Coltdriver
Member
Today I went to the range with a couple of bullet powder combinations for my 270 WSM.
One was using Retumbo which I have read from several places gives great results. I used 140 grain Berger VLD's.
The other was using RL 22 and 130 Grain Partitions.
I ran the Retumbo loads up from 70 grains to a max load of 72 grains. They nearly all delivered ~3150 +/- 15 pfs. Just strange. Looks like a consistent amount burned and probably anything over that got sent down the barrel. None of them grouped well.
The surprise of the day was the RL 22. I use Lymans 48th load data for a similar shaped bullet. The max load was 68 grains. I started in the 66 grain range. At my starting load the FPS was over 3200! By the time I got into the 67 grain range the bullet made 3398 FPS! I stopped. No signs of over pressure that I could see. Two of the rounds at 3250 were within a quarter sized hole at 200 yards. So I am going to reload in that area and try again next weekend.
I will take a good look at the brass later. If the primer pockets have gone soft or the lower base is distorted I will just back off from those levels. The bolt never got sticky or hard to open. The primers just look normal, no cratering and no excessive flattening either. Just normal smooth firing pin indents. And all very consistent looking from round to round regardless of the load.
I have an excellent 130 grain Berger round worked up for this rifle from two years ago. But this year it looks like I will be using Partitions on my speed goat hunts.
One was using Retumbo which I have read from several places gives great results. I used 140 grain Berger VLD's.
The other was using RL 22 and 130 Grain Partitions.
I ran the Retumbo loads up from 70 grains to a max load of 72 grains. They nearly all delivered ~3150 +/- 15 pfs. Just strange. Looks like a consistent amount burned and probably anything over that got sent down the barrel. None of them grouped well.
The surprise of the day was the RL 22. I use Lymans 48th load data for a similar shaped bullet. The max load was 68 grains. I started in the 66 grain range. At my starting load the FPS was over 3200! By the time I got into the 67 grain range the bullet made 3398 FPS! I stopped. No signs of over pressure that I could see. Two of the rounds at 3250 were within a quarter sized hole at 200 yards. So I am going to reload in that area and try again next weekend.
I will take a good look at the brass later. If the primer pockets have gone soft or the lower base is distorted I will just back off from those levels. The bolt never got sticky or hard to open. The primers just look normal, no cratering and no excessive flattening either. Just normal smooth firing pin indents. And all very consistent looking from round to round regardless of the load.
I have an excellent 130 grain Berger round worked up for this rifle from two years ago. But this year it looks like I will be using Partitions on my speed goat hunts.