270 Sherman Build completed!!!

[Idaho Trecker]

Been doing quite a bit of shooting and testing with the 165 Matrix and RL 26 in last couple months. It looks like i'm switching from rl 33 to rl 26 at this point. I have also switched to Norma brass and turned the necks to .012". After shooting some distance and verifying drops it looks like I'm getting 3130 fps.

I shot some paper this morning and after correcting for the height difference I was able to come up with the 3130 fps. I was shooting at 878 yards. If I throw out one shot that I threw there is only 1" vertical and 1.8" horizontal!!! The thrown shot still puts it at 5.8"..... just over .5 moa

Made it out at the end of the day also and just for fun found a rock face at 1601 yards. I sent 3 downrange and ended up putting 2 on the rock face but missed the windage a ways. One missed the rock face with the variable winds but the other 2 that connected were practically same vertical plane and only few inches apart. When I get the pictures up you can make your own judgement on how I feel about this rifle and load

 

[Idaho Trecker]

1601 yards




878 yards

I still need more time and lots of practice to get the longer shooting down but feel like I am getting a good start.

 

[elkaholic]

Thats impressive Ryan! Looks like the 165 with the RL26 is working well. I knew 26 was going to be good for long range when I constantly got single digit es with it. I hope that we can all try to get some temp consistency data this fall.......Rich

 

[waspocrew]

Looks awesome! I'm going to have to try some Rl-26 in my 6.5 Sherman!

 

[Idaho Trecker]

Played with the 170 Bergers last weekend some with an initial test for seating depth and the next day a quick pressure test to see where I maxed out.
Finally got a Magnetospeed so now I feel confident in my speeds I list here. My seating depth test was as follows:

27.41 inHg 34 Degrees
60 grains RL 26 and lengths are Base to Ogive

2.835" 2.879" 2.934"
2856 2829 2901
2820 2823 2853
2838 2818 2858

Pretty much same results as my 270 SS where my rifle like the load about .060" off for groups and speeds.

The pressure test was done with one load only at each charge of RL 26 with
62, 63, 64, and 65 grains at the mid seating depth.

62...2973
63...3000
64...3067
65...3117

Judging by bolt lift, case heads, and primers 63 will be my max practical with this bullet and thats assuming the RL 26 is going to be temp stable since these loads were shot at 34 degrees. The 65 grain load was not terrible for bolt lift but there was a definite click at the top of the bolt throw... probably could have got one off at 66 grains but didnt have one loaded so I guess i'll never know for sure how fast it would have been; however if i did guess I would say it would have been just shy of 3200 fps.

I ran one of my 165 matrix loads over the magneto to see where it was for speed since I didnt trust my chrony and my 62 grain load with rl 26 is giving me 3017 fps.

Just for fun I may load a quick pressure test with some rl 33 to see if I can match my speeds or exceed them since I have such a long throat in this rifle.

 

[royinidaho]

Ryan,

You're doing good stuff. It's got into the exploratory mode again. Which is somewhere between dangerous and fun, for me.

Made two recent purchases. 1 a 270 Win Rem 721 from Joel Russo. Shot my first PA buck with an '06 721 50 years ago. Good memory.

2 A Magnetospeed V3 from Len/Andy. What a major step up. For the first time ever I am totally confident in velocity measurement and it is pretty much old man proof regarding operation.

Moons ago Rich sent me a formed 270 Sherman case. It's setting in a place of irritating prominence in constant view.:roll eyes:

First attempt shows my upper limit of 3024 with 150 Berger and 57.2 gr 7828ssc. (1 shot) For reliability 57.0 grains of that powder for 2994 FPS (again 1 shot) would be max. I'm surprised max pressure was reached so soon. I was anticipating getting to at least 58.4 grains.

On bolt lift, I settle for easy bolt lift with a slight 'click' at the top. (Velocity hawg!)

3000 with the 170/165 and shooting that well, makes for a **** good Idaho big game rig.

I'm keep'n ma I on ya...

 

[Idaho Trecker]

Ryan,

You're doing good stuff. It's got into the exploratory mode again. Which is somewhere between dangerous and fun, for me.

Made two recent purchases. 1 a 270 Win Rem 721 from Joel Russo. Shot my first PA buck with an '06 721 50 years ago. Good memory.

2 A Magnetospeed V3 from Len/Andy. What a major step up. For the first time ever I am totally confident in velocity measurement and it is pretty much old man proof regarding operation.

Moons ago Rich sent me a formed 270 Sherman case. It's setting in a place of irritating prominence in constant view.:roll eyes:

First attempt shows my upper limit of 3024 with 150 Berger and 57.2 gr 7828ssc. (1 shot) For reliability 57.0 grains of that powder for 2994 FPS (again 1 shot) would be max. I'm surprised max pressure was reached so soon. I was anticipating getting to at least 58.4 grains.

On bolt lift, I settle for easy bolt lift with a slight 'click' at the top. (Velocity hawg!)

3000 with the 170/165 and shooting that well, makes for a **** good Idaho big game rig.

I'm keep'n ma I on ya...

It sure has been a fun rifle/cartridge to play with and I have to agree with you on this being a **** good cartridge

That's pretty good speed with the 270 win. What length barrel? You may try some rl 26 if you have some. I see alliant shows a load with rl 26 and a 150 doing 3034 fps and the sites with their data seem conservative so you may get some more speed.

