Hi Guys
I finally got my act together and fireformed
some brass for the 270 AI by Dwight.This was the first chance I have had to use the rifle.
It took a little time to assemble all the components necessary to get to this stage.

I have to say that I have never had an Ackley
improved rifle before so fireforming was very new to me.In fact I have never had a firearm of this high class before.Never had a leupold scope before and never even pulled a jewell trigger before and I had to figure out how to adjust it after the Federal police had adjusted it to pass the saftey test(see "The Prize rifle" thread in the Contest section of the forum).A lot of firsts with this rifle (never even won anything before)
so I am a bit stunned.

This is where being an Accuratereloading Forumni really paid off.I gained virtually all the information I required to sucessfully fireform from reading the posts about fireforming on this forum. An amazing database of reloading knowledge.

I havn't received the 270 AI dies as yet so I bought a set of Lee 270Win dies so I could seat some projectiles to get me going.I full length resized(seeing I had the dies) and trimmed to length for my brass preparation.

Winchester Brass(new)
130gn Speer Hot cor spitzer projectiles
CCI large rifle benchrest primers
42 gns AR 2208(close to IMR4064 and AA2520)
OAL of 81mm

The max recommended load was 46gns so I settled on 42gns as the projectiles were loaded to engage the lands.The bolt resisted closing just a little but was very easy to lift after firing.I fired a couple of test rounds at home to make sure everything was hunky dory (no pressure signs) and went off to the range.

I combined the fireforming with fitting and sighting in the scope.
I levelled the rifle on the bench with a little spirit level and used a plumb bob to set the cross hairs.
I didn't bore sight as I had plenty of ammo to fireform and it gave me something to do between shots.I started at 25 yards and the first shot was at three o'clock and to the left about 5 inches.
As it turned out by the time I had the scope sighted I had turned the horizontal adjustment nearly one full turn of clicks.
Interestingly I did not have to touch the verticle adjustment as at 100yds it was one inch high.

I fireformed 40 cases with no losses, all cases with sharp shoulders.

I could see from the groups that I was getting with the fireforming loads that this is a very accurate rifle.

It shoots better than me at this stage but with some practice I expect to give some of our bench rest guys a shock with my "hunting rifle".

Oh yeah about barrel break in.I checked the Hart barrel website

"We recommend using a brass brush with Hoppe's #9 or Shooter's Choice as often as possible. In sighting in a rifle or shooting benchrest groups, you should thoroughly brush after every 10-20 shots using a good coated cleaning rod and rod guide. Always leave cleaner in bore after you are through shooting for the day. This will dissolve copper fouling left in the barrel. The barrel should then be thoroughly dried out just before shooting.

DO NOT CLEAN WITH STAINLESS STEEL BRUSHES OR USE ABRASIVE CLEANERS IN THE BARREL.

If Sweets is used, DO NOT leave in barrel for more than 5 minutes. DO NOT mix Sweets with any other cleaner."

So after the first 2 test fireforms I brushed
with Hoppes#9 left it while I had lunch and patched it dry.Only took 3 patches to come clean. Then at the range I brushed it out after every 10 shots and patched it dry again only 3 or 4 patches to get it clean.

Again this question of barrel break in has been a widely discussed topic on this forum and the best recommendation I read was to do what the barrel manufacturer recommended.

This is about as far as I can go apart from fireforming more brass untill I receive my RCBS 270AI dies.

I will report on my load development and resulting groups when I get the dies.

Stay tuned.

Regards
Deafdog

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deafdog@turboweb.net.au
http://deafdog.turboweb.net.au

Deafdog,

I am glad you are finally able to play with your new rifle.

You do realise that we are looking forward to all the details of the hunts your going to participate in.

May be you can use some Sierra Matck King Bullets too

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saeed@ emirates.net.ae

www.accuratereloading.com

Hi Saeed
I will certainly report on anything I shoot with this rifle.
I am looking forward to taking it hunting when I have developed an accurate AI load for it.
I will certainly get some partions for target shooting and matchkings for hunting
Regards
Deafdog

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deafdog@turboweb.net.au
http://deafdog.turboweb.net.au