140 Grain .270 Winchester loads.

[Siskiyou]

I had the following results with the Hornaday 140 gr. BT.

H4831>57.2 grains>average muzzle velocity 2878.  Temp 70 degrees, Elevation 6000 ft.

I had started showing pressure when testing 57.5 grains of H4831 at 90 degrees at 2000 feet elevation.  57.2 grains worked great without signs of pressure.  I did not have a Chrony at the time of the low elevation testing.

The best powder has been WW785 which has been discontinued.  I used the maximum load as listed in the Hornaday 3rd addition.  I did not have any pressure problems at 2000 feet at 90 degrees.  When I tested the load at 6000 feet elevation at 70 degrees the muzzle velocity was 3016.  This load is also an accuracy load in my Savage 110.  Averaging one inch or less groups.  I have not tried this load in the other .270's I load for.  I spent a lot of time and effort working up the safe load in my Savage 110.  I have carefully labeled the ammuntion boxes with this load with, "Savage 110 Only."  It was great that this load did not exceed the maximum as published in Hornaday's 3rd additon.  Hopefully I have enough WW785 for another 100 rounds.  This ammuniton is "great" and I am reserving it for a couple of sight rounds and hunting only.  No plinking.

I purchased a supply of Winchester WMR powder to replace the discontinued WW785.  I have not started the load development using this powder.  But good old Winchester has now dropped WMR.  I consider load developement as an investment of time, and money to achieve a good hunting load.  When the manufacture discontinues his product I consider it a loss.  I suspect that Winchesters Ball powder for civilian use is tied into their military contracts.  H450 was a similar powder sold by Hodgdon.  Winchester manufacture the powder for Hodgdon.  Hodgdon dropped H450 at the sametime as Winchester dropped WW785.

The Hornaday 140 bullet has proven to be rather destructive at close range.  The deer have been kind to my older eyes and have stayed within 100 yards.

The Hornaday 150 grain bullet pushed by 56.5 grains of H4831 produced a muzzle velocity of 2893.  This load has proven satisfactory in three different .270 Winchesters.  In the older manuals 58 grains of H4831 was considered Max.  I had to back off to 56 grains of H4831 when loading the Sierria 150 grain boattail.  If I was starting with another .270 I would start at 55 grains and work from there.  My brother had a .270 which would stick with these loads.  So start low and be safe.

Edit:  This post was a Oops.  It was suppose to follow "thelaw's" question on 3000 fps 140 grain bullets.  Teach me to post at 11:29 a.m.  I should be in bed at that time.

[oliverstacy]

Is the Winchester WMR a good powder?  I understand it was discontinued but a local shop has about 6 cans still on the shelf.

Siskiyou...I can find out how much it is and send you some if you would like.  Not sure how to get it to you, probably FedEx or UPS ground with a hazmat charge.

Josh

[lilabner]

Siskyou, since you are working with a chrony, have you found the Hogdon powder to be insensitive to temperature changes as claimed? I am debating between H4350 and IMR4350 and would stay with the IMR unless their claims are correct. I usually sight in at 500 ft. elevation in mid 60s temps and may hunt at 8,000 ft. in temps in the teens.  The thin air probably helps a bit, but...

[Siskiyou]

Oliverstacy:  Thanks for the offer.  But I was able to up my supply by trading my brother  H4831SC  for WMR.  If it works out to be a good replacement for WW785 I will manage it until I go to the happy hunting grounds.  If it doesn't I will regret trading away the H4831SC.  One of the problems with Winchester's "short lived" powders is the reloader does not have the benefit of published loads in the major reloading manuals.  At the time Winchester dropped WW785 I called Lyman and asked them some question regarding Winchester Magnum Rifle powder.  Lyman told me they planned on developing some data for their next addition.  I believe Winchester dropped WMR before the next addition was published.  Or I have missed seeing the data.  I need to find a copy of Hornaday's 6th addition.  I understand it may have some WMR loads in it.  I missed that one because I bought a Speer Manual.

My current data is from a Winchester data sheet, published data from magazines in from Dr. Smith's web page.  From what I have seen in Handloading magazines WMR is a good powder.

I expect good results from the WMR from the limited information I have been able to find.

lilabner:  I have done a little loading with good results with IMR4350, but I have never loaded H4350.  I thought I would call my brother who burns powder by the jug.  He said that he mainly uses AA4350 and H4350 because he finds the best deals on those powders.  He does a lot of shooting year around.  He is the guy who breaks a track in the snow at the local range.  He has not noticed any big differences in performance in 32 degree weather.  But his Chrony has never been the same since he put a 45 ACP round threw it.  During the period that I experimented with IMR4350 I did not have a Chrony.



A few years back I bought a good supply of "discontinued" old style Winchester 140 grain, boattail Silvertip bullets.  They are beautiful.  Years ago I read an article in a magazine regarding loading them and field results.  When I had the opportunity to buy enough for load development and long term hunting I jumped at the chance.

The delay has been post retirement employment, and loading for other calibers.

[/i]Edit on 4350.  While I had good results with the limited amount of IMR4350 I burned and some hunting friends swore by it, I went another direction.  Years ago I obtained a jug of H414.  I have just about burned it up.  But there is more to had.  I understand that depending on the lots H414 and WW760 is basically the ball powder replacement for IMR4350.  From the charts it maybe slightly faster then IMR4350.  It is a great powder to load with.  My son-in-law and I load it for his 30-06, and I use it for my 80 grain loads in the .243 Winchester.  The powder produces accurate loads in the 30-06 and the .243.  I have never shot these loads over the Chrony.  I doubt that I would change anything if I did.  The loads are accurate, and the ball powder flows better for reloading.  This is from a guy who loves stuffing H4831 down a case.

[kenscot]

H414 has given me the best velocity and accuracy in my 243 & 30-06. It has also given great results with my 270 just a little shy of H4831