150 gr load for 270 wsm

[DontBlink]

Hello LRH,

I am just finishing up my long range rifle in 270 wsm. I am looking at reloading 150 grain bullets in either Nosler Accubonds or Berger bullets. What I am curious about is max range I can get using these bullets on deer, bear, mt goat on down. I have a 26 in barrel which should give me enough barrel to burn powder. I live in Southern Idaho and shots can be as long as 1000 yds +, but my concern is did I build a rifle that can reach a thousand yards on those particular critters?

Also if any of you have any long range loads for the 270 wsm would you please share them with me. I have heard you can push the 150 gr to 3200 fps + but im not sure what that will do for barrel life. Any info would be great and really appreciative.

Thanks for all the great posts, I have enjoyed learning from all of you.

 

[CLW]

Nosler says that the slowest speed for optimum performance is 1800 FPS on the Accubond. I dont see a 150 Accubond listed but I punched in the BC for the 150 Ballistic Tip as they are the same BC as Accubonds. If you can push a 150gr at 3200 then you will still be pretty close to 1800 at 1000 yards (probably 1700 something...??). They also have no maximum velocity and will hold together well at 3200 FPS if you happen to get a close shot at something. I havent used the Berger bullets or see their performance on game but I dont know that they would hold together as well at close ranges with the speeds you want. If you can get the accuracy you want with the Accubond then I would suggest that for an all-around hunting bullet........ My 2 cents.....

Dont know of any specific loads, I shoot 180 Accubonds out of my 300 WSM and IMR 4350 has been by far the most accurate, consistent powder for me and the hotter the better as far as accuracy. It is listed as a powder to use for the 270 WSM with 150's also and the max load is listed as best accuracy on Nosler's site. Obviously your mileage may vary...

 

[rscott5028]

You can email Berger for load data and plug it into a ballistics program for trajectory/windage comparison. You might also ask if 3200fps is too fast.

 

[pitbull320]

if you go with the accubond you can only get a 140 but still a great bullet my wife gun with 27" tube push the 140 accubond right at 3500fps and they group really good the other round that she uses is the 169.5 wildcat and it run out at 3000fps the 140 accubond will kill all the the game you listed out to 1000yeds but if you wont a heavier bullet matrix makes a 175gr that you get about 2900 ish

 

[bigngreen]

Your barrel twist may come into play if you want to play with the 160+gr bullets, but they are the holy grail for 270 guys!
If you haven't look search royinidaho and check out his threads, he's working on re-pointing 150gr bullets with a point that raises the BC and weight.
The 140 Accubond is awesome as well as the Berger's, I was unable to break 800yrds on game this year with them so I can give anything on terminal performance over that, up to that it's outstanding!
I run Retumbo for powder with the 140's and get 3300 to 3340 in the 26in barrel, depending on the bullet. I was able to run them 3420 with Magpro but could not get accuracy at that point.
I'm very comfortable with antelope and deer to the 1000yrd mark and elk to 800yrds, once I get re-barreled for the heavier bullets we'll go farther!!! It's a very capable cartridge!!

 

[DontBlink]

Thanks Everyone,

All your posts have been great. My barrel is a 1:10 twist, I was not aware at the time when I purchased my barrel that they made a bullet heavier than 150 gr. for the 270. BigNGreen you shared some pretty fast loads. What is your barrel life with those loads? 3000+ rounds or are you in the 2000 range?

Also, have any of you used the hornady SST's or the SGK's for the 270 wsm out to a thousand yards?

Once again thanks for all the replys.

 

[bigngreen]

I ran them as hard as I could in my barrel factory Savage barrel, I believe pitbull320 is pushing them harder and I've heard of faster and slower. The 140 Accubond was the fastest bullet I pushed as well as one of the most accurate. With your 1-10 the 150 Berger would be real attractive! I have a 1-9 twist barrel ready to chamber for the 150 Berger and larger. I ran 140's most in a 1-11 twist, SST's sucked and I wasted to much barrel life on them, the Game King shot very, very well and was easy to get a load for, Accubond was easy to get a load for the Bergers took work but they shot till the throat was shot plumb out but the Accubond is still sub MOA. The SGK, Accubond and Berger shot 6 shot groups at 1-30 yrds so small I won't say how good cause it offends BR guys.
The barrel life of a Savage model 12 barrel was 1200 rounds before velocity started dropping of fast, it has settled down and I have a couple hundred more through it, it will get reamed out to a longer 270 chambering to clean up the throat for a few hundred then driven into the dirt. I love to shoot a lot though, I didn't abuse it but I didn't baby it either. If you fly a little lower and slower you should do better, since I have a Savage I'm chambering my fast twist for taking it easy and re-chambering a factory sporter for general shooting and swapping. If the fast twist barrel does what I want it will get sent for Nitride.

