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Having set my mind to loading for my .270 Winchester, I have run across what appears to be a standard load over and over again. That's 55.0 grains of IMR-4350 under a 130-grain spitzer (mine are Sierra Game Kings), good for a shade over 3,000 fps.

Parker Ackley's book says I can go to 57.0, but being as he's a raving lunatic I consider 55.0 a good upper limit. Besides which, 55 grains fills the case.

The consistency with which I encounter this load data is pretty striking; it's a "standard" load, like a 170-grainer over 30 grains of IMR-3031 in .30-30 is a standard load.

Based on my reading I expect this load to be both accurate, and strong medicine for whitetails. Is there any good reason to look any further?

-AaronB

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A guide I know in Colorado uses that load for deer and elk. No complaints. Personally I'd like something a bit heavier for elk, but he's taken a truckload of them over the years and as I say, no complaints. Of course, I tend to favor the '06 over the 270, but that's a whole '
'nother can o'worms.

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I would also choose the '06 for elk, but I'm thinking more of whitetail loads for the .270.

Still, if I wanted to hunt elk and a .270 was all I had, I'd load up a 150-grain Nosler Partition and go.

-AaronB

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..6.5Staball. It was my powder of choice two years ago when I was doing "load development" because, well... I had a lot of it.

55 grains of it shot a 130 Ballistic Tip good enough. And since I was short on time and good enough was good enough, it was good enough. :-D

I found it did like a magnum primer a whole lot better. Off hand I don't recall the velocities. I put a Trijicon scope with an amber triangle on it, so not the greatest for shooting tiny groups. It's Steyr SBS with a horribly pitted barrel. With a well cleaned barrel it'll shoot 3/4 MOA groups. Then somewhere between 15 and 20 shots it will open up to 7-8 MOA. :-(

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So last month when I went to shoot the new to me HuskyHigh Standard, that's the load I tried. It was cold, it was raining hard. I was having a hard time seeing the waterlogged target at 100 yards. And as much as I love the old TV View scope, when I'd make an adjustment that should have moved the POI about an inch, inch and a half, it was moving 5 or 6 inches. :-( So I finally moved the target in to fifty yards, the last three loaded rounds I had went into a group about the size of a dime. "hey now!"

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It made me sad, but when I got home I took the scope off. I put on a crappy Bushnell Banner that was probably the first scope I ever bought in 1988. I took it off a Ruger No.1 in .243 because I wanted a smaller, lower power scope. When I did the rifle "suddenly" shot much better than it had for the prior 20 years. :-| So putting it on a lightweight .270 is probably just as big a mistake as trying the old Redfeild.

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Do you find any advantage accuracy-wise using the 130grn boat tail Game King as opposed to the 130grn Pro Hunter? My understanding is that the only difference is a flat base on the latter.

I’m curious if there is any reason to prefer one over the other?

I rather like the idea of using 150grn Game King if going after game larger than deer. Where we are moving to there are simply scads of Roosevelt elk, along with plenty of black bears. I have a .308 and a .30-06, along with an 8x57R, not to mention a few big bores, but my .270 is such a pleasant rifle it becomes attractive to consider.

The deer down there along the coast are such tiny things, I’m leaning towards one of my .30-30s, but if I get a wild hair I have an unusual choice, a fast twist .22-250! With appropriately heavy .22 bullets I think it might be devastating.

Otony

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Hi Otony.

I'm just getting started with the .270. I was in a local shop and picked up an OLD box of 130-grain Sierra Game Kings off the consignment shelf for a low-low price... and that's how I have 130-grain Game Kings on hand. At the moment that's the entirety of .270 component bullets I own.

My longest-ever shot on game was 125 yards on a Colorado bull elk, and all my shots on whitetails here in New England are going to be under 100. Therefore, to me the difference between boat-tail and flat-base is purely academic. I wouldn't mind loading cup-and-core RNs for deer if some became available.

All of which is to say that for me, no, there is no reason for me to prefer boat-tail over flat-base. Your mileage may vary.

If in the fullness of time I develop an interest in shooting for itty-bitty groups at 200-yards-plus with this rifle (a distinct possibility), I will likely choose a boat-tail design for ballistic coefficient. But for hunting? I can't see that it matters.

About the .22-250 for deer... yes, do it, with the right bullets. My father had the habit of sometimes carrying a .225 Winchester for deer, so I handloaded him some 60-grain Nosler Partitions. That .225 Winchester is all but twin to your .22-250 (the .22-250 is just a hair faster), but with the Partition it does a yeoman job on whitetails. My son shot a yearling in the chest with one and the deer apparently didn't know it wasn't a .30-06. The deer didn't go far, and we recovered the back-end of the bullet out of the hindquarter.

-AaronB

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That was a very reasonable and considered response!

Quite frankly, I am always a trifle amazed at the folks who will wring out loads using a half dozen different bullets, at least at today’s prices. If a particular bullet doesn’t give the expected results, I can see marching onto the next subject, but holy smokes, if you can extract an accurate load it’s time to stop trying. Unless of course it proves to be a non-performer on game, rather than paper.

I just don’t have the wherewithal to experiment all that much, so seeing a “proven standard” is more than likely the direction I will head towards. The difference between boat tail and flat base could possibly make a difference, but I begin to suspect we might be counting dancing angels on pin heads. I HAVE the aforementioned flat base slugs, plus some 150grn boat tail Game Kings, and feel prepared until someone comes along to show me otherwise.

