Reloading

[jimbob86]

I prefer bonded bullets in the 270 because they have the perfect combination of expansion and penetration on deer sized game.

The bonded bullets have much more penetration than necessary for whitetails, and that can be a bad thing, IME. I don't have a lot of experience with the all metal bullets (just two post mortems) but they looked to be even worse in that department:

Unless you like poo-flavored venison, you pretty much can't shoot at a deer at short range that is facing you. If it's coming down a trail towards you, you are not going to get a broadside shot...... he'll keep coming til he busts you, and then you'll have a running Texas Heart Shot opportunity, or none at all.

Add that to the fact that they cost twice as much or more, and I can't see why anybody would hunt deer with them. YMMV.

[Picher]

I've found the perfect powder for hot loads in the .270 Win. It's Reloder 22 for me. I use 59.8 grains with a 130 grain BT, or Hornady GMX and CCI Magnum primers. Velocity Cronos at 3,200 fps and it's very consistent. Pressure is reasonable, according to the manuals and fired brass.

Ballistic Tips are the most accurate in several rifles, but GMXs work well and there's no lead in the meat. Recently, a batch of GMX bullets seemed a bit tough for medium-sized whitetails, and accuracy wasn't great in my new rifle, so I've switched back to the BTs for that rifle.

JP

[jimbob86]

Picher, do you have a 22" barrel like the OP?


Methinks RL22 would be too slow .....

[hseII]

140 Grain Accubond.

Keep moving it around until you find where it wants to live.

Save the other money You would have spent for freezer bags & a bigger freezer.

I'm the goofball that wrote the review on Midwayusa a few years ago about 25-250 yards, & not needing to search for anything shot with such a load.

The reason?

Because whatever you shot will be laying where it was shot, provided you do your part.

[hseII]

Originally Posted by CarJunkieLS1

Nosler Accubond in the 130 or 140 grain. My .270 Win with a 130 Accubond and a heavy charge (won't post my data) of IMR 4831 is well under MOA and clocks 3019 fps from a 22" barrel. Penetrated over 2 feet of deer and recovered in the rear spine. Bullet weighed 104 grains and was a perfect mushroom shape.



Use the same weight Nosler Ballistic Tips for practice then just swap in the Accubonds for hunring.

See?

140s @ 2900+ a little caused our freezers to work more.

[Tsquared]

I haven't seen OP post for a while....

My 2 cents: only shooting out to 100 yards I would look at the 150gr SP BT for game. If I was to go out 400-600 I would drop the weight down depending upon the distance.

I shoot both .270 and 6.8SPC (same caliber just different casings and charges). The 270 has a lot more umph and can handle the heavier weights at medium distance but a 6.8spc 115 Spitzer can reach out to 500 yards to easily put down a deer.

[stan5677]

I'm still here lol. It's a lot to take in and a lot of different combinations of bullet styles to use with my self imposed limit of 100 yrds would I need a tougher bullet like the accubond especially with a 130gr bullet or could I get away with something like a Hornady Interlock

[Pathfinder45]

You need plenty of inexpensive 130 grain bullets for off-hand practice on water-filled milk jugs at ranges of 50 to 200 yards. But you also need to experiment with components likely to perform well at long range and for ammo you might actually hunt with. As someone else mentioned, the 150 grain Sierra Game King is an excellent substitute for the Nosler Partition of the same weight, at half the cost. I have both. The Partition would be expected to be the better Heavy-Game bullet, but the Sierra would probably be better for Deer, and they load and shoot alike for me.

[jimbob86]

My 2 cents: only shooting out to 100 yards I would look at the 150gr SP BT for game. If I was to go out 400-600 I would drop the weight down depending upon the distance.

I shoot both .270 and 6.8SPC (same caliber just different casings and charges). The 270 has a lot more umph and can handle the heavier weights at medium distance but a 6.8spc 115 Spitzer can reach out to 500 yards to easily put down a deer.

One thing to keep in mind is that the longer heavier BT bullets begin to beat the shorter lighter ones past 450 meters or so for retained velocity and energy..... (were I to intend to shoot at animals past 500, I'd look to Berger VLD's.......) while at the same time being less explosive at spitting distances...... the 150SGK still makes like a bomb at close range..... it just does so after penetrating the chest wall....... I've shot bucks facing me at ranges of 50 yards to 30 feet, square in the chest and not had the bullet fragments get past the diaphram ..... I've also gutted deer shot in the front of the chest with these modern "controlled expansion bullets" and ...... it was a crappy experience, shall we say.......