 

[pitbull320]

I had the same results as bigngreen accept for the bergers I had to back them down to get the accuracy and to hold together at 3360 they would look like a shot gun pattern on paper I had to back them down to 3291 to get accuracy other than that they worked great on game my barrel is a #4 27" lilja my next test is the matrix ballistics 175gr bullets there a little bit heavy than the wildcats but with the same bc and marshal is great to deal with i put my order in today and they shipped today

 

[budlight]

Hello LRH,

I am just finishing up my long range rifle in 270 wsm. I am looking at reloading 150 grain bullets .

My 270 AI is similar in case capacity to the WSM. I predominantly shoot the Sierra 150 spitzer BT. I only use LR mag primers with these slower powders. I've tried powders as slow as Rel-25 and H-1000, I actually saw FPS reduction when compared to my Rel-22 and IMR 7828 loads

 

[bigngreen]

I had the same results as bigngreen accept for the bergers I had to back them down to get the accuracy and to hold together at 3360 they would look like a shot gun pattern on paper I had to back them down to 3291 to get accuracy other than that they worked great on game my barrel is a #4 27" lilja my next test is the matrix ballistics 175gr bullets there a little bit heavy than the wildcats but with the same bc and marshal is great to deal with i put my order in today and they shipped today

I ran the 140 Bergers at 3300 for accuracy but if I ran them up they would walk all over the place, nice to know it wasn't just me
I'm jacked about the Matrix bullets, I have a box of 165's that are dieing to get shot, but I'm sure my current barrel won't stabilize them so I'll have to wait a little longer. Matrix Ballistics have some 150's that might be good to look at, bonded rebated boat tail.

 

[magnum]

DontBlink,

This may not be strictly according to your initial question.

I am a long time 270 fan. I have a 270 Win in a Winchester pre 64 M70 fwt and it just loves the Hornady 140gr SPBT Interlocks (stock # 2735) But it is fussy with most other bullets, particularly the SSTs. I developed a load for a New Zealand Tahr and Chamois hunt in 2010 pushing the 140 gr out of my 22" barrel at 3,044 fps (chronographed in May, winter here). These bullets are awesome with good BC (for their type) of 0.486. They are a soft bullet so they open rapidly but the interlock feature holds them together.

They accounted for both Tahr and Chamois. TheTahr shot at 300 yards and the Chamois 200 yards in the NZ southern alpine area.

As you'll see for the following photo of my Chamois, shot at around 4,000 ft on a downwards (30⁰) slope, a sholder shot exiting in the other side chest area evidenced nice expansion. A one shot kill.

I was concerned before the trip that the 140 gr interlocks might have been a bit too much of a bullet for the small frame of the Chamios, but this was not the case.

I have since been doing some paper ballistics on the 270 WSM (my protégée has one of these in mind) as a long range hunting rifle. With 180 gr Woodleigh bullets with a BC = 0.513. The following is the print of this out of the PointBlank ballistics software:

I trust this assists.

Cheers and God bless,
Magnum

 

[BlackSS]

Sorry for going a little OT here, but bigngreen, what kind of velocities were you able to get out of your factory barrel? I'm assuming its a 22" barrel.
Just wondering as I've shot a "published" max load of 64 gr of RL 22 with 140 gr AB and never saw over 3150.
No pressure signs, but didn't feel like pushing it.

 

[bigngreen]

Sorry for going a little OT here, but bigngreen, what kind of velocities were you able to get out of your factory barrel? I'm assuming its a 22" barrel.
Just wondering as I've shot a "published" max load of 64 gr of RL 22 with 140 gr AB and never saw over 3150.
No pressure signs, but didn't feel like pushing it.

I have a factory 26 in varmint barrel on the model 12, I think with the slow powders like Retumbo and H1000 I was able to get more out of it, the Bergers ran 3300 and the Accubond 3341. I have a sporter factory barrel I was going to screw on to shoot for varmints so I don't burn up the new barrel so I'll see what I get out of a shorter barrel. In the 26in I was able to push the 140's into the mid 3400's with Magpro but could not find accuracy beyond what I was at with Retumbo. I've triple check these speeds with three other chronographs and my drop charts are right on.
I have three barrels for this rifle, the original 26 in which after shooting the throat out is running 3175fps, a 22in factory sporter which I haven't shot yet and a 28 in 1-9 twist Lawton that is awaiting chambering. I haven't tinkered enough to know at what barrel length your better of with the Retumbo burn rate or the 4350 burn rate. I load to what the pressure signs are showing, I push it but not so hard that I loosen primer pockets.
I don't know if the extra barrel is doing it, I will know when I screw on the sporter. I does seem that the 26-28 in length barrel is optimal for getting everything out of the 270 WSM case.

 

[retiredcpo]

dont blink
check your mag length before you get to thinking about bergers they like to be loaded long ,very close or into the lands
Most short mags I have seen have short boxs and would be impossible to fit them in. I have seen guys do a accubond load for in the mag and a berger load loading them single shot by hand
retiredcpo