280 AI - Does anyone else shoot this wildcat.

Boss Hogg

Boss Hogg

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Calgary, Alberta
I am the proud owner of a 280 AI barreled action. I had Ron Smith of Innisfail, Alberta make me a 26 " SS barrel and Dave Henry of D. Henry Gunmakers in Bentley, Alberta did the chambering and threading for me.

I built it on a Remington 700 BDL action, it was a 30-06 originally. My stock is coming from a fellow CGN'er and I have a nice set of Burris Signature series rings and bases to go on her. To top it of will be a Leupold VX II 3x9-50.

I think this thing will be a real tack driver and it should have the ballistics of a 7mm Mag.

If anyone else is shooting the 280 AI I'd be interested in chatting about some of the reloads you have experimented with.

Cheers
 
Grampa smith is still making barrels? Awesome, I will have to contract his services soon...What about Dave Henry Boss? I have been hearing his name bandied about lately too, all of it complimentary...are his prices reasonable?
 
I used to shoot the 280 AI, and liked it, but I got a hankering for a little more speed and built a 7mm Gibbs. The 280AI will equal most factory 7mm Rem Mag ammo, but not handloads, and the Gibbs gets you a little closer yet. Brass is annoying to form, but I like it enough that I'm building another (going to bubba another one of those ol' Mausers :D ). - dan
 
Grampa smith is still making barrels? Awesome, I will have to contract his services soon...What about Dave Henry Boss? I have been hearing his name bandied about lately too, all of it complimentary...are his prices reasonable?
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I have had Dave do all my work, his prices are very reasonable and his work is top notch. His only problem is time, he is very busy. But he has always accomidated my requests.

Brass is annoying to form, but I like it enough that I'm building another (going to bubba another one of those ol' Mausers ). - dan
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Can you elaborate on the brass issues Dan, isn't it just a matter of fire forming the 280 brass?
 
I just started playing (er....working :lol: ) with my first 280AI. 24", 9 twist Gaillard tube on a M700 action. Have the first 50 brass fireformed, and have the rifle and loads in the pickup to try after work, weather permitting. 140 accubonds and 4831SC.

Another guy on here who goes by the name, coincidentally, of 280_Ackley has played with one a bunch. I am sure he will chime in.

Lets keep each other posted. Incidentally, have you the #5 Nosler manual? Good loads in there. # 4 also has 280AIdata, but it is crap. The velocities are possible, but not with those loads.
 
I just got one screwed together too. It'll get the barrel bead blasted and bedded this week. Off next week looking for elk. I'll be shooting it in a couple weeks.
Hmmmm...three new 280AI's on the board a the same time....should be interesting :wink:
 
What kind of velocity's are you guys getting with a 280AI using 139 Hornadys, or 140 Noslers ? How many grains of what kind of powder ?
Just wanna compare an AI to a regular .280
Thanks.
 
Boss - The 280 Ack is in the Nosler Manual, fifth edition. Mine also has one of
Uncle Ronnies barrels on a Shehane Tracker stock. I chose 140 gr Sierra's for
my hunting bullet. It is very accurate.
 
rembo's away next week and I'll have his 280AI..I'll let you guys know what it will do when you push it to the limit.....should beable to get 4000 fps when the owners not around..lol :wink:
 
Forgot to mention that the Nosler Edition number four also has the data. The write
up on it was done by Kenny Jarrett who at that time had built 463 rifles in that
calibre and rebarrelled twice that many. He says you can expect 3150 fps with
140 grains and 2975 with 160's. I liked my 280 Ack so much I built a 7mm/08 Ack
after that.
 
I built a 280 Rem for my brother with a Ron Smith gain twist barrel on a new Sako action. What a thing of beauty, my brother loves it and the damn thing shoots excellent. I'm really looking forward to getting this baby put together. I ordered my dies yesterday, went with the C&H brand for $106.00. I'll put up some photos when it's complete. All I have to do is bed it and were ready to go. I also went with the Kwik Klip conversion for the bottom metal.
 
