I was wondering what others consider to be accurate bullets and/or have had good results with. I've been shooting 130gr Speer Hot Cor Spitzers in my .270, and since I'm working up new loads since it's recent facelift, am considering new bullets. Shooting at southern whitetail and rarely a hog or varmint that shows it face. Most shots around 100 yards, so I don't "need" boat tails or ballistic tips necessarily, but am not opposed to using them. Trying not to go full blown premium with this so am thinking:
Nosler and CT Ballistic Tips, Partitions and Accubonds
Sierra Game King and Prohunters
Speer Grand Slams and Hot Cors
Any other cheap to midgrade pills I'm missing?
What's the most accurate medium game bullet out there?
Well Glenn, from your description of your hunting conditions, hunting with a .270 for deer and hogs within 100 yards, at our southern whitetails the choices of bullet you mentioned would all do the job....
You don't need a Partition and they're expensive...
In your situation I tell you what I'd do since we hunt in similar situations....in .264 a ballistic tip does a wonderful job penetrating, in fact I've never had one stay IN a deer...so in .277 I imagine similar results would occur.
I'd get you some Nosler ballistic tips, I've only shot a few pigs with ballistic tips but I've had the same results results on piggies as I have on whitetails. Never recovered a one...this is in .264 of course....
Now with such impressive results with the Sierra HP, I'd say try those out in your .270 but I want to field test them for myself before I comment on how they do on deer and such...
However, John had used them on deer for a long time and he swears by them for whitetail.....
Hope this helps....Greg
Greg,
Yea, as plenty of folks have said, most any bullet made today will perform well, at least terminally. And there are some 200 and 300 yard shots available, though only a few. The part I am concerned with is the accuracy. Some bullets will just inherently be more accurate, and some wont, like the monometals. I have even seen at least one gunwriter say that his belief is that the powders used makes little differance, accuracy is primarily a feature of the bullet, which I don't really think is entirely true. Surely the powder comes into play.
I also assume that different guns will like different bullets just as they do the rest of the load. Which is why I was hoping to get plenty of replies in order to have a better sampling.
I've loaded all the bullets you mentioned with various powder combos in my 270 and the load I normally deer hunt with and have had great results is the 130 grn Sierra Pro Hunter. I load them for one of my brothers as well and we've both had great results on deer. From our experience, for the price ($13/100), they're hard to beat at the ranges we normally hunt. Last fall at the range with a friend of mine, I let him shoot my 270 with that load and first shot, he shot a golf ball off the post at 100 yards. So much for the 270 not being accurate..(http://www.thehunterslife.com/forums/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif) .
Trying to stay with the inexpensive bullets, other loads I've gotten good accuracy are the 130 grn Sierra Game King, 130 & 150 grn Speer Hot Cor, the 130 grn CT BST (even at 3000+ fps) and the 130 grn Hornady SP. I have only shot a 3 shot group with the Hornady and want to shoot it some more before I can attest to how accurate it is.
Before the AccuBond (AB) came out, Ballistic Tips (BT) were all that I used in my rifles dedicated for deer use. I've had wonderful results with them. Not a single complaint. They are extremely accurate in every caliber class I've used them in and as the name indicated, very ballistically sound. Important to me. Maybe not so much if your shots are of the closer nature as you have indicated. By the way, I'm currently using the 130 gr. BT in my .270 Win. handload.
As available, I've changed over all my handloads to an AB and as more choices are introduced appropriate to the cartridge I'm using, they will continue to replace the BT. As with anything new, ya gotta use it to see what it's all about and I'm really gaining a solid trust in these bullets. They offer everything ballistically and accuracy wise that I've come to expect from the BT's with the added toughness of a bonded core. I'm hoping a 120 gr. or 125 gr. .264 AB is the next one out. Going to be a nice bullet for the .264 WinMag. Good luck in your search for a .270 Win. bullet. >> klallen
I've loaded most the bullets you've mentioned with various powders in my 270. The load I normally deer hunt with and have had great accuracy is the 130 grn Sierra Pro Hunter. I load them for one of my brothers as well and we've both had great results on deer as most the ranges we shoot are <200 yards or so. Last fall at the range with a friend of mine, I let him shoot my 270 with that load and first shot, he shot a golf ball off the post at 100 yards. So much for the 270 not being accurate..(http://www.thehunterslife.com/forums/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif)
Other bullets I've gotten good accuracy with are the 130 grn Sierra Game King, Speer Hot Cors, the 130 grn CT BST, 140 grn Nosler Accubond and the 130 grn Hornady SP & SST Interbond. So far the highest velocity I've gotten with the best accuracy was with the CT BST. At just over 3000 fps, I obtained a 3-shot group of .65" CTC with RL-22.
