270 Win 140 AB Assistance needed

[Dr. Vette]

I thought I'd give a quick update.

I tried repeated attempts of the 140AB and H4831SC with no improvement in performance or repeatability. It can shoot 1 1/2" at 100 yards any day but never any better.

I tried the 140AB with RL-16 last week, and groups were more triangular and down to 1 1/4" at best. Still not really what I was looking for as I've seen it do better.

This week I'm moving on to something different. I looked at all the empty cases from the load development for this rifle, and I've shot a LOT of 140 Accubonds through this thing. Time to be done.

 

[SJB358]

Seat them .100” off and run a 10 shot load profile. I’ll bet you find something. Not saying you’ll find the absolute fastest but you’ll find an accurate load.

I’ve seen too many rifles be super picky and unless they are heirlooms I’d prefer not have a sensitive rifle. Just don’t like casting spells and witchcraft activities to make a rifle shoot.

 

[JPP]

Not sure what speeds your nodes was at and I haven't tried the 140 AB yet but my old Husqvarna with 24" barrel loves the 140 gr Partitions with nodes at 2800 and 2900 fps .... shoots 1/2 MOA's. I normaly start off with a 0.039" jump on load development. Norma brass also seems to work well

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[Dr. Vette]

Seat them .100” off and run a 10 shot load profile. I’ll bet you find something. Not saying you’ll find the absolute fastest but you’ll find an accurate load.

I’ve seen too many rifles be super picky and unless they are heirlooms I’d prefer not have a sensitive rifle. Just don’t like casting spells and witchcraft activities to make a rifle shoot.

I've tried several seating depths when I first worked with this rifle 5y ago.
None of them seemed to make any difference with the 140 AB.

 

[SJB358]

Have you tried a middling load of H4831 and ran from say .030, .060, .090 and .120 and seen any pattern?

If you have and still nothing I’d probably move on Doc. No sense in fighting billets. Too many great ones out there.

 

[Dr. Vette]

Have you tried a middling load of H4831 and ran from say .030, .060, .090 and .120 and seen any pattern?
.

Yep.

Used what appeared to be the best one for most of the initial testing.
No dice.

I think a 140AB in the 270 would be a great do-anything load, but if it doesn't shoot well in this rifle, there's just so much of my life I want to spend on it.

 

[boomer68]

Just curious, but how do 130gr or 150gr reloads shoot? I used to own a S2 in 270 and it preferred 150gr.

 

[frankm]

Might consider running a couple 140 BT groups with the charges you re trying now. I ve found a rifle can be picky with AB s but tightened right down with BT s. 130 s and 150 s in the BT would also be a good candidate if you should happen to have a few of those around. Just adjust your powder charge accordingly. Lastly, BTs have have shot great for me when seated .030 off the lands.

 

[dd.payson1018]

Have you tried a middling load of H4831 and ran from say .030, .060, .090 and .120 and seen any pattern?
.

Yep.

Used what appeared to be the best one for most of the initial testing.
No dice.

I think a 140AB in the 270 would be a great do-anything load, but if it doesn't shoot well in this rifle, there's just so much of my life I want to spend on it.

I too have a Weatherby Vanguard S2 in .270 Win, with a moderate contour 24" barrel. My rifle did not like the Nosler 140 grain AccuBond. The best I could do was about 1.25" 100 yard groups at 100 yards with 51 grains IMR 4831. Everything else was in the 1.5 to 2.5 inch range. I settled on this load for the hunting season but abandoned it afterwards because this rifle shot factory federal blue box ammo at 1/2" groups. I tried everything from seating depth to the working my way up using IMR 4831. It should have been a clue to me that Nosler's most accurate load was their low starting load at 49.5 grains IMR 4831 with a relatively slow velocity for the .270 Win. However, the Nosler 140 grain Ballistic tips shot very well with a medium charge of 52.5 grains IMR 4831. They are a different bullet profile however and are a non bonded bullet.

I also tried Nosler 150 grain AccuBond Long Range bullets with the same results. I also abandoned those bullets too with not very good consistent results.

I eventually switched powders to H4831SC and ended up shooting 145 grain Hornady ELD-X with 57.2 grains of H4831SC. This combo shot extremely well at .020 off the lands. It shot very well at 100 yards and outstanding at 200 yards at under an inch. The Hornady 145 grain ELD-X is now my go to load for this rifle. This is a Secant bullet as opposed to the Nosler Tangent Profile bullets. I have since learned from others that the Nosler Accubonds like a much longer .140 to .070 jump as compared to Secant bullets that do best with short jumps of .020 to touching the lands. I am now a happy camper with this load.

Now my Remington. 308 Win with a long throat prefers Tangent bullets over the sleeker Hornady Secant ELD-X bullets. Thats my experience anyway. I included pics from left to right. 1st pic is 140 grain Nosler Accubonds, 2nd pic is Nosler 140 grain Ballistic Tips and the third "Red tip" bullet is the Hornady 145 grain ELD-X bullet.

Good luck, I hope my experience is helpful to you and others.

Dave

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[Dr. Vette]

I'm getting good accuracy using the 117gr Hammer Hunter bullets.

It appears that H4350 may be a bit more accurate and a bit faster than RL-16. My next range trip should tell which one I take antelope hunting in 2 weeks. Both loads are around 3300fps.

 

[highcotton]

I’m a little late on this one, but I finally got something encouraging with H414 under the 140 AB. I haven’t tuned the load yet, but shot it last year and was pleased.

 

[Palouser]

Have you tried a middling load of H4831 and ran from say .030, .060, .090 and .120 and seen any pattern?

If you have and still nothing I’d probably move on Doc. No sense in fighting billets. Too many great ones out there.

I shoot a Winchester Model 70, 270 Win, 60 Grains of H4831SC, new Nosler Brass, CCI BR2, 130 Grain Nosler Ballistic Tips, and get sub MOA most of the time, sometimes a little over, but I am not the best target shot. They are seated to 3.34" COAL which is SAAMI I believe. I just got around to checking the freebore, and at 3.34 these are .090" off the lands which is quite a jump. It sounds like you have given up, but just curious if you have ever checked the amount of freebore? I have heard Weatherbys have a lot of freebore!!! I am going to load a couple at .050" off and .010" off with the same 60 grains to see if there is any improvement. Just a thought. My same load in a friends Browning AB3 shot sub 1/2" groups.

 

[Dr. Vette]

Yes, I measured the freebore 5 years ago when I first started the project.
Weatherbys only have more freebore when chambered in a Weatherby caliber. For a270 Win I could find it with no problem. I tried several seating depths with no discernible difference (or improvement) in accuracy.