I appreciate the suggestion of the 60grn Noslers, again, that is real world experience. I was leaning towards trying a little bit heavier bullet (and still might) but now I have a baseline to begin with.

For all my interest in my 500 S&W rifle, and my soon to arrive 444 single shot, the reality is that rifles that “kiss” me are more likely to be used than those that shake my fillings free. In truth, my 500 is more likely to see cast bullets and black powder these days, which would make for a hammer of Thor on the coastal deer I’ve mentioned without beating the bejabbers out of me.

Otony

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While I certainly appreciate bug-hole groups at ridiculous distances my usual standard of accuracy is 'hunting accurate'. That is 'inside of a basketball at a reasonable distance'. For any given rifle/sight system, if that distance happens to be 50 yards, then it is a 50 yard rifle in my hands. Most shots up here in the toolies are taken at that distance or less anyway. I do spend time considering correct bullets...proper construction for the task and all.

Varmint rifles need to meet a little more stringent requirements as the game is smaller. I don't get to shoot varmints very often but my standards are tighter. I have a .223 "Ruger No. 2" (No. 3 with No. 1 wood and barrel) that is scary. Dime sized groups with casually thrown together loads are the norm. There is also a Hornet that performs about the same.

Tony, shifting gears slightly, please tell me about your 8x57R. If you already have, I must have forgotten. Thanks!

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…I’ve mentioned it mostly in passing, but I obtained a custom 8mm Encore barrel by Match Grade Machine that was sent out with no chamber!

The fellow who ordered it was going to have it machined to accommodate the 8mm Lebel cartridge, and waxed eloquently as to why that was a fabulous choice. Fortunately, he could not find anyone in possession of a Lebel reamer, so it remained in his hands sans a chamber.

I purchased it for a reasonable price, and shipped it back to MGM who cut a 8mm Mauser chamber and added a rim cut as a second procedure. I gave them a half dozen 8x57R rounds from various manufacturers to allow them to cut a rim recess that would be “universal”.

In my eyes, and in a strong action such as the Encore, what I have is essentially the close equivalent to a 338/06 or 35 Whelen. It must be noted that even at the height of Covid nonsense, both brass and loaded ammo was relatively easy to come by, ain’t too many ‘muricans shooting that round.

To me, it makes nothing but sense, because it is readily available, RIMMED, and a classic cartridge, all of which lends itself perfectly to a break open single shot like the Encore. I could have chosen a more exotic rimmed round from Europe, or one of their magnum class 8mm cartridges, but then brass becomes an issue.

Because of the ease with which I was able to obtain good brass, I am rather amazed that it isn’t the basis for any number of rimmed wildcats. Anything in the 308/6.5 Creed/or 250 Savage family is a candidate with some work of course. And leaving it at its full 57mm length it can be made into all the variant rimmed Mauser cartridges as well.

Otony

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I don't recall ever seeing this before. VERY neat choice!

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I'm intrigued by your experiments with .500 Smith and .444 Marlin.

Interestingly, the .444 in factory trim generates the same energy as the 9.3x62, which is a time-honored cartridge that has a long and successful record in Africa. It's got plenty of oomph for sure, if that's what you're looking for... but I also agree that you could load it below the factory specs and still have the cartridge that the "Buckhammer" wants to be when it grows up.

I worked with Rob Lipford (mostly I stood by gawping) as he worked out how to shoot reduced cast loads in a Ruger No. 1 Tropical chambered in .458 Win Mag. With the enormous throat for that cartridge the only cast bullet we could get to shoot well was the RCBS 500-grain RNFP with a gas check. One of us had come across some tribal knowledge indicating that you could reduce load data for IMR-4895 down to 60% of maximum and the velocity would reduce proportionally, so we tried that... The result was beautiful little clover-leaf groups at 50 yards, and a rifle that shot more or less like a Trapdoor Springfield depending on how "reduced" the load was.

Given that they're both straight-wall cartridges, you might try 4895 for your heavy-bullet loads in .444. I can't speak from direct experience on that caliber, but I would think it would be worth the experiment.

-AaronB

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It has been some time ago, so I don't remember the exact amount of powder in the load, but I loaded 4895 under a 240grn bullet in my 444 for a hog hunt once. It was not a bad kicking load, but I do remember when I was sighting the rifle in, by-standers commenting on the fireball they saw each time I fired it. That rifle had a 22 inch barrel so it was not one of my short barreled ones.

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IMR-4895 is pretty slow for .444 Marlin, hence the fireball... much of the powder was burning outside the barrel. IMR-3031 is probably more suited to the application, but I don't know if you can scale the loads back to 60%.

-AaronB

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It's H-4895 that Hodgdon's specifically references. I see no similar note re: 3031 so I would assume it is not linear like the H-4895. I have used the reduced load formula with great success and recommend it. There are other choices, such as "The Load" which I would be happy to try with the .444 but I'd have to think on the .500 a bit as I have no experience with it. (I do have a Handi but haven't shot it yet.)

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Well, we used IMR-4895 and didn't blow ourselves up.

If Hodgdon makes this recommendation only for their H-4895, then I'll second the motion and only recommend doing it with H-4895.

-AaronB

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I also came to that conclusion. Mostly use H4198 now, but have 335 and reloader 7 that works also.

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49.5 grains of IMR 4064 was the code cracker from what I have read and if I remember correctly.

Bob

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