Lee 277 135 RF

[sigep1764]

The load with the 468473 with 12.5 grains of red dot is looking somewhere between 1650 and 1700 fps according the the load data in the 3rd Edition. I might want to hunt medium critters with it, raccoon coyote etc, maybe deer. Once I start shooting cast in a gun, I almost never return to j words. Its too much fun, occupies too much of my time, and keeps me out of trouble pouring my own. My boss says to my girlfriend, "You cant know where or what Kyle(me)is up to all the time". She says, "Pretty sure he's being antisocial doing his gun thing or on the motycycle 99.9% of the time he's not at work. I don't worry about him much." Like I said before, she's a keeper.

[Rcmaveric]

1650 fps plus or minus 100 fps sounds about right. Should be enough for a deer. For me it was bullet drop out to 200 yards. At 1650 fps it was too much for me to try and hold over. I am good shot, but i am horrible with hold over. I use a ballistic scope to take a touch of the guess work out of it. My goal was to hit 1800 fps but when i was playing with powders Reloader 7 let me hit 2050. So now, if the deer is at 200 yards, just put it heart between the second and third tick mark on my ballistic reticle and its meat on the table. Reloader 7 and Red dot and 2400 are my go to powders now. I hear good things about H4895 and 5744. I picked up 2 pounds of each to play with but i am still playing with loads in my other guns. I told my self i wont play with anymore powders in the .270 Win until i tune loads in all my guns. i have a laundry list of things to do, stupid work gets in the way. I almost cant wait to retire then i can devote myself to my labor of love. I kind of want a heavier bullet than Lee to play with. Maybe something in 150g but the .278 bullet diameter has a small selection. I toyed with idea of looking .280 bullets to fill the throat but the nose profile would have to be spot on to chamber.

My wife gets worried when i start tinkering. I have only detonated a few primers by accident and set the house on fire twice (casting accident and lube cooking). She only worries about messing up my pretty face. Her words not mine. Told her when i retire its her turn to get a job and i will be a stay at home redneck. I will hunt, fish, cook and clean and garden. She just needs to keep the lights on. lmao what she told me wasn't PG13.

[sigep1764]

RC, isn't the RCBS mold 150? Thats the only one above 135 that I've seen without stepping to a 7mm design. It seems theres more molds available for 280Rem/7mm Rem Mag than for 270 and I'd argue the 270 is more popular.

[Rcmaveric]

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product...ito8q6os5ll6o4

This ones 165g, but that point wont be good for hunting. Would be great for bullseye shooting.

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product...ito8q6os5ll6o4

A little light. Better nose for hunting. It has almost a 50% meplate.

http://rcbs.com/Products/Bullet-Cast...50-SP-529.aspx

Similar in design to my two 6.5mm bullets. I would love to give them a try. I want to see if those can be pushed to around 2050 fps with some 10BHN lead. If they do good i would hunt with it. For all i know the Lee 135g will be just as affective, but that 150g should be capable of dropping an elk with that kind of cross sectional density and same for the NOE 165g.

Accurate molds has a couple as well:

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_...=28-120B-D.png

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_...=28-152M-D.png Maybe this one with some design tweeks. Add a gas check. Change the bad diameters to fit better.

The metric conversion of the .277 is a 6.8mm. So its close to 7mm. Some of those 7mm desings look to work with some minor design tweeks. Other cartridges in 6.8mm are becoming talked about so i hope we get some more offerings and experimentations to expand the offerings. I am reserved buyer until i see results especially when it involves 100 bucks that i have to save up to spend. From the few i posted there are some i want to play with. Accurate molds gets a lot of great reviews. But i am leaning more towards NOE. I have dealings with them and their molds are awesome. How ever those Accurate molds nose profiles are more conducive to hunting so am i torn now.

[sigep1764]

I like the look of the first one, a Loverin copy. I also like the last two, but there is no provision for a gas check. Im not a powder coater and do not have enough room right now to get into it. I do want to try it at some point tho. I looked at the second one, the 126 grain gas check mold. At the time having never casted to loaded for rifle before, I wanted more lube grooves. But it looks like a bunny to coyote thumper. Don't know how fast it can be pushed.

