We finally get to do some load testing for the FN, and that was a learning experience but not because of the FN but because of the Winchester Westerner in .270 Win. It turns out my accuracy problems were from an unstable load.
Ok take a couple weeks off and what do we on Sundays . I know watch some off your older videos that I haven’t watched . Tom I have to say your videos are getting better and better .your a very knowledgeable man thank you for sharing with us
Glad you got the FN dialed in, looking fwd to seeing what you do with the .270 and how that comes out....gonna miss seeing the once a week videos but ya got to do what you got to do....but I promise being on the range is better than what Ive been doing..pulling window air conditioners and cleaning them..but with the heat we've been having I had to do something lol....God Bless and have a great week
Just came across your channel a couple of days ago. I have since viewed three or four videos and really enjoy the content. Thanks for doing the good work.
Thanks Jim, and just when we think we have it figured out some rifle or bullet will throw us a curve ball just to keep us on our toes and then we learn something new.
Glad you got the FN dialed in. Looks great too. As far as the Westerner, it's a 2" gun with commercial ammo. That would not be a keeper for me. Look forward to the range test video on that one.
Good info well presented. Thankyou for the video. Your level 1 works for most of what I do, but for loads I want to know more about I take a different tack. For those loads I shoot a ten shot group and chronograph it. I plot the location of each shot into a spread sheet I made that gives a lot of information. Those ten shots combine into 120 unique three shot groups. The mean radius of the ten shot group is very close to 1/2 the size of the average three shot group, and I pay more attention to that. Two examples I shot on the same day back in 2018. Both were from a push feed model 70 chambered in .30-'06. The bullet was a 150 gr. Sierra SBT. I used LC69 cases, WLR primers, and IMR4350 powder. One load had 51.0 gr., and the other 59.0 gr. The 51.0 gr. group went 2840 fps with 25.57 S. D., and the 59.0 gr. group went 2902 fps with 20.46 S. D. The mean radius of 51.0 was .628", and of 59.0 was .528". Clearly 59.0 gr. was the winner. What the spread sheet showed was more interesting, and the point of this post. The individual three shot groups of 51.0 gr. ran from .265" to 2.276", and the individual three shot groups of 59.0 gr. ran from .288" to 2.089". The average of the two was 1.160" for 59.0, and 1.286" for 51.0. Seeing the range of size for the three shot groups should be an eye opener, because had I relied on a single three shot group from both who knows what I might had concluded. Obviously this method is too costly and time consuming to use for every load, but if you really want to know few things shot of this substitute. Maybe seven shot groups would be adequate. Again, thanks for the video.
Thanks for sharing that Craig, and honestly I love stuff like that! I can't wait for supplies and prices to get back to normal so that I can do some more experimenting. And that is a very interesting approach.
Awesome little series! I gained a lot and iv been loading for a decent amount of time already. Think I might go get me a crony as I think I stumble on the finicky more often than not(I’ll go with that;) )
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the series. I loaded for a long time without a crony and still killed deer no problem but after having gotten used to one I couldn't ever go back to not having one. And it's also helped out in finding issues with barrels. I've seen two brand new rifles now that the velocities are just way lower than they should be and I'm certain the manufactures messed up the internal diameter of the barrels. One a Winchester Super Grade and the other a Remington BDL. Now I have to wonder how many more barrels are like that? And in the case of the Westerner, the crony really did help explain what was going on there and that thankfully it wasn't my shooting!
Hey Tom. Love the videos. It seems to me the .270 liked that load. It just liked it .250 off the lands. I would try that load set that far off the lands and see what you get. From my experience with the Satterly test after you have found your node you then check your group to make sure it groups and then change seating depth to see if that tightens the group or not. Just my two cents worth.
I loved the idea of graphing your load data results. It is amazing what can become obvious when presented in a graph format. As far as a 270 win load I suggest getting a box of rem corlokt 130 gr SP ammo and trying it. My Weatherby absolutely loves that ammo. No guarantee it will yield outstanding results but it sure does work for me. I have had
I wish I could get some corelokts right now or power points but they're in short supply. But I do have a few 130gr bullets on hand that I'm going to give a try and I think I have just enough Accubonds to work up a load with? And I'm glad you enjoyed the video. That's a good idea using grouse hunting to get in some scouting. I try to do the same right after deer season when I'm squirrel and rabbit hunting (no grouse in my neck of the woods).
