270 case life/brass options

[ezzy6.5]

Hi all,

I have 100 remington .270 cases. 50 have been reloaded 6 times and the remainder (few missing now) have done 5. Last night I tumbled all the empties and resized them. Of the cases that had been reloaded 6 times I had to reject 3 for case head seperation. I just checked them all again and the rest look fine. For peace of mind i will chuck out the cases that have done 6 reloads. Is it time to get rid of the lot and start again? in the cupboard I have 16 loaded rounds to see me till after the new year then was toying with the idea of working up a new load with a different bullet/powder (currently using N160 but wanted to try a 140gn bullet over Re22).

So should I throw the lot?

Is Federal premium brass any good/would you buy this rather than RP?

Anyone recommend a 140gn bullet for everything from munties to Reds?

Ezzy

 

[stag1933]

If you have cases showing head separation it could be an indicator that you are setting the case shoulder too far back.
Screwing up your die a turn or two may cure this and at the same time vastly improve the life-span of your brass.
I have loaded thousands of .270 bullets in my lifetime but not had that problem.
With regards to the brass manufacturers all are OK but I myself used mainly Norma as I read somewhere that it had a higher copper content and therefore was more ductile.
Twenty times re-loaded was never a problem for each case. [ I used to put a spot on the case side each time loaded with a permanent felt tipped pen.]
Mostly I have used 52gr of Viht N160 and a standard Remington 9 1/2 primer with the Speer 130gr SPBT bullet but found that the Hornady 140gr SP shot even smaller groups with this loading. [ 59.5gr of R22 worked well too.]
Both loads are better than `one-inchers` and killed well without excessive damage to the carcase.

As with all loads of other persons try working up to these using your existing powder stock.

HWH.

 

[Tackleberry270]

+1 for Norma cases. I got more than 15 reloads out of my last batch.

 

[User00014]

yep norma is the way to go , im presently siting on 300 once fired cases plus the 50 im using at the moment and ill always buy more if its at the right price , but i wont be held to ransome !

 

[bewsher500]

I lost count of how many times the norma brass I use has been loaded
no issues at all,
I now source Norma for all calibres

I have shot .270 for close to 25 yrs now, whilst I have a selection of bullets from 90gr to 180gr, I will always use 130gr SP for deer.
the benefits in stepping up a bit in weight are minimal

130gr factory ammo outperforms the 150gr factory on almost every level across the majority of distances

I use Hornady Interlocks in 130gr loaded moderately over 54.5gr on N160, CCI BR and norma brass.
Rough guess is about 2800fps. Have shot roe to red stags with equal results in carcase damage and quick dropping

 

[enfieldspares]

One test is to see if you can fully seat a primer just by hand pressure alone of the case, held in your hand, onto the primer which is lying on a wooden tabletop. Some say that if you can your brass is beyond its useful life.

I also agree that incipient head separation IS an indication of a headspace problem. I'd suggest using a wax candle to put soot onto the shoulders of two or three FIRED IN YOUR RIFLE cases. Lubed for sizing as normal. Then adjust the sizing die down until you can see that that soot layer has been touched.

That is sizing to your rifle's headspace and should stop any further such episodes.

 

[monarman]

BUY THE RWS BRASS FROM Briarquest!!!!!!...... it's as good as Norma.

 

[enfieldspares]

I used a 140 grain in my 270 until I decided to clear out the last stock of Speer 150 grain Hot Cor from Mrs Brown at Gwynedd Firearms some two years plus ago.

I used Vivtavouri N160 and also H4831 with the 140 grain loads and had a series of recipes going from 2,900 to 2,800 fps.

Re the Federal cases if you weight Norma cases they are about a full ten grains lighter than Federal cases so any load for a Federal case would need to reduce powder charge and work back up.

 

[bewsher500]

have you FL sized this brass every time?

 

[Brithunter]

Before you go jumping in may I suggest you measure the pressure ring on a fired case and then compare this measurement with a new unfired case. Chances are I suspect you will find that the fired case is well over 0.005" larger. Check the unfired case against published SAMMI specs for the 270 case I again I suspect you will find the brass is undersize in this area. hence it's working much harder than normal hence the short life.

 

[ezzy6.5]

Cheers guys,
Yes the brass is FL sized everytime. I would still expect more than 6 firings though Brit, when I worked up the load I used base diameter expansion as an indicator of pressure (comparing expansion with a hot factory load, not exact i know but a good indicator) As a matter of fact, now I looked back through my info it was on the lower end of spec so you could have a point. However, after reading Stag's reply I had a good think what might have changed. Usually when working up a load I prep all my brass at home on my Rockchucker and use my Wamadet to seat bullets at the range once i've filled the cases. The last time I was at the range I used my Wamadet to resize my cases as I went along. It's possible that I didn't set the sizer die up correctly for the different press! maybe I did set the shoulder back to far. Probably never know now. I have decided to scrap the brass, buy new Norma brass, start again with a new load after xmas using some 130gn partitions and reloader 22.

Cheers again, Ezzy

 

[Brithunter]

Measuring the pressure ring was one way that Ken Waters used to determine when his load development was getting too warm.

 

[ezzy6.5]

Measuring the pressure ring was one way that Ken Waters used to determine when his load development was getting too warm.

Top marks that man, Pet loads was a favorite of mine and the article Ken wrote in issue 189 of Handloader is a great read for anyone loading for a .270 I used that very article for info when I developed my first .270 load many years ago. Since then I have bought another .270 and still Kens article exactly parallels what I found when working up loads (especialy the bit about N160 developing high pressure not equal to the increase in speed with bullets over 130gn)
Measuring the presure ring is just another tool to indicate pressure and I prefer it to just looking at the condition of primers as I find this to be a bit hit and miss but thats just me.

Ezzy

 

[Brithunter]

Top marks that man, Pet loads was a favorite of mine and the article Ken wrote in issue 189 of Handloader is a great read for anyone loading for a .270 I used that very article for info when I developed my first .270 load many years ago. Since then I have bought another .270 and still Kens article exactly parallels what I found when working up loads (especialy the bit about N160 developing high pressure not equal to the increase in speed with bullets over 130gn)
Measuring the presure ring is just another tool to indicate pressure and I prefer it to just looking at the condition of primers as I find this to be a bit hit and miss but thats just me.

Ezzy

For those who may be interested the Ken Waters "Pet Loads" articles were turned into a two volume book set by Wolf Publishing and are still available. For those who have an interest in the techniques and history of hand loading they are a very good read. They would make an excellent Christmas Prezzie IMHO.