Kimber Montana CM 24" factory air temp 55
150 LRAB
58.5. 3058
59.0. 3062
59.5. 3091
60.0. 3106
60.5. 3128

Control Federal blue box 130 3079

First two loads into one ragged hole...but of course Kimber's won't shoot

That'll do!

Thanks. I just picked up a pound of RL26 and looking forward to trying this new load in my Pre64 Model 70 FWT.

donsm70

JB thinks the vels are high. So do I actually. May have been sun angle. Will shoot again in a few days.

Wonder how it would do with 130's?

In my 22.5" Kimber MT, 59.0 RL26 gives 3,010 fps with a 150. For me, that's the end of the game.

That's cookin' for a 270 and 150's!

Rin - that's certainly attention getting for sure. If 3100 is safely doable it's worth the time/money/effort --- to me.

OTOH if 3000 is the top safe speed, it's not worth the extra time/money/effort TO ME because I was already getting 2900-2940 depending on lot variation.

At this point it's showing promise and thanks for doing the work.

Jerry

I'm running 2920 fps average velocity with good accuracy in my pre 64 fwt. That's with 60gr. RL26 and partition... "Good enough for the girls I go out with"...

Me too. I've shot a couple lbs now of Re 26 and have never broke 3100 but did run it to 61.5 for 3075 in my 24" Kimber. I stopped at 60 gr and 3040-3050 depending on the day with a 150 NPT. I'm a skeered to run it any higher, plus an extra 50 ft/sec ain't buying me anything.

At 3050, it runs really flat out to my max (500 yards). I shot 2 elk last year with that load - both under 75 yards, closer to 50. Bullet worked as advertised. The elk hated it <G>

That's great speed Rick and really, anything over 3000 with that sorta accuracy is pure icing on the cake.

Danged Kimbers! Ha.

I have been attempting to simplify my life by reducing calibers and searching out universal loads. My old Oehlers are getting dusty and I use 270's a lot.
I think I have/had it about close as I was going to get.
This RL26/150 gr combination certainly grabs my attention, darn interesting performance.
Never say never.

Has anyone tried RL26 with 140 ABs? I've used 62gr of IMR7977 for the last 3 years or so to get ~2,950 or so fps out of a kind of slow 22" Tikka barrel. I tried RL16 yesterday and got up to 2,980 fps with promising accuracy using 8.5 gr less powder! I'm inclined to leave it there since RL16 is turning out killer velocity in my Creedmoor, and looks good in .30-06. But if 3,100 fps were possible in a 22" barrel with the 140 AB.... Well I'd have to give it a try.

My experience with RL 26 and 150 g. bullets in a bone stock Kimber Montana (24 inch barrel) is a little puzzling.

All were shot in PPU brass, WLR primers and the same lot of RL 26. Hazy to cloudy skies, temps in the 40-50 degree range, ProChrono chronograph. No missed shots by the chronograph in the testing.

Last fall with the 150 g. Hornady bullet; started at 57 grains of RL 26 working up in 0.5 grain increments with two shots at each increment:
Charge Average Velocity in fps.

57.0 g. = 2886
57.5 g. = 2899
58.0 g. = 2921
58.5 g. = 2953
59.0 g. = 2993
59.5 g. = 2973 (not a typo)
60.0 g. = 2962 (also not a typo)

Then a total of 7 shots with the 60.0 g. load of RL 26 were chronographed in two different sessions a month apart. The average of them was 3044 fps.

This spring I repeated the same series only this time used the Nosler 150 g. partition bullet and started at 58 grains of RL 26.

Charge Average Velocity in fps.

58.0 g. = 3034
58.5 g. = 3058
59.0 g. = 3078
59.5 g. = 3123
60.0 g. = 3133

At the 59.5 g. and 60.0 g. pair one primer at each step had what appeared to be a slight primer leak, just a very small amount of black on the edge of a primer. The primer pockets on these cases after depriming appeared to be normal and new primers seated normally.

So I dropped the charge to 57.5 grains and a five shot average was 2945 fps. A week later shot another 5 shot test with 58.0 g. of RL26 and averaged 2973 fps. On the same day also fired two more with 57.5 g. of RL 26 and got 2963 fps for the two shots.

In other rifles I have been able to switch back and forth between Hornady and Partitions of the same weight and get very similar velocities and consistent performance.

John Barsness reports that Partitions often give higher pressures than cup-and-core bullets. For this rifle and bullet combination his observation is correct, even though it was out side of my previous - and admittedly limited - experience.

