting, the 58 gr load gave me a 1.3" group at 100 yards (5 shots). The 60 gr load gave me a 1" group at 100 yards ( 4 shots). And the winner is... 59 grains with a 4 shot group of .7"! I am well pleased and loaded some more to try at longer distances my next range session. I am almost completely out of primers though, and want to experiment with some Federal Gold Medal Match primers that someone suggested on another subject. So far I am having trouble finding them in my area.