Best Brass for 270 Win.

[Dusty Stevens]

Re: Hornady brass:

I bought two bags of 6mm Rem at the local Cabela's store. There were enough deformed cases, and cases with large neck wall variance, that I culled exactly 50% of them. The rejects refilled one bag, which I returned to the store for a cheerful refund! That would be a less practical approach if you had to pay to ship the culls back to Cabela's online store (and I'm not sure they would refund in that scenario.) But it also highlights the low quality of Hornady brass.
-

Imagine the next guys surprise when he bought those!

 

[Paddyd]

Glad you had success with IMR 4064 but while I haven't shot the 270 Win in years, when I did I had my best results with IMR 4350 but I agree, the 130 grain bullet is a great bullet for the 270 Win.

Jack O'Connor said he never found a better .270 load than 49.5 gr of IMR-4064 with a 130 gr bullet. I have found this to be the case in my old M77 Ruger. 4350 might best it with a 150 gn bullet though.

 

[Brians356]

Imagine the next guys surprise when he bought those!

I take the joke, but the bag was open, so ... back to Hornady possibly? Or in the trash.
-

 

[Brians356]

Jack O'Connor said he never found a better .270 load than 49.5 gr of IMR-4064 with a 130 gr bullet. I have found this to be the case in my old M77 Ruger. 4350 might best it with a 150 gn bullet though.

I've got an old round-top M77 in 270, my first rifle. I settled on RL 22 behind 140 BT, but having grown up in Jack's adopted hometown (now home to the Jack O'Connor museum) I'm not about to question his choice.
-

 

[MikeT49]

For those of you that neck down 30-06 brass, does the necking down process get the shorter 30-06 up to the longer 270 min trim length? Why have I seen in print many times that Jack O'Conner's favorite load for the 270 with 130s was 60grs of H4831?

 

[Brians356]

For those of you that neck down 30-06 brass, does the necking down process get the shorter 30-06 up to the longer 270 min trim length?

The neck will lengthen, possibly to the trim-to length. I don't have a 270 FL die, or I'd try it. But there's a clue in Ken Howell's book "Designing And Forming Custom Cartridges" wherein he states that 270 Win may be formed from 280 Rem using a full-length 270 Win die, or from 30-06 using an "RCBS form-and-trim die". The implication is self-evident.
-

 

[MikeT49]

The neck will lengthen, possibly to the trim-to length. I don't have a 270 FL die, or I'd try it. But there's a clue in Ken Howell's book "Designing And Forming Custom Cartridges" wherein he states that 270 Win may be formed from 280 Rem using a full-length 270 Win die, or from 30-06 using an "RCBS form-and-trim die". The implication is self-evident.
-

Thanks for the info. I have 30-06 brass and a 270 FL die, I will check it out. Doh! should have done that in the first place.

Edit: I Took 3 pieces of new WW 30-06 brass trimmed to 2.484. Necked them down in one step with RCBS FL die w/o expander. Came out to 2.495 avg. Then I dug up a neck die (I put that puppy away when the Guff convinced me to to do the "Bump" ) I noticed on that first step the necks were slightly belled at ths mouth like pistol brass. I put the expander in and did em again. That took the belling out but the cases shortened to 2.493 avg. I thought maybe pulling the expander back through might give me some added length. Didn't work. Trim length for 270 Win is 2.53. YMMV

 

[K22]

Jack O'Connor said he never found a better .270 load than 49.5 gr of IMR-4064 with a 130 gr bullet. I have found this to be the case in my old M77 Ruger. 4350 might best it with a 150 gn bullet though.

Jack O'Connor is the Dean of the 270 Win so whatever he said I'd follow i.e. take it as gospel.

 

[Brians356]

Jack O'Connor is the Dean of the 270 Win so whatever he said I'd follow i.e. take it as gospel.

I grew up around O'Connor and the Speers (and FWIW Bill Steigers). But I would point out that a) there are a lot of newer (dare I say better?) powders available now than in Jack's day, and b) the IMR-4064 we get today is almost certainly not the exact same powder Jack used.
-

 

[Brians356]

Thanks for the info. I have 30-06 brass and a 270 FL die, I will check it out. Doh! should have done that in the first place.

Edit: I Took 3 pieces of new WW 30-06 brass trimmed to 2.484. Necked them down in one step with RCBS FL die w/o expander. Came out to 2.495 avg. Then I dug up a neck die (I put that puppy away when the Guff convinced me to to do the "Bump" ) I noticed on that first step the necks were slightly belled at ths mouth like pistol brass. I put the expander in and did em again. That took the belling out but the cases shortened to 2.493 avg. I thought maybe pulling the expander back through might give me some added length. Didn't work. Trim length for 270 Win is 2.53. YMMV

Hmmm. I would be interested in how long virgin, un-trimmed WW 30-06 cases come. I.e what were they before you trimmed them?

Given what Ken Howell wrote, I would expect untrimmed 30-06 brass to protrude slightly from the end of a 270 Win form-and-trim die, which I gather you don't have. Have you tried a 270 Win FL die?
-

 

[MikeT49]

Hmmm. I would be interested in how long virgin, un-trimmed WW 30-06 cases come. I.e what were they before you trimmed them?

Given what Ken Howell wrote, I would expect untrimmed 30-06 brass to protrude slightly from the end of a 270 Win form-and-trim die, which I gather you don't have. Have you tried a 270 Win FL die?
-

Actually, though I implied I trimmed them, they are fresh out of a bag I bought about two years ago. Just grabbed 3 out of the bag that I didn't have to trim. Most in the bag we're within .002 of trim length. Somewhat surprising. I wasn't t clear. I first ran them through a FL die. This belled the mouth. I then got the neck die and put the expander in. I've burnt out a 270 barrel, took a little over 1500 rounds. During that timeframe thought about using 30-06 Lapua, my info at the time said too short. Now I know.

 

[Brians356]

Actually, though I implied I trimmed them, they are fresh out of a bag I bought about two years ago. Just grabbed 3 out of the bag that I didn't have to trim. Most in the bag we're within .002 of trim length. Somewhat surprising. I wasn't t clear. I first ran them through a FL die. This belled the mouth. I then got the neck die and put the expander in. I've burnt out a 270 barrel, took a little over 1500 rounds. During that timeframe thought about using 30-06 Lapua, my info at the time said too short. Now I know.

Ok, early onset here. I forgot, I played this game myself a couple of years ago. I bought a 270 Win form-and-trim die, to play with forming 270 from 30-06. My notes say the fired factory 30-06 case measured 2.490 (only .004" short of max case length). After running through the trim die, it had grown to 2.508 long, but did not present anything to trim, since 270 Win max case length is 2.540 and trim-to length is 2.530. So I have no idea why Howell said to use a trim die. There's nothing to gain by forming 270 from 30-06, in fact you lose considerable neck length. Makes sense when you look at the specs.
-