[jimbob86]

You need plenty of inexpensive 130 grain bullets for off-hand practice on water-filled milk jugs at ranges of 50 to 200 yards. But you also need to experiment with components likely to perform well at long range and for ammo you might actually hunt with. As someone else mentioned, the 150 grain Sierra Game King is an excellent substitute for the Nosler Partition of the same weight, at half the cost. I have both. The Partition would be expected to be the better Heavy-Game bullet, but the Sierra would probably be better for Deer, and they load and shoot alike for me.

The 110gr Hornady V-max over 47gr of IMR4064 is my practice/prairie dog round ...... about 3K f/sec, mild recoil (I've shot 300+ in a single day, with mid-day break to reload the same 150+ cases so I could shoot them again .... and when the sun went down, I loaded them again, and shot them the next morning before going home ....... and burned up 2 bricks of 22lr on the trip, as well.....good times!) and generally cheaper than 130's..... turns milk jugs inside out!

As noted above, I'm not fan of Partitions for deer .... spendy, and not necessary- you can poke a hole in Bambi from one end to the other with a Hornady Interlock or Remmy's Cor-Lokt for 1/2 the price, if crappy field dressing is your thing ......

OTH, if you want to limit yourself to 100 yard shots, I suggest a reduced load with IMR4064 and a 130gr bullet (Speer's Hot cor worked for me, mostly because it was what I had on hand at the time.....) ..... loaded to 2600 f/sec or so...... kills 'em just as dead at short range without all the sturm and drang.......

[stan5677]

I think I'm going to give the hot-cor and interlock a try in my rifle and see what it likes from what limited i know you don't need a 50 dollar box of bullets to kill deer. Jimbob86 would the IMR4064 work with those 2 bullets and do you know of a good reloading manual i can use to work up a load for those 2 bullets

[jimbob86]

I got the Speer 130 load from Speer's 13th ed.... not a bad manual overall.... their ballistic coefficients for their bullets are..... optimistic to the point of being ...... fantastic..... as in being based on fantasy.... but I learned a lot in studying that book ..... the Hornady bullet load was from my first loading manual, Lee's first edition.... not the best manual, but I wish I still had it.... lent it out to new reloaded much like yourself ..... he skipped town....

[jimbob86]

I wonder how long it'll take you to buy a Chrony......

[jimbob86]

I've also used H335 as a substitute for the 4064 when the former was unavailable.... 46gr will get a 110gr V-Max to 3K.......

[stingray7]

I use Game King, 130 grain with IMR 4350, 53.2 gr, neck die only. Get half inch groups at 100 yards from a stock Remington 700

[jamaica]

I like the 130 gr bullets. Ya just gotta load some up and go shoot. See what they do. Load some a little hotter go shoot. Etc. This is why we say "Work up a load" Ya just gotta try some things till you find something that works well in your rifle.

[Nathan]

Stan,

You are headed the right way. Hornady Interlock, Rem CoreLokt, Speer, Sierra Gamekng are all good bullets for you. Keep your mv under 3100fps and you will be fine.

H4831 is good, but H4831SC measures better from a powder measure.

Nice rifle. Feel free to pm, if I can help out with a loading issue. I have some experience in that area!

[pogson]

Most people choose 270 for the high velocity and ballistic coefficient of the bullets. If you shoot only to within 100 yards, you don't need either to kill deer reliably and you may blow up meat that you could eat if you use a bullet that's faster than you need.

Try sticking to the "starting load" from a manual or the Hodgdon site. That will be down around 2800 ft/s and still able to kill deer to hundreds of yards. It's like telling the deer to stand back ~100 yards with the 130SP from Hornady at maximum velocity. They are not likely to comply but you can reduce the muzzle velocity a couple hundred feet per second to accomplish the same effect. Being able to use a simple SP bullet will save you money, reduce recoil and muzzle blast all at the same time.

[lordmorgul]

Originally Posted by jimbob86

I wonder how long it'll take you to buy a Chrony......

Great point for the newcomer to take in. When I started (and I’m still fairly new at ~8 years reloading) I did a lot of pistol rounds with no chronograph and just by feel.. hotter or not than factory Win white box... it was a bad way to do reloading.

When I started doing some rifle loads my brother and I bought a cheap Caldwell chrono and it’s ok but wish it was more consistent itself. In any case it’s far better than nothing! It’s a must have item to reload rifle (probably anything) properly.


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Andrew - Lancaster, CA
NRA Life Member, SAF / CRPA / FPC member and supporter, USCCA Member

[Picher]

I have two .270s, both with 24" barrels. I'd used a stiff load of Reloder 22 that chrono'd at 3,200 with 130 grain bullets and it's a great load, but recent batches of the combination are exhibiting higher pressure signs, so have cut back the charge for both of my rifles.

