I am and have been a die hard black powder shooter/hunter with a .50 flintlock rifle. I am an avid black powder competitor in local and state level matches. But I had this itch for shooting to ranges longer then I cared to get into with black powder. I already owned this 1974 Remington 700 in .270 that I bought in the late 80's for elk hunting when I couldn't use a front stuffer. It has always been an MOA shooter but I knew it could be better. I started with stripping the stock of the factory varnish finish and did a boiled linseed oil/thinner finish and then floated the barrel. Since I am on a budget for this project I decided to try the Tasco Target/varmint 2.5-10 X 42 true mil dot scope. I added the BlackHawk cheek pad and bi-bod. I made a run to the range and instead of the very expensive ammo I used to use I thought I'd try the Fusion in 130 grain. I was very pleased with the bullet performance. I did get about .85 MOA but I still wasn't happy with the trigger. I researched and found Aquila Precision Firearms of La Porte, Texas who offers Remington 700 accurizing packages. He bedded and pillared the stock, replaced the stock trigger with a Timmney trigger and up graded the firing pin. I had him do a muzzle brake as I anticipate shooting this rifle a lot and didn't want to worry about recoil. When I got it back from the shop I took it to the range. It now shoots to about .75 MOA and what a difference! Now to build my load which means getting into cartridge reloading. And then a lot of practice.
My Entry Into LRH
- Thread starter Kenrup
- Start date
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liltank
Well-Known Member
Sounds like you are on your way.
royinidaho
Well-Known Member
Yep, yur hooked!!
Great start!!
When you get to the reloading part there are plenty of 270 Win threads that will provide some great ideas.
Good luck and good shooting!!
Great start!!
When you get to the reloading part there are plenty of 270 Win threads that will provide some great ideas.
Good luck and good shooting!!
liltank
Well-Known Member
Now that I have a little time. Look into some good brass. You could always buy some Lapua 30-06 and run it through your 270 sizing die. That would give you some really good brass to start with. Another couple of good options would be Norma and Federal. Norma is right up there with Lapua, so you can't go wrong there. I just loaded some Federal brass for my brothers 270, and it is a tack driver. So on the affordable scale the Federal is the way to go. I loaded the 150 Hornady SST. It has the second best ballistic coefficient of the 270 bullets. Berger's 150gr Hunting bullet would be the best. There are some other smaller vendors that will provide a higher BC bullet. Matrix is the first that come to mind. They have BTHP in 165 and 175 grain that will stomp either of my first suggestions. Some guys are having good luck with them. IF you should go this route, stick with the 165's as they seem to be the best bullet for factory twist barrels.
For powder can't go wrong with H1000, and H4831. There are some classic loads out there, but with the new powders, the 270 is a much better caliber than Jack O'Connor was touting it. There are some powders by Alliant that may be of consideration. Reloader 19, 22, 25, and Power Pro 4000MR. I prefer Alliant, but IMR and Ramshot should get a look also.
Primers are mute point some times. Most will work, unless you get finicky. I prefer Federal 210M's, my cousin prefers CCI2BR's. I have had great results with Wolf primers also. You'll have to play around and see which works best for you. It's good to have a few different types laying around. The arrant flier will happen. If it is a solid load that gives you a good extreme spread in velocity and a low standard deviation between each load, but produces a flier, changing primer can sometimes help. That is what I have found. If that doesn't fix it, then you will have to play with seating depth.
Well hope this helps you get started. Make sure you get a good set of reloading dies. I prefer Redding, though thinking about going back to Hornady. We'll see. Welcome to LRH.
Tank
For powder can't go wrong with H1000, and H4831. There are some classic loads out there, but with the new powders, the 270 is a much better caliber than Jack O'Connor was touting it. There are some powders by Alliant that may be of consideration. Reloader 19, 22, 25, and Power Pro 4000MR. I prefer Alliant, but IMR and Ramshot should get a look also.
Primers are mute point some times. Most will work, unless you get finicky. I prefer Federal 210M's, my cousin prefers CCI2BR's. I have had great results with Wolf primers also. You'll have to play around and see which works best for you. It's good to have a few different types laying around. The arrant flier will happen. If it is a solid load that gives you a good extreme spread in velocity and a low standard deviation between each load, but produces a flier, changing primer can sometimes help. That is what I have found. If that doesn't fix it, then you will have to play with seating depth.
Well hope this helps you get started. Make sure you get a good set of reloading dies. I prefer Redding, though thinking about going back to Hornady. We'll see. Welcome to LRH.
Tank
Thanks for the information! You knocked off a bunch of questions that I had. I fortunately have Federal brass so I'm good to go there. I was planing on getting one of the Lee starter setups. This .270 will be the only cartridge that I'll be loading. I usually don't trust anything that I can't load from the front.
liltank
Well-Known Member
In the fall and spring, I shoot a 50 cal CVA Frontier Carbine. I've had it since 1989. At those times, I shoot competition against other guys from Ohio and here in PA. I'm pretty decent with that little rifle. 30gr of 3F Goex will let me cut holes with round ball and patch.
As far as Lee starter kits, I would suggest the Hornady Lock-n-Load start up kit. They have some great peaces of equipment that come with them. If you don't get a powder measure w/ your kit, I would suggest looking into the RCBS digital scale. They work really well. As for load data, I am loading my brothers w/ 58.5grn of H1000. Not sure of the velocity, but it is very accurate for all the farther he plans to shoot it. Just check the book to make sure it's within the safe parameters or the powder.
