Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 280 Ackley vs 7 Rem Mag

Someone on here should take a brand new barrel of 24";chamber to 280AI,do the load work up and chronographing.Then rechamber the same barrel to 7RM and go through the drill again. Hopefully they would have an Oehler ballistic lab or something to measure pressures.

The reasons you see so many different results from these two cartridges,sometimes close and sometimes far apart,can only be related to barrels and pressures.If I were guessing, I still say the the cartridge with the most capacity still wins,if all things are equal.Can't logically be any other way.

logic... LOGIC?? What the hell is THAT?!

Bingo..........

I have no experience with the 280 AI, (would like to have one in the Kimber Montana), but I would like to comment on the 7mm rem mag and 270. I am with boston, in regards to 270 velocities. I had two 270's, one with a 22" bl, one 24", I chronograghed 130 gr loads from Federal, Hornady LM, and Remington, and none of them were as fast as the factories advertised in either gun. My history with the mighty 270 lasted less than one year.
As for the 7 rm, bea175 says its a clone of the 30-06 with 150 gr factory loads I would tend to agree, acutual with 150gr factory loads I would choose the 30-06. But, when the 7mm is handloaded to its potential, here's what I have found. With over maximum (overmax) advertised loads of RL22, (but safe loads in my guns) here are my results: these loads were chrongraphed in a factory Rem 700 24" bl, ruger no 1b 26" bl, and a rem 700 action with a custom 23" bl. With the same 140gr bullet load vel averaged from 3325fps-3375fps between the 3 guns. I am currently shooting a 150 gr laod with rl 22 that averages 3300 fps in the custom gun. A 270 or 30-06 can't compare to that IMO, and yes these are over maximum listed charges, but it is what it is.

From another post I made the other day:




For all that headache I want something that can do more, not less.

I'd rather just shoot the 280 Remington and go on holding my head down when the boyz with the 7mmRMs came around!!

Plus ... trigger time. That alone has some worthwhile merit.

Is the 280AI loaded to the same pressures as the 270Win or 280Rem???

I'd be pretty much inclined to agree with the above except that I can't be down on the 270 for a lack of performance. I've been loading the cartridge since, I think about 1972 in too many rifles to count anymore,and routinely get about 3100 with a 130 gr bullet;some rifles and loads have given close to 3200.

You can play with ballistic charts all you want,but no 30/06 load can shoot as flat to 400 yards as a 270,although possibly the brand new 130 mono's from an 06 may do as well;but that's just one load with one bullet.

Since the 270 has a history and track record on big game that the others are gagging to catch up with (maybe the 7 mag is close today),I would suggest that if you think a jump to the 280AI is gonna make your life simple,you're mistaken.

Except when I have deliberately built 270's and 7 RM's with over-sized groove diameter barrels,I have generally not had to exceed published data to get the velocities I have posted,from either the 270 or the 7 RM.

I think the above posters velocities from the 7 RM are a tad higher than I have encountered with the 7 RM; I generally settle on 3250 or so with a 140;routinely get about 3180 with the 150,and a bit under 3100 with a 160;and I am not fire walled with any of these loads from a 7 RM.The AI seems to max out at 3050 with a 150.Why bother,from the same barrel and action length?BTW all shoot flatter to 500 than anything you force down the barrel of any 30/06.

It's pretty apparent that there is little to choose between these cartridges and the reason I am not all in a lather over the 280 AI is not because it's not "good";mostly because it is not popular(never will be),brass is hard to get,and its' ballistics are easily duplicated by commonly available cartridges that I can get at WalMart, or about anywhere I typically hunt big game.

The 280 AI is kind of like mammary glands on a bull;udderly worthless,but interesting to speculate upon.....

The '06 still can't catch up in trajectory if you compare apples to apples- compare the 130gr from the '06 to the 100-110gr from the .270.

Jordan: You are likely correct....there is not enough time to play with all of these bullets and cartridges

overmax
The 7 Remington Magnum is the LAST cartridge (other than the 243) that I would run at velocities exceeding loading manual maximums. The loading companies have found that the 7 RM pressures for a given load will have a wider range than most cartridges.
In other words, if the 7 RM is loaded to 60,000 PSI, the maximum pressure that load will generate will be higher than say, a 30/06 loaded to 60,000PSI. Therefore, loads for the 7 RM are held to a lower average pressure.
I can never understand why someone will sing the praises of a ceratin cartridge and then use over maximum loads for that cartridge to demonstate it's excellence. If the cartridge is so damned good, why do you have to run it so hot? Why not just go up to a 7 Dakota or a 7 Weatherby?

Royce

Royce
I am not singing praises, but simply sharing my results, I made a point to state that I was using higher than recommended powder charges because I did not want to mislead anyone into thinking I got those velocities from standard loads. I run it so damned hot for the same reason people drive sports cars, because I want to. I don't want a Dakota or Weatherby because it takes more powder to get the same velocities. Furthermore loading manuels are meant to be lawyer proof, my rifles show no sign of pressure....

I would like to also note that I mentioned in a previous post that all the 270 factory loads I chronographed were below factory advertised, I have also chronographed several 7mm mag factory loads that were also much lower than factory advertised, some 200 fps slower than advertised.

overmax
And where did you get the information that loading manuals were meant to be "lawyer safe", other than hearing other people saying it?

Royce
I got it from a service rep at IMR, but he is probably not very intelligent like me and you

Its been my experience that the 280AI does an excellent job of making things in the bullet path DOA. It has also been my experience that the same results can be achieved with the 7MM Rem Mag. But every friggin 7 Mag I have ever shot killed on both ends. Thats enuf to steer me clear of the belted mag mentioned here. Besides a 140NAB from a 280AI with certain loading is hell on anything deer sized up to 500 yds.

For a minute there, I thought you were describing the Kimber 7 WSM

Ah, who needs another 200fps anyway.......

My 7 RM pushes 140's along @ 3408 fps average for 5 shots. That is quite a bit more than 100 fps over the 280 Remington.

Are you using rifle powder or C4 to get those velocities........