Best hunting cartridge to AI

scott_r

scott_r

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Not that Im going to go out and rush to do this but what cartridge benifits most from the AI? Ive heard the 257 roberts really benifits, not sure if its true through. Experts please type away :D

Cheers!!
 
The Roberts doesn't gain much at all over the + P loads. Some of the biggest gainers are 25-35 Win, 30-40 Krag, 30-30 Win, 250 Savage. See a pattern? The older tapered body and shallow shouldered cases get the most improvement. The "modern" cartidges are kinda AI'ed already, especially short mags. For the heck of doing it I would go 250 Savage, but that's just me. Some say AIing accurizes but I can't comment on that point.
 
Keep in mind that the rifle needs to feeds the AI cartridge. I know of at least one 6.5 that showed great results other then the quirks to feeding from the mag.


303br is a real candidate for improvement and would be done more if the bolt face did'nt already accept a 300wm case.
 
You can't improve on a 300H+H but if you do it becomes a 300 WBY that is precisely what WBY did you can shoot the 300H+H in the 300 WBY to fire form brass
 
Anything on the 7X57 case has a bit of taper that the AI conversion works well. The .30-06 family benifits from a little shorter neck also, the .280Ai is another good one. You could go a step farther and look at a gibbs conversion. I love my .30 gibbs.
 
I believe it is a better option to have a 7mm Rem instead of a 280AI. Simple, effective, great performance and time proven.
 
struff55 said:
You can't improve on a 300H+H but if you do it becomes a 300 WBY that is precisely what WBY did you can shoot the 300H+H in the 300 WBY to fire form brass
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Well, that's one improved version. Ackley did his own version, different shoulder, less freebore. A few other people made versions of an improved 300 H&H as well. - dan
 
dan belisle said:
Well, that's one improved version. Ackley did his own version, different shoulder, less freebore. A few other people made versions of an improved 300 H&H as well. - dan
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With Ackley in mind, a few years back when I retired, one of my work partners gave me a couple of 'treasures'. Volume 1 & 2 of the Handbook For Shooters & Reloaders by P.O. Ackley.
 
My first hunting partner liked the 6.5x55 Ackley Improved for small big game and a 8-06 for big big game. Both wildcats, and both fast enough to do the job. He could recite the percentage improvements, but I was more interested in learning how to hunt than ballistics at the time.
 
scott r;
As a rule of thumb and the proverbial “all else being equal” one can reasonably expect a 1% gain in velocity for every 4% gain in case capacity.

There are of course the usual flies in the ointment such as barrel length, diameter of the bore, twist rate, smoothness of the interior of the barrel and a few other factors that also can affect velocity and cause weird anomalies to pop up now and again.

We played with a newish Model 70 in .264WM with a 24” barrel that ran just a little slower than a 24” barreled .270 using the same weight bullets. While I realize that’s an apples and figs kind of comparison, that .264 wasn’t ever able to keep up with a 26” barreled 6.5-06 either.

As of this morning in the safe we’ve got two AI rifles, a .22-250AI with a 26” Douglas Premium barrel I put together to shoot coyotes and a .250AI with a 24” Ron Smith barrel we stuck together for our youngest daughter.

The case capacity on the .22-250AI is slightly more than a .220 Swift and it is capable of speeds similar to those we were able to achieve with a 26” barreled Ruger Swift, so no surprises there really.

The .250AI seems to not be happy when we’ve stepped on its tail and hasn’t given speeds much faster than I would have expected out of a non-AI. It redeems itself with sterling accuracy, very mild recoil and as a result is very poorly thought of by both local varieties of deer,

I will say that one nice benefit of AI cases is the almost total lack of case stretching which means trimming is nil. One still needs to anneal every 5 or so loadings though or the necks seem to want to split or that’s been the case with the .22-.250AI.

Someone on another forum stated one pretty much has to treat each rifle as an individual and the chronograph is likely your best tool for finding out what that rifle will do.

Hopefully that was some use to you.

Regards,
Dwayne
 
kimberman said:
Anything on the 7X57 case has a bit of taper that the AI conversion works well.
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Im thinking about this as well...right now Im fireforming 7x57 cases for my 6.5x257 (or 6.5x57 if you wish) . I figure If I can find someone to do the work and has the reamer I would go with AI version - 6.5x57 AI or 260 AAR if you wish.
 
longrifle said:
7x57 and 35 Whelen, AI'd they were the most efficient cartridges tested in an article that was in rifle shooter (if I recall correctly) a few years back...

'rifle
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I've had both. I'll agree with the 7, but not the 35. x57 cases (and x54 and x55) do seem to gain more then 06 based cases, and 308 based rounds seem to gain the least. As mentioned, a chronograph tells the tale. - dan
 
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