grpolarbear
Well-Known Member
I,m about to pick up a .280 AI and am curious if I can use once fired 30-06 brass and resize/neckdown and fireform,as I have a bunch of it on hand.Would it be worth the hassle?Thanks for any input.GRPB
.280 AI from 30-06 brass
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ol mike
Well-Known Member
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jwp475 and eddybo is this your opinion b/c his brass is once shot -needs resized etc..?
The reason i ask is b/c i too just received my 280AI and have bought 100pc of new lapua brass that i planned on using from the start.
What is the brass of choice for the 280AI ------? ME
The brass of choice to make 280 AI from is the 280 remington or simply buy 280 AI brass from Nosler
Keep in mind while both the 270 and the 280 are both based on the 30-06 case, the 270 is longer than the 30-06 and the 280 is longer than the 270..
Keep in mind while both the 270 and the 280 are both based on the 30-06 case, the 270 is longer than the 30-06 and the 280 is longer than the 270..
I have used the .06 Lapua brass in a 270. The best thing to do is make a couple of test cases. Neck them down, fireform them, full length resized them, anneal them, then fire them again, full length resize, then measure their length.
One thing is for certain, you won't have to worry about trimming anytime soon.
ol mike
Well-Known Member
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NOSLER 280AI BRASS IS LOOKING MIGHTY GOOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course they will fire but, why build a custom rifle with acustom chamber and use brass that is too short. Aren't we looking for top performance, accuracy, longevity, etc. form our sticks?
Absolutely, but sometimes you find that certain chambers work better with a more uniform case, like Lapua and Norma, regardless of whether or not it had to be worked. For the longest time, I refused to pay the extra expense for Lapua brass, as I had plenty of success with Winchester. Then I found 200 Lapua 30.06 cases, new, same lot, for a smoking deal so I bought them. I used half in my 30.06, and the others were dedicated to a 270. While I had acceptable hunting loads in the 270 with WW brass, I found that by reworking the same loads but using Lapua brass, my groups shrank. I also found that I had .0015 clearance between a loaded Lapua and the neck chamber dimension. The cases are 2.49 and 2.50 after sizing and fireforming. Trim length for 270 is 2.53.
Top performance and accuracy are based on several factors, but having brass a couple thousandths less than trim length is not at the top of the list, where uniform cases are.
That said, Nosler was not making custom brass yet, which I can attest to now, is very very good brass. I'd take Nosler second brass over new WW brass now.
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Depending on how the headspace is set up you may not get that crush fit using 30-06 cases like you would if using 280 cases it's just not the lenght you have to look at. False shoulders or jaming the bullet may be need. My 280AI has a Kreiger barrel and I shoot some pretty small groups with Rem brass.
grpolarbear
Well-Known Member
Nosler looks good
Sounds like Nosler has the answer,By the time you buy, load,fireform,trim and reload you may as well pony up and buy the good stuff.Hopefully it will be durable,I think it will.Thanks for all the opinions and info.Sound like a good reason to drive over to Bend anyway,It,s only a couple of hours from here,GRPB.
Sounds like Nosler has the answer,By the time you buy, load,fireform,trim and reload you may as well pony up and buy the good stuff.Hopefully it will be durable,I think it will.Thanks for all the opinions and info.Sound like a good reason to drive over to Bend anyway,It,s only a couple of hours from here,GRPB.
As you indicated it is time consuming to produce quality wildcat cases. So it depends on how much available time you've got. When a quality product such as the cases from Nosler is available I'll save the time for shooting.
Also, I think neck wall thickness may become an issue when necking cases down to form wildcats. Have had less problems when necking up.
