Powder max on .270 Winchester

[John Polk]

For a .270 Win., 60 gr. of H4831 has been the "go - to" load with 130 gr. bullet since the days of Jack O'Conner - at least 75 years, try it.

 

[Gibbshooter43]

I'm almost all for speed. That's why I have 3 AI'd guns and 2 Gibbs. But there's a reason that many of the reloading manuals list minimum and maximum charges, and often indicate that the most accurate load tested was somewhere in between these two. So although I'm almost all for speed, I'm really ALL for accuracy whatever that takes within the bounds of safety.

 

[John Polk]

I'm almost all for speed. That's why I have 3 AI'd guns and 2 Gibbs. But there's a reason that many of the reloading manuals list minimum and maximum charges, and often indicate that the most accurate load tested was somewhere in between these two. So although I'm almost all for speed, I'm really ALL for accuracy whatever that takes within the bounds of safety.

60 gr. of H4831 has been my standard .270 load since 1967. It is accurate and gives excellent velocity.

 

[freddiej]

Hey guys, I've taken my 22" barreled .270 to 46.8gr of IMR 4064 chronographing 2800+/- a few FPS. Book max is 46.1 with 130gr bullets and 45gr with 150gr bullets. My tests have all been on 95+ degree days, and I'm just starting to see some flattening of primers with easy bolt lift. 3/4 MOA
Should I push this load any further?

my simple answer is "NO!"
If you are at 3/4" at that powder charge I think I would find a better powder.. I have always been partial to H-4831 and H-1000. but since I get more consistency and better groups with H-4831, I have dropped H-1000 to other cartridges that it performs better in. Come to think of it.. H-4831, H-4320, H-4350, IMR-4350 have all supplanted H-1000 in most every load I have unless it. nope, it has been taken out of my 338 win mag and 300 win mag as well. nope I do not use H-1000 anymore unless my red binder specifically calls for it.

 

[James Pearson]

I've been working up a load for my Tikka 270 for the 145 ELD-x. I had great success
with the ELD-x in my 260 Rem for the last two years. My 270 liked RL22 with a 150 Partition but not so much with the 145 ELD-x. Good velocity, but not consistent accuracy. I had some RL17 and have had much better luck with it. 54.5 grains
of RL17, Federal Match primers and Nosler brass, 3.34 COAL (magazine limit) results
in repeatable 3000 fps and .75 MOA or less. One note on the Nosler Brass, I'm on the 4th reload on this lot and had my first case head separation. Out of the 50 pieces about 10 are showing stress lines. Not sure if I should can the remaining cases.
Used new brass for this season's upcoming hunts.

I mentioned Hornady brass. I've got one lot of it that I just shot for the 6th time with no stress indicators at all. I'm going to anneal it and go again just to see how far it'll go.

I've had several tell me that Hornady brass is no good but the proof has been in my own experience so far. Just bought 300 more Hornady cases for my new gun.

 

[freddiej]

I mentioned Hornady brass. I've got one lot of it that I just shot for the 6th time with no stress indicators at all. I'm going to anneal it and go again just to see how far it'll go.

I've had several tell me that Hornady brass is no good but the proof has been in my own experience so far. Just bought 300 more Hornady cases for my new gun.

James, I have most always used prepped Hornady brass in my hunting rifles. my 270's, 270 WSM's, 30-30, 338 W/M, 22 Hornet, 444 Marlin's, 375 H&H, and all my handguns. Hornady was the best brass I could afford to buy and the brand has served me well for many (30) years. I found great deals on Nosler, Norma, and Lapua brass from time to time. Still most of my handgun and hunting brass is Hornady. I have some brass I have shot 12 to 15 times without failure (annealed after every 3rd loading though). I have some 22 hornet brass I have shot and reloaded over 20 times without failure. My 22-250 is the only deviation from this. I found a massive (2,000 cases) lot of 22-250 Nosler and Norma brass for $50.00 locally and could not pass it up. My 22-250 dines on Nosler brass. The Norma was sold off to a friend that paid me 4 times what I paid.
When people down Hornady Brass, I do smile and laugh a bit when buying their brass for 10 cents a piece.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

4064 is a good powder for cartridges like the 30-06 with mid weight bullets. It can be used in medium overbore rifles like the 270 and 7rem mag., but do not expect full speed. it will be a bit slow. the 2800 fps you got using it is about right; sad thing is a 270 with a 22" bbl. may only see 2950 to 3000 fps with a full case powder. To some it really isn't worth another 10-15 grains powder for 150 fps and they will go with the thrifty choice if it is accurate.

