280 Ackley improved & 300wsm
- Thread starter Matt234
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Got a 280AI but only a couple of hundred shots through it. My my calculations it should be good for 2000 rounds, possibly more. Similar to 270 Win I would think. 300wsm similar. 7mmwsm will be significantly worse.
Hi Nigel
At last someone that has the 280ai what's your opinion is it a good choice I know the brass is expensive but there must be a few around as the brass is not a problem spud and two others I've found have it on the shelf spud being the cheapest how do you rate it?
Cheers Matt
At last someone that has the 280ai what's your opinion is it a good choice I know the brass is expensive but there must be a few around as the brass is not a problem spud and two others I've found have it on the shelf spud being the cheapest how do you rate it?
Cheers Matt
Deeredriver
Well-Known Member
I have a 300wsm, currently it's had over 1500 rounds through it, accuracy is still excellent but the throat IS eroding, I had to up the charge slightly to compensate for MV lose. I suspect it's coming to the end of it's barrel life.
As with all rifles barrel life comes down to your type of shooting, i.e. long shot strings are going to over heat and burn out a barrel much fast than one just firing single shots while hunting.
As with all rifles barrel life comes down to your type of shooting, i.e. long shot strings are going to over heat and burn out a barrel much fast than one just firing single shots while hunting.
I'm not the only one. Monkey Spanker has one, as does Paul'O.
Personally I think it's a great chambering. For the same weight of bullet it will run about 100 fps slower that a 7mmRM, so it's got plenty of power for most quarry in Europe. Having moved from a 7mmRM the odd thing is that even though it's so close on power it doesn't have the kick of the RM and is very pleasant to shoot. It has long range legs with the right bullet selection and has been remarkably easy to load for.
In terms of quarry I use it for Red, Sika. I have also used it in the Pyrenees for Chamois as a LR shot was possible. It is too much gun for Muntjac, Roe and Fallow unless you want to load down, which I don't, I just use another gun.
Overall I think it's a great chambering and would thoroughly recommend one. As for brass, yes it's £50 more than some of the more common chambering, but after 5 reloads that's £0.20 a round. Not a deal breaker.
paul o'
Well-Known Member
+ to the above its a nice cal to shoot 
, if you stack it up to say the .270 , saying that a well built 270 will do just as well a plus is you can feed of the shelf the 280 you can't well in the UK that is ,unless you wish to shoot factory .280 to fire form and get the brass at the same time but then you will need to order no less than 400 rounds at a time and wait up to 8 weeks to get it ?? 
, if you fancy a 280 ack I would say find the die's and the brass first then have one built or buy a used one , only saying this as brass and dies are not in abundance but again need to be got in ? if spud has them cool go for it and stock up, If they are not out there to be obtained in the first place you could be waiting around . been told 50 case's have gone up to £2 a cases? don't know mine were £63 Nosler brass less for the Hornady . Wished I had found 280 ack brass but ha ho , iv got a few hundred new 
so that I am ok for more than a few years and prob will still have new boxed brass for when I sell it in hand lol.
best of luck with your choice but think hard on what you need out of it first .
, if you stack it up to say the .270 , saying that a well built 270 will do just as well a plus is you can feed of the shelf the 280 you can't well in the UK that is ,unless you wish to shoot factory .280 to fire form and get the brass at the same time but then you will need to order no less than 400 rounds at a time and wait up to 8 weeks to get it ?? , if you fancy a 280 ack I would say find the die's and the brass first then have one built or buy a used one , only saying this as brass and dies are not in abundance but again need to be got in ? if spud has them cool go for it and stock up, If they are not out there to be obtained in the first place you could be waiting around . been told 50 case's have gone up to £2 a cases? don't know mine were £63 Nosler brass less for the Hornady . Wished I had found 280 ack brass but ha ho , iv got a few hundred new so that I am ok for more than a few years and prob will still have new boxed brass for when I sell it in hand lol.best of luck with your choice but think hard on what you need out of it first .
Another .280ai fan here.
i find mine to be pleasant to shoot and accurate but its not an everyday choice.
.270 will do just fine unless you have a particular need to upgrade to 7mm bullet choice.
Ive used mine out to 800m under 'medium range' tuition. For that kind of distance the 7mm helps e.g 180 berger
if you are stalking at 150m or less then maybe not so important
i find mine to be pleasant to shoot and accurate but its not an everyday choice.
.270 will do just fine unless you have a particular need to upgrade to 7mm bullet choice.
Ive used mine out to 800m under 'medium range' tuition. For that kind of distance the 7mm helps e.g 180 berger
if you are stalking at 150m or less then maybe not so important
Hales Smut
Well-Known Member
7x64 or 7x64ix
Why make life difficult.
Why make life difficult.
I may be missing something but how is 7x64IX any different to the 280/280AI?
Brass is cheaper for the 7x64 (£45 7x64 Hornady vs £79 280AI Nosler). I guess that 7x64 is available in some factory rifles but 7x64IX is still a custom job just like the other two.
Doesn't really seem to make life much easier unless it's a factory rifle in 7x64 but a factorybrifle in anything is easier.
Brass is cheaper for the 7x64 (£45 7x64 Hornady vs £79 280AI Nosler). I guess that 7x64 is available in some factory rifles but 7x64IX is still a custom job just like the other two.
Doesn't really seem to make life much easier unless it's a factory rifle in 7x64 but a factorybrifle in anything is easier.
I have a .280 Rem with a 22-inch barrel and three 7x64s with 20, 23.5 and 24 inch barrels, as well as 7x57s and three 7mm-08s. Don't own a 7mm Rem Mag, but I handload for two friends, one with a Ruger No 1B and the other a Ruger 77.
So I will re-post what I posted last week:
There is enough difference in chambers and barrels to make some .280 Remingtons faster than most.280 AI, and to make some .280 AI slower than most stock .280 Remington. A 5% increase in powder in a case that size is only going to give about 1% more muzzle velocity.
Start with a stock .280 Remington with a 24 inch barrel and experiment with some bullets and powders, and see how that works before hot rodding an already great cartridge. You may also find that a 22-inch .280 Remington shoots as fast as the data says for a 24-inch barrel. A lot of the Remington 700s certainly do.
Lastly, you may find that your most accurate load is not your fastest load, with many bullets and powders. So don't focus on MV. There are so many good 7mm bullets, from 120 to 175 grains. Your preconceived "I want so-and-so bullet to go XXXX FPS" may not be what works best in your rifle, but you may be pleasantly surprised by the loads which turn out to be the best.
So I will re-post what I posted last week:
There is enough difference in chambers and barrels to make some .280 Remingtons faster than most.280 AI, and to make some .280 AI slower than most stock .280 Remington. A 5% increase in powder in a case that size is only going to give about 1% more muzzle velocity.
Start with a stock .280 Remington with a 24 inch barrel and experiment with some bullets and powders, and see how that works before hot rodding an already great cartridge. You may also find that a 22-inch .280 Remington shoots as fast as the data says for a 24-inch barrel. A lot of the Remington 700s certainly do.
Lastly, you may find that your most accurate load is not your fastest load, with many bullets and powders. So don't focus on MV. There are so many good 7mm bullets, from 120 to 175 grains. Your preconceived "I want so-and-so bullet to go XXXX FPS" may not be what works best in your rifle, but you may be pleasantly surprised by the loads which turn out to be the best.
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