Sorry Glenn, in my ramblings I did not even mention accuracy......could not get hot-cores to group better than 1 1/2....of course I could have played with it more.....
Ballistic tips and Sierra HP's have been super accurate for me in my Savages...
Greg, thats also the best accuracy I could get out of Hot Cores, reliably. I just got back from the range and shooting a batch of Nosler Ballistic Tips. Also picked up a box of Grand Slams that will get loaded at some point. Couldn't find any CT Ballistic SilverTips which is what I intended to try, and passed on the Partitions at $22 a box.
Just eyeballing the target, the best group is about 3/4" at 3074 fps, average group was probably an inch to an inch and a quarter with 58.9gr to 59.9gr of Hodgdon 4831SC. Looks like there is about another .120" of freebore to play with. I'm starting to feel better about this rifle, after getting mediocre results with Winchester and Sierra bullets and bunches of powder, I was losing hope.
I reload 270 ammo for my brother and a friend. The friend's BAR likes the Pro Hunters and brother's Ruger likes the Nosler BT's and CTBT's. Both are serious deer killers. I would try a boattail and a flat base and see which one works best in your rifle. Regards, Rick.
Rick, the HotCors are flat based and they didn't work to well. I tried some 110gr Pro Hunters and they also were no good. Here are the Noslers. The average of 6 groups was 1.39".
58.9= .779"
59.1= 3.043
59.3= 1.028
59.5= 1.491
59.7= 1.258
59.9= .748
I really want to shoot that 2nd group again, 59gr with the Speers gave a group half that size. Also want to shoot a 60.1gr group and see if 59.9 is what I want to go with.
Hummmmm....it may be that your 270 because ot the twist and a host of other reasons, likes a heavier bullet. Those groups are....well...not good. Jack O'conner liked the 130's......I'd try them. Keep in mind, the 270 has never been a national match caliber. Your rifle might like th heavier bullets. Regards, Rick.
I agree with Rick, the rate of twist I think in the 270's is 1 in 10 and works best with 130-150 grn bullets. I think they do have barrels with a 1 in 8 twist that works best with the lighter bullets. Try some heavier ones and see how they do.
It's 1 in 10, and I was shooting 130 grain bullets. Unfortunately, those three smaller groups are the best it has ever done. And I am quite satisfied with 3/4" to 1" groups for what this gun is intended. Of course there are other powders to try. I did shoot some 150gr factory loads a couple years ago, from Win and Federal?? which also shot 1.5 to 2" groups. Just not sure if I want to go to a 150gr pill, will they still expand as readily on our small southern whitetail?
I do appreciate the help with this.
Howdy RATHERBHUNTIN >> You certainly don't have stability issues if you're using a factory barrel with an industry standard twist rate and shooting the most widely used bullet weight in the class at 130 grs. If you do indeed have a 1:10 twist, you're covering everything from 130 up to 160 gr. bullets perfectly, as far as twist goes. Minor correction to an above statement ... if, by chance, you do intend to use the light in class bullets (i.e 100 gr.), you'd be best served with a slow twist rate, say 1:12. The faster rate of twist, like the 1:8 mentioned, is specifically designed for the heavies of the class, like 180 gr. ULD's and heavier.
