Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 270 pressure problems, need to lower

Those bullets must be jammed into the rifling.. hornady recommends For the 145 ELD-X oal of 3.210 you are at 3.350..

No, hornady book says 3.330 COL for 145 ELDX in 270. It says 3.210 for 140 sst and 140 interlock. The bullet shape and length is very different from the sst therefore a mush long COL. I have measured my gun and my max COAL is 3.405 measured to the lands with the eldx, minus 20 thousands and I am at 3.385 so I am actually 50 thou off the lands. I would post a picture of the load data from hornady book but as I am sitting here looking at the data I see no reason.

It seems from your results that for whatever reason, your rifle and/or loads generate more pressure than usual. A cardinal rule of handloading is to stop when you reach EITHER the top charge level, or the top velocity. You were over that line with your first load using H4831 and should have backed off then. The loose primer pockets are solid proof, just like the hard bolt lift and ejector mark from your latest batch.

You may have a tight chamber or neck, a tight barrel (less likely), your brass may be too long, (you did measure your cases before loading, right?), or the neck diameter of your loaded rounds may be too large for your chamber, either of which prevents the bullets from exiting the case properly. Bottom line is you need to check the dimensions of your loads again and if okay, then most likely you have a tight chamber and need to work up from the bottom and stop when you reach YOUR top as described above, or when pressure signs appear. Loose primer pockets and ejector marks are signs you've gone way over the line and are headed for trouble unless you back off.

And that's where I stopped testing since primers were a bit flat and noticed harder bolt lift and on final round noticed a ejector mark on case.

Flattened primers don't mean much. The ejector mark and hard bolt lift do. You data is consistent with mine in that RL26 seems to give a fairly large plateau in velocity. How many rounds did you fire to get your velocity data?
3000fps is all you need so I wouldn't be afraid to use your starting load and go forth and kill stuff as long as you aren't seeing any other signs of excess pressure or hard bolt lift at that charge. Have you tried to seat primers in any of the second batch yet?

Updated load data with lowered starting load.

55.8 2905
56.0 2895
56.2 2931
56.4 2928
56.6 2947
56.8 2965
57.0 2943
57.2 2967
57.4 2987
57.6 3010
57.8 3016

I am looking at loading a few more rounds focusing on the node between 56.6 to 57.2. I am still noticing a bit of flattening of the primers but no other pressure signs with all the test shots today. I hope to find the load with lowest sd around 2950-60 and still have an accurate load with the limited headspace I have to play with using these extremely long bullets. If not then I will be giving up on the eldx for this rifle. I have changed all that I can other than primers so if I'm not happy with what I see I'm not sure what else to do to make this bullet work out if this rifle. Does anyone have any insight into a load they had and changed the primers with and saw an increase or decrease of pressure or velocity?

You sure? This is from the 10th edition hornady manual

I can't attach a picture because this [bleep] website won't allow my pics to upload because the file size is too big. But I assure you as I am ready straight out of my Hornady reloading manual, 270 win, 145 Eldx, item no 27356, COL 3.330, G1 BC 0.536, G7 BC 0.270.

I really don't know why my 10th edition manual is different than yours but clearly it is. I'm going to email Hornady and ask them why there is a discrepancy and which data is correct. This eldx load is becoming a real pain in the ass and I may just sell the bullets I have on hand and go to the 150 set since the bc is almost the same and I know my gun shots the 130s so the 150s should work as well.

I would try them at 3.20" COL just to see but I am thinking that bullet may be a poor match for your rifle.

My PDF version is the same as 79S'.

Matters not. What matters is your loads have "issues". Seat them deeper, say 3.210, and work up again. Stop when your velocity reaches the top, or your charges do, or at the first sign of high pressure. Primers are unreliable as a pressure sign.

Regardless sounds like you have a bunch of free-bore, so you shouldn't be seeing pressures like you are currently seeing. When you resize your fired cases out of that rifle, do they chamber with no issue in your rifle?

Rifles are like women. They are going to like what they like, and not what you think they should like, nor what you want them to like. There's no accounting for their taste. You can choose to live with their tastes, or send them down the road.

SPOT ON BROTHER