Hunting Forum

Hey folks here are 2 questions. 1. Shooting 140 grain Barnes TSX BT in front of 51 grains of H4350 in a Ruger M77. Get great groupings (1 inch at 100 yrds) and knocks the hell out of antelope and mule deer. The 51 grains of H4350 is at the low end for that powder in the Barnes book. I want to take this gun elk hunting and I wanted to work up a more powerful load, but as I get closer to the max powder charge of 54 grains as specified by Barnes my groupings are all over the place!! Should I try a different power? These bullets are not cheap so not sure how much experimentation I can afford!! Anybody have a pet load with these bullets?    2. Same issue with Marlin x7 30-06. Shooting Barnes 168 grain TTSX in front of 48 grains of IMR 4064. Would like to get a load closer to 3000 fps but again accuracy suffers! Any suggested pet loads for this rifle?
Thanks for the help in advance.

I do not reload but I asked people around here that do and it was suggested to chrono the rounds to see at what speed you lose accuracy. Also they suggested trying heavier bullets. 150s for the 270 and 180s for the -06 were the most common suggestions. Hope this helps.

I cannot help you with the Barnes bullets as I have never loaded them for my .270. As there is only one reply top your post I will give my 2 cents. Hunting elk with a .270 requires good shot placement and discipline to only take a shot for which you are sure you can hit the vitals. Personally I would not take a Texas Heart shot with my .270 on an elk because I am not sure the bullet would drive all the way to the vitals. In addition, I would be hesitant to take a strong quartering shot because their ribs are "big".

You do not state what velocity you are getting with your current load but I cannot imagine that the difference felt by the elk will be much between what you get now and something closer to 3000 fps. I would stick with what you have if it is working for you.

For my .270 the hunting I load I use is a 130 grain Nosler Partition over 59 grains of H-4831. In my rifle it chronographs as 3050 fps. I can hold an honest 3/4 inch three shot group at 100 yards (bench of coarse). I have taken a black bear (90 yds), caribou (125 yrds) and several feral hogs (150 yrds longest) with that load. I was able to hit them all in the lungs and they all fell over dead. Trust there is something here that helps.

jack

Thank you both for your replies. Maybe I will try a different powder and see what I can get with the H4831. It looks like it is about time I invested in a chronograph as well! I forgot to mention that my daughter will be shooting the .270 so I was a bit hesitant to bump up the load too much. She does not like the recoil, but I think it is the noise more than the recoil that she dislikes! I usually try to get something onto her ears before she takes the shot, but this is not always possible. I am thinking that shot placement will be our priority over fps and try to keep the shots under 200 yards. SteelCandy I thought about trying the heavier bullets. So you know what they mean by 1:9.5" twist or faster? It seems like the heavier bullets have a twist rate minimum. I noticed that for the 180 grain 30'06 bullets a 1:11"twist rate or faster was required. Is it the twist rate of the rifling in the barrell and if so I can I find out what each rifle has?

I have very good results with IMR4831. My load is 55 gr. IMR 4831 140 gr. TSX chrono at 2875 and is a 3/4" group shooter. It is a fine elk load. This is out of a Rem. 700 with 22" barrel.

As to the second one, the 30-06. I would work up with H4350 and the 168 grainer. Both of the 4350 powders are very good in the 06.  I have worked up to 58 gr. H4350 in the 06 with 165 gr. bullets.

Thanks TGR

Since you said recoil is a concern, I would try the 110 gr TTSX bullets from Barnes in the 270.

Any powder in the 4350 range should be good for the 06. Reloder 17, any of the 4350's, Big Game.

Twist is given as one turn in so many inches. Longer bullets require a faster twist to stabilize them although more velocity can help to some extent. For example, in the 223, a 1:12 twist is normal for 55 grain bullets. Some folks are running 75-80 grain bullets, those need a twist of 1 turn in 7 inches. Manufacturers websites generally list the barrels twist for current models, older ones may take a bit of digging to find.

Dale

I' a retired USMC sniper and shoot the 270 with the 140gr barnes and , I load my bullets with h-4895 and have had no problems with them but if you have a good load than don't mess with it.. As far as the the loading  with the 30/06 , I also load with the H-4895 and never go to the max load data the best loads that , I have loaded is the TTSX and the GMX bullets and the loads that wok for me with the 150gr were 50grs of H-4895 and they are right in the X at 300 yrd so , I leave them alone.. the other ones are the 165gr and they load with 49grs of IMR 4064 and are right in the X at 300yrd but if you can get data for the H-4895 for the GMX or the barnes in the 180gr bullets then go 1-1.5grs below MAX load and they should be where you want to be..  Be safe not sorry don't go to max loads .. Keep them in the X or the  10 ring.. And by the way the Hodgdon powders do have less recoil and have very good FPS loads..

Posted By Cherokee on 07 Jul 2012 01:35 PM
And by the way the Hodgdon powders do have less recoil 

Come again???

Dale

I too shoot a 270 but never hunted elk with it. I shoot what gives me the best accuracy. I shoot Hornady 130s and 150 gr bullets but my best load is not very close to the max load and would not hesitate taking it for elk.

Shot .270 for years with H4350 pushing 130-140grn bullets with lots of success. Been trying Varget and like it as well.

You probably won't find this load in any recently published manual. I used 58 grains of IMR 4831 behind a Speer 150 grain spbt. Now, you don't want to shoot this load if it's hot out. It worked well for me. According to this very old manual. I was pushing 3000 fps with this load. Believe or not. This was an old Speer manual I got this load from. You might possibly come close to that with a 140 grain bullet.

I would try a Nosler Partition, or Swift A-frame

Thank you all for the input. I tried the Big Game powder and I really like it. I got some great groups in my 30/06 with 64 grains pushing the 168 grain Barnse TTSX bullet. Now time to play with the 270!!

OK this is my personal bias - I worry much more about tight groups than max power. I find that with Barnes bullet the most accurate load is usually close to the low end of the manual recommended powder charge, so that's what I end up loading. Don't just trust my opinion though, all rifles are individuals and yours might like a hotter load.
Second point - invest a little extra in testing. Yes Barnes bullets are expensive. By the time you finish testing you might have spent and extra 20 to 50 dollars. How much will this moose hunt cost? And what is the value of confidence in your rifle and load? I think it's value for the money.
Third point - Barnes bullets outpenetrate any other bullet in my experience. I shot a moose with my 338-06 last year and it passed right through. With a low end powder charge and a Barnes X bullet. No tracking required.

Good hunting!