I had one 130 grain Ballistic Tip blow up on a 40 yard lung shot, so stopped using those bullets. Had switched to Hornady GMXs, but recently, they failed to open up sufficiently in my son's 30-06 at short range. We recovered the small buck, but trailed it with difficulty. That's not what we found to be normal using previous batches of GMXs. Others reported the same situation.

The most recent load, using 140 grain Nosler Accubonds on my 860 lb bull moose at 270 yards proved to be excellent. A lung shot through the lungs and it only went about 15 yards. Those bullets may be a bit too tough for Maine whitetails in this part of the state.

I recently bought some new factory Winchester Deer Season 130 grain rounds that are quite accurate and I'm planning to try them on deer this year, but may try them on coyotes. I also bought a couple of boxes for my .243 Win rifles and am looking forward to testing them.

[jamaica]

"I wonder how long it'll take you to buy a Chrony......"

Who needs it? I started loading in 1955. A teenager still in school. I have loaded for a variety of both pistols and rifles. I say load some up go shoot! Try something else, go shoot. See what they do for you in your gun. It really doesn't matter how fast they go ..... what matters is hitting your target. Learn to shoot! Sight that deer rifle in to hit two inches high at 100 yards, it will be right on at 200 and about 3 inches low at 300. You can pretty much just put the cross hairs on a deer and squeeze off the shot and have venison in the bag.

[lordmorgul]

Originally Posted by jamaica

"I wonder how long it'll take you to buy a Chrony......"

Who needs it? I started loading in 1955. A teenager still in school.

You don’t need it, but that doesn’t mean it is not a better way. You use a chrono for more than bragging rights on how fast it is going. You use it to back off the speed until the standard deviation is low and you’re shooting very consistently. You also use it to walk up to correct loads for your gun so you reduce over pressure risk. It is a safety tool.



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Andrew - Lancaster, CA
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[hooligan1]

I use IMR 4451 with 130 grn bullets, N160 with 140 grn bullets and Magpro with 150 grn bullets.
Chronographed the 130's and 140's but not the last loads using 150's and Magpro, but its accurate for me..

[jamaica]

"You use a chrono for more than bragging rights on how fast it is going."

I must ask: Why do you shoot?

Once we have the answer to that question, we may better understand if we need a chrono.

I grew up on a farm out in the boonies. Dad had two guns, a 30-30 long tom and a single shot 22. He was not one to waste ammo shooting paper. When he took down a gun it was to go get rid of some pest or to put some meat on the table. You made every shot count. When I was about 12 he had a bunch of ground squirrels that had clipped about an acre of his one field of alfalfa. He took down the 22 and handed it to me and a box of shells and said: "Go kill those D......... squirrels." I confess, I did not get them all but did reduce their numbers so he could get a crop. When the deer season rolled around Dad would grab the 30-30 and go get on the horse and head up the canyon. A while later he would return with a deer tied on the saddle. The guns were tools to protect what was ours and to obtain food.

[lordmorgul]

Originally Posted by jamaica

"You use a chrono for more than bragging rights on how fast it is going."



I must ask: Why do you shoot?



Once we have the answer to that question, we may better understand if we need a chrono.



I grew up on a farm out in the boonies. Dad had two guns, a 30-30 long tom and a single shot 22. He was not one to waste ammo shooting paper. When he took down a gun it was to go get rid of some pest or to put some meat on the table. You made every shot count. When I was about 12 he had a bunch of ground squirrels that had clipped about an acre of his one field of alfalfa. He took down the 22 and handed it to me and a box of shells and said: "Go kill those D......... squirrels." I confess, I did not get them all but did reduce their numbers so he could get a crop. When the deer season rolled around Dad would grab the 30-30 and go get on the horse and head up the canyon. A while later he would return with a deer tied on the saddle. The guns were tools to protect what was ours and to obtain food.

I certainly never said your way was wrong or not workable, so understand that, I only said there is a better way. I grew up shooting squirrels with my pellet gun to protect the garden, and it was my primary form of fund raising ($0.25 each)... but I would have been better at it with some training in selection of pellet and best count of pumps. The OP asked a specific question...

“cut down on costs as I try to hit the range as often as possible to build up my accuracy.”

The way to do that is get data, not shoot more. And not shoot less to make every bullet count for meat. I’m only saying, there is a better way, not the only way.


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Andrew - Lancaster, CA
NRA Life Member, SAF / CRPA / FPC member and supporter, USCCA Member