I am just getting into reloading (have saved brass for about 3 years, so have lots of it). One interest I have is light loads for a .270 Win so that my son can use that gun at the range. (He is 12 but quite small for his age.) While I am putting together manuals, etc. can anyone suggest good sources for data?

For light, target/plinking bullets, presently, I have on hand:
-a box of 100 gr Winchester PSP,
-a box of 90 gr Sierra HP, and
-a bag of 20, 100 Speer Hot-Core spitzers

I have located the Hodgdon site which lists some youth loads, however none are for the bullets I have.

Any ideas for where to look and what to acquire?

Thanks

jgnfld,

I had a similar situation last year, as my 12 yo daughter wanted to go elk hunting. I am away from my loading data right now, but I remember loading 140 gr. Rem PSP (cause they were cheap) bullets over 25.0 gr of H4895. With your lighter bullets, you could adjust that to get a good point of impact while being sighted in with hunting loads. I use that same basic recipe for 30-06, and 280 Rem., adjusting for bullet weight as needed. It works SO well, that I am considering buying an 8lb keg of powder. This gives the girls lots of "real" practice, and lets them qualify without getting pounded. "Qualifying" means they hit a paper plate 3 times out of 3 at 100yds, from a field position. I am working on getting them to do this at 200 yds next. Good luck!

I made up a light load using a 130 grain bullet and 18 grains of Unique for 1850 fps in a 22 inch barrel. it will shoot into an inch at 100 yards. it would probably work quite well on deer if you limit the shots to 200 yards or so.

For right now, just looking for loads to shoot out at the range so he can learn (he's pretty deadly with a .22 and hits clays about 50% on a berm at 110 meters).



I guess what I'm asking for are sources on the problems when 'loading down'. There seem to be some according to the research I've done so far.





[Hunting is highly regulated in Newfoundland and he can't get a licencse for years re. big game.]

use the Lyman # 48 manual as it has loads for cast bullets. in the power range you are talking about you should be able to use those loads. also the latest Speer manual has a few reduced loads in it also

I load my 11 year old the H4895 loads with 130 PSP bullets, and he shoots from the bench till he runs out......



Take the lightest h4895 load listed by Hodgdon, and reduce it by 40% as suggested on the Hodgdon site. For my kid, that's plenty low. It kicks just a little more than their 223, but barely. HTH, Dutch.

20 grains of blue dot should give you about 2300 fps with a 100 grain bullet. If thats too hot you should be able to work down to 15 grains without any worries. Seafire has a thread with some specific data about using blue dot in a 270.

jgnfld,
What bullet velocity are you looking for?
Gary T

Velocity?

mid 2000 fps with a light 90-100 gr is probably fine. What I'm looking for is very light recoil, able to use out to a max of 200 meters on targets only.

I'm also looking for references/materials that will address the safety issue that seems to be out there with light loads. Safety is absolutely paramount as this load is for my young son.

What kind of rifle are we talkin'?



I would suggest installing a Sims Recoil Pad. They knock out at least 50% or so of the felt recoil. I have one on my wife's 270 (Model 700) and it really lowers the felt recoil.



W/ the Sims, you could bump the velocity up to around 2600-2700 w/ those 100s and recoil would still be very mild.



Good Luck!



Reloader

Several of my friends load some 28-30 grains of H4227 behind the 90 grains Sierra HP. Very accurate and recoil is like that of a .222