270 Sherman Build completed!!!

[elkaholic]

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.

Good to here from you ramblin! I think you will like RL26. Good luck this fall.....Rich

 

[Idaho Trecker]

I remember Shawn talking about doing another 270 Sherman when I had mine made. Glad you like it! I settled on 62 grains of rl 26 and 70 grains of rl 33 with the 165 matrix. Basically the same loads for the 170 berger but start low with both. I am in the testing phase with some BIG 270 bullets that may really shine in the Sherman. I will get through some more testing before I release any information on the bullet or maker.

 

[couesaddict]

Just got a barrel, stock and wyatts extended box ordered up for one of these myself. I've got a M-70 25-06 that's going to be the donor for the project. Do you guys feel a need for a brake on these? I'm not very recoil sensitive but my wife is. That 25-06 with the factory Winchester boss barrel on it is about all she wants to handle and she's just starting to show interest in shooting and hunting so I don't want her to develop bad habits from the recoil. She generally shoots as good or better than I do but She wants no part of my .300 RUM and it has a pretty decent brake on it. I'm going with a 28" light Palma contour barrel and an hs vertical grip stock so the rifle will end up 10-11 lbs I would guess. Thanks for any replies.

 

[Idaho Trecker]

Just got a barrel, stock and wyatts extended box ordered up for one of these myself. I've got a M-70 25-06 that's going to be the donor for the project. Do you guys feel a need for a brake on these? I'm not very recoil sensitive but my wife is. That 25-06 with the factory Winchester boss barrel on it is about all she wants to handle and she's just starting to show interest in shooting and hunting so I don't want her to develop bad habits from the recoil. She generally shoots as good or better than I do but She wants no part of my .300 RUM and it has a pretty decent brake on it. I'm going with a 28" light Palma contour barrel and an hs vertical grip stock so the rifle will end up 10-11 lbs I would guess. Thanks for any replies.

Nice! I love my 270 Sherman. Mine is in the 10-12 pound range. I cant remember for sure but with the 27" #5 contour and the NXS its not bad at all for recoil. A brake would really make it tame.

 

[couesaddict]

I'm thinking I may get a short two port brake when I have it built and also a thread cap so I can shoot without it sometimes. I won't put myself through shooting a braked rifle without hearing protection but some situations like calling kinda prohibit it. If you don't mind me asking, how much freebore did you end up going with? I figure on having it cut good and long to get the most out of it and ordered a wyatts extended box so hopefully they'll still feed. Also just picked up a nxs 5.5-22x50 today off the classifieds. Gonna have to go back to work before the wife has my hide!

 

[Idaho Trecker]

I'm thinking I may get a short two port brake when I have it built and also a thread cap so I can shoot without it sometimes. I won't put myself through shooting a braked rifle without hearing protection but some situations like calling kinda prohibit it. If you don't mind me asking, how much freebore did you end up going with? I figure on having it cut good and long to get the most out of it and ordered a wyatts extended box so hopefully they'll still feed. Also just picked up a nxs 5.5-22x50 today off the classifieds. Gonna have to go back to work before the wife has my hide!

Sounds like a good start! I have not done any modifications to my Rem 700 LA and I can still run the 165 Matrix and 170 Berger out to the lands. I have not used a 2 port brake before but I would imagine it would not be as effective as just getting a good 3 port. I'm not sure on the free bore on my rifle. I'll have to do some measuring when things slow down on the home front.

 

[Ramblin76]

I'm thinking I may get a short two port brake when I have it built and also a thread cap so I can shoot without it sometimes. I won't put myself through shooting a braked rifle without hearing protection but some situations like calling kinda prohibit it. If you don't mind me asking, how much freebore did you end up going with? I figure on having it cut good and long to get the most out of it and ordered a wyatts extended box so hopefully they'll still feed. Also just picked up a nxs 5.5-22x50 today off the classifieds. Gonna have to go back to work before the wife has my hide!

