best powder for .270
- Thread starter Longshot
- Start date
Moose Masher
CGN Regular
- Location
- Oak Hammok Manitoba
Depends on the bullet, but probably H4831.
I use H4831 with 130gr Sierras for deer and 90gr Sierras over 4350 for varmints (most accurate groups I've ever shot, with any rifle), but it's always going to depend on whether or not your particular rifle likes a given combination. What works well for one rifle with be all over the map with another.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
My vote also is for H-4831.
That is the same combination I have used in the past with excellent results. And now that I have a new 270win, that is where I will be starting from again.
James
Ditto!!
Never had a 270 that this did not work well in, some exceptionally well.
Eagleye.
Me too! I started off with IMR 4350 but couldn't get the Barnes TTSX's as tight as I wanted. Just recently tried some H4831SC and my groups shrunk to MOA out of my newer Model 70. Though 53.5 gr of IMR 4350 and 140 gr Hornady Interlock groups very well for me. Haven't had a chance to test the 140's and H4831 yet...
"For shooting in the summer I have to back off about a grain and a half or else I get into the 3100fps range, ejector marks, and accuracy goes south"
3100 fps is a good velocity and 60 grains of H4831 should make it. Jack O'Connor developed this load, not Hodgdon's. The old war surplus powder that Hodgdon's eventually named "H4831," was likely a bit faster than modern H4831 as sold by Hodgdon is.
Jack O'Connor used to claim 3200 fps with his loads. At least with this powder/bullet combination, top accuracy went right along with top speed.
Also, O'Connor wrote in his column in Outdoor Life magazine that he was getting 62 grains of H4831 in his 270 and forcing a 130 grain bullet into it. His comments were something like, "It shot like a whiz and was a great load for the 270."
3100 fps is a good velocity and 60 grains of H4831 should make it. Jack O'Connor developed this load, not Hodgdon's. The old war surplus powder that Hodgdon's eventually named "H4831," was likely a bit faster than modern H4831 as sold by Hodgdon is.
Jack O'Connor used to claim 3200 fps with his loads. At least with this powder/bullet combination, top accuracy went right along with top speed.
Also, O'Connor wrote in his column in Outdoor Life magazine that he was getting 62 grains of H4831 in his 270 and forcing a 130 grain bullet into it. His comments were something like, "It shot like a whiz and was a great load for the 270."
3100 or 3200 fps may have been just fine in Jack's rifle in whatever temperature he happend to be shooting in, but every rifle is different. That is why we must all develop loads tuned to our own rifles, not use somone else's pet loads.
I load for accuracy, not velocity. If for some reason I feel the need to push a bullet faster and cannot maintain accuracy in doing so, then it's time to switch components. I haven't had to do that yet.
Continuing to use a load that is so far over pressure that it is leaving ejector marks on the brass is best left for those seeking a Darwin Awards nomination.
moosinaround
Member
- Location
- central interior of BC
Anyone tried RL17 for the 270? I am working a load up with it now, and I am getting 2953fps with 52.3gr, with no signs of pressure and 0.587" groups at 100 yrds. This is pushing 130gr Swift Sciroccos. I also tried H4350 and it is pushing the same 130gr Scirocco 2982fps, but with 53.6gr of powder, and 0.688" groups. I can up the charge of both of these as there were no signs of overpressure, stick bolt, ect. Moosin
beretta boy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Orillia, Ontario
Old school for me too ... 44 years later, still using H4831 for the .270 and for the .257 and .25-06.
Went to the "source" to see what Jack was up to ... In the arly 1950's, Mr. O'Connor's original .270 load was with what was known then as military surplus "4350 Data Powder" (later named 4831 by Bruce Hodgdon, and still later identified ad H4831 to avoid confusion with IMR 4831) His original load was worked up to 60 grains with a 130 grain
bullet. This was the load later published in Outdoor Life that everyone and their grandmother copied.
Subsequently, he worked up a load of 62 grains with 130 grain bullets in Western cases that he sent off to a manufacturer's Lab (W-W ?) for testing, that came back as "safe", being under SAAMI's spec. of under 54,000 psi. He used that 62 grain load in two of his Mod. 70 rifles in some pretty hot places, including the Sahara, northern India, and the Kalahari of Botswana, without generating any pressure signs. He does note however, that in another custom Mod. 98 Mauser in 270, that he had to cut this load back by 2 grains because he was getting some pressure signs and hard extraction.
Jack states in print (1970) that his original "62 grain load of Hodgdon's 4831 in Winchester Western cases gave him a MV of about 3140 in a 22" barrel." He also
quotes a load with "the 'old' Barnes 120 gr. bullets and 52 gr. of 4064 at around
3200 fps".
With today's pwders, Barnes (24" barrel, Fed. GM210M primers and Winchester cases) quotes a MV of as high as 3281 fps with their 120 gr. bullets and a max. load of 58.0 grains of H4350 and 3142 fps with a max. load of 55.0 gr, of H4350 and their 130 gr. bullets. With their coated 130 gr. bullets and a max. load of RL25, they're reporting a MV of 3299 !
History lessons aside, my pet 270 load is 59 gr. H4831 with the 130 gr. Nosler Partition
and WWLR primers. in WW cases. Found it to be more accurate than the 60 gr. or heavier loads in 3 different 270's I've owned. For a varmint load, 60 grains of H4831 behind Sierra's 90 gr. HP was also very accurate.
Went to the "source" to see what Jack was up to ... In the arly 1950's, Mr. O'Connor's original .270 load was with what was known then as military surplus "4350 Data Powder" (later named 4831 by Bruce Hodgdon, and still later identified ad H4831 to avoid confusion with IMR 4831) His original load was worked up to 60 grains with a 130 grain
bullet. This was the load later published in Outdoor Life that everyone and their grandmother copied.
Subsequently, he worked up a load of 62 grains with 130 grain bullets in Western cases that he sent off to a manufacturer's Lab (W-W ?) for testing, that came back as "safe", being under SAAMI's spec. of under 54,000 psi. He used that 62 grain load in two of his Mod. 70 rifles in some pretty hot places, including the Sahara, northern India, and the Kalahari of Botswana, without generating any pressure signs. He does note however, that in another custom Mod. 98 Mauser in 270, that he had to cut this load back by 2 grains because he was getting some pressure signs and hard extraction.
Jack states in print (1970) that his original "62 grain load of Hodgdon's 4831 in Winchester Western cases gave him a MV of about 3140 in a 22" barrel." He also
quotes a load with "the 'old' Barnes 120 gr. bullets and 52 gr. of 4064 at around
3200 fps".
With today's pwders, Barnes (24" barrel, Fed. GM210M primers and Winchester cases) quotes a MV of as high as 3281 fps with their 120 gr. bullets and a max. load of 58.0 grains of H4350 and 3142 fps with a max. load of 55.0 gr, of H4350 and their 130 gr. bullets. With their coated 130 gr. bullets and a max. load of RL25, they're reporting a MV of 3299 !
History lessons aside, my pet 270 load is 59 gr. H4831 with the 130 gr. Nosler Partition
and WWLR primers. in WW cases. Found it to be more accurate than the 60 gr. or heavier loads in 3 different 270's I've owned. For a varmint load, 60 grains of H4831 behind Sierra's 90 gr. HP was also very accurate.
Loaded RL17 in mine with 130gr Sierra's and shot about an inch in a Savage 111 at 100m......good enough for me.
