Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Powder for 280 AI

Any thoughts on powder for a 280AI? Going to try, first, 140 Accubond, 154 Hornady SST, and probably 160 Accubond or one of the Barnes. Planned on ordering IMR 4831, 4350, 7828, RL 19 and 22. I am new to reloading. Gun is not ready yet. Will have 24" barrel. Will use for whitetail and mule deer. Would cut down the number of powders ordered if there is a consensus amongst these powders or another one recommended. Probably not the best cartridge choice for a rookie reloader. Not a ton of info available for it, but seemed like a perfect ballistic match for what I want. Have looked at Nosler and Hogdon. Big difference in the 2 for max loads. Hogdon is way more conservative. Their suggested loads appear to be similar to what Nosler recommends for 280 Remington. Nosler data is shot from 26" barrel but are still much heavier loads on average. Thanks

My favorite powder for MY 280 AI are Hod 4831 and AA3100 with 160 gr bullets.

My best luck has been with N165, nothing else has even come close.

N 165 and h 4831sc were on my list as well. I will move them up. Which ones would you bump off of my list? How long are your barrels. Just read some post that said one needed to go 26 inches for the AI. I still may have time to change length. Not trying to make super long range rifle. Just accurate and fast deer gun.

RL22 and IMR4350 work well for me.

RL22 for mine. Monashee

R22 and 7828 would be my first couple of picks

Dober

IMR4350 gives me great accuracy with 140 Nosler's and velocity is just over 3150.

Thanks all. Now the next trick is finding the powder and primers. Have some winchester large rifle primers but would like to find some federal. Preferably all from one spot to save on shipping and hazmat fees. Still curious what length barrels you guys have.

24" on mine. Rl 22 is working well in mine from 120gr to 160gr pills. All of the powders you mentioned plus N165 should work well. Just got to find that right combo for your gun.

RL-17 should also work. I have used this powder with the 284 Win and the 7 Rem Mag. The 284 shows a significant increase in velocities over any other powder. The 7 Rem Mag with 150s is very accurate but velocities are just a tad faster than what H4350 delivers. Seeing the 280 AI is inbetween you should give it a try. I would love to hear the results if you do.

R22 the similar Norma MRP, VV560 and 165, H4831 all work so well I haven't tried anything else. My top pick is R22 but only because I always keep it on hand.

I am curious about Mag Pro, Retumbo, Ram shot Magnum, R25 and any others that would also work for both the AI and WSM cartridges. Are these last ones too slow?

24' Hart

Appreciate the powder recommendations. I am going with a Shilen select match in 24" . Am just going to have to try a bunch of powders. Also going to try the Barnes ttsx in 150 gr.

I've been happy with both accuracy and speed with RL22, with the TTSX..150 @3050 fps and 140's @ 3160, 24" pac-nor.

I would use VV N165, hands down the best powder I used in my 280AI,the best accuracy and velocity!!

Get N165 first, you may save a bunch of coin.....

n-165

h-4831sc

h-1000

Don't worry about the 24" barrel with heavy bullet velocities the 26" length would only give you 30-40fps increase.Plus the 24" will be stiffer giving quite possibly better accuracy.

Ditto with Tim.

Same here!