Sounds like you better scratch that itch and build a sherman!

 

[Idaho Trecker]

Ran out real fast during my lunch break to see what I could do with the 170 Berger and RL33 to max out with that. There is no way to stuff enough RL 33 into the Sherman to overpressure even with the long throat on mine. I ran one shot each with RL 33 and ...

69 gr 2964fps
70 2986
71 3005
Temp: 38 deg F
27.51 inHg

I was able to get better speed with RL 26 without too much pressure.

Also ran one over the magneto with my old accuracy load with Rl 33 and 165 Matrix at 69.9 grains. This load ran 3034 fps which is about 20 fps faster than my accuracy load with RL 26.

 

[elkaholic]

Ran out real fast during my lunch break to see what I could do with the 170 Berger and RL33 to max out with that. There is no way to stuff enough RL 33 into the Sherman to overpressure even with the long throat on mine. I ran one shot each with RL 33 and ...

69 gr 2964fps
70 2986
71 3005
Temp: 38 deg F
27.51 inHg

I was able to get better speed with RL 26 without too much pressure.

Also ran one over the magneto with my old accuracy load with Rl 33 and 165 Matrix at 69.9 grains. This load ran 3034 fps which is about 20 fps faster than my accuracy load with RL 26.

I think the Matrix has a little more bearing surface which is a plus with that powder. Builds a little more pressure......Rich

 

[Idaho Trecker]

Played with some RL 33 and shot some 170's yesterday. I got more velocity with less pressure than the RL 26 load I was using. Funny story on the group... I was shooting at 155 yards (i know its random) and with the magnetospeed on it changes my POI alot. My target was 12x16" and the bullets were hitting on the flap that I taped up above the paper I had out so I didnt see the holes from my first two (solid rests) and gave up on the third and didnt use my rear bag... big mistake when I got up to the target and saw two holes touching and the third shot was 2"right and 3/4" low. I'm really kicking myself for not following through on the last shot. You can take what you want from my group but I'm extremely confident that if i had used my rear bag and actually aimed carefully the group would have been .2-.3 moa. The 3 shots over my magnetospeed had an ES of 4 FPS!!! 3024, 3022, 3026 fps.

Made it back out today with my go-to load with the 165 Matrix and got some longer range shooting. Had a 12" steel circle plate out at 1500 yards. The winds were variable 4.5-6 with rolling hills in between and coming at 90 degrees from right to left. Ran the numbers and came up with 46 moa with 5 1/4 moa windage. Held for 4 moa windage to account for spin drift. Let the first one fly and was a little high but windage was right on. Brought it down to 43 3/4 moa which was perfect for elevation. After that it was just a fight for the variable winds. I only had one bullet hit the plate but it was a nice sideways bullet profile haha the impact was 3" low and skipped out of the dirt which made it tumble and hit the plate. After measuring if I would have had a square and not circle I would have had 3 hits.

Long story short I am very happy with the performance of this rifle.

Next time out I'll have to run that 170 berger load with the little more velocity and higher BC.

 

[elkaholic]

Thought that 33 might work. I am going to try some in my 280 Sherman behind some 183 Sierras.........Rich

 

[Idaho Trecker]

It seems like 33 will be the ticket in these 270 heavies. Wonder if Hornady will ever bring out a 270 ELD x or m?

 

[Idaho Trecker]

Loaded up 165 Matrix and 170 Berger today over 72 grains of RL 33 to see what a little compression would do with this combo and it was pretty impressive. To start my range day I got all set up and realized I forgot my bipod at home so had to make due with some makeshift rests. Set the target up at 100 and strapped on the Magneto. Keep in mind this rifle has a long throat. I was wanting to shoot this at a higher temperature to see if even that would pressure out and was not able to at 70 degrees and 27.2 inHg.

The 165 group was not great, but neither was my rests, and ended about 1.7" three shot group. The impressive part is there was no pressure signs and the speeds were great!
The 170 group was much better with the first shot being .7" high of the next 2 that went in the same hole!

165 170

3134 3115
3153 3105
3158 3112

Next time hopefully i'll remember my bipod and get some better groups out of it.

 

[Ramblin76]

Hey there everyone, figure I better join this thread as I too have a .270 Sherman. Thanks Rich!
I got it back from the smith last September. I didn't have a lot of time for load development so I went with 165 Matrix with some h4831 ( I have a lot of it) 58gr, seated .57 off lands, knowing I would be going to rl26 or maybe rl33 in the future. But I needed something for elk season.
Not sure on exact speeds as I don't have a magneto yet, I know its quite a bit slower than the RL's. Accuracy was good, improving more down range as I kept backing off the lands until .57. Funny thing Idaho Trecker, I also used Diamond T and wanted a long throat! Shawn had mentioned he had done one earlier, now I know it was yours. I went with a 26in. Krieger contour #4, 1-9 twist. Used a Winchester action, 1) because I had one on hand and 2) its fun to be a little different. Its a shooter!! 1 for 1 on elk, 136yds, (funny all that time on the range) one shot though!
Any ways Ill keep you all posted, Ill be doing some load development with rl26 with the matrix 165"s and the 170 Berger's. Hope to get some rl33 in the mix too.