@@markhansen8078 It's normally my go to powder as well for the 270 but I didn't have enough on hand to do any load development, but I just managed to get 2lbs.
It really can be as complicated or simple as you make it...what you get out is what you put in, with years and common sense you become to become more efficient at load work
I agree completely on both of those, but I finally got some H4831 and it's always worked great for the .270 as well and I just loaded some test rounds so we'll find out soon.
I'll tell ya what else is fun is getting ur level...25 in ur special gun and then swapping up brass brands and ect..u know the drill and see just what you can get away with and learning from switching things like that where I have a absolute solid baseline to go back to
I took my nikon prostaff 3x9x40 for my bar and put it on the centurion 123 30.06. Its a perfect fit. I boresighted the scope, shot at 25 yards and it was perfect bullseye. I checked it out at 100 yards and it was 11 inches high so i lowered it to hit 3 inches high and that gives me 225 yards zero. Im using gmx hornady 180 grain bullets. If i want a 300yard zero then it would have to hit 5 inches high at 100 yards. Thats abit too much for me so 3 inches is good, just have to get closer to make the kill. The 30.06 will be a close range rifle. 225 yards zero is perfect for me. The rifle is heavy but its perfectly balanced in the middle of the scope and it makes it really easy to shoot since it doesnt move as much as a lighter rifle. Now im ready for deer , elk , moose hunting. If i need far range ill switch to 270, 130grain ammo.
Sounds like you are all set Dalan! And depending on what the terrain looks like in your area I would venture to guess that your 06 as is will cover 98% of your hunting?
Tom, dang, I’m stealing your idea of the “three levels”. I’m gonna use the term in this context as though I came up with it and not mention you at all :) It’s a wonderful way of codifying the tiers of precision we pursue as we attempt to stretch it out to hold over distances.
Michael, you go right ahead and steal it. Lords knows I've "borrowed" enough ideas, LOL. I'm just glad you found it useful. And thinking this way has helped simplify things for me.
I ordered a folding sight for the 270bar and a front sight hood. I want to use it next year, this year the 30.06. I shot 3 shot yesterday and i can cover the 3 shots with a quarter , its a good shooter . Oh yeah i was using my sweater as a rest because i dont have a shooting rest thats adjustable.
When you have a rifle that shoots you don't need an adjustable rest. I upgraded to the rest I have because I had a rifle that just wasn't consistent and it had me questioning myself (that Westerner) but upgrading didn't do a thing to make it shoot any better! And I remember shooting many small groups shooting off my jacket or back pack, which is exactly what you'll probably be shooting off of in the field hunting if you ever have to make a long shot!
Straight up standing shots for me . So i have to pratice that way also. Was shooting 243 today . That was fun. My bro zeroed his rifle for 3 inches high at 100 with 100 grain bullets. Tried afew 80 grain and they shot 2 inches right and 5 inches low . Sticking with the 100 grains.
@@TomRiverSimpleLiving I like to simplify my load process in the beginning by seating the bullet to the match the maximum SAAMI cartridge oal, then try different powders of similar burning rate until I get a good group. Only at this point will I play with the bullet seating depth to see if I can shrink the groups
Tom, I feel like you have something different going on with your .270 loads. Changing the seating depth by 0.005" and seeing a difference of 200fps seems very suspicious to me. Do you have any H4831 powder? I'd try working up a load with that.
I would agree. I’ve been working on a 270 using H4831 and have been having very good results. Took three try’s with same bullet just adjusted the charge, seated at the manufacture of bullets recommend depth and got it to shoot under 1” groups. The rifle is a 1954 model 70.
I had to laugh when I read this because I had just told someone else that I bet I could work up a load with the old standard for a .270, H4831, and that I bet it would be as stable as it could be. Normally my go to powder for .270 is H4831 but I was running low on it when I decided to give the MagPro a try. But now it's time to try the H4831. I picked up 2lbs of it last week!
