I realized that I was opening the barn door when I post my little experiment into using a measure device. After fifty plus years reloading this is my first journey into multiple measurements of cases. The one critical measurement I did not take in this journey was case length. I had already dealt with the critical case length measurement. My reloading dates back to before this cartridge was developed and my old multi-cartridge gauge does not have a slot for it. I do use calipers to measures the length of a couple of cases and adjust my case trimmer to the published case length. Hornady and other sources have published information on case length issues for years.
I bought the rifle in 1979 and almost put it on the use gun rack weeks later. I went to the range with factory ammunition from Federal, Remington, and Winchester in two different bullet weights. The rifle shot patterns not groups. I checked the scope, mount, the bedding screws, and everything appeared to be okay. I was a little sick to my stomach that I had bought a new clunker. I am sure that a few of you have done the shake test. Put a loaded case up to your ear and give it a shake. It was apparent to me that there was a lot of unused space in the cases. I had already pickup that handloads around 80% or greater capacity tend to be the accuracy loads.
Using the brass I had generated when first firing the rifle I loaded the different brass with 4831(surplus), magnum primers, and bulk Remington bullets. Suddenly the rifle was shooting groups. The rifle does okay with other component bullets. Last spring I grabbed a couple boxes of Winchester factory ammunition I had. At the range I fired a few rounds of my reloads and everything was great. I switched to the factory loads and accuracy fell apart.
I have been looking for the Why?
As a new reloader for the 270 Winchester case length became a problem after loading my hoard of cases three or four times. Loads that worked without a problem in my rifle suddenly became a problem. I bought a Forrester Case trimmer and a .27 pilot and the problem was solved.
A few years down the road and I was loading for a second .270 Winchester, the selling point to my wife was that one would be setup to hunt brush country, and the second one would be a lighter one for hunting the high country. I am sure you will find publications regarding different justifications husbands have used. Loading for two rifles of the same caliber required a little adjustment because each rifle is a law on to itself. Of course I had to changes the load mix, I had been loading a 150-grain Norma Match bullet for the M760 and it was deadly on deer. I went for the 150-grain Sierra BT for the Savage 110CL. My charge was below the recommend charge for surplus 4831, but when it came to the Savage I was experiencing a tight bolt. At the time I had two or three reloading manuals and the charge I was using fell into the medium category. I drop the charge by .5 grains and the issue went away. This was my first adventure in loading Sierra bullets and after dropping the load by .5 grains I found a new Sierra Reloading manual, copyright 1971. The maximum charge of 4831 and the 150-grain Sierra shown is 56.2 grains. I had dropped my charge to 56.0 grains. Other manuals showed 58.0 grains as maximum.
My learning curve started well before the internet, and numerous sources of components, manual and opinions on the net. In the mid 1960’s the deer herds were large and there were a lot of hunters out. I visited camps and talked to them alongside the road while validating deer tags. The most common complaint was with reloaded ammunition. Most of the reloader’s from the fifteen year-old to the older loader manned up regarding the failure. Some of the common failures were the lack of powder in a case to rounds that were too long and jammed the action. Quality control was the issue. In the same camp the quality of reloads varied, and there were differences between family members. In one camp there was a heavy meat pole with many members filling two tags. One member lost his opportunity, because he failed to charge a case, and was having other issues. He waited until the last minute to load his ammunition. He had a .30 caliber bullet lodged in his bore. Nobody in camp would let him use their cleaning rod to drive the bullet out.
He wanted to “barrow” my cleaning rod. My advice was a trip to town and buy a hard wood dowel at the lumber yard that would slide down the bore, or better yet visit the local gun shop and hope the gunsmith was in, and not out hunting.
The Lesson Learn: Resolve all load issues before the trip and not on the trip.
Sierra hints at two standards of loading one being Target accuracy and I guess the other is hunting accuracy. I am sure there are different requirements between using a M14 in competition which automatically feed ammunition and ammunition that is necked sized and fed into a single shot bolt action.
A friend’s father was a noted competition shooter and during the fall hunted in deer in two or three States with generous bag limits. He was a three State .30 champion. I believe because of his background as an aircraft power plant mechanic and heavy duty mechanic he had good reloading skills. He had a dedicated area on his bench close to his office where he reloaded. I paid attention to his 30-06 hunting loads. In those days he loaded the Hornady 165-grain SP for deer, and charged the case with IMR4064. After IMR4350 was introduced he worked with it. The bottom line is that he never suffered from ammunition failure in the hunting field. If he did I would have heard about it from my best buddy his son. I noticed that he had a couple of micrometers on his bench.
I have read that some loaders spin their bullets and even have gauges that measure the tilt of their bullet when loading precision ammunition. I have not gone that far.
So my loads now pass the shake test, and I am loading slow burning powders near case capacity. I am looking at all the factors that I can for pressure issue for one that does not have expensive pressure testing equipment.
Every once a while I get a wakeup call when loading. One of them came with the 140-grain Hornady BT in the 270 Winchester. I thought I could reach a certain charge safely, but started out cautiously. I started at the recommend starting load, jumping a grain the first two increments, and then dropping to half grain increments. At the first half grain increment I started getting a stiff bolt. I pulled the heavier charges, dropped back and increased in .01 grain increments. I examined primers, case head expansion as shown on page 16, Hornady Third addition. The load effectively killed deer but I had my eye open for an alternative powder.
I had a supply of WW785 which I used for the 243, and my 130-grain antelope load in the .270. Until I got the Hornady Third edition I did not have data for WW785 and the 140-grain, .277 bullet. WW785 has long been discontinued, but there were a lot of cautions with the data put out by WW regarding not reducing loads. A lot of time and effort went into load development compared to some other loads. The maximum charge shown is 59.5 grains. In increments of .01 I loaded to it and went a little beyond without a problem. I examined the primer, measured the case head, and measured for case stretching. I then switched to Remington nickel plated cases to identify the load. It is the only 270 load I have in nickel cases. A dime will cover a three shot group from this combination. I load 59.3 grains.
The bonus came with the first buck I shot with it. The buck had his head, and neck stretched out from behind a big Ponderosa pine. At the shot I could see the hooves in a summersault in my scope.
As for the rifle that does not like factory ammunition, what would I do for ammunition on the road? I might ask the guy behind the counter if I could do an ammunition shake test or I would reach for the backup 270.
P.S.
Land Owner you are close, I check the weather data at the nearest RAWS. (Remote Automated Weather Station)
