Finished, settled on a load.
I finished up my first 50 reloads today on my new 270. The two bullets that rose to the top so far are the 140 Nosler Accubond and the 150 Berger VLD Hunter. However, every bullet and load I tested would have been within acceptable hunting parameters.
Since the best suitable powder that I had was an 8 lb keg of H4831SC, that is all the powder that was used. I was really not interested in getting hung up in an endless "do loop" of powders, bullets, seating depths, etc. Just find a good hunting load and go with it.
I was using a bag of Winchester factory brass that after being sized through a Redding body die, and neck sized through a Redding Type S Bushing die (.301 collet), turned out a surprising runout of less than .001". After today, I went and cancelled the custom Nosler brass that I had on back order. I have two more bags of the Winchester that I have had for several years.
Toward the end of the day, seemed like the barrel began to settle in a start grouping better. I was using the standard "shoot & clean" method of break in that Winchester recommends on their website.
Here are the common components between the two loads:
Primer: Federal GM210M
Powder: H4831SC
Brass: Winchester, trimmed, pockets & flash holes uniformed, mouth chamfered in and out.
The variables:
140 Nosler Accubond
58.0 H4851SC
Seated 3.340 OAL
2759 average FPS
150 Berber VLDH
56.0 H4851SC
Seated .002" off of lands
2666 average FPS
As it turns out, both of these loads grouped 4 shots around 7/8th inch at 100 yards. I also ran both through my Loadbase 3.0 program and they both shot very close to the same point of aim all the way out to 500 yards. The difference in drop and energy is practically the same for both. Both retain 1500 ft/lbs of energy to about 325 yards (the minimum I believe is ethical to take a bull moose/elk with).
I have 100 bullets of each kind. I will load them up and use interchangeably until they are gone. That is going to be a while.