Reloading newbie questions

[Andy S.]

From my years of reading posts in this forum, I know some of you guys are top notch on reloading, so chime in and give me your advice.

1. I will be reloading .270 and .270 wsm loads for hunting in west Tennessee. Most of my shots will be less than 200 yards and I am more interested in accuracy than speed, although both will be fine if that is possible. What are some of your recommended hunting loads for these two calibers? I have a Barnes, Nosler and Speer reloading manual, but wanted to hear from you guys.

2. How important is having the exact brass and exact primer that a load calls for? The reason I ask this is I have a .270 recipe from a manual that calls for Remington brass, but I cannot find it anywhere in America at the moment. It also recommended Remington 9 1/2 primers, which I have on hand, but was wondering if they would work with Winchester or Federal brass. I have Winchester and Federal NEW brass for the .270 loads, but didn't know if I could switch out components and it still be safe, and if so, would it affect accuracy any?

We can start with this discussion and see where it goes. Thanks in advance for your assistance, I very much appreciate it.

 

[markwondi]

Good quality brass that is weight sorted and prepped will be fine from any manufacturer. You will need to work up towards max on the powder charge, as each action and brass are different. Primer choice is up to you.

As for loads - I reload for both cartridges you listed and find H4831SC and a good 130gr bullet (accubond, ballistic tip, TSX, etc) to be a great combination. In the WSM cartridge, you can get more velocity with MagPro but I find accuracy to drop off just a small amount.

If you find yourself wanting to use a 150gr bullet, I've found Retumbo to be the ticket in the WSM cartridge.

 

[sll]

Use any manufacturer's brass you want......and primers also. Just remember that if you find a load that you like and decide to switch primers you need to back off on that load and work back up to your rifle's max if you change that component later on.

As the other poster mentioned, the 4831 powders, either IMR or Hodgdon, is a good powder to start with and most people prefer the 130 grain bullets in 270's. You will more than likely find Bergers, and Nosler Accubonds/Ballistic tips to be the most accurate. This is not always the case but those are two good bullet manufacturers to start with when looking for accuracy.

 

[Deer Assassin]

dont care what brass or primer you use

but use the same dont mix it up


i like cci mag primers




270 is simple

max (work up to it) re 19 130 accubond seated .010 off lands

or 140 accubond


same for wsm

set it and forget it

 

[fairchaser]

My recipe for .270 shot out of a Browning Abolt is 53 grains of 4831 IMR and a 150 grain Hornady interlock and CCI primer will shoot 2791 fps. Not a hot load but extremely accurate from that rifle.

 

[280longshot]

Andy
After reading the nosler, speer, and hornady reloading manuals and watching someone reload and get super accurate results with little research on different loads.
I started out reading on reloading forums like reloadersnest.com just to get some load data and went from there.
There is a ton of knowledge on here also but looking at different load data and seeing accuracy/speed results is what really caught my eye.
Like most said above you can switch different brass/ primers but just stick to the same.
I would stick to Nosler accubonds/ barnes bullets but hey that what's reloading is all about, choices!
Have fun and just don't do like me, I started out to save money but that lead to buying more, more, more and more.
200 yrd accuracy will not be hard to obtain.
Just keep one thing in mind when reloading, keep excellent data when trying different loads.

 

[280longshot]

Ton of data on here.
http://www.reloadersnest.com/frontpage. ... iberID=291

 

[darn2ten]

What Deer Assassin said. I use 63 gr. RL-19, 140 accubond. I've shot .5" groups with this load out of my browning bar. I get about 3050 fps, but a bolt gun would do a little better than that. This load is only .5 gr off Nosler's max, so start lower and work up. I generally find that there is a accurate load right around the middle of load data and with some powders you'll hit another accuracy node right around max.

 

[7mm08]

Whoa! Let me get this correct
You guys are saying IF I use the same primers, bullet, COAL, powder and weight, BUT change the brass I could get different results on accuracy? I worked up all my loads on Winchester brass but recently found some Hornady brass new..... This could make a difference ?

Thanks

 

[sll]

Whoa! Let me get this correct
You guys are saying IF I use the same primers, bullet, COAL, powder and weight, BUT change the brass I could get different results on accuracy? I worked up all my loads on Winchester brass but recently found some Hornady brass new..... This could make a difference ?

Thanks

Anytime you change a component you could see accuracy, and pressure, change. But, in my experience I have never had a brass manufacturer change affect accuracy in my rifles. Different story with primers and powder though.

 

[KPH]

Whoa! Let me get this correct
You guys are saying IF I use the same primers, bullet, COAL, powder and weight, BUT change the brass I could get different results on accuracy? I worked up all my loads on Winchester brass but recently found some Hornady brass new..... This could make a difference ?

Thanks

Some brass will be thicker or thinner than others not having the same capacity could make a difference. Some primers are hotter than others same thing.

 

[Andy S.]

Thanks for the replies guys, I sincerely appreciate it. I may have more questions as I make my way through this so keep chiming in if you have anything to add (I know many of you do).

 

[280longshot]

Whoa! Let me get this correct
You guys are saying IF I use the same primers, bullet, COAL, powder and weight, BUT change the brass I could get different results on accuracy? I worked up all my loads on Winchester brass but recently found some Hornady brass new..... This could make a difference ?

Thanks

Anytime you change a component you could see accuracy, and pressure, change. But, in my experience I have never had a brass manufacturer change affect accuracy in my rifles. Different story with primers and powder though.

This
Anything that will change pressure...
Will change point of impact.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Andy S.]

I noticed my manual shows some maximum load data with a "c" next to them, indicating a compressed load. What is a compressed load?

 

[ADR]

Just means that that volume of powder will not fit into that case without compressing it. I usually don't use compressed loads.

 

[DaveB]

A compressed load is when the powder occupies the brass passed the point of where the bullet will be seated. So when you seat the bullet you compress the powder into a smaller area than it would normally occupy.


There are a lot of opinions on good/bad/dangerous/not-dangerous regarding compressed loads. When you use a stick based powder, like IMR4350, you get compressed loads all the time because the sticks create space inside the brass.

Read this for some extra understanding
http://www.chuckhawks.com/smokeless_powder.htm

and this won't hurt either
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokeless_powder

 

[mr.big]

some of my loads are compressed so much I have to drop powder through a tube and pack it in and then crunch it with the bullet,,

if the load is safe compressing it wont hurt anything,,


I worked up a load for my new Krieger bbl 243 with WW brass and a guy at work gave me 40 pieces of once fired factory Hornady brass,,I loaded them with same load as WW brass and it trashed the primer pockets on first firing,,it was .5 under Hornady book max so IDK but I think the Hornady brass is soft and wont take as much as other brass,,

 

[W.Seay]

Every 270 I own consistently shoots 1/4" 3 shot groups with box ammo, no need to reload unless you just want to do it. Federal premium 130 nbt or Hornady super performance 130gr sst. BOTH HAMMER THE SNOT OUT OF DEER!

 

[Deer Assassin]

Whoa! Let me get this correct
You guys are saying IF I use the same primers, bullet, COAL, powder and weight, BUT change the brass I could get different results on accuracy? I worked up all my loads on Winchester brass but recently found some Hornady brass new..... This could make a difference ?

Thanks

yes very much so

 

[Deer Assassin]

nothing like the crunching sound of a compressed load

i seat my bullets way out in most of my rifles
now my 223 loads are compressed