I have been reloading 270 sierra 140gr HPBT bullets. I have been using 49.7gr of H4350 with CCI #200 primers. I am wondering if I should increase the powder to 50.3 gr. The round that I am loading right now is going 2800 fps with a little over 2400fp. The max I can go with H4350 is 51.7gr. I have not been able to shoot any rounds of the 49.7 yet as the range is snowed in. I really don't want to wait till spring to try out the rounds and I have loaded about 30 rounds so far.

While a chronograph reading is a darn poor reason to increase the powder load.....one can increase the load in the absence of pressure signs.

My Hornady manual shows a max load of 53.1 grains of H-4350 and a 140 grain bullet.

If you're serious about additional velocity you should try H-4831 or RL-22....either will give you an additional 100 FPS with the same pressure level as you're getting with the H-4350.

If 49.7 grains is you most accurate load, I wouldn't increase it. The Hodgdon website shows that 52 grains is the max, but the velocity with 52 grains of H4350 is only 2870, so, you won't gain much by going that high. I'd go with the most accurate load instead of trying to gain an extra 70fps.

If you use some ballistic software you'll find that an increase of 70fps will gain very little in trajectory improvement.

As Vapodog stated, you can go up as long as you don't see pressure signs. However, I almost always find that my most accurate loads are below the max charge allowed.

Rem, you should let your rifle decide.
Work up in 1/2 grain increments, and let your rifle decide what it likes best.