.270 win load development - Which charge weight do you think?

Hi team,

So after getting my old Tikka M695 cerakoted I have dove right in to a new load development for it. My aim with this rifle was to get the weight down a bit, so i opted for a smaller scope with 3-9 variable zoom. I also wanted to get it to shoot flat enough that I wouldn't have to make turret adjustments out to 300m. If I intend to hunt further than that I tend to take my 7mm rem mag.

Anyway I got some good data using the labradar for my initial testing. The issue now lies in which charge weight to use.

53.5gr seems to lend the greatest accuracy, but 55.5gr has a similar extreme spread, albiet a larger one, and it is honking along at 160fps faster. I know with testing it with a few more and a few less grains either way, and adjusting seating depth, I may be able to get the extreme spread down.

So, would you choose the slower more accurate load, or the fast slightly less accurate load, keeping in mind that the purpose behind this rifle is to avoid taking the turret caps off as much as possible. Would be glad to hear some thoughts on this.

Attachment 242099

That's pretty pedestrian for a 270.
Have you done the latest rage of chopping your barrel down to nothing?

@SmokeyJason I don't really have the need to cut it nor do I want to. So what is your thoughts on the actual question at hand?

Run the two loads again as 10 shot groups which should show you immediately which is more viable (accurate and slow or accurate and fast).

Good thinking @rupert. I will give that a crack!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Floundering Around

@SmokeyJason I don't really have the need to cut it nor do I want to. So what is your thoughts on the actual question at hand?

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You stated the choice was either the fast or the slower, my answer was you're bloody slow with your fast load. Do some search to get the thing singing.

I would go with the 55.5 grain load and if I wasn't happy with the grouping, ay with seating depth. I would shoot 3 shot groups at each seating depth, maybe 4 if you want to get carried away :pacman: with plenty of time between each group. 18 is not a large extreme spread to me, perfectly adequate for shooting very far.

It's a hunting rifle and you only want to use it out to 300 meters right?
So how tight do you need the groups to be?

If you’re only intending to shoot 300ish meters then don’t worry too much about ES or SD numbers - a 130gr sst doing 3000fps vs 2900fps only has a touch over an inch difference in drop at 300m. Even at 500m you’re looking at less than 1moa difference.
For a 300m hunting round I would be focusing on getting the fastest safe load that can still shoot consistently around the 1moa mark - this will do more than enough out to 3-400yards, as long as you aren’t trying to shoot your deer in the eye balls!

I’d probably shoot a single shot ladder with 2209. 54 to 55.5 and 0.5 gn increments. 4 shots and see if there is a sweet spot and where it sits relative to your 54 and 55.5 gn imr loads.

Either way roughly 90 mm high at 100 meters will zero around 260 meters and back line hold at 350-375 or there about once you sort your load out.


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I would shoot two more groups each of the 53.5gns, 54.0gns and 55.5gns loads ( on different days if possible ) to see which has the most repeatable and consistent accuracy, then adopt that load for now. Then, if you want to with that load experiment with seating depth to see if you can wring out any accuracy improvement. However, any of those loads will work out to 300 yds comfortably.
I'm not the greatest fan of IMR4831 for the .270W cartridge. It's OK, but better is available. Should circumstances allow at some point I suggest trying AR2209 ( same as H4350 ), AR2213sc ( same as H4831 ) or Reloader 17 for your 130 gn bullet. One of these should give you better overall performance than IMR4831.

Greetings,
Looking through the data a couple of questions present themselves.
1. I don't see any groups mentioned so were these actually recorded and if so what were they? Their position on the target ie the vertical distance between group centres would be of interest.
2. The .270W was built on 130 grain projectiles at around 3,000 fps so why are we even bothering with loads that produce around 2,800? A couple of shots at the start load would have validated the data you are working from.
3. Was the barrel cleaned an a fouling shot fired during the shooting? After a number of low pressure shots the barrel was getting quite grubby by the time you got to the business end of the string.
Other than one shot the results for the results for 55.5 and 56 grains look pretty good so I would concentrate my testing and development there. I would also test groups at 200 metres or yards as there will be some parallax in your scope at 100.
Regards Grandpamac.

I agree with @30.06king about the H4350.
I used that way back in my .270 (40 years ago!!!).
No idea of velocity back then...but the BRNO I had would put 3 shots in a tight touching cloverleaf at 100 yards...so it certainly was accurate.
From memory 52.5gn to 53gn with a 130gn projectile..but do your own testing in your own rifle.
I went for accuracy above speed.
That BRNO I had is another one I should not have sold.

@ Rated M for Magnum Correct it is a hunting rifle. Probably 400 metres at the absolute max depending on the animal in the crosshairs. Will definitely sling some more lead to see if I can refine it.

For sure, I just happened to have alarge amount of IMR available so thought I'd better make the most of it.

any of the load above,that are accurate....and not at top of the load level so a wee bit of wiggle room if day is really warm.
sight rifle in somewhere around 2-3" high at hundy and be happy to go shoot stuff without having to fluff around.some of us have done just this for years.
if you really want to try something to see how much difference the load itself will make....... fire one of EACH load into same target at 200..... fifty quid to a knob of goat shit the group will still be more than good enough to kill 99% of your animals targeted.

Speed isn't necessarily the answer to getting to 300 without the need for turret adjustments or holdover, zeroing distance is also an answer as said above. A 3-9 is perfect for point and shoot unless it's rabbits any if those loads if "aimed at a furry bit" will do the job.

Just an update have loaded up 8 rounds of 55.5gr and 56gr. Considering it only has a 22.5" barrel I am pretty happy with sitting just on or just under 3000fps with acceptable accuracy. If they group up all right then should be good to go.

With a 22 inch bbl and a 130 gn, 3000 to 3050 fps is about the most you will get with most powders.


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another thought on this...if the 130grn sst is going to be your projectile of choice..these have reputation as being very explody so a slightly lesser velocity might actually be better preformance wise.
Ive got 20 or so loaded up to use on wallabies and just never seem to get around to using them lol.
the 140grn version was very very accurate for me and gave no issues..that was one of the early batches,got given them and had no idea what they were as hadnt seen red plastic tip before..used to the yellow NBTs....which I rate highly.

I have heard of that @Micky Duck.

I used them in my old load for this rifle which was a bit slower. Always had good effect with them, dropped a dozen or so animals outright, they didn't even get a chance to walk or run. But I do suppose that load was going a lot slower and because that load was so accurate i always managed to find the crease and avoid most of the shoulder bones.

Fingers crossed they stay intact! Usually I have a good 1-200m between me and my target anyway, although not always.