Reloading Experts Needed!

[Little Red Man]

OK Folks, here is the poop.

My Pop is retired now and has been doing a bit of reloading recently as a hobby.

He had done a bunch of 22 Hornet that I have fired out of my boys gun that Grandpa gave my 7 y. for XMas (the stock is still to long for him, so Dad is having some fun with it!). Anyway, nothing bad happend with those loads.....BUT......

He has also done up some loads for my .270 WSM. The two bullets used are Speer Boat Tails, and Nosler Partitions, both in 150 gr. The load info on the boxes is as follows (mostly the same for both bullet types)

Power=Reloader 25; Weight= 67 gr; Case=Federal; Primer=200 ccl LgR for the Noslers and 200 Lg R.f. for the Speer's (not sure what that means); Seated=2.77 on the Noslers and OAL=2.693 for the Speer's (again, I am a nube to reloading, so do not know what this means either).

The real concern I have here, is that the info I can garner on the Internet does not correlate to the specific powder, cases, primers, etc, but almost all the data that comes close calls for smaller loads than 67 gr.

What d'ya think; am I safe in shooting these loads......I think not....but am looking for advice.

PS I did ask him if these loads were "hot" and he indicated that according to the manual he was using they were not......

[ceedub]

According to the data that I have, you should be safe with that load. Let us know how they group for you!

Craig

[bobinthesky]

Alliant's reloading data shows 64 grains as being the maximum with the 150 grain bullet. They are known to be a bit on the conservative side with their data since it's all about liability these days.
Some of the online reloading data I've seen indicates that your load might be a safe but I always question data not produced by the powder or bullet companies since you really have no idea if they used any pressure testing equiptment in their research. One thing is for sure, whats safe in one rifle is not nessesarily safe in another.

My question would be, were these loads worked up carefully to a maximum charge in this particular rifle while checking for pressure signs along the way? Maximum loads should always be approached with caution and if there's any doubts about how the loads were developed, then I'd be sceptical about using them.

I've seen it on many occasions where someone has a reloader load some ammo for them and that person just puts together a maximum charged load out of a book and sends the guy on his way. One such instance comes to mind where you couldn't even reload the guys 300 Wby brass anymore because it was stretched so bad it wouldn't even hold a primer! I've also seen rifles show signs of extreme pressure long before they got to the max listed powder charge.

I've also unloaded hundreds of reloads that I've aquired on trades just because I didn't trust them and in 35 years of reloading, I still have all my fingers and eye's...

The bottom line is this, if you have any doubts, then don't use them, period.

[elkhunter11]

PS I did ask him if these loads were "hot" and he indicated that according to the manual he was using they were not......

Ask him which manual he used,and check out the data for yourself.You may get a better idea if these loads are excessive.


The thing that does concern me is:

My Pop is retired now and has been doing a bit of reloading recently as a hobby.

You make it sound as though he is relatively new to reloading,and I don't trust upper end loads from less experienced reloaders.Many newer reloaders blindly trust loading data,and do not know how to recognize signs of excessive pressure.

Alliant's reloading data shows 64 grains as being the maximum with the 150 grain bullet.

Even if the Alliant data is a little conservative,3 grains is still a fair bit above their max load,

[benamen]

Ask your father to load a few rounds starting at 62 grain and work up to his original load in half grain increments (two or three of each load) That way you will be able to notice if there are any pressure concerns before you hit the 67 grain loads.

Here is a link to a few loads from Guns & Ammo. Again, I am sure their loads were worked up.

http://www.gunsandammo.com/content/the-270-wsm

[elkhunter11]

The loads at the Guns&Ammo link are using Winchester brass which normally has more internal volume than Federal brass,so the same loads will normally produce more pressure using Federal brass.

[benamen]

Note their standard disclaimer below the load data


Notes A Browning A-Bolt II with a 23-inch barrel and a Burris 3-9x40 scope was used for testing. Velocities were measured with an Oehler M-35p chronograph with the front screen 12 feet from the rifle's muzzle. Bullets were seated .030 inch off the lands, except for the Barnes and the Nosler E-Tip, which were seated .050 inch off. Caution These loads were safe in the test rfile, but most are at or near maximum. Reduce 3-4 grains to start. Abbreviations BT- Ballistic Tip; TS-X- Triple Shock X; TTSX-BT-Tipped Triple Shock Boat Tail; GS-GrandSlam; IB- InterBond; IL BTSP- InterLock Boat Tail Soft Point; HPBT- Hollow Point Boat Tail; COL- Cartridge Overall Length; SD-Standard Deviation.


WARNING The loads shown here are safe only in the gun in which they were developed. Neither the author nor InterMedia Outdoors Inc. assumes any liability for accidents or injury resulting from the use or misuse of this data.

[Little Red Man]

Thanks much guys....will take all your advice with a grain of power (pun intended)....certainly will ask which manual he was using and do some more research......this is all good info, and certainly will be useful to me in my own future reloading experiences.....

[Little Red Man]

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