270 Win, 130 E-tip, RL-26, .225" bullet jump

[NYDAN]

Prior posts by Joel7651, LHSAKO, and Dr. Mike, piqued my interest in trying the 130 gr. E-Tip in my 1:9" twist Hart barreled, Rem. M700 chambered in 270 Win. Joel7651 and LHSAKO had some good results with Reloder 26.

After working up to a charge weight of RL-26 to what I thought was below max level according to QuickLOAD, I started trying different bullet jumps. At the encouragement of Dr. Mike to try longer jumps, I ended up at a bullet jump of .225" and shot the following .7" four shot group.

The velocity jumped up about 38 fps between bullet jumps of .205" and .225". I attribute that to powder compression. I believe the powder reached 100% fill at an OAL of 3.245 and is slightly compressed at this OAL of 3.235.

I should note that this barrel has a long throat so I am still getting a long bullet jump at this OAL.



The problem is that I used up a whole box of bullets in trying ever longer bullets jumps. Now, I am out of 130 gr. E-Tips.

Dan

 

[lhsako]

Dan, looking good. How much farther to the lands ? .7" group at that velocity and with that penetrating bullet is great!
Will the magazine allow seating the bullet much further?

 

[DrMike]

That is quite encouraging. I have to believe that load will put a real smack down on about anything you should happen to hunt with it.

 

[NYDAN]

Dan, looking good. How much farther to the lands ? .7" group at that velocity and with that penetrating bullet is great!
Will the magazine allow seating the bullet much further?

The bullet is seated .225" from the lands. The magazine is quite long and I could seat a bullet this long to be very close to the lands. My trial groups were with bullet jumps from .090" to .225". I haven't tried seating the bullet closer than .090" to the lands.

 

[SJB358]

That is quite encouraging. I have to believe that load will put a real smack down on about anything you should happen to hunt with it.

Oh man, you’re not kidding. That 130 at 3200 is a sheer ripper in my opinion. I’m not sure of the minimum for expansion but that should really carry some mail and being a mono I’d bet it’ll take a lot of bone and meat to stop one.

Great shooting Dan. Do you have any place to shoot them out further? Looks like a good load. 4 shots under MOA is pretty darned good.

 

[DrMike]

Scotty,

Dan is launching those only a hundred feet or so less than I do with my 270 WSM. I've taken moose, elk, mule deer, whitetail and black bear with that load at distances from 50 yards to >200 yards. I have yet to recover a bullet and all have dropped with one shot. Shucks, the mere threat of using that load has made a couple of game animals come and lay down at my feet! 8)

 

[SJB358]

Scotty,

Dan is launching those only a hundred feet or so less than I do with my 270 WSM. I've taken moose, elk, mule deer, whitetail and black bear with that load at distances from 50 yards to >200 yards. I have yet to recover a bullet and all have dropped with one shot. Shucks, the mere threat of using that load has made a couple of game animals come and lay down at my feet! 8)

Yeah, I remember all of them!

The mono running that speed is a heckuva combo. Should get excellent expansion and drive deep as well. 3200 is no joke with that combo.

 

[NYDAN]

I’m not sure of the minimum for expansion but that should really carry some mail and being a mono I’d bet it’ll take a lot of bone and meat to stop one.

Great shooting Dan. Do you have any place to shoot them out further? Looks like a good load. 4 shots under MOA is pretty darned good.

Scotty, Nosler says the minimum speed for expansion is 1800 fps. The ballistic tables show this should still have 2200 fps at 500 yards which is further than I plan to shoot with it.

Yes, I can shoot to 200 yards year around, and to 400 yards when the corn is cut. However, I don't have enough bullets left to shoot at longer distances.

I want to do an expansion/penetration comparison of the 130 gr. E-Tip with a muzzle velocity of 3200 fps and the 150 gr. BT with a muzzle velocity of 2900 fps. If I can I will throw in a comparison with a 150 gr. ABLR.

Dan

 

[SJB358]

I’d like to see that Dan. I’d bet that bullet mows through some jugs.

The 150 BT is no slouch at all either. That bullet is a tough nut in my opinion.

 

[lhsako]

Dan, looking good. How much farther to the lands ? .7" group at that velocity and with that penetrating bullet is great!
Will the magazine allow seating the bullet much further?

The bullet is seated .225" from the lands. The magazine is quite long and I could seat a bullet this long to be very close to the lands. My trial groups were with bullet jumps from .090" to .225". I haven't tried seating the bullet closer than .090" to the lands.

>>Seating deeper would be worth a try. I Recall Dr. Mike has found that monolithic/bonded sometimes shoot better that way.

