Reloading question?

mickeyelk

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Finally did my first reloading of a 270 win 130nbt. My question is? How do I know if my powder is any good? I bought Reloader 19 and 22 11-12 years ago when I thought I would start loading. I live in a very dry and hot area. The powder has always been in my garage unopened in a cabinet. When I went to shoot today my chronograph was all over the place. Nothing consistent or even close to each other. Is my powder bad or primers after being in my garage for all those years? Chronograph is new and I loaded with the RCBS link.
 
Bad powder usually has a pretty bad smell to it. 12 years is nothing, u less it was in really humid conditions and not sealed properly. I'd try a different primer, maybe a magnum if you were using standards.
 
I'll try smelling the powder now. It doesn't smell like a spent shotgun shell and when I smelled the spent rifle shell it didn't have that powder smell. My nose is not that good. The two are what I'm talking about.

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Your in the ball park....Top left group is a good start!,,,....50 fps could be neck tension. Measure your neck thickness and sort your brass with your best powder charge and try again. Your ES will get better is my guess.
 
That's not an ES that we search for but it's not unusual at all.
Many things can contribute to the relatively poor ES (extreme spread) and group size. Read Junior's post above. that certainly could be one culprit.

Zeke
 
I sometimes get a bad ES but decent enough groups. I found that consistent neck tension is something to strive for in reloading. The gauges that feddoc showed are a good thing to add to your tools along with dies that can interchange the expander. Think about annealing and brushing the necks as well. Maybe neck turn too. My 270 only likes 4831 and 4350. Maybe try that or the 135 or 140 grain with the Reloader®️ powders. Primers could be the issue but not usually I’ve found out as long as they’re from the same box. You will find the right recipe, just keep playing with the most common neck tension solutions and seating depths and it will come together.
 
Good posts.

CC above makes a good point on powder selection. I find that some powders in some guns produce radically different consistencies (std dev). I just pulled one of mine up for the 270WSM where I was testing 2 different bullets (same weight) and 2 different powders with 4 different charges. Rel 25 consistently had SD between 15-35 FPS. MagPro had SD between 7 and 16 FPS. All same brass with same process. MagPro just works well in those Short Magnums I guess.

Back when I had a 270Win (and a 280Rem)- they both loved 4831SC!
 
The 4831 has been easier to get to. We use it in 280. 7mag, STW. It's usually not the fastest, but usually the most consistent, and accurate.
 
If you can't find some of the "normal" temp stabil powders for your 270, try Staball 6.5. Shoots excelling my Son's 270 with a few different 140 gr bullets.
 

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