Addressing accuracy issues, I think you'd be better served looking at things like bullet run-out, neck run-out, seating depths, try a different powder, possibly a more consistent primer ... 130's in a 1:10 twist barrel is not the problem. When I got my .270, I threw together a load using IMR4350, Fed. 210 primers, only neck sizing and simply seating the bullet out as far as the magazine would allow (3.412") and am consistently getting range proven MOA accuracy out to 300 yds. These groups could certainly be cut if pains were taken to ensure single digit run-outs, but as a big game rig who's wings I don't really need to stretch all that far, MOA is just fine for this rifles needs. Good luck to ya with your search for accuracy you'll like. >> klallen
Quote from: klallenMinor correction to an above statement ... if, by chance, you do intend to use the light in class bullets (i.e 100 gr.), you'd be best served with a slow twist rate, say 1:12. The faster rate of twist, like the 1:8 mentioned, is specifically designed for the heavies of the class, like 180 gr. ULD's and heavier.
You are correct klallen, I remember looking at the lilja barrels and the twist rates for their barrels in that caliber and I had it backwards. I stand corrected:D .
RBH, my experience as well at least in my 270 is that it does like certain powder/ bullet combos and you just have to tinker with it a little.
Looking at the targets you posted, I think there might be something else to consider first.
Now don't get in a huff, but...
For both the targets posted, the horizontal dispersion is twice that of the verticle. When I see that in my own targets, it's because I am not exercising proper "trigger control". Put another way, I'm "pulling" the trigger. Unless the day you shot these targets was significantly windy, your groups will shrink considerably (equal to the vertical component) with better trigger control. No offence intended, just offering some constructive criticism based on my own "trigger control". :)
Paul
hmmmmm...you may have a point Paul....nah, thats just plain crazy. I had considered that, though not in awhile. After lightening the pull some, and paying attention more, my trigger pull has gotten better. That and I am using sandbags, fore and aft to help even more. Point taken however, and I will pay particular attention to it next time.
Anyone know what Ken Waters' Pet Load is for this cartridge? I might even try using some benchrest primers.
Quote from: RatherBHuntinAnyone know what Ken Waters' Pet Load is for this cartridge? I might even try using some benchrest primers.
He has a lot of loads in there in three separate articles, do you have a particular bullet in mind? Also I had tried the benchrest primers and didn't see any difference. I suppose you could try different brands but doubt you'd see a significant difference.
Well, it has been over 20 years since I did any reloading for the .270 so you might want to check the Speer manual for powder updates.
Our standard load back then was H-4831, 60grains, 130 Sierra GameKing. Groups in a '98 Mauser with 22" barrel, 4X Weaver and a glassbedded walnut stock were sub 1", day in and day out! Estimated velocity was 3,000fps plus (this was in the days before chronos were available).
Just a starting point for ya!;)
Ol' John
The Sierras and the Hornady SST's always gave the best accuracy from the rifles I've owned. Hodgon's 4831 sc and H1000 being prefered powders. I never preferred them as game bullets though. Back in the good old days I replaced them with Nosler Partitions when I hunted. Deer aren't hard to hit. I like Grand Slams and better yet Trophy Bonded Bear Claws now. I'm sometimes in a hurry to shoot and the premium bullet gives me the luxury of being able to angle a bullet into the vitals. If you're a patient man and will have multiple opportunities to harvest an animal then the Sierras and SST's are fine if you can pick your shot. God bless and good shooting.
Mark
For pure accuracy, try the 90 gr. Sierra HP. In 2 rifles they have been super accurate, outstanding on woodchucks & ground squirrels. Best of all, they shoot pretty close to the same point of aim as my big game 130 gr. load. They seem to be easy to get along with as far whatever powder you tuck under them, in my case, 4064 0r 4831.
QuoteFor pure accuracy, try the 90 gr. Sierra HP.
Gee, that wouldn't be a light-for-caliber, hollow point, flat-based bullet, now would it? Just one more nail in the coffin.
:D:D:D
Paul
I love Sierra HP's....
Those 90gr HPs will have the thin jackets and small meplat though. Looks like I am going with the Nosler Ballistic Tips. Tried the CTs, Noslers, and Game Kings (all over the place). The Nosler Ballistic Tips shot into about .75" and the CTs are about the same, maybe a little better (still have to do a little more testing) but at a higher price. The gun is pretty finicky, but looks like I should be able to gurantee 1" groups with this load though it is slower than intended, gotta see if I can increase the velocity safely while maintaining accuracy.