Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats AI 's which Ackleys work?

I have read posts for many diferent Ackley Improved calibers and it seems some have a better reputation that others.

Which ones work?

Also I see a lot of .243 AI's, 257 bob AI etc But cant remember a .308 or .358 AI...


Thanks

I always thought the 30/30AI was a big improvement.
The .250AI Savage just looks plain neat.
Wondering about a .308 winchester AI'd....

The more sloping the original case, and/or the more taper in the shoulder, the more improvement you get.

The 257 Bob or 7X57 or 300H&H? They blow out a lot more than a 35 Whelen, thus you get a larger increase in case capacity.

ask BrotherBart. he has all kinds of AI's.

also, you should check with TMR. he has a few.

There's more to AI's than case capacity though.

Many find the accuracy of the AI's to be superb, probably due to the solid headspacing on the shoulder and a more efficient shape of case.

All else running smoothly, like feeding and so forth, the cases do not stretch as much and therefore trimming and case life is extended.

To most, anymore, that may not be an issue. But, it could get that way.

I just reread an article about Ackley and his Improved and Wildcat cartridges today in the 1996 GunDigest. His personal favorite was the 250-3000 Improved. Many improved cases do not show a lot of velocity increase over the parent case, but do offer better case life, easier extraction and other mechanical advantages. I have a 257 AI in a Ruger 77, and it is very good, never had any problems.

Thanks for the info I wanted..

a accuracy difference and why (thanks AI_FOOL)

and on what makes some work better (thanks RickF)

22-250AI and 348Win AI are two of mine that are terrific. Above reasons mentioned by others fit in my explanations.

250AI is by far my favorite.

223AI, 250AI & the 7-08AI all show fairly good gains. I should be running my 243AI in a week or 2 so I'll see how good it is....

BTW: My 250 Ackley with 100 grn TSX has MV of 3310 fps. Not too shabby with no flattened primers or other pressure signs.....

22-250AI.

I have a 25-06AI and a 280AI both are well worth the money to me,both very accurate and deadly.

6mmAI yields an 11% gain in case capacity.

87 grain Vmax @ 3580fps!

Probably a 200 fps gain with this bullet over the parent case.

I have a 35 Whelen A.I. I don't know if I'd do that one knowing what I found later. There just isn't enough shoulder or case taper to improve.

With 250 grain bullets, I was never able to exceed the manual with my rifle (Rem. 700). I ran into sticky bolt syndrome. With 225 grainers, I was able to add an extra 10% or so of powder with no signs of undue pressure.

The Whelen A.I. seems like a lot of bother for little return. Now, a 22-250 improved might make a lot of sense. It cuts down of case stretching and moves you up into the 220 swift bracket.

The 30-30AI is a good cartridge which is obsolete with the coming of the 308 Marlin Express.
I have a 25-35 AI that is a Serious Improvement on the original case.

I have had:

17 Ackley Hornet AI
223 AI
22/250 AI
6/250 AI
243 AI
6 Rem AI(244 AI)
6.5 Rem Mag AI

All were extremely accurate and fast with the Fire Forming loads and formed loads. Case stretching was eliminated for all practical purposes.

I have a .280 AI and I love it. In addition to the increased velocity I really like the terrific accuracy and the fact that case trimming is almost nil.

X2,and exactly the same results with my .22-250AI as well! Monashee

Best Post: AI Fool

If you really want to understand Ackley Improved get the PO Ackley manual Vol 1 and read his articles about three times. I doubt anyone here has done that. Everyone is only concerned about velocity.

The most important thing about AI is the *way* it handles pressure. Every cartridge with heavy shoulder slope is like a torpedo against the boltface. The weakest part of the lockup. AI puts no pressure on the boltface. At ~63,000 psi the primer will fall out. You *probably* can not hurt your self. At the same time and for the same reasons recoil will be reduced.

With that in mind, everything AI works...

ALL of the AI's work equaly well and all acomplish their main goal of giving you more alphabet letters to use when talking about them. That's the main advantage, being able to say..."Shot him with my xxxAI, using an XYZP bullet behind so many grains of QRX powder in a SSIT rifle".

Other than that.....they have limited value. If you need more gun, buy one. Don't try to modify an inadiquite round to give it "magic" properties.