I was wondering how many people had encountered this problem. I have heard of a few guys around the house running into this, and figured if anyone else was having this problem, this might help.
I was sighting my rifle in earlier this year at 100 yards with Federal Fusion Ammo. I shoot a Browning Bolt action, 270 wsm. I was grouping inside about a 3"(diameter) circle. I was satisfied, but a guy with me told me to back up to 250 yards. I did this, using a lead sled, and put three shots about 15 inches apart from each other. I backed into 200 yards and scattered three more shots that showed no resemblence of a pattern. Bought a box of Winchester ammo and put five in the bullseye at 200 yards. The fellow shooting with me told me that he had seen three other 270 wsm do the same thing. I do believe all of these rifles were brownings. But I have heard that the Federal Fusions don't do this with any other caliber. Just wondering if anyone has had this problem.
Every firarm I own shows a preference to a certain ammo...Might be Federal, Remington, Winchester, Hornday, etc...It's up to the owner to find out what his gun shoots the best...
No problem with the Federal Fusion, your gun just didn't care for it...
btw....My cousin has a Browning WSM, his prefers the Federal 140 Accubonds, might want to try them as well...
The first place I'd look would be rate of twist. A little research might be in order regarding that, such as is it different with your Browning versus other similarly chambered rifles. As you probably know, different bullet lengths (roughly corresponding to weight) and bullets driven to different velocities affect accuracy depending on rate of twist of a barrel.
Were the Winchester loads much different than the Fusions? Were the weight and velocity similar?
I think those would be the first places I'd start looking to solve the problem. You might also want to try a heavier or lighter bullet weight in the Fusions and see if it makes a difference. There's no precise 100% accurate way to determine what load a gun will like without experimentation unfortunately.
My last 270 loved the 130 Fusions. I took Nine big mulies with nine shots while using that rifle. Never tried them in my 270 WSM. I sold it when I saw how little difference in performance that there was between the 270 and 270 WSM.
None of my guns liked the fusion ammo, Or none of the fusion ammo I shot was worth a crap. In every gun I own, shots would not group. Changed ammo and the problem went away.... Was it the gun, or was it the ammo..... I don't know but I don't buy Fusion ammo anymore.
I wanted to try the Fusion in my 270 WSM but couldn"™t find any in the local stores. I will say however I did use use 140 Gr. Fusion for my 7mm-08 with good results...
I've seen this with several rifles, though 3" and 15" are horrible numbers for any ammo. Some guns like them, some dont. Yours 100% hates it. It hasnt shot well long range with any rifle I've seen, there really is something to those shiny pointed boatail bullets. Try something different ammo and use the rest up practicing offhand shots, maybe you will not notice how bad it shoots that way. It makes good cheap under 200 yd ammo for some, but its not magic. I've had pretty good luck with the cheap federal (power shock?) ammo for practice. I can usually keep them under 1 1/4" @100 , and under 5" at 300.
Federal Fusion & 270 wsm
