270 Win Hand Load Development 117gr Hammer Hunter

Precision

Precision

Active member
Hello All, Working on hand loads for my 270. Rifle has 1:10 twist, 22" barrel. Loaded 50 pieces of new Nosler brass with .001-.002 neck tension with H4350 and Staball 6.5, mostly following the Hammer FCD recommendations published by Butterbean over on LRH. My rifle has shot 130gr factory loads well in the past, so I loaded up some ttsx 130gr and some 117gr hammer hunters. Large Magnum primers. Playing with seating depth a bit, tried to minimize jump but also put the rim on a valley on both bullets. FCD +1/8T on all. Shot prone over a chronograph at 100 yards. Results below.

I was approaching max published loads cautiously, looking for cratering or heavy bolt lift. I’m new to this, but I don’t think I hit pressure at all, so will load more powder ladders soon. Also noted that the HH 117gr should be moving faster than 130gr, so I interpreted this as needing to start with more neck tension with hunters. Resized with a bushing die, and next batch will have .004 neck tension.

My data also shows that h4350 is working well, and I need to reduce jump further to maximize performance.

Please let me know if any suggestions!

Thanks, Jay

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What Butterbean said. Also, with the Staball6.5 and 117hh, your speeds are about right, given the charge weight. I'd keep going in one grain increments until about 57.5 then go to 0.5. There usually is a node around 59gr and 3330 -3350fps. This is with fed 215 mag primers and crimped in the first valley behind the bullet shoulder. You may get there a bit sooner with the cci's. As usual watch and feel for pressure signs. There is a good thread on here about looking for pressure signs and might be good to read.
 
ButterBean said:
.004 neck interference anseat the bullet until there are no PDR bands showing, crimp on the last PDR groove
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Thanks for reply. I started there, crimping in last groove, jump is 0.1. Have read lots of threads mentioning that HH are insensitive to jump, but my initial data appears to show groups and velocity tightening when I seated in 2nd to last groove, but also convoluted with higher powder loads. Will take your advice under consideration when I seat my new batch.
 
cbjr said:
What Butterbean said. Also, with the Staball6.5 and 117hh, your speeds are about right, given the charge weight. I'd keep going in one grain increments until about 57.5 then go to 0.5. There usually is a node around 59gr and 3330 -3350fps. This is with fed 215 mag primers and crimped in the first valley behind the bullet shoulder. You may get there a bit sooner with the cci's. As usual watch and feel for pressure signs. There is a good thread on here about looking for pressure signs and might be good to read.
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Thanks! I saw the excellent recent thread here documenting primers and pressure after I had deprimed my first batch. Will be examining primers in the future loads. I was surprised how much worse the velocity and groups were with staball, but could be because my loads were too low?
 
Precision said:
I have some LR primers, can you please tell me why you think those would work better here?
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If you haven't already, look at the HH load data files. Most are getting 33-3400 fps with that bullet.
Regarding primers, many try both LR and LRMag primers. It often appears that you can get more even ignition, at lower pressures, which allows you to efficiently burn a bit more powder before finding pressure.
Your rifle/load will tell you. More powder burned efficiently equals more velocity.
 
gltaylor said:
If you haven't already, look at the HH load data files. Most are getting 33-3400 fps with that bullet.
Regarding primers, many try both LR and LRMag primers. It often appears that you can get more even ignition, at lower pressures, which allows you to efficiently burn a bit more powder before finding pressure.
Your rifle/load will tell you. More powder burned efficiently equals more velocity.
Click to expand...
I am hoping to get that kind of velocity with the 117HH, yessir. Most of the time I have seen people recommending Lg Mag for 270 and Hammers, just curious as to the thinking behind both approaches.
 
Precision said:
Thanks! I saw the excellent recent thread here documenting primers and pressure after I had deprimed my first batch. Will be examining primers in the future loads. I was surprised how much worse the velocity and groups were with staball, but could be because my loads were too low?
Click to expand...
Yes, I think your loads are a bit low for both powders. I've worked up loads with Staball6.5 and 215M in 3 different 270's and they all ended up right about the same grains and 3330 to 3340fps. They each used a different brand of brass as well.
 
The one thought I have is LRM primers are not as consistent in ignition as LR with the faster powders we tend to use with Hammers in "smaller" non magnum cartridges. I saw better ES SD with LR plus better velocity ladder profiles without that spikyness that can be with LRM primers in cartridges traditionally below "60" grains. Just MHO. Heck, I switched to LR primers in 300WSM after seeing many threads on same thought. And saw the improvement. Might be different if hunting in -10 temps.
 
Muddyboots said:
The one thought I have is LRM primers are not as consistent in ignition as LR with the faster powders we tend to use with Hammers in "smaller" non magnum cartridges. I saw better ES SD with LR plus better velocity ladder profiles without that spikyness that can be with LRM primers in cartridges traditionally below "60" grains. Just MHO. Heck, I switched to LR primers in 300WSM after seeing many threads on same thought. And saw the improvement. Might be different if hunting in -10 temps.
Click to expand...
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