Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .270 Win elk load for SIL's bro

Headed to the range yesterday to do load development for a SIL's brother (Alex) who is in the Navy and may hunt elk with us this fall. The rifle in question is a Savage 111 with synthetic stock and AccuTrigger. The chambering is .270 Winchester.

The last trip (also the first) such trip left me with a 145g ELD-X and 150 LABR loads using H100V that showed MOA accuracy promise but fell short on velocity. This time I used only the 145 ELD-X at SIL's request. (He will be doing the reloading in the future.) For powders I used heavier charges of H100V and ran a new ladder test with H4831SC.

The new H100V tests got the velocity up to 2886fps and 2893fps in two separate 3-shot tests using 0.5g powder increments. Accuracy for the second three was right at MOA with the first set at 1.3MOA. Acceptable, considering each shot in a set used a different powder charge.

The H4831SC test results were very good. The first set of 6 shots, again using 0.5g powder increments, left a group measuring 1.95" overall with 1.18" vertical and 0.60" horizontal dispersion and a top velocity of 2954fps. The second set was outstanding - 0.98" overall with 0.95" and 0.43" horizontal dispersion. Top velocity was 2966fps. Picking any three consecutive shots from the second string, the largest group was 0.926".

Like everyone else, I know the .270 is weak and gay. Still, ...

Given a .536 G1 B.C. (Hornady's current claim) and 7000 feet altitude, a 145g ELD-X leaving at 2938fps (59.0g H4831SC and 0.9g under Hornady's max). arrives with retained velocity/energy of 2160fps/1502fpe at 630 yards per my ballistic calculator. At 500 yards, a hold high on fur should take out the top of the heart/lung area with 2309fp/1717fpe.

My long-time rule of thumb is 2000fps/1500fpe for elk, with a caveat the velocity must be high enough to ensure reliable expansion of the particular bullet used. I think Alex will be well served by this load, especially given that a shot past 400 is unlikely and a max of 300 is far more likely.




Daughter #1 will be shooting a .270 Win as well, with 150g LRAB at 2912fps.