My results appear to vary from session to session even using what I consider to be identical loads. Some variation from shot to shot is typical but several shot averages show more difference from one session to another than experienced with other rifles.

Accuracy in my rifle is good, I've shot more than one 3 shot group at 100 yds that are under 1 inch. All shots (including some mild loads with 130 g. bullets) have flattened primers and the cases do not want to rechamber in the rifle without being resized. This is true of the PPU brass and WW brass I have tested. A fired case measured at the shoulder was 0.441". This is S.A.A.M.I. value given in my Nosler #6 Manual. I assume my Kimber has a minimum specification chamber. Consequently, I full-length resize cases for this rifle. After FL resizing the cases rechamber with just slight resistance

I will do more shooting but expect loads with the Partition bullet to be a couple of grains or so less than loads for other bullets.

A different 270 with a 23.6 inch barrel doing the same series with the 150 g. Partition bullet gave a two shot average of 3010 fps with WW brass, WLR primers and 60 g. of RL 26.

While we're up, has anyone clocked 100gr NPs with RL26 in a .243?

The data in the Alliant sheet looks pretty good.

I have had many 270's and have never broken 2875 with any powder and any 150 so I am very pleased with 150's at 3000. More doesn't make any difference to me.
Will try again with 145 ELD-X.

Rin,

More than a 150 at 3000 probably won't make any difference to the animal either. The nice thing about 270+R26+150 is you can get to 3000 and its a reasonable load that probably won't give you any fuss.

I'm going to give R26 a try in the 270. I can see myself being pretty happy with 2900 which is right where my H4831SC load is. The only difference is my H4831SC load is max and a R26 load at 2900 should be more middle of the road. Probably doesn't matter much but as I get older I seem to have a greater appreciation for driving slower and loads that aren't pushing pressure limits.





Trystan

Trystan
Must be experience because every shooter I know eventually quits pushing pressure limits.
150's at 2950-3000 is perfect especially w/o brass busting pressure.

Is this the part where "it's almost like a 7Mag"?

Yeah,just 200 fps short. Everybody knows 200 is just a small % of 3200.

(read sarcasm into that)


Jerry

And to think I used to give a schit....

You and me both...

Guys I think you missed my point !!

Being sarcastic, I was 'minimizing' the inference that the 270 would be 'almost' equal to the 7 mag.

IOW - I was making fun of that thought.

IOW - I don't feel that way.

IOW - the 270 can NOT do what a 7 mag can.


Just for clarity. Gee Whiz.


Jerry

I would check brass weight uniformity. If you have a wide variation in brass weight, that may account for some of the different velocities.

I totally disagree and have zero qualm squeezing the trigger on the same "something" with a 270 as I would a 7RM, at the distances I'm comfortable shooting. Which is why my 7mm is in the classifieds and I'm schlepping an old trusted M70 and factard ammo.

Gave up trophy unicorn hunting.

I have a very accurate Ruger #1 in .270, with 26" barrel. Might have to do some experimenting

Thanks for the suggestion RBH; it slipped my mind to do that with this bunch of brass but I have done it with other cartridges. I will do that before shooting it again.

Love that.

More R26 data from this evening...

24" CM Kimber 270 Win.
55* WW primer

145 ELDX 58.5 3105
140 NAB 59.0 3088, 59.5 3109
150 LRAB 58.3 3068

Control Fed Blue box 130 3070, 3035, 3054

That 145 ELDX load is an attention getter.

So is the Accubond... About 100fps shy of full WSM velocity. Probably would not bounce off an elk...

I've seen a Quickload output that guesstimates a 62 gr max for RL26 and 140 NABs, were you seeing obvious pressure at 59.5 gr?

Looks great Rick. When I get home I'll try some out of my 22" 270. I've got plenty of 26 to try.

That 140 Accubond looks pretty speedy as well.

There are no obvious pressure signs however the pressures must be pretty high given the velocities being generated.
However my "control" using Federal ammo is about what I expect.
I am going to work in the area of 58-58.5. I tried 58.3 and will fiddle with seating depth.

That looks really good, my local dealer is bringing in some 145 gr ELD-X and I'll ask him to bring in some RL 26. Have some 140 gr Accubonds, 150 gr Ballistic Tips, Solid Base, and Hot Cor's plus some 160 gr Partitions already. Your guys RL 26 results look awfully good.

