7mm-08 - Chamber to Ackley or Leave it Alone?

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A-bolt243

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I have a remington mountain LSS in 7mm-08 and really like the gun. It shoots well and I get just over 2800 fps from 140gr accubonds which I am happy with. I am toying with the idea of re-chambering to 7-08 AI, mostly to have something a bit different and also the gain of 100-150 fps (so I was told) seems interesting. To push the 140gr bullet over 2900 fps, well thats as solid of an all round Alberta cartridge as you can get. Moose no problem and the extra energy and velocity would be a bonus for some elk hunts and late season cow elk hunts. I also shoot a 300wsm which has been my go to elk and moose gun and it might just stay that way too.

Just looking for input and wondering if its really worth the gain the ackely represents. Has anyone went ackely and just wished they left it alone? I reload and enjoy shooting so the fireforming is not a huge negative in my books.
 
I've owned several 7mm-08's since about 1985. I honestly don't think an additional 100 - 150 fps is going to make that much difference bo matter what game your shooting. However, if you just want to do it to have something different you don't need to justify it. Just do it. If it was mine I'd probably leave it as is. Just my two cents.
 
Leave it alone... The whole "AI" thing is a tail chaser... If you really need more pep, step up the caliber... What you are building is a .30/06.
 
Often the gains are exaggerated by hot loading... cases that perform considerably better when improved are those with considerable body taper... like the 300 H & H improved to the 300 Wby. A modern case as the 308 has very little body taper.

If you like loading and testing and spending money some of the AI's are interesting.
 
guntech said:
Often the gains are exaggerated by hot loading... cases that perform considerably better when improved are those with considerable body taper... like the 300 H & H improved to the 300 Wby. A modern case as the 308 has very little body taper.

If you like loading and testing and spending money some of the AI's are interesting.
Click to expand...

I agree, often 50% of the performance increase is because of a hot load which is accurate (but still potentially not safe) because of the case improved shape.
One on the best example of this is 280 Rem AI which is often easy to load for accuracy (while 280 Rem is not).
In any case, all 308 Win based cartridges are inherently accurate so you don't get much except 5% greater case capacity unless you're into loading normal cartridge at magnum pressure.

Alex
 
i have had several ai inc 7 08 and 280. if you want more than your 7 08 move up to a 280 or 7 mag. its cheaper and easier. i had a rem seven 7 08 ai with 20 inch barrel. not a great inprovment. then i went to a 24 inch barrel and did see an improvement of a little over 100 fps. the 280 mnt rifle i had was closer to 150 improvement. in the end i now own a 280 and a rem 7 mag. if your going to do it i might still have my dies for 7 08 ai i could sell you.
 
I have been sucked into the "AI Vortex" on a number of occasions... I have AI'd a .260, .280. .30/30, and .35 Whelen... I regretted every one of them. The two chamber improvements that I did not regret were Hornet to K-Hornet and .357 Mag to .357 Maximum... I still shoot and enjoy these, and appreciate what it did for the round in my platforms.
 
cody c said:
Could you make it a 7WSM
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Not without butchering the action...

But why bother changing an excellent caliber...
It won't do better than this
154hornady-0.jpg
 
Kind of on topic

I was thinking of picking up a prefit barrel for my stevens 223 in AI.

Any of you guys play around with a 223 AI?
 
Keep it as is, unless you just want to tinker with your rifle. The couple of extra FPS you will get won't have any practical advantage. AI cases need to be trimmed less but if you are shooting enough for trimming to be a real chore, spend your money on a power trimmer instead. Then you can trim all your different brass fast.
 
ErikT said:
Just do it! What other reason do you need, than to have something different?
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Best reply yet.
I have had several AI'd rifles, all worked well as expected and the few that I parted with sold well to satisfied buyers...
The last one I sold, a 280 AI made significantly better groups after re-chambering that it did as a 280 Rem..
 
A gain of 100-150 fps is really nothing as far as energy and knock down power is concerned. You also have to ask yourself at what distances you have shot your game at. I would bet most of it has been under 200 yards, and if you hit it right with a 7mm-08, it will go down and you will have meat in the freezer. If you hit a game animal in exactly the same place with either calibre, I doubt very much that you would be able to tell the difference, and the results would be the same.

If you can drive a 150 grain bullet at 2700 fps, you can take almost any game animal in North America, except maybe the big brown furry ones that can spoil your whole day by eating you.
 
if you do it, simply do it because your a gunnut!! that's the only reason needed.it wont really add anything to performance as far as hunting is concerned.. but this hobby is about enjoyment... do what ever brings a smile to your face when you squeeze the trigger.... you already have a better weapon for moose in the 300wsm as is. but to hunt with something that is a bit rare is always more fun
 
I have exceeded 3000 fps with my 280 using a 140 grain Barnes TTSX.
While Sierra suggests the AI will attain 3100 fps, the accuracy load is at 2800, and the hunting load at 3000.
Unless selling to someone who is a hand loader with experience reloading AI's, the value of the rifle may not be enhanced.
When my 280 was purchased, consideration was given to the AI but experience and costs with questionable results decided the answer.

If using round up/round down . . . $0.02 is worth nothing!
 
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