As far as Lee starter kits, I would suggest the Hornady Lock-n-Load start up kit. They have some great peaces of equipment that come with them. If you don't get a powder measure w/ your kit, I would suggest looking into the RCBS digital scale. They work really well. As for load data, I am loading my brothers w/ 58.5grn of H1000. Not sure of the velocity, but it is very accurate for all the farther he plans to shoot it. Just check the book to make sure it's within the safe parameters or the powder.
My primary front stuffer is a custom .50 early Hawken style full stock flint lock. I've won many matches with it. I hold the Texas State championship in closed rifle with a .54 percussion half-stock Hawken. I also took second in the championship for light bench with it. I have the CWSA marksmen national championship for rifled musket. I used an Italian .58 1863 Remington Zouave. I just missed the Texas State Musket Championship with it too. Second place sucks. But it's still better then third.
I've done long distance black powder shooting with a friends Shiloh Sharps .45-70. He has it all tricked out and nailing steel rams at 400 meters was a snap. Trouble is in BP long distance it's about $1,000.00 per 100 meters in gun and sights. That's too much for my budget. My I have a 1861 Springfield .58 musket that is good to 300 meters so that will work for me.
liltank
Well-Known Member
Very nice. Never thought about trying anything too organized. Ours is a camp in the middle of the woods with many different paper targets. We use a crow, fox, groundhog, bullseye, and the infamous V-target. That last one is very difficult. The other target that I find very difficult splitting the ball on the double headed ax to shatter clay pigeons.
Where I belong and shoot as is primarily a muzzle loading gun club. However; most of our members just need a range to use and don't do the BP thing. We have some members that are serious military weapons shooters but not a lot of folks are there for long range shooting. The club is working on a NRA certification for BP cartridge silhouette range. Our longest is distance is 425 yards but NRA allows for proportioned sized steel targets.
The first Sunday of each month is a round ball shoot and aggregate scores are kept through the year with a Top Gun trophy awarded in January. I'm currently in second place but threating for first. The third Sunday is an informal shoot of round ball fun targets to 200-300 yard musket steel to cartridge BP matches. This weekend we're doing a round ball rendezvous style shooting from the pouch fun match. We too will do the axe head ball split along with split the playing card, dangling charcoal briquettes, poker chips on a string, steel swingers where the line backs up five yards after each round with the winner being the one to hit from the furthest distance and sometimes a speed loading silhouette match. It's a lot of fun.
Our club is also part of the Civil War Skirmish Association. We hold Texas regional skirmishes three times a year. Last year we hosted the Grand National Skirmish. This is a whole 'nother kind of shooting and it's about as much fun as you can have with your clothes on. We do team matches with rifled muskets, carbines, pistol and smooth-bore muskets. We shoot breakable targets and each event has a time limit event of usually five minutes. It's load and shoot as fast as you can with still hitting targets. We also have artillery with mortars and cannons. We tend to generate a lot of smoke on artillery weekends. Each team is a named after an actual Civil War unit. I'm with Company A of the 6th Texas Infantry. I'm also the bugler for the 6th Texas.
With all these opportunities I tend to go through a pound of black powder about every other week or so. I also mold about 275 pounds a lead a year.
The first Sunday of each month is a round ball shoot and aggregate scores are kept through the year with a Top Gun trophy awarded in January. I'm currently in second place but threating for first. The third Sunday is an informal shoot of round ball fun targets to 200-300 yard musket steel to cartridge BP matches. This weekend we're doing a round ball rendezvous style shooting from the pouch fun match. We too will do the axe head ball split along with split the playing card, dangling charcoal briquettes, poker chips on a string, steel swingers where the line backs up five yards after each round with the winner being the one to hit from the furthest distance and sometimes a speed loading silhouette match. It's a lot of fun.
Our club is also part of the Civil War Skirmish Association. We hold Texas regional skirmishes three times a year. Last year we hosted the Grand National Skirmish. This is a whole 'nother kind of shooting and it's about as much fun as you can have with your clothes on. We do team matches with rifled muskets, carbines, pistol and smooth-bore muskets. We shoot breakable targets and each event has a time limit event of usually five minutes. It's load and shoot as fast as you can with still hitting targets. We also have artillery with mortars and cannons. We tend to generate a lot of smoke on artillery weekends. Each team is a named after an actual Civil War unit. I'm with Company A of the 6th Texas Infantry. I'm also the bugler for the 6th Texas.
With all these opportunities I tend to go through a pound of black powder about every other week or so. I also mold about 275 pounds a lead a year.
liltank
Well-Known Member
That sounds like a lot of fun.
royinidaho
Well-Known Member
Start hand loading for my Rem 700. I used Nosler 130gr Ballastic Tip boat tail, with 55.5grns of H4831. The 100yard test was .65" sub MOA. The picture is of my 425 yard test.
I chronographed the rounds at 2700fps. I think it is a bit slow for what I'm looking for. Over all for starting out I pretty pleased.
I chronographed the rounds at 2700fps. I think it is a bit slow for what I'm looking for. Over all for starting out I pretty pleased.
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liltank
Well-Known Member
According to reloadersnest.com. your load looks a little light. Can't argue with the accuracy though. Might want to look into Reloader 22. One guy has speeds in excess of 3100fps. Looks like you can get the 4831 up over 3000fps also. Keep plugging along if you want more speed. If your happy with what you got, keep on shooting. Looks good so far.
