Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting 280ai Bullet Choices

I have killed a couple antelope and a muley with the 180 ELD M so far this year. My wife also killed a muley buck with it. MV of 2930. I’m not impressed at all. After the season I will be switching. Everything has died but there is absolutely no blood trail really after the shot. My wife’s buck ran 50 yards or so and I couldn’t find a speck of blood. If I was elk hunting I would switch right now. Bergers have always done more damage then I like but at least we’ve always gotten a blood trail if they don’t drop in their tracks.

Regards, Branden

Sounds like a great receipe!
BTW, good to see you back, Dewey.

Deer do not walk off with the 160g Sierra BTSP, old school bullet, expands and penetrates with a LOT Of expansion inside and a blood trail that a blind man could follow...if they went anywhere.

MV is 2950-3000 fps with a max load of IMR 7828 and fed 215.

Family has killed at least 300 deer with this combo since the mid 80's with the liberal limits here in the South, all cousins shoot it. 2950-3000 fps is the magic number for DRT results.

The 160g Sierra BTSP is like a national treasure in how it kills, 280 AI and 7 Mag. Strong loads with 280 in tough brass, bolt gun, max load of IMR 7285 is 2900+ fps, a load right out of teh Black Nosler loading manual's most accurate powder for their 160g loads, worked with Sierra Also.

Running deer when you hunt in a jungle does not work out well at times, especially at dark.

I would imagine the ELD-X might work better as it is so similar to an amax or SST but I have not put them to the test yet.

140 Federal trophy Bonded, a better bearclaw, like a tipped partition.

Mine likes 150gr Nosler LONG tange Accubonds with some IMR 4350 running around 3000fps

My 280AI is cooking with the 160 Partition and that same load. With the exception of the primer. I'm using Fed Gold Medal mag match. 7828 is turning in some sweet results as well. The 140TTSX over rl26 is humming as well. Whitetail poison.

I've never shot an animal with any of them, but it seems to me that the 162 ELD's have a better BC for their weight than the 175's. In the Nosler long range Accubond line, the 168 actually does have a higher BC than the 175 according to Litz's tests. The Berger 175 doesn't beat a 162 or 168 by much, either. If it were me, I'd probably start with either the 162 Hornady or 168 Nosler, or move to a 180 Berger or Hornady if I wanted more BC. The 180 Scenar actually has a lower BC than the 162 Hornady and 168 Nosler, according to Litz.

Although I'm definitely not an authority on how any of those bullets perform on animals...