Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats .280 AI w/ 160 grain bullets....

If the standard 280 will do 2940, the AI will do 3000. Equal pressure, same barrel. Newer powders have benefited both cartridges to a limited extent. GD

+1

Barrel length is a factor on slow burning powders, in this case particularly. Then again, that is one more click on the scope to get a more comfortable length....pick.

Yep, especially if you deep throat it to match the ideal bullet placement in the case for the bullet(s) you're hoping to shoot.

Lapua brass sure makes a difference on getting the most out of the AI and the std 280. You will be hard pressed to wear any of it out. If you are shooting any distance at or around 600 yards, the 180g Hornady will simply shock the hell out of you...something you have to see to believe.

Very good news indeed. I have not worked on either of my 280 AI’s with 160’s yet. Honestly, I have been using 140’s for a long time & really can’t slight them at all. They have tallied many exotics as well as native species. But, I do like all the bullet weights in 7mm & will test 160’s during the summer.

Lapua brass?? Had not kept up with that. I use Lapua exclusively in my 308’s. Looks like I will be ordering some ‘96 cases soon.

I chrono'd a box of factory Nosler 160 gr Accubonds in my 24" (+ brake) Cooper 92 in 280AI in 2019. Got an average of 3031 fps and shoots 0.75" or less 3 shot groups which is all the pain I'd put it through before letting it cool down between groups.

After 40+ years I stepped down from a 300 WM, to the Acley 280AI, using 180's at similar velocities, as my 160 gr AB. I want all I can get. The Kimber is a delight to carry and recoil is not bad at all. Accuracy is good enough for hunting, and I limit myself to 500 yards.

I will say it again, form brass from Lapua '06 brass, You will not wear it out. Nosler brass....well...some things you just have to learn for yourself.

Old 280 with Lapua brass is very impressive with 160-162g bullets. The high water mark is with the 180g Hornady ELD-M, till you shoot a bullet with a .800 BC, you just can not believe the results. We hunt where the winds are swirling...BC matters.

How do you get that velocity with "no pressure at all"

A 7mm Rem Mag will get over 3k at max pressure.

Tag

I'm shooting 168g ablrs from a 24" Ridgeline at 2900fps with h1000. I could go hotter but it shoots really well where it's at.

Bb

As an exercise in the interest of seeing what can be gained in speed, such work is fun and educational.

BUT.......you should be warned that you'll see no increase in it's effectiveness for killing game (deer elk black bear and antelope) and I do mean NONE at all. As a man who has over 50 years of actual experience killing game in many states and in several other countries with a lot of different calibers and a whole lot of different bullets, I can say I never saw ANY DIFFERENCE AT ALL in the killing abilities of a 270 Winchester, a 280 Remington the 30-06 a 7MM Weatherby Mag a 7MM Remington Mag and although many will disbelieve me I'll include the 300 Winchester, 308 Norma and 300 Weatherby in that category too. Now the bigger guns have an advantage with bullet of 200 grains and over, but shooting 150 and 160 gr 270s, 150 to 160 grain 7MMs and 150 to 165 30 cals I never say any of the bigger guns give me better kills the the 270 did with well made 150 and 160 grain bullets.

When I was in my 20s and reading all I could get my hands on about hunting and shooting with bigger, faster and more powerful shells, I started doing as I was told and I did so for about 25 years more often then not. But after about 25 years I came to a day when I remembered my kills with the 270 and 30-06 and started looking over my notes and remembering MY experience instead of believing all I read. The truth is, I did very will with fat fast magnums, but until I got to a 375H&H, I could see very little difference in the killing abilities of most cartridges from a 270 to a 338 mag.
The thing that made a very evident difference was construction. Not shell size. That's not to say a very small shell would be the same, but on deer my smallest cartridge I ever hunted with was a 357 mag from a handgun (excellent results) and the smallest "weakest" shell I ever killed elk with (quite few elk) was a 270 Winchester, but for whatever reason, the 270 is also one of the 2 shells that has given me the most instant drops (or drops in1 second of so) when used on elk. Make sense? Not really. But that just the facts of what I have done, and seen done hinting many hundreds of animals in many states and several countries for over 1/2 a century. Taking 100% of the blame for using the wrong bullets, but I can say the shells that gave me the most long tracking jobs and worst performance were the 7MM Mags and the 300 Mags. Used with proper bullets they kill as well as anyone could ever want, but I didn't always use the proper bullets. I did in my 270s, more by "accident" I guess. But using the OLD Remington Core-Lokts, the 150 and 160 grain Nosler Partitions and just a few with the very old Speer 170 grain RN bullets I always killed deer elk antelope bear as well as horses and cattle with my 270s, and I never saw a single problem starting in 1968 and continuing until now. The few 270 kills that I made that were unimpressive were all on deer, shooting Sierra Game Kings and one Speer 130 grain Hot Core.

Anyway...........the AI shells are fun to work with and in most cases they can give you some additional speed (65 to 120 FPS) If that is worth the work and the bullets and powder to fire-form them perfectly, good for you, and I hope you have a lot of fun with them. I did years ago. But just know, for killing game, you are not going to gain one thing adding that speed. I doubt you can achieve the velocity I got from my 7MM Weatherby, and my 7 Weatherby did NOTHING in the killing of game that my 30-06, 280, 270 or 308s didn't do as well. It can shoot flatter and be less effected by wind, and that is a fact. But as far as killing............no it doesn't. In fact in some cases it was not as good because the higher velocity can cause a bullet to break up more than the same weight of bullet shot from a slower shell. So as the saying goes........"there is no free lunch". To gain something you must always pay for it in some way. Sometimes the act of doing that "paying' is the fun part, and that is the #1 reason I see for any of the AI cartridges. The fun of learning

Tag

Federal and Nosler brass shows pressure quick.

Black Nosler manual #4 has loads intended for the bolt 280. Look at the 160g partition load, it is real world, IMR 7828 with a fed 210 primer and I used Remington brass, 2930 out of a Rem 700, RS model with 24" barrel.

I would add, that if you try the 180g Hornady eldm, you will be in for the shock of your life with it's BC of .800, yes it kills deer and hogs well.

I have a standard 280 in mountain rifle config, and recently bought Imr-7828ssc specifically to try these heavier bullets (160 +). So far 57grs netted 2758 fps from a very long 175gr sierra. This gun wears a skinny 22" barrel. Wondering if my 9.5" twist will stabilize a 180gr. Sounds like you're really impressed Keith

well remember that BC numbers vary depending upon the velocity.
To publish a high BC # on a box without the velocity number to obtain it is essentially false advertising.
It amounts to the same as a sexy cover on a mens magazine.
Velocity will trump BC to a point that is beyond the distance most will ever shoot at an animal.
If your looking for long range performance, the 180 is not the bullet for a 280.
In our 7x300 Wbys the 162 gr Hornadys leaving the muzzel at plus 3350, out perform the 180s to beyond 1200 yards as for trajectory.

That's probably why I don't have any 7mm 180's. I first tried H4831 regular but velocity was nowhere close to what was expected. The 280 is about my only possible application for it and now it needs to find a new home. But who wants opened container and a partial pound of H4831?