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

+1

On this one I would agree with Savage_99. Might be the first time, but there it is!

I hunt a lot in western Montana. I've been paying attention what ammo I commonly see in Walmart, mom and pop gun shops, etc. You can almost guarantee you will find 270, 30-06, 300 WinMag and 7mm RM anywhere you go, big store or little.

Most of the serious, active, experienced hunters-gun nuts and wilderness workers I know and have known in my 50+ years of both hunting and bush work are handloaders.

These folks sight their rifles with specific handloads as my 30+ big game rifles are and should one *forget* his ammo, it would not be much help to go to some store in Hudsons Hope or Wardner, BC to find more, inevitably factory stuff that would not shoot to his sights without a protracted sightin that is, in most cases, not available.

So, all in all, the issue of forgetful hunters in most western Canadian venues is more myth than reality. I keep my ammo IN my rifle cases and have NEVER forgotten it in five decades.

Those who change rifles almost as often as gonch might, but, this is more inexperience and lack of proper planning-packing than anything concerning cartridge choice.

Whatever, I will take my .280AI and light, custom, CRF .308Norma, to places in BC where I have taken my .270s and .338WMs and not lose sleep over ammo as I pack carefully.

Never understood the argument for a cartridge based on store availability when out of town. Has anyone here actually lost theirs? Ran out while hunting? I haven't in the 22 years since I started hunting.

Deer camp in 2006.......NJ guy forgot his ammo

Elk camp 2010......friend forgot his ammo in Oklahoma

I know of someone who forgot his ammo on a week long hunting trip and never missed it. Just as well considering how much beer he took along on the trip.

Never had airlines lose your baggage? Lucky you.

When it finally happens to you and there isn't a box of 280AI within 300 miles, then maybe you'll understand.

I've lost ammo while flying.

Has he actually shot the 7mm RM, because I think the recoil is pretty mild in an 8.25 - 8.50 pound rifle with a 1" recoil pad.

Understood, but, if in much of remote BC, you will not have a store within many miles, so, I would maybe send spare ammo ahead to my host?

Carryon?

African hunting came to mind with this thread

A .280AI with 160 grn Accubonds would be a great PG killer but land in SA after 3 planes and 20k miles without your ammo and you will be borrowing a rifle and buying ammo from your PH

In this case scenario you can't mail ammo ahead to your host

Amen.

Murphy's Law does exist for folks who must travel to hunt.

Who's to say the rifle isn't lost? What if the ammo is packed with your binocs, pack and tent that are also gone? If an airline loses your bag, ammo is likely only a small part of the reason your hunt is screwed.

I have had my gear bag obviously gone thru by whom I assume to have been TSA people. Perhaps to check if I had more ammo than allowed. Perhaps for some other reason. However, just because someone left everything in the past, doesn't mean the next one may do so in the future.

Your bag may arrive, but that doesn't mean everything you put in it will.

280AI to me is a reloading proposition, and not that much more gained than a regular 280. Each to their own, I have bought to scratch the itch several times. Daughter just got married and is moving away and asked for her favorite deer rifle, A Steyr in 6.5X57. Not anything but a reloading rifle. It's the one she knows and has used. So I loaded the 180 cases that I had. If I was telling someone who did not reload it would be a 308, 30-06 or a 7mm Mag. Lots of options for just about anything one would want to shoot at.

Just to throw some more info into this. Buddy just built a 280 Ackley on a 24" Model 70. Nosler Custom 140 AB's ran 3040 through his rifle during break in. They were advertised around 3100-3150 I think. Seems like a ton of expense to match a 270 Winchester with a 130..

It's hard to beat the 270 Winchester for the guy that want's to buy some different kinds of ammo to see what works best. A slew of good rifles that almost anybody could find something that "fit" them as well.

That's one way to make an expensive 270.

If you have nothing in that caliber range it could be good. If you any anything either side of it it will be a struggle to justify it.

I have 7x57 and 7mm Remington and a passion for the .30/06 so I find it interesting, but hardly justifyable as the '06 can equal the velocity for similar weights, the Remington can beat it by 200fps and the Mauser is damn nice to shoot and both difficult and very costly to find anything it cannot kill.
John

Was your buddy running standard 280 loads in it? If that's all you get out of a 280AI...it'd be a no-go for me. Heck, Alliant claims a 150btsp will clock 3,030 with RL26 out of a 270win. If that holds true there's really no reason to go with a 280ai if you want to shoot 140-150s. Nosler claims 3 different loads they ran were over 3,000fps for a 140 grain bullet in a 270win. Now I can still see a debatable advantage if you want to shoot the heavier 7mm bullet possibilities out of a 280AI.