280 AI
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Tidus56
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Do you mind giving me a starting point with that combo? I have wanted to try it for a while just haven't got to it. What's your FPS?
I think the speed was 2850ish..may have it in my records at home
Cfrey
Member
RL 19 and 162 eldx was the winning combo for me in my Kimber montana 280 AI. This combo had the tightest grouping for me by far
Tidus56
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Did you try RL-23? I love it with the 162 eld
160g Sierra btsp and bthp are great if you can find them.
58.5g of IMR 7828 with a Fed 210 is a great place to start, work up carefully. I am shooting 56g of 7828 with the 175g Nosler long range(sorted by ogive length) seated .005 off the lands with groups where the bullets all touch!
58.5g of IMR 7828 with a Fed 210 is a great place to start, work up carefully. I am shooting 56g of 7828 with the 175g Nosler long range(sorted by ogive length) seated .005 off the lands with groups where the bullets all touch!
Cfrey
Member
I haven't been able to find any up here but Its now on my list to play with when I can find some! I was getting around 3000 fps with RL19 and sub 0.4 at 100 with that combo. I had tried several different sizes of barnes ttsx and was consistently around .75-1.5 with the lot of them. Realistically plenty accurate for most things but that's why we reload right? grin...
Tidus56
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3000 fps at .4 is really good and probably not worth chasing a few extras FPS. I would just stay with it.
leemiller24
Active Member
IMR 4350 and H4831SC with H162s AMAX or ELD-X work quite well with my L3 280AI sporting a 28" barrel.
lots of good info in here…
lots of good info in here…
Justice1327
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bomberodevil
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I've got a fairly new Savage Ultralight in 280 AI that I'm doing some load development in the age of component scarcity. I've got about 150 rounds with the rifle, and my best 3-round loads have been with Hornady 162 grain SST, Nosler brass, Federal 210 M, and a powder charge of 58.8 grains of H4831, for .415" moa. I also got good load results with 58.7 grains of H4831 for .316" moa. My best load with IMR7828 with 60.3 grains was .0700" moa. These are all at about .030" off the lands.
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For deer at medium range and .280 AI velocities, you don't really need expensive bullets. For a young shooter, and maybe for an old one, a lighter bullet is easier to shoot well. I'd start with 140 gr. bullets and see how it shoots. I've used 120 gr. Barnes TTSX for aoudad in my 7-30 Waters with good results out to 230 yards. At 2400 fps, it is a joy to shoot. I load my 7mm WSM with AA4350, because that is the powder I had and it works well. I shoot 168 gr. Bergers at about 2850 fps.
150, 160g Sierra's btsp are fantastic deer and hog bullets. My family has killed at least 300 deer with the 160g Sierra BTSP, and it gained the reputation of deer not running off when shot with it, with a load in the 7 mag with a velocity of 2950 fps, easily attainable in the 280 AI with a number of powders. The 154g Hornady sp thinks it is a partition in how it shoots holes through both shoulders on large hogs on broadside shots, Shock put on a deer's internals with the 154g Hornady SST is impressive, love this bullet in my 7 Mags.
Many do not know how tough the Nosler 120g Nosler ballistic tip is. Nosler made the 120 with a thicker jacket for use in Metalic Silhouette comp to increase the "time on Target" helping the bullet knock down the large steel rams. The 120g Nosler ballistic tips are an excellent deer-hunting bullet, and I shot them on deer in my 7 Mag(3400-3550) and 7 STW(3850) with 100% success.
Two friends went to Africa for the 6 Plains game with Weatherby Mark 5's, loaded with 162g SST. They both had one shot kills each including Eland and Kudu, the PH was very impressed!
Finding any kind of bullet now that does not have the name Hornady on it is difficult to impossible, and even the hornady's in 7mm are scarce. Military production is killing the production of bullets we hunters like to shoot.
Many do not know how tough the Nosler 120g Nosler ballistic tip is. Nosler made the 120 with a thicker jacket for use in Metalic Silhouette comp to increase the "time on Target" helping the bullet knock down the large steel rams. The 120g Nosler ballistic tips are an excellent deer-hunting bullet, and I shot them on deer in my 7 Mag(3400-3550) and 7 STW(3850) with 100% success.
Two friends went to Africa for the 6 Plains game with Weatherby Mark 5's, loaded with 162g SST. They both had one shot kills each including Eland and Kudu, the PH was very impressed!
Finding any kind of bullet now that does not have the name Hornady on it is difficult to impossible, and even the hornady's in 7mm are scarce. Military production is killing the production of bullets we hunters like to shoot.
