Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles ,280 AI pros & cons ?

Agree for simplicity and for ammo availability at reasonable price.

DF

Just to be very clear, my comments above were in response to S-99 ONLY, I just get a bit tired of his inane BS about places, situations which he has no experience of.

The issue about forgetting ammo, is, IMO, rather overdone and IF one does this, the chances of finding the same load which you sighted with is pretty slim.

In decades of packing all my gear-supplies for extended solo stints working in wilderness here in BC, I learned HOW to do so in a manner that precluded "forgetting" stuff I would need.

So, for North American hunting, at least, I consider the ammo issue pretty minor.

BTW, I LOVE the .270Win. but, the comments about effective uses and recoil by S-99 are just BS, there is NO real difference.

Hope that clarifies things, no offence meant.

When I wanted a Ruger #1, nothing but a #1 would suffice.

Scratched that itch (with a .280 Rem), then sold the #1 because it really didn't suit my hunting needs. No regrets. Your friend may discover himself in essentially the same situation, with a rifle that scratches an itch but doesn't really solve any issues.

But, hey - its OK to scratch the itch.

Now I have a new Ruger Hawkeye All-Weather .280 Rem which suits my needs much better. And I have an itch for a #1 in .45-70 to pair with my Marlin 1895...

If that's the case, let him buy what he wants. I'd tell him to buy a box of ammo for every suitcase/bag, etc. that he's traveling with just in case so that he has ammo regardless of what he forgot to grab at the house that is 500 miles away during the hunt.

I wonder how many guys that post on this forum would themselves not scratch an itch? Not many--unless it's your mother posting under your name.

Savage, you certainly would--you bought that damn Brno after all.

He can always sell it...it's not a marriage.

Did buy some factory Nosler ammo in both 280AI and 6.5x284 and they do load it right with the program. The 6.5 is actually just a tad warm for mine. The Nosler 280AI case deserves a look. Out of my SAAMI spec 280AI M-700, the Nosler case I weighed last night holds a full 5 grains more water than a standard 280 Remington case.

Have a 6 pounder all up and it does get a bit snappy...another at 7.5# all up is pleasant to shoot.

Thanks! That's what I was looking for. My 22" T3 7mm RM only did around 3000 with 160's (book handloads), so the 280AI looks pretty good there.

My one problem with the 7mm Rem Mag, as a handloader, was brass life; don't remember what brands I used but never got more than 3-4 firings before cases started to crack just above the belt.

If he wants a 280AI, go for it. Can buy Nosler ammo or just run plain 280 in a pinch

I get 2950fps out of a 25"barrel with Nosler factory loads. I've had 2 280AIs and the accuracy with Nosler factory loads has been excellantwith velocities that I find hard to match with reloads.

How many people on this forum only have one rifle in one caliber, NOT very many.

In the real world the 7mm Super Magnums won't do much that the 7mm Rem magnum does. Does that 7mm magnum really do anything that 99% of the time a 280ai can do? Does that 280ai do anything that a plain jane 280 will do? Damn, does that 7x57 do anything much better than a 7mm-08 will do in 99.9% of real world conditions?

Well [bleep], if we follow that logic than why not just get a .308. That'll do 99.99% of what the 7mm-08 does? Why the hell did anyone ever even bother making a different caliber/cartridge.


Go buy a .280ai because you can, not because it makes a whole lotta sense.

you need to start sizing off the shoulder instead of the belt and your 7 mag cases will last much longer

Exactly, that was my point!

2 words

Kim

Ber

I used to have a similar problem with IMR4831 and 160g bullets. Dropping back a bit on the powder charge helped significantly. Or you may have to use different powders to get the velocity and case life you want. I get 3000fps easily using H1000 and H4831SC with North Fork 160g bullets.


There is a burr or something in my chamber that leaves light, half-inch long scratches in the cases. By counting the scratches I can accurately determine how many times a case has been chambered. Last time I had a case start to separate there were 18 such scratches.

In all honesty, it's probably best that you didn't talk him out of a .280 AI. I've seen guys buy something at the urging of friends, who sincerely had their best interests at heart. In nearly every instance, the guy eventually ended up buying what he really wanted in the first place. He just took a more expensive route to get there, via the practical detour.

I personally don't put much stock in the "traveling hunter" argument for cartridge choice. It's talked about quite a bit, but how many people have actually had a hunt saved because of it exclusively? For those who have, what limitations, if any, did the borrowed ammo have on your hunt? If I was that worried, I would ship some extra ammo out ahead of my trip and have it waiting on me. If the perfect storm erupted and I found myself without ammo by some freak occurrence, I'd get on my phone and have some overnighted to my current location. At most, I lose a day. Bad, but not detrimental. There are certainly some extreme scenarios that could be offered up to counter my points, but so could a hundred other crazy events that a guy would never see coming.

Once upon a time, one very early campfire participant met one idiot how owned a .270, (perhaps a brother or father-in-law) and at that point he decided all .270 owners are gay. He's been spreading this BS for over 55k posts.

Truth is, on this subject your position is much closer to reality then his.

An astute reader of the Campfire would get a 280 Ackley over a 270 based solely on this post alone.

I'd agree with that.

Blind Squirrel.

I suppose I'm different......these days it's spent on out of state and Africa hunting vs new rifles that do nothing different that my old rusty one

I tend to think how and why I spend my money as I get older....that being said a rifle tends to hold value if it is of quality build

Some tend to do just because

It takes all kinds....some buy rifles and shoot some just buy and pet others hunt

Don't have it any more, but I was mostly using Re22 for 3000 fps with Nosler 160gr Partitions.

I never sized enough to bump the shoulder back (mostly just partial sized with a FL die), but I seem to remember the case body still getting sized down quite a bit near the belt. It may have been a matter of a tight die and large chamber overworking the brass, I couldn't say for sure at this point.