.280 rem questions

[SofaKing]

Looking at buying a Thompson Center Venture in .280 rem. I will be using this for the mountains and lower lands in Wyoming on muley, antelope, and elk. Iam setup and currently reloading. Thought about 280AI but not looking to buy or build a custom rifle at this time.
My questions are:
-is the 1:10 twist adequate to stabilize the 7mm bullet weight range?
-the 24" barrel good length ?
- are there any major draw backs to the caliber?

 

[novaman64]

Looking at buying a Thompson Center Venture in .280 rem. I will be using this for the mountains and lower lands in Wyoming on muley, antelope, and elk. Iam setup and currently reloading. Thought about 280AI but not looking to buy or build a custom rifle at this time.
My questions are:
-is the 1:10 twist adequate to stabilize the 7mm bullet weight range?
-the 24" barrel good length ?
- are there any major draw backs to the caliber?

24" should be a good length, you only give up 20-30fps per inch. 1:10 should stabalize up to 150 grains, if your gonna shoot heavier id go for a 1:9. 7,, is great, go for it, Im getting ready to build a cusotm now.

 

[gohring3006]

You won't be disappointed in the Venture, a 24in. In .280 will be fine. If you decide to go Ackley you can remove the barrel of your Venture just as easy as a 700 Remington so a smith can ream to Ackley and set head space on your factory barrel.

 

[SofaKing]

-Can you form once fired 280 rem brass into 280 AI?
-If I decided to make it a Ackley Improved
Or will this be too much extra work?

 

[gohring3006]

-Can you form once fired 280 rem brass into 280 AI?
-If I decided to make it a Ackley Improved
Or will this be too much extra work?

I don't see it being a problem with once fired brass. Nosler has factory brass also.

 

[novaman64]

I don't see it being a problem with once fired brass. Nosler has factory brass also.

Assuming you go with a SAAMI spec chamber you can use the Nosler brass. There is a large thread on true ackley vs SAAMI spec AI 280's...

 

[gohring3006]

Assuming you go with a SAAMI spec chamber you can use the Nosler brass. There is a large thread on true ackley vs SAAMI spec AI 280's...

Why wouldn't you go with the SAMMI spec to be able to use factory head stamped brass.

 

[TimeOnTarget]

Looking at buying a Thompson Center Venture in .280 rem. I will be using this for the mountains and lower lands in Wyoming on muley, antelope, and elk. Iam setup and currently reloading. Thought about 280AI but not looking to buy or build a custom rifle at this time.
My questions are:
-is the 1:10 twist adequate to stabilize the 7mm bullet weight range?
-the 24" barrel good length ?
- are there any major draw backs to the caliber?

I can not comment on the TC venture as i've never owned one. I have a 280 rem built on a Czech mauser action with a 1:10 twist shilen. It shoots 120's great(.25 moa range), 140's ok but anything more than that and accuracy goes to heck. 160's actually keyhole and hit the target sideways at 100yds.


Food for thought......

 

[SofaKing]

I can not comment on the TC venture as i've never owned one. I have a 280 rem built on a Czech mauser action with a 1:10 twist shilen. It shoots 120's great(.25 moa range), 140's ok but anything more than that and accuracy goes to heck. 160's actually keyhole and hit the target sideways at 100yds.


Food for thought......

How long is your barrel? Are you hand loading or shooting factory ammo?

 

[novaman64]

Why wouldn't you go with the SAMMI spec to be able to use factory head stamped brass.

Should have clarified... Not factory stamped 280 brass, but the nosler AI brass wont work in the non SAAMI chamber.

 

[gohring3006]

Should have clarified... Not factory stamped 280 brass, but the nosler AI brass wont work in the non SAAMI chamber.

I gotch ya on that, its just if I was going to build a 280 AI it would be SAMMI spec so I could get factory head stamp nosler 280 AI brass if I needed it. I see no good reason to build the non SAMMI chamber for this reason.

 

[Jluck]

How long is your barrel? Are you hand loading or shooting factory ammo?

How do either one of these matter to the rifle not shooting heavy (long) bullets?

OP, Go with a faster Twist barrel if you desire the longer, Heavier (See; Higher BC) bullets. Mono's exaggerate this too.

The .280/ .280AI are fantastic cartridges! One should be able to harvest anything on this continent (and most others) efficiently with one. My wifes Steyr Prohunter will be getting a .280AI treatment soon too. I will be using a 1:7 or 1:8 range twist in hers so we can standardize bullet weights for reloading.

 

[SofaKing]

How do either one of these matter to the rifle not shooting heavy (long) bullets?

OP, Go with a faster Twist barrel if you desire the longer, Heavier (See; Higher BC) bullets. Mono's exaggerate this too.

The .280/ .280AI are fantastic cartridges! One should be able to harvest anything on this continent (and most others) efficiently with one. My wifes Steyr Prohunter will be getting a .280AI treatment soon too. I will be using a 1:7 or 1:8 range twist in hers so we can standardize bullet weights for reloading.

Reason I asked about barrel length is I've heard somewhere that shorter barrels with slower twist had a hard time stabilizing heavy bullets. So if he had say a 22" barrel that would make sense. And as for shooting factory 280 rem vs hand loads. There are a few guys and other site that have had a struggle in there bolt .280 rem getting any moa groups. Some found that a hand load did the trick others used 140gr hsm trophy gold factory ammo that didn't hand load.

Also the rifle I'm looking at is supposed to be guaranteed moa accuracy at 100 yds from the factory. So I asked about the 1:10 rate with 24" barrel.

 

[7magcreedmoor]

Berger's 168VLD calls for a 10 twist. I just finished load development on my 280AI with 168VLDs in a 9twist PacNor barrel, 26 inches long, and am sitting on 2900 fps and 0.338" at 100 yards. If you want to start with 280rem and later ream it, you should be just fine. You can shoot factory 280 rem in an Ackley, that was P.O.'s point with the "improved" versions. Say you go on a hunt somewhere on the other end of a plane ride, and your custom ammo doesn't make it- grab some 280rem from the local Walmart or whatever, re-zero (the velocity will be lower, but you can still hunt) and have at it. Pick up the spent brass and reload your Ackley rounds.