Just back from range:
71 degrees
150 Partitions

R26 58.0 3017, 3017, 3005
H4831sc 55.0 2790, 2789, 2808
Fed Classic 130 3076

The R26 load consistently gives around 3000. Have gone to 60.5 so 58.0 seems pretty good pressure wise. The numbers from the other loads shows that this rifle it not a weird-o.

Stone cold killa right there....

Very Good Sir.

Ain't nuttin rong with 150s @ 3000 fps.

Impressive

Jerry

Gotta say, I like this!

I am going to have to run some of the RL 26 with 150's thru my .270 Wby Magnum and see what t does.

I want to be happy with my 140 NAB going 2900fps out of my 22" barrel using H4831sc, but you guys are making it difficult...must resist...

Followup to my earlier post on this thread.

Following RatherBHuntin's suggestion, I weighed 40 cases of the PPU brass used in my Kimber 84L 270. Found what seemed a considerable variation in individual brass weights of over 3 grains.

I had three cases that each weighed 190.3 grains; then picked three that weighed 188.2, 188.2 and 188.1 grains. Then the lightest case was also selected of 187.3 grains. Each was loaded with 58 grains of RL 26, 150 g. Nosler PT (seconds from Shooters Pro Shop), WLR primers. The powder charge was individually hand weighed on my scale. Results:

Three with cases at 190.3 g. Velocity in fps. 3016, 3003, 2982, average = 3000.3 fps. Cases that weighed 188.1 and 188.2 g. 3009, 3003, 3003, average = 3005 fps. Then the single 187.3 g. case = 3023 fps.

Then three rounds loaded earlier with the "same" 58 g. of powder and the rest of the components the same but these were loaded using a powder measure. 2904, 2956, 2969 fps. average = 2943 fps.

What this told me is that the difference in weight of the brass is less important to variations in velocity than is the hand weighing of powder versus throwing it from a measure.

It seemed to me when hand weighing RL 26 using Lee dippers that what appeared to be relatively consistent amounts of powder in the dipper seemed to vary more in weight than has been my experience with other powders. (I use the Lee dipper to dip powder from a cup into the scale pan.)

My current powder measure is a Lee. When first bought it was tested it for consistency with powders I was using then; e.g. Hybrid 100V, Big Game, TAC, H-205, H-414 and H-4831. It was quite consistent and got to the point that I trusted it so much I had stopped weighing every 10th charge to check the measure. So I did not bother to see how it did when I started using powders like RL 26 or IMR-7828 SSC. WRONG!

From now on I will hand weigh powder when using RL 26. I think I'm done with load development for my Kimber and with stay with 58 g. of RL 26 with the 150 g. Nosler Partition.

Got about 9 pounds of RL 26 and picked up some 145 grain ELM Hornadys...

Going to Road Test the combo at the range real soon...

will post results if they turn out worth posting.

It sounds like the RL26 + 150gr bullet combo is working out quite well for you.

I've been looking at every gun shop around here for a month or so, and still haven't seen a bottle of RL26 live and in person. I have a 50rd bag of 150gr PT blems that I'd love to burn some RL26 under if I could lay hands on any.

I've fiddled extensively with RL26 and 150's in my 270. It won't group well unless slowed down to the same velocities that I run with H4831, RL17 and H4350 (2,850 fps +/-).

Obviously others rifles will be different.

I'd add I've never seen anything that a 150 Partition at 2,850 couldn't handle, and I appreciate the milder recoil of that velocity over the 3K fps of the RL26 loads, given my rifle is quite light (Kimber MT).

Where do you live Scotty?

I find it all over the place here in Oregon... and believe me, this place is far from Powder Central...

in December I shoot 3 loads of RL26 in a Vanguard S2 with 24" barrel Win cases only changed primers. 5 shoots each. CCI250 mag primer 2968fps average SD31.2
WLR primers 3019fps average SD 16.4 WLRM primer 3013fps average SD 19.1 Temperature was 45 Degrees.

Southern Wyoming, I can't find anyone in Cheyenne that has or can get it, and the last time I went down to Denver I stopped at 3 different shops on the way back up, no luck. I'll probably wind up throwing in a couple bottles with my next order from powder valley, I'll be needing an 8lb jug of RL16 soon, I've almost burned through the first 3 lbs I bought, and it's great stuff.

I,ve seen the highest velocities with RL26, But Norma MRP Produces better accuracy. I use it in my 257 Roberts, 270 winchester,and
sometimes in my 7mm mag. Although I use Retumbo the most in the 7mm mag.