 

[Joec7651]

My 270 Win really likes the E-Tip coated with HBN at 3.340” OAL. That puts it .015” off the lands. I haven’t had to seat them deeply when using slower powders like RL-26 or IMR-7828ssc. The 7828 load will shoot a .383” group, and RL-26 is a consistent half inch group with better velocity at 3150 fps with a 61 grain charge weight.

I’ve also used the 55 grain .223 E-Tip, also HBN coated, in a 24” heavy barrelled AR15 at 3350 fps with excellent accuracy (less than .5”) on pasture poodles (coyotes). They are dead before their chin hits the ground. This rifle truly is laser accurate with them.

 

[Joec7651]

I do recommend coating E-Tips (all projectiles actually) with HBN. It lowers pressure due to less friction. It all but eliminates copper fouling, and supposedly extends barrel life. I’m not sure about the barrel life part.

One thing to remember once 10-20 coated bullets have been put down the bore and spreads the HBN the full length of the bore, is that with less friction and pressure, velocity will drop a little. You’ll have to increase your powder charge to get back to where you were before coating with HBN. The increase in charge weight will not give an over pressure scenario however. Most times it will allow a higher max charge and increased final velocities before pressure becomes evident.

With the higher pressures that E-Tips produce HBN lowers those pressures substantially, and at least in my case made load development much easier compared to without coating them. With HBN pressure with E-Tips rises much more gradually and evenly, eliminating the extreme pressure spikes inherent to E-Tips.

 

[SJB358]

I do recommend coating E-Tips (all projectiles actually) with HBN. It lowers pressure due to less friction. It all but eliminates copper fouling, and supposedly extends barrel life. I’m not sure about the barrel life part.

One thing to remember once 10-20 coated bullets have been put down the bore and spreads the HBN the full length of the bore, is that with less friction and pressure, velocity will drop a little. You’ll have to increase your powder charge to get back to where you were before coating with HBN. The increase in charge weight will not give an over pressure scenario however. Most times it will allow a higher max charge and increased final velocities before pressure becomes evident.

With the higher pressures that E-Tips produce HBN lowers those pressures substantially, and at least in my case made load development much easier compared to without coating them. With HBN pressure with E-Tips rises much more gradually and evenly, eliminating the extreme pressure spikes inherent to E-Tips.

Joe, I’d like to hear more about HBN coating if you were interested in making a how to thread. Thank you for describing it.

 

[Joec7651]

The problem is that I used up a whole box of bullets in trying ever longer bullets jumps. Now, I am out of 130 gr. E-Tips.

Dan

If you can’t find any to replace what you shot up, I can send you a package of 50, .277, 130 grain E-Tips so you can load 50 rounds for hunting. Just pm me your address.

 

[Joec7651]

I do recommend coating E-Tips (all projectiles actually) with HBN. It lowers pressure due to less friction. It all but eliminates copper fouling, and supposedly extends barrel life. I’m not sure about the barrel life part.

One thing to remember once 10-20 coated bullets have been put down the bore and spreads the HBN the full length of the bore, is that with less friction and pressure, velocity will drop a little. You’ll have to increase your powder charge to get back to where you were before coating with HBN. The increase in charge weight will not give an over pressure scenario however. Most times it will allow a higher max charge and increased final velocities before pressure becomes evident.

With the higher pressures that E-Tips produce HBN lowers those pressures substantially, and at least in my case made load development much easier compared to without coating them. With HBN pressure with E-Tips rises much more gradually and evenly, eliminating the extreme pressure spikes inherent to E-Tips.

Joe, I’d like to hear more about HBN coating if you were interested in making a how to thread. Thank you for describing it.

SJB, I’ll give it a shot. It’s pretty simple and not messy like moly.

 

[SJB358]

I do recommend coating E-Tips (all projectiles actually) with HBN. It lowers pressure due to less friction. It all but eliminates copper fouling, and supposedly extends barrel life. I’m not sure about the barrel life part.

One thing to remember once 10-20 coated bullets have been put down the bore and spreads the HBN the full length of the bore, is that with less friction and pressure, velocity will drop a little. You’ll have to increase your powder charge to get back to where you were before coating with HBN. The increase in charge weight will not give an over pressure scenario however. Most times it will allow a higher max charge and increased final velocities before pressure becomes evident.

With the higher pressures that E-Tips produce HBN lowers those pressures substantially, and at least in my case made load development much easier compared to without coating them. With HBN pressure with E-Tips rises much more gradually and evenly, eliminating the extreme pressure spikes inherent to E-Tips.

Joe, I’d like to hear more about HBN coating if you were interested in making a how to thread. Thank you for describing it.

SJB, I’ll give it a shot. It’s pretty simple and not messy like moly.

I’d like to see it. Just watched a few videos on it. I’d like to see some ground truth sorta stories and how to’s though.