Have had one on a Sako action, gailllard barrel for quite a while and love it. Have found best speed accuracy with Reloader 19 , have tried H-4831, IMR 4350 and Reloader 22 but seem to go back to 19.
 
We did a lot of loading for a .280AI in my buds Ruger... it shot very well but it did not achieve 7mm Mag velocities... I believe with 2 inches more of barrel length you may well get there :idea:
 
Boss Hogg said:
Grampa smith is still making barrels? Awesome, I will have to contract his services soon...What about Dave Henry Boss? I have been hearing his name bandied about lately too, all of it complimentary...are his prices reasonable?
Click to expand...

I have had Dave do all my work, his prices are very reasonable and his work is top notch. His only problem is time, he is very busy. But he has always accomidated my requests.

Brass is annoying to form, but I like it enough that I'm building another (going to bubba another one of those ol' Mausers ). - dan
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Can you elaborate on the brass issues Dan, isn't it just a matter of fire forming the 280 brass?
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Brian, Gibbs cartridges have the shoulder moved forward, so you can't just fire regular 280 brass in the chamber. Easiest way is to partially neck size 30-06 brass with the 7mm Gibbs die, and set up a false shoulder that way, then fireform, either with a medium load and bullet weight (good for practice, actually), or the cereal/tissue paper in the neck method with Bullseye powder. Once you've blown out the brass (minimum body taper, 35 degree shoulder, 0.250" neck length) you then begin your real load development. Mine has chrony'ed around 100 fps faster then the 280 AI it replaced depending on bullet weight). I don't think it's really that much better a cartrdige (as a matter of fact, there are some issues that make the AI better, brass is just one of them), but it is different, and you don't run into them at the range every day. - dan
 
cccan said:
rembo's away next week and I'll have his 280AI..I'll let you guys know what it will do when you push it to the limit.....should beable to get 4000 fps when the owners not around..lol :wink:
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dang it Cam.....I cut that one at 24" ,..no room to move it back for a new throat :D :wink:
 
I have the latest Nosler and Hornady books so I'll check out the load data. It's gonna be a few weeks before I can get a chance to finish of the rifle and shoot it but when I do I'll share my load recipes and the chrony results. I'll need to put a 100 rnds through the barrel before I start to chrony the loads. Just want to break it in first.

Barrel breakin.....now there a hottly contested topic. To fire lap or not? I never have and seem to get very good results with firing a few done range, giving a good cleaning and reaping 10 times or so. Every once in a while during the process a fella's got to perform the barrel breakin chant just to appease the accuracy gods but that's about it..... :roll:
 
Boss Hogg said:
I have the latest Nosler and Hornady books so I'll check out the load data. It's gonna be a few weeks before I can get a chance to finish of the rifle and shoot it but when I do I'll share my load recipes and the chrony results. I'll need to put a 100 rnds through the barrel before I start to chrony the loads. Just want to break it in first.

Barrel breakin.....now there a hottly contested topic. To fire lap or not? I never have and seem to get very good results with firing a few done range, giving a good cleaning and reaping 10 times or so. Every once in a while during the process a fella's got to perform the barrel breakin chant just to appease the accuracy gods but that's about it..... :roll:
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I've heard that Ron's barrels are so smooth lapping actually makes them rougher :wink: apparently Ron has a lapping setup but never uses it.
 
The main benefit of fire lapping, from what I gather, it to prematurely wear the throat. Lapping with bore paste on the other hand may be something to consider with a rough factory barrel.

Personally, if I bought a so-called premium barrel and it needed lapping, I would be talking to the barrel maker about his warrranty.
 
I've had 3 of Rons barrels and they all shoot fine. Never had a problem. His price for a SS barrel is $350.00 and he will cut the taper to finish at your desired thickness at the muzzle. How does his price stack up with some of the other product out there?
 
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