for those who were following my first cat and helped with lots of questions I will be test firing for the first time tomarrow


The round is a 270-264win mag or as I named it the 270 ELMO as a commemerative round to my dad.

the gun is a T.C. Encore with a MGM 27" heavy contour barrel and custom laminate stocks.
After sight in I will be testing 4 loads

1) will be 130gr Combined Tec. Balistic Sliver Tip being pushed by 64 grains of IMR4831
with a OAL of 3.312
2) will be 130gr Combined Tec. Balistic Sliver Tip being pushed by 64 grains of IMR4831
with a OAL of 3.300
3) will be 140gr Serria Hollow Point Game King pushed by 62.4 grains of IMR 4831 with an OAL of 3.145
4) will be both previous bullets pushed by 63.5 grains of H 4350 with OAL of 3.312 and 3.145

Load 1 or 2 and load 3 are my prefered loads

will post pics and results tomarrow

verry little success alot of problems
success the gun shoots realy nice I like the trigger pull and the weight and ballance
recoil is lighter than expected

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problems
I had alot of feeding problems I found that the cases were kinked a bit where they start to cone down to the neck
this left a lot of my test rounds unusable
the only group I got to shoot was a 2 shot group which did not impress but i was a bit aggravated by then this was only 50yrds

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Any idea what is causing the cases to be kinked? Something to do with how the neck was expanded, or maybe an issue with seating? I know how frustrating it can be to take your new toy out to play with the first time and have it not work right.

My neighbor's cat is fixing to get a test run.....Next time I see him pooping in the garden when the pellet rifle is handy.....

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Don't be discouraged. Let it headspace off the belt till you get some cases formed. I've even had to shave off a few thousanths from the sizer die to allow the shoulder to go back a bit to chamber easier till I got my cases all made up. Is the brass too long necked? I don't really understand where the problem is. Is the neck getting into the throat?

Perhaps a ctg. picture?

Sounds like a .270 WBY with a bit more capacity. Nice.

When fireforming belted cases I put an artifical shoulder on 'em by running through a bigger expander button, for example using a .358 Norma die on my .338 WM cases. Then run the bigger necked case through the .338 WM die with it backed off so the case will chamber with zero headspace. An alternate way is to load the bullet set at jam length. If fireforming using the belt for head spacing many times the case will stretch excessively thinning the area in front of the belt.

For the kinked cases..... maybe try annelling.

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I checked all my brass when I got home all of its fine no kinks it all fits just fine I must have kinked it seating the bullets that has never happened to me before but I did notice a few kicked out of the shell holoder a bit have to be more careful and check the seater out also

I also pulled her all appart today as I need a hammer extention so I put in a stronger hammer spring now I have one part not sure how it goes back in but I will get it

If you find that seating the bullets is causing a problem, I would take a good look at your expander button, in the sizing die, and make sure it is the right diameter. If it's too small, (not opening the case mouth back up enough) you could be collapsing the shoulder by trying to seat bullets that are fitting too tightly in the neck. With custom dies, there is always room for a goof-up on those dimensions. You don't think it's possible it's still using an expander for .264", do you? That would seem to be very obvious...probably not a realistic chance of that happening. Just thinking out loud.

no its not 264 as those dies are not in yet these dies are 270-338 so it would be 338 expander I think it might have been careless action on my part big die small bullet easy to run it in at an angle but I will be very carefull and watch closely when I do more

things went much better today and I found 1 load she likes alot
ammo problem all solved
belm spring job (self instaled) really improved things

well this load is a good load and a step in right direction

Looking good there Buck! That load shows some real promise.

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yea I was happy with this one plus it was 22deg i was froze and had some wind but this load is ready for 100yd test and a crono run

That load does show promise, although I think you just inferred that it was shot at 50 yards. Again, that isn't going to tell you a whole lot, either way, but I sincerely hope it stays that tight at 100. If you DO find a load that is one ragged hole at 100 yards or more, don't get wrapped around the axle if it's 50 or 100 fps less than you'd hoped. Drop tables and ignorant targets will always trump wildcats that aren't as fast as we'd hoped.

yea i get the whole 50yrds thing but a test that is 2'' at 50 not gonna shoot better at 100 i fig that i need a good group at 50 to have a hope at 100 1 ragged hole at 100 would be great but just plain 1'' or moa at 100 would be fine with me
that said the load pic is 1 gr less than I fig max for encore and 4 grains less than my figs for what would be a max load this pic is same load with .5 more grains of powder last shot could be me heck whole group could be me I was so cold I could not feel fingers

I feel your cold-induced pain! I've got a series of 308 loads waiting for OCW testing, but I'm not going out there when it's blowing 25mph and 30 degrees.

Jason that's normal load developement weather out here. Shoot with the tailwind and try not to shiver.....

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lol yea kinda cold in them dakota's
supposed to be 40 on friday heat wave if so I will conduct more test