 

[James Pearson]

4064 is a good powder for cartridges like the 30-06 with mid weight bullets. It can be used in medium overbore rifles like the 270 and 7rem mag., but do not expect full speed. it will be a bit slow. the 2800 fps you got using it is about right; sad thing is a 270 with a 22" bbl. may only see 2950 to 3000 fps with a full case powder. To some it really isn't worth another 10-15 grains powder for 150 fps and they will go with the thrifty choice if it is accurate.

Hind sight is ALWAYS 20/20!
I should have been a little more patient and went after a rifle with a 24" barrel. But hey, that means I see another gun in the future!

At the very least, another consideration I'm contemplating is getting a custom barrel made. Thinking something around 25" with 8.5 to 9 twist. Got any ideas on that?

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

I've got a 27" bbl'd 7stw... she's still only 3350 fps with a 140 bonded... data is usually just below 3300 fps with a 140 bonded using rl25 with a 24" bbl... gotta have a big boiler room and preferably enough bore diameter to get surface area on the tail end of the bullet ... I like to start at 270-7mm and go up from there. My 300 rum is probably my favorite payload pusher but my 375h&h does as much work with 20 grains less powder.

 

[sw282]

When Mama said ''NO'' she meant ''NO''.
When the Book says ''MAX'' it means ''MAX''.

 

[John Polk]

Hind sight is ALWAYS 20/20!
I should have been a little more patient and went after a rifle with a 24" barrel. But hey, that means I see another gun in the future!

At the very least, another consideration I'm contemplating is getting a custom barrel made. Thinking something around 25" with 8.5 to 9 twist. Got any ideas on that?

 

[James Pearson]

I'm sticking with Hornady brass. Not competing, just want a good low ES round with the 145-ELD-X's, on the upper end of the spectrum if possible.
I just broke in another .270 and going to run FPS trials in it today.

The first gun seems to not like that bullet with any combination so far. So the new gun I'm going to trial Hornady brass, CCI 250 primers, and IMR 4064, IMR 4831, and H-1000. All once fired brass, bumped .002, CBTO @ 2.755 (chamber is 2.775), case trimmed to 2.533.

Also bought a new chrony, so now I can run 2 in tandem and verify results better. I'll update y'all later and thanks for the valuable information.

OK, the new gun appears to like the 145's just fine. I worked up the mid range of 4064 and 4831 powders in .2gr increments and even though each round was a different powder charge, both total groups were under 3", several rounds less than 1MOA, with to be expected mid range FPS. (2700-2840). I am going to run another series higher up the scale and include the H1000 this time.

This may not be the way everyone would conduct a load build, but I'm just taking my time and analyzing the data as I go. Thanks for all the input, if anyone has anything more to add, please jump in!

Also, since I shoot year round I want to stay with proven powders that are not temperature sensitive. (?)

 

[DocDoc]

Head separation is usually due to oversizing. The case repeatedly expands and gets thin about 0.200 in up and separates. Check that you are not setting the case shoulder back more than 0.002.

 

[Coyote_Hunter]

You have good accuracy, which in my mind trumps velocity.

Shooting max loads can be a problem even if same brand brass is used. Different bullets, different lot of brass or primers or powder, etc. I do it, with some over max, but I check multiple sources and check velocities against book values as I work up. Some loads give me higher than book, others lower.

If you want higher velocities you might try a different powder. I'm using a max charge of H100V in Daughter's .270, for 2910fps using 150g ABLR. With 130g bullets you should be able to get very close to or over 3000fps with a variety of powders.