I have a Winchester 70 SS Classic in 270 Winchester. Due to the short distances that deer/hogs are usually taken, I have been using my CVA 444 Marlin and relegating the 270 as a backup. Well, I had the opportunity to buy a new digital night vision scope at a fantastic price (ie, Sightmark 4K Mini) to put on my 270 to compliment my Pulsar Thermal Monocular. The timing was right, as we are seeing the start of a hog invasion. Hogs can be hunted 24/7 day or night on the private land where I hunt. There was only 1 snag of which I was aware before buying the 4K Mini - the max recoil this scope can handle is 308 Winchester. Since I have the capability to reload, I began to investigate reduced 270 Win MV loads. That's when I ran across some past posts by Seafire (and others) about using IMR 4198 for this purpose. Seafire mentioned that 30 grs of this powder has been successfully used by him in multiple calibers. I also found data in Lee's 2nd Ed Modern Reloading Manual for IMR 4198 and 130 gr jacketed bullets (31.9 grs - 35.5 grs) with listed MVs from 2,418 - 2,660 fps. Since I had Hornady's 130 gr SST bullets on-hand, I loaded them within the range listed in the Lee Manual. I settled on 33.0 grs of IMR 4198 for an avg MV of 2,422 fps and very accurate groups. As you might imagine, this was a very pleasant load to shoot with little recoil. I have yet to take this out hunting, since my original 4K Mini developed a problem with the digital sight-in zero and was promptly replaced by Sightmark (these are good folks). Anyway, thanks to Seafire (and of course others who made appropriate posts) for leading me in the right direction, as I have little experience in this area.
May you all have a Safe & Happy Christmas Season.
