Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Tried RL26 and 150’s in the 270

Well finally found some RL26 so did some 150 gr load development in my Fwt 270...wowza! I am a pretty conservative loader usually stopping .5-1 grain below max. I tried Speer 150 hot cor’s, incrementing .5 grain at a time in charge weight, 5 different powders- IMR4831, H4831SC, Hunter, H4350 and RL26. The RL26 blew everything else away from an accuracy and velocity standpoint. I settled on 59grns which was the max I tried, it yielded 2965 ave and .6” 3-shot group. Hunter showed some promise accuracy wise, but the load data listed is anemic. For a powder with a burn rate very similar to IMR4831, the max listed charge weight from Ramshot was much less and tracked as such in the chrono data.

In a 22" bbl 270 with 150gr NPt's the best I could do was 2850 fps, with 60grs of RL-26 MV I'm getting 3004 fps. My other 22" bbl 270 does 3005 fps with 60grs. Acuracy improved in the first one and about the same with the second rifle.

Velocity and especially accuracy improved in two 243's with 100gr NPt's, also.

I’ve been searching for an #8 jug, no dice. Guess the word got out 🤫

Speer has 270 150gr load data on their website with RL26. Their max is considerable less than what’s listed on the Alliant site.

Think that powder would do well with 130 grain bullets?

Anybody tested it's actual temperature sensitivity?

Hadnt tried it with 130’s but plan on doing a load work up in the future using mono’s.

The Speer data has RL26 with 130 grain bullets for a velocity of 3,171 with 60.3 grains, the highest velocity of any of the powders listed. Funny thing is they don't list H4831. Second on the list with the next highest velocity is H1000 using 64.0 grains for 3,166 fps.

https://www.speer-ammo.com/download...iber-68mm_277_dia/270_Winchester_130.pdf

I'm getting 3,100 fps with 61.2 grains of RL26 and a 140 grain bullet out of a 22" barrel.

3,100FPS with something like a 140g NAB would be a no-nonsense deer rifle for sure. That's humming along pretty well for a 22" pipe.

And that's exactly the bullet I hope to be shooting. I just haven't tried it yet so I don't know if the accuracy is there. The groups I shot with the RL26 were with 140 grain Bergers. In the past I've loaded both Berger and Accubond 140's with 58 grains of H4831 and accuracy was equally good with either bullet. So I'm hoping the same will be true with the RL26. The difference will be an extra 250 fps with the RL26.

For the 150’s Speer list max at 56.8, alliant lists max about 60.2-61.5 depending on specific bullet. I’m good at 59, not going to push it.

Gents,

I ran the 140 accubond / reloader 26 in my 22 in model 70 super grade featherweight

59.5 grains give me an average velocity of 3026 ft per second
60 grains averaged 3055 feet per second
60.5 grains average 3097 feet per second

Velocity was recorded with LabRadar, accuracy was best at 59.5

Berger load data

http://www.bergerbullets.com/pdf/270-Win-140gr.pdf

RL 26 is a bit faster than RL 25

The highest Alliant lists is 60.8 for the Partition, Berger lists 61.5 for their 140.

On-line Alliant data for RL26 list:
60.8 max 150 Nosler Partition
60.2 max 150 Sierra GK
60.4 max 150 Speer BTSP
61.5 max 150 Speer GS

On-line Speer data for RL26 max is 56.8, for 150 gr HC, BTSP, GS

The berger data seems to trend with the Alliant data. Im eager to see Hornady, Nosler etc. data when available.

Without pushing, my favorite .270 gets close to 3050 fps with R26 and 150 NPTs and is really accurate with that load. Awfully close to 7mm Mag performance.

Im a believer in the “no free lunch”, this powder defies that. You dont have to push the limits (defined by limited available data) and easily exceed factory published ballistics by 100-150 fps. I wish there was a powder that did this for the 30-06, or every cartridge for that matter.

I don't think this powder defies anything. The loads are based on pressure tested data as tested by the manufacturer. Some powders do better in some cartridges. RL26 just works really well in the .270 with heavy bullets much like RL17 works really well in the .300 WSM or Ramshot Hunter does better than most powders in the .30-06 with 180s. I don't think RL26 is magic powder. It's just really good in the .270 Win.

You may find this helpful. I am running slightly less than this listed max and getting within 10 fps of Alliant with the. Same bullet and primer.

http://www.alliantpowder.com/reload...ight=150&shellid=63&bulletid=367

One other example would be Lil'Gun in the .22 Hornet. It gets some of the highest velocities in that cartridge and does so at 10,000 psi or so less than traditional powders.

Any of you guys tried the 150gr long range accubonds with rl26? I’ve got a custom 270 in the works and I’ve been buying the 150gr LRABs as I find them. At 3000 fps that bullet would be a serious long range hunting combination!