I put a radial brake on mine. It's a pleasure to shoot as far as recoil, but yes ear protection is a must! I'll attach a photo ...
As far as free bore I'm not sure exactly on the length. But I don't have any issues with the 165 Matrix. I'm in the process of working up some 170 Bergers and I haven't had any issues there yet. A Wyatts is a good call as I had to modify my magazine to except the matrix not sure yet on the Bergers. More to come on those.
I did manage to shoot 3 groups yesterday using RL 26 and had good luck with 62 gr with the 165 Matrix.

 

[couesaddict]

That's a sweet looking rig. Yeah the Winchester magazine is quite a bit shorter than the Remington so for big long bullets you have to extend them. It would be nice if somebody would come out with a factory long action and magazine that would handle 4"... Seems like it's always a restriction but I guess that's all triggered by saami specs. Boring!

 

[Idaho Trecker]

Been struggling lately with this rifle and finally started over completely and did some more extensive testing with primers with a new powder that I've been searching for locally for a year now and finally bit the bullet and ordered it (N570).

For yesterdays testing I started with a completely clean barrel, 2x fired Norma brass, 170 Berger and a quick pressure test to start and foul the barrel. For all rounds shot I had a loaded outside neck diameter of .303", seated at 2.889" BTO, and 65.5 grains of N570 (just a reminder my rifle has a very long throat so be aware). All speeds were taken with magnetospeed.

I also have stopped using HBN in this rifle.

Primer FPS Group

Fed 210 GM 2975 .6" Primers looked good
2992 bolt lift good
2981

Fed 215 GM 3039 2.360" Lowest ES Worst group
3053 Slight swipe on head
3041

CCI BR-2 3007 .475" Worst ES Best group
2980 Primers good
2968

CCI 200 2998 1.430" Primers good
3016
2995

Fed 215 3063 1.350" Slight swipe on case head
3055
3035

This showed me really how big of a difference primers can make. I knew it would make some but not to this extent. The Fed 210 gm is the primer I had been using in this before and will probably stick with and maybe bring the speed up a little if possible. All in all launching the 170 at these speeds is still pretty impressive for an 270 based cartridge!!! I'll be re trying my 165 Matrix load without the HBN and using the N570 since I have so many of them and would rather use them for hunting.

Don't know what happened to the formatting when this posted but that's not how I had it.

 

[elkaholic]

Nice job Ryan! You must have some room left for powder, right?........Rich

 

[Idaho Trecker]

Nice job Ryan! You must have some room left for powder, right?........Rich

I do have some room left since it has the long throat. I can get around 67.5 grains in the case under the 170 Berger. I am going to work up in .4 grains to see if my groups close up at all and get a little more speed.

 

[elkaholic]

i do have some room left since it has the long throat. I can get around 67.5 grains in the case under the 170 berger. I am going to work up in .4 grains to see if my groups close up at all and get a little more speed.

speed kills!:d

 

[Korhil78]

Why don't you play with the seating depth and powder charge of the load with the smallest group and CCI BR2 primer? Seems like you could find a node with good ES out of that.

 

[Idaho Trecker]

Why don't you play with the seating depth and powder charge of the load with the smallest group and CCI BR2 primer? Seems like you could find a node with good ES out of that.

Already worked on powder this morning before the downpour and winds! I'm sticking with the 210 Match primer but went up .4 grains of powder and the group was exactly the same as with .4 less but now I have a definite extractor mark on the case head. I didnt have the magneto on for this mornings tests.

Next I kept everything the same as yesterdays loads but I seated .025 deeper and .025 further out. By the time I got this round loaded up the storm was almost to me and I was informed the inlaws would be here in 5 minutes also.... great... but I was able to get the deepest seated shot which opened up further than the original depth. Then the inlaws showed up and brought the storm with them but I didnt want to wait another week to finish this up and know where to go from here so I shot them anyways even though the barrel didnt cool completely before starting again. This group was looking very good with the first 2 in the same hole but the third I threw a little to the right. I didnt feel to bad with these results considering the time constraint and sideways blowing rain. Figured this would be a good time to retreat from the deck back inside.

From this its looking like seating them further out may work better. I can work from this next week and get some speeds again then start lobbing them up the hillside at the 1560 yard mark