@@TomRiverSimpleLiving I'm no expert, but I don't think MagPro is an optimal .270 powder. I understand things have been very tough finding powder and primers. It's been very hot in Georgia the past week, I'm sure SC is no better. I'm guessing the MagPro is temperature sensitive. Please post an update on the H4831
Travis nailed it with the 1:10, but that should be more than enough to stabilize a 140gr bullet? And thanks for mentioning that about the primers. I'm debating whether or not to go ahead and change powders and with primers being so hard to get I can't just try mag primers right now. It's a tough call?
Thanks for that Travis, and I'm in the South as well and I was a little worried about the pressures in the heat. Back in the winter when I was experimenting with my first loads with Magpro I never mentioned what powder charges I was using because I wasn't sure if they would be safe in warm whether. And just to add to that, I'm now seriously questioning how much the heat actually affects pressure versus how the heat causing the cartridge to expand more than the rifle due to thermal expansion and that actually causing the spikes in pressure rather than the temp itself. I was really surprised to see these velocities go up over 200 fps with just a .005" change in seating depth.
1 in 10 should be sufficient to stabilize up to 150 grain bullets. The only real difference in the "new" 6.8 westerner which is also .277 diameter bullets but go up to 175 grains and the old .270 is the twist rate on the 6.8 which is 1 in 8 I believe to stabilize those long 175 grain .277 bullets.
Great question Todd. I increase my charges by .6 gr because I use 1 percent for my increment between loads and 1 percent of 60grs is 0.6. This load wasn't exactly 60grs but it was close and 1 percent of the charge rounded up to .6. I like using a percentage for my increment because it works no matter how large or small the powder charge so 1 percent works as well for a .223 or pistol cartridge as it does for 300 Win mag. And to figure the 1 percent just move the decimal over 2 places.
Move to the 130gr bullets on the 270. The smaller bearing surface might just be what that barrel likes. Should make for more pleasant shooting as well.
I was thinking the same thing but now I have to figure whether or not to go ahead and change powders. I'm confident I could come up with a good load with H4831 but the velocities from that MagPro sure make me want to give it another chance.
@@TomRiverSimpleLiving I found good accuracy at the higher velocities, although being a hunting rifle I would have been happy with anything around a inch to inch and a half accuracy. Ended up getting better than an inch at 3100fps - 3150fps. Most important however is having enough speed/power to drive a very stout bonded bullet through the big bones of a Gemsbuck/oryx and pass right through at 200meters
Try a magnum primer or a winchester primer the winchester primer is hotter than the cci or federal etc i found that out with a load in my 22.250 31grains of benchmark 2 with a win primer shot a tight group same load with the cci primer was a large group then further testing working up with loads and the two primers i found 32 grains of BM2 with a cci primer shot a small group but 32gr of BM2 with the win primer shot a large group final test 32.5 gr BM2 with a cci primer shot a bug hole group while 32.5gr Bm2 with a win primer shot a large group with signs of pressure flattern primers all tests were shot at 100 yds BM2 is a fast powder recomended for 22.250 by A.D.i its a bit faster than AR2208 wich in America is varget if i am loading AR2209 in America that would be your hogdon 4350 i always use a win primer with your varget i use a federal primer or a cci rule of thumb slow powders need a hot primer
I could gear some birds in the back ground and there was some logging in the distance. I didn't notice the logging in the audio but that mighty be what you are hearing?
Why not just skip all the work and money wasted and buy a 270 winchester in a ruger rifle and a box of Remington 130 grain core lock ammo will shoot great all the time take it from a pro and cut out all the wasted time at the range
John, there are quite a few cartridges and rifles that I could hunt with from now on and never want for anything else. And a Ruger m77 in 270 in one of them, but I would have to go Winchester Power Points in 130. They're faster! LOL
For my 1st 45 years had simplest cheapest 54. Could get. 270 that could make chipmunk dissappear 100. Friend wrecked engine my car.he replaced it gave rifle away 4 bonus. Had cheapest rem 270 in whoe state ca. It could shoot with win model THEN IT WOULDNT. gave it away cheap " lady got lots dear deer.i resisted 3006 like life depended on it. Then I got one.m70 now got 5 of em. There's reason 4 that. 270 didn't have big bullets then.270 needs faster twist 4 reliable use of 150 gun belts. 9 : 5 just my take. I want to see your rifle work good . Bet when u get it then were you live you carry with o conner.🦬🦬🦬🦬🐎 Will keep WATCHING to see you make it work. Now have 270 classic custom with boss. " i don't need it "
