RL-26 165 Matrix 270 caliber

dwm

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Feb 26, 2003
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756
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So a year or so ago, when H1000 was getting hard to find I bought some RL-26 (and IMR 7977).

I had setup a 270WIN on a Savage 116 with a 28in McGowen bull barrel with a 1/9 twist for deer hunting in TX. My go to load has been H4831 with 140 Berger Hunting VLD which has taken several deer and hogs with great success.

Reading all these posts on the 165 Matrix got me interested to give them a try.

Since there is very little load data to go by, I pulled up Quickload and used the 160 Partition and RL-26 to come up with a starting load. I loaded a dummy round and did the normal test to determine seating depth, came up with 3.450 OAL, this is where the 165 Matrix is just engaging the lead in my barrel, not quite cutting the lands, but still leaving a ring on the bullet when a round is chambered. For 65Kpsi cartridges I usually use a starting load in the 58Kpsi range in Quickload. (the 270WIN is a 65Kpsi cartridge) So I chose a starting load of 58grains of RL-26 at 3.450" OAL and loaded 10 rounds to check pressure. (Don't use this load.)

Took this load to the range and shot them at 100 yards. This load produced a decent group, right around 3/4in. Bolt was not sticky at all, but fired cases would not rechamber. Took them home and proceeded to reload them only to find that the primer pockets would not hold primers anymore.

Backed the load down to 56.8 grains of RL-26, with FED210M primers at 3.450" OAL and went back to the range with the chrony.

Shot the string of 10 through the chrony and came up with: Av Vel: 2953fps, SD: 21, ES: 63. Not bad for a straight 270WIN at sea level ... It was quite windy today and the clouds came and went when I was shooting, not sure if that affected the chronny numbers.

Fired cases rechamber with no problems and primer pockets are still tight. The group did open up a bit to slightly over an inch, so there is more work to do, but I am very pleased with the velocity and the fact that there is no evidence of bullets key holing at 100 or 200 yards.

Looks like right around 59grains of H1000 will produce similar velocities according to Quickload.

Just for fun my 140Berger Hunting VLD load at 57.5 grains of H4831 and 3.250 OAL chronies at Av Vel = 2935fps.

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Also loaded up 10 rounds of 270WSM with RL-26 and 165 Matrix. Using Quickload and knowing I need to be a little more conservative with the RL-26 charge, I came up with 64grains of RL-26 at 2.975 OAL.

Shot the string of 10 through the chrony and came up with: Av Vel: 2976fps, SD: 22, ES: 60. My 270WSM only has a 24in barrel with a 1/10 twist so it looks like I lost some speed compared to the 270WIN with the 28in barrel. Again the chrony was flexing back and forth in the wind and the sunshine came and went. Group was right around MOA, will also need more work, didn't see any key holing with this load either.

Cleaned both barrels and noticed very little dirt or copper, so the RL-26 seems to be very clean burning.

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I may try some IMR-7977 and/or H1000 just for fun to see how they do next ...

 
I had two people give be QL predictions for my 280ai using RL 26. One was just the default burn rate, the other was adjusted after some experimentation (specifically for the 280 ackley, not sure if it would be different for other chambers). Anyway, they were substantially off, the default QL predictions with the default burn rate would have put me way over pressure.

With the adjusted BR, my measured results were within 10 fps of the predicted values. Just for reference, that adjusted burn rate for RL 26 was 0.372
 
That's good to know. I have RL-26 and IMR 7977 but can't seem to find the time to test them on my .270 AI (Lilja 1:8" 30" 3-groove) ... yet.

My current accuracy load for my .270 AI is with H4831SC and 175 Matrix. Haven't really developed any loads for the 165.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Ok, I had to take a look and see how hard it is to create your own bullet in QuickLoad. Turns out it is very straight forward.

I created a new text file named matrix.bul based on data that was in the other files. I basically copied one of the other files and deleted what was not needed, then edited the parameters that corresponded to the 165 Matrix VLD.

Contents of new matrix.bul file (Use at your own risk ...):

; 7-MAR-16.
; For use with QuickLOAD/QuickTARGET only. Any other use without expressed written consent is prohibited.
; User is responsible for any application of this data. Data may be changed without any notice. ICAO BCs.
".277, 165, Matrix VLD ","165","1.430","","","","","",".277",".650",".650","","","","","","","","","","25"

Use at your own risk ...

These parameters are very obvious, 165 = bullet weight, 1.430 is the length of the bullet, .650 is the BC, the 25 is at the end of all the lines in the file so I didn't change it.

I put this file in the directory with all the other bullet files.

Now when I open QuickLoad there is an option to load this bullet file.

You also have to click on the "Tail/Base Shaped" option right under where you select the bullet.

A dialog box will pop up.

Select the "Boattail" option at the bottom of the box.

Enter the following:

Small Diameter of Taper: 0.238
Large Diameter of Taper: 0.277
Length of Taper: 0.180

Next I entered the data according to my load, 56.8 grains of RL-26, and hit Apply&Calc.

A 270WIN velocity of 2925fps and a pressure of 54.6Kpsi was predicted by QuickLoad which matches the measured velocity from the chrony yesterday!

For the 270WIN I am running "Cartridge Length: 3.450" and "Barrel Length: 28in", two other parameters that need to be entered.

There is no need to adjust the QuickLoad "Burning Rate Factor" as the predicted velocity very closely matches the measured velocity.

Now I can use this bullet file to develop starting loads for IMR 7977 and H1000.

For example, it takes 59.7 grains H1000 to reach 2927fps which has a predicted pressure of 59.0Kpsi. If you plan to use H1000, start lower and work up to that level.
 
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I start the 165 in the WSM at 62 grains of Retumbo and work up to 66 gr which is usually the high node, two grains less for H1000.
 
What is your case overall length for the 270WSM with 165Matrix? QuickLoad is very sensitive to overall length.
 
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