I know this is about '26, 270's and 150 NPT's, but if I can get 3K accurate with my Montana in 280 AI with a 160 Accubond I'd be in light rifle Heaven.

Jerry,

I don't think that would be asking too much.. the 280AI has enough extra powder space.

I'd dare say H4831SC would get ya there also.

10-4 Seafire, Thanks, I'll have to keep in mind the shorter COL's with the diminutive Montana action, hope there's enough room to seat the long 160 NAB's.

A big +1 Brad.

I was about to start a new topic because I tried RL 26 with 150’s in my 270 and 95’s in my 243 and the accuracy was disappointing. My Win 70 is sub-moa with both the 150 Partition and 150 Hornady with H4831sc. My hunting load is 56.5 g for about 2800 fps. The RL 26 was giving me 3000 at 60 grains but groups open way up. I gave it one last try last week and am just sticking with H4831SC for accuracy and consistency. It also is much milder to shoot; that extra 200 fps sure made the rifle recoil much more like a 7MM mag.

An interesting note for those still using RL 26. In both my 243 and 270 CCI 200 primers groups were about double the size of Fed 210’s. It seemed for me that the RL 26 sure didn’t like the CCI.

I finally found some RL26 while on a work trip to NM, can't wait to try it in the .270. Hopefully it shoots ok with CCI200s because that's all I stock for large rifle.

CKW - your results are VERY similar to mine from years AGO.
1. I've always used more extruded powders than ball.
eg. I've used Surplus 4831, IMR 7828, IMR 4831, & IMR 4350 a lot.

2. I have an old Lyman cylinder thrower I used for small kernel & pistol powders.

3. I HAD a set of Lee dippers -- wound up throwing them in the trash. Never missed em.

Also if I read it correctly, your spread was @ 3 - 3 1/2 grs. That's pretty close IMO.
I normally segregate cases by 5+ grains.

Haven't read through this whole thread so this may be redundant but my results with the 270 Win. and RL 26 are as follows:

Rifle: Win. Model 70 w/factory sporter barrel, glass bedded in a McMillan fiberglass stock.

140gr Nosler Accubond
RL-26 61.5 gr
Win. Brass
Federal 215 match primer
OAL = 3.280"
Temp = 85 deg.

Avg. Velocity = 3,185 fps
Accuracy = 0.53" for 3 shots at 105 yds

Changing to Federal 210 match primers opened up groups to about 0.8"(still very respectable).

This kind of velocity and accuracy is impressive! I'm sold.

My "go to" load for this rifle before RL-26 was 60gr of H-4831 behind a 130gr Nosler Partition at 3,050 fps.

Looks like I no longer need my 7mm Mag!😁


Leftybolt

My load:

61.2 grains RL26
WLR Primer
Win. Brass
140 grain Berger VLD

Rifle: Browning A bolt 270 Win. / 22 inch barrel

3 shots thru the chrono at 15 feet, average velocity 3,099 fps

Didn't measure the group but all 3 shots were touching.

My previous load with 58 grains of H4831 gave the same accuracy but only 2,850 fps.

Has anyone tried R26 with 160's?

Yes, I only had two rounds left to run across the crono:
160 gr NP over 60 grs RL26 gave me 3005 and 3046 FPS
Accuracy was OK. Pressure a little high.

I got out and shot the first part of an OCW workup yesterday with RL26 and 150g NPT blems. I only chrono'd one shot per charge weight on my Magetospeed, out of my somewhat slow 22" Tikka T3 SL.

58.5gr - 2,911 fps
59gr - 2,920 fps
59.5gr - 2,929 fps
60gr - 2,968 fps
60.5gr - 2,999 fps
61gr - 3,027 fps
61.5 - 3,053 fps

I also chrono'd one 140gr AB over 62 gr RL-26 @ 3,108 fps

Shot round robin, both 59.5 and 61.5 were around 3/4" for three. The rest of the groups were all over the place size wise. I think I'm going to make up 5 at each of those weights and then do a few different Oal's at 60.5g, and see what happens. The primers never got too flat, but 61gr and over showed more cratering than I'm comfortable with for a hunting load.

Right now I'm shooting 140gr NAB's at 2,940 fps for my elk load, I think I'd be satisfied with a 150gr NPT even at the lower end ~ 2,930 fps, especially since POI is right with my 140's.