Overpressure!
 

I bought an E. A. Brown barrel in .270 Winchester for a T/C Encore years ago. It's a heavy barrel, made for target shooting. However, I don't have any target-only rifles and came to the conclusion years ago that I want all my loads to be hunting loads. I started reloading for rifles about 6 years ago. This barrel has always been a slight problem. I would work on loads for it, get discouraged or distracted by loads for my other rifles and forget about it for a while. But there's always been some problem when I came back to it. In the last couple of years I've become more aware of high pressure signs and been paying more attention to them. I noticed that some of my old .270 loads showed signs of high pressure - primers cratering, etc. Most recently, I reduced the load for 130 grain Sierra GameKings to the "most accurate" load, not the max and made the OAL .005" shorter than Sierra recommends but consistent w/ Lyman. Took them to the range yesterday. First shot, primer spread out flattened and blackened the outside of the bottom of the case. I put it away immediately.
I noticed when cleaning it last night that a .270 jag with a wetted rag won't go down the barrel, so I used a smaller jag (6.5 mm?). Could this barrel be out of spec? or tighter than most .270s? Maybe it has to do w/ rate of twist? Should I attempt to contact the manufacturer E.A. Brown ?
:confused:

Thanks in advance,
Mike

It might have an undersize bore, or possibly just badly fouled. Either can boost pressures.

It would be smart to contact the maker in writing. Even if it's nothing they did, you at least have begun a paper trail of discontent.

Or you may want to slug the barrel and make sure that it is .277" instead of .264" :confused:

What dmickey said. If you can`t do it take it to a smith.

Thank you all. I slugged a Mauser 98K barrel a few years ago to make sure it was .323" vs. .319" so I know what's involved. I'll try that and contact the manufacturer.
I've never given up on a rifle before. This would be a nice setup if I can get it working right - very lightweight.

Mike

I'd try a factory load in it and see what it does.
my gut feeling says its a sizing issue but don't have enough info to say.
RR