Faster .270?

mo

Well-Known Member
Hi guys. Maybe some of you more experienced reloaded could help a newbie to reloading out. Currently I shoot a .270 using 130 grain bullet. It's half a grain off max load but I can only manage 2750fps. The barrel is a short 20inch or so (might be 18). Also I find the wind affects this load/bullet quite a fair bit. Anyone got any advice or recommendations? Powder I'm using is h4381sc. The round developed is very accurate, if I do my bit I can more or less put 3 in the same hole.

MO
 
This is not a putdown - I just can't word it any differently.

You might be able to find a few more ft/sec from your short barrel.

Could be as little as a 1% or less increase before you hit pressure limitations.

That increase in V is unlikely to affect accuracy by much - but it certainly will not improve your round's performance in wind.

You have a 2180 ft/lb muzzle energy in a loading that, to quote your OP, "you can more or less put in the same hole".

What more do you want?
 
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I tend to put things bluntly: Why bother? as the above post states, you could change powder (which would be the route to take) and get almost no gains before you maxed out on pressure. Remember: Pressure and velocity are not in lock step with each other. You could get max pressure and no added velocity. Your problem is the 18" barrel on rifle chambered for a case that is over bored* to begin with. That's not a crime but messing with an accurate load is a shame. Don't fix what ain't broke, as they say.~Muir

* Has a case capacity too large for good efficiency in that bore diameter
 
Well I'l be blunt what do you expect?

You take a cartridge that was designed to use a 24" or 26" barrel and take about a quarter of it's length away then expect it to perform the same way. It ain't going to happen. if you want the lost velocity back get a new longer barrel ................................................ "simples"

I just goes to show how fads can ruin a good thing :rolleyes:.
 
If you have concerns about trajectory you could always work up a load with a 110 grain bullet and a slightly faster powder Mo.
It might be better suited to your short barrel.
To be honest though, if it shoots well I don't see much wrong with the load you already have.
 
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like brit said the short barrel is the killer there mate. you could maybe try a slightly faster powder like H4350 or imr 4350 or RL-17 that may get you a few fps more but with an 18" barrel on a 270 your never going to see high velocitys without running high pressures. but even at 2750 thats 2183 ftlbs so still very capable of ethical kills and sensible ranges i would look at accuracy rather than velocity. Sounds like you have a lovely short nice handleing rifle there mate thats sounds like a great tool for stalking but i dont think its ever going to get super velocities.

kris
 
the wind affects this load/bullet quite a fair bit.

really, like how much?
what kind of wind are we talking about and at what distance?
​a 130gr lump at 2750 is still pretty hard to move around

I have a 23" barrel and with N160 on 4gr off max load I get flames out the muzzle!!
with 4381 and 18" you must be chargrilling them!!

if it shoots well I would be inclined to get over it
 
Hi guys. Maybe some of you more experienced reloaded could help a newbie to reloading out. Currently I shoot a .270 using 130 grain bullet. It's half a grain off max load but I can only manage 2750fps. The barrel is a short 20inch or so (might be 18). Also I find the wind affects this load/bullet quite a fair bit. Anyone got any advice or recommendations? Powder I'm using is h4381sc. The round developed is very accurate, if I do my bit I can more or less put 3 in the same hole.

MO

The standard max. of 60.0 grains H4831 for the .270 130gr was set way back in the 1920's when 24" barrels were in vogue. Since then faster powders such as IMR 4350 and IMR 4831 have come in to match the shorter barrels. H4831 is more suited to magnums now, as it's only a bit slower than IMR 7828.

You don't know what length your rifle barrel has, but you've bothered to chronograph what it's delivering? I think you need to do a bit more reading to best focus your effort. A 6.5x55 would achieve what your stumpy .270 does with a lot less drama.
 
Proper length barrels were not a vogue but that length for good reasons. Not only for ballistic ones. Cartridges were developed to produce good ballistics and performance then some idiots decide that I can't manage a normal length barrel so chop it off then complain they have lost the velocity that their chosen cartridge is supposed to deliver so they switch to slower powders with little to no thought about pressures.
 
The rifle was bought as is. I didn't chop the barrel. ALso I'm sure people who intentionally reduce there barrel length don't appreciate being called idiots.
 
The standard max. of 60.0 grains H4831 for the .270 130gr was set way back in the 1920's when 24" barrels were in vogue. Since then faster powders such as IMR 4350 and IMR 4831 have come in to match the shorter barrels. H4831 is more suited to magnums now, as it's only a bit slower than IMR 7828.

You don't know what length your rifle barrel has, but you've bothered to chronograph what it's delivering? I think you need to do a bit more reading to best focus your effort. A 6.5x55 would achieve what your stumpy .270 does with a lot less drama.

I had a 6.5x55, to put it bluntly it was the most overrated caliber I have owned and the only caliber I removed of my ticket.
 
The rifle was bought as is. I didn't chop the barrel. ALso I'm sure people who intentionally reduce there barrel length don't appreciate being called idiots.

The people who do the chopping (Not you. You are just the current owner dealing with it) are only idiots if they expect no change in ballistics from a cartridge designed to give optimum velocities at a longer length. Chopping a barrel is OK. Complaining about it afterwards is silly.~ Muir
 
The rifle was bought as is. I didn't chop the barrel. ALso I'm sure people who intentionally reduce there barrel length don't appreciate being called idiots.

In case you have not realised by now I say it as I find and don't really give a rats arse if they like it or not.

BSA made their CF2 Stutzen with a 20" barrel and chambered some in 270 Winchester. I own one and still don't why the daft buggers chambered it so :banghead: . I developed a load using H380 powder and 130 grain bullets for it. Using the faster powder didn't replace the lost velocity as far as I am aware however it did reduce the fireball from the muzzle which a lot of the traditional slow powders produced from the shorter barrel.
 
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