[Rcmaveric]

My only complaint with the Lee 135g is the small meplate. I am mostly a deer hunter. When i finnaly use it on a deer my opinion may change. A heavier bullet would be nice incase i decide to go for CPRX3 (or whater game category elk and moose are) rated critters and to play with. Lighter ones have crossed my mind due to hoping to get .277 Wolverine one day.

Accurate molds may be willing to customize those molds. My experience with NOE was group runs. I had to wait quite a few months to get my 6.5mm mold. I would do it again if they offerered what i wanted.

[sigep1764]

There are a lot more choices out there than I originally thought. I couldn't imagine starting out in 30 caliber. I'd drive myself nuts trying to pick molds.

[Rcmaveric]

You think there are a lot of 30 cal molds check out the .358 size molds. When i got my .357 Mag my head exploded at that options. I felt so over whelmed and ignorant that i just "When in doubt, Charlie out"ed it and went with a Lee mold. No regrets on that choice.

[sigep1764]

True, for sure. 380, 9mm, 38 special, 357 Mag, plus rifle calibers. Necksized, trimmed, chamfered, demurred, and expanded case mouths on 50 270 cases tonight. Tomorrow after work, tumble them and load them. Mounted the new scope on the M70 too. Just a cheap Barska 4-16x40 with adjustable objective.

[Rcmaveric]

Wait till after Hunting season and stay on the lookout for sales. Like the day after deer season, everything goes on sale. Midway included. I am a fan of Nikon Prostaffs with the Ballistic Reticles. Can get them on sale for about 150 ish or so. Best bang for a the buck. I have three of them.

[sigep1764]

Well, after getting the new scope sighted in, the barrel was pretty warm, not searing, but definitely warm. Best I could do with 12.5 grains of red dot was about 3/4 inch at 25yds. I loaded them at 3.069 oal and a few of them had hard bolt closure. I opened the unfired bolt and examined the exposed boolits. It seems the exposed sides of the boolits under the ogive were in contact with the throat. I am going to seat deeper tmro when reloading these cases and try to get to the range. The scope view was much improved and clear. It was almost 90 degrees inside the range today as well.

[Rcmaveric]

If the bolt was hard to close you may have seated into the lands. Its going to cause a pressure spike and realy affect groups. 3/4 inch at 25 yards would translate to a possible 2.5 inch 100 yard group. Back it off till you can close the bolt easily and try the 12.5g again.

[sigep1764]

My rifle has spoken. All groups were fired at 25 yards consecutively. The large group was one of four 10 shot groups that were all about 2-2.5 inch groups, a total of 40 rounds, Lyman 468473 sized .279, lubed with SuperMoly, gas checked, 12.5 grains of Red Dot, and seated to an overall length of 3.027. All groups consist of 10 shots fired about as quick as I could single load and get a steady view through the scope.

The two nickel sized groups were fired in the same manner, 10 shots apiece, a total of 20 rounds, fired as fast as I could single load them and get a steady view through the scope. They are Lee C277-135 RF sized .279, lubed with SuperMoly, gas checked, 10 grains of Red Dot, and seated to an overall length of 3.075.

[Rcmaveric]

Nailed it. The sweet taste of success. Its addicting.

[sigep1764]

I seated those Lymans just a little bit deeper. It helped a little on the hard bolt closing, but not the groups. I seated the Lees just a bit deeper as well, exposing only one lube groove and voila, SUCCESS!!! I fired those Lee groups after 40 rounds of Lyman loads and the rifle was hot. I was pretty dejected over the first 4 Lyman groups and wasn't expecting much out of the remaining 20 loads. The first two shots were in one hole and I thought the hell with it, lets bear down again and see. Girlfriend walked onto the range behind me without me knowing as I brought the target back. I almost fell out of my seat when she yelled "Looks like your done researching that one" while I was admiring the work that was just done. She just recently started carrying my LCP and she joined me to practice after work. It was a good day.

[Rcmaveric]

Awesome. I have to bring rounds or the wife while i expermint. God forbid she plays with 22LR like a normal adult child kid...

These are mine. No crimp. Depending on brass length normal leaves the crimp groove and first lube groove exposed.

Sent from my SM-G925T using Tapatalk

[sigep1764]

Looks like we are at the same length if thats the same boolit?

[Rcmaveric]

As long as its the right depth for you. You just barely have your first lube groove covered. That first groove is the crimp groove. When I am seated to 3.13