Who to use for a .280 Ackley re-barrel ?

KyleC

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I had Gordy Gritters build the rifle but now it's time to re-barrel and his prices are now out of my price range. Who else should I consider?
 
I had my tikka T3X in .243 Winchester made into a 280 Ackley Improved by Jaff Hayes. A great guy to talk to and he done great work with reasonable times. I did however have to ask multiple times to get my factory parts back but I eventually did. He has a reamer that he and his friends use for hunting and it's a winner for me with 140 grain Nosler accubonds and ballistic tips @ 3200+ FPS. I stretched it out to 598 yds on Saturday hitting 3 soda cans in a row while on a camping trip (no animals were hurt). He also did a 300 PRC with stellar results and I will be using him again shortly. I'm not a bench rest, PRS or 1000 yd competitor so I cannot speak on those aspects but as for a pure hunting rifle I'm beyond happy!! I have yet to have a negative experience yet dealing with Jeff so I can't speak for his customer service with warranty or repairs.
 

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I've had multiple great experiences with Gunsmith at Large in Denver. 240 Weatherby Mag, 243 Winchester, 264 Win Mag, 280 Rem, 280 AI, 7mm Rem Mag. Remington 700, Montana Rifle Company, and Mauser actions. All of them half-MOA-or-better.
 
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I had my tikka T3X in .243 Winchester made into a 280 Ackley Improved by Jaff Hayes. A great guy to talk to and he done great work with reasonable times. I did however have to ask multiple times to get my factory parts back but I eventually did. He has a reamer that he and his friends use for hunting and it's a winner for me with 140 grain Nosler accubonds and ballistic tips @ 3200+ FPS. I stretched it out to 598 yds on Saturday hitting 3 soda cans in a row while on a camping trip (no animals were hurt). He also did a 300 PRC with stellar results and I will be using him again shortly. I'm not a bench rest, PRS or 1000 yd competitor so I cannot speak on those aspects but as for a pure hunting rifle I'm beyond happy!! I have yet to have a negative experience yet dealing with Jeff so I can't speak for his customer service with warranty or repairs.
How much work and money considering.243 is short action and .280 AI being long action. I have a Tikka .243 and you have my mind racing. Thanks
 
How much work and money considering.243 is short action and .280 AI being long action. I have a Tikka .243 and you have my mind racing. Thanks
Tikka are easy as they build them all on one action length.

You would need a magazine to accommodate the rounds. A .270,.30-06,.magazine length will accept the .280.

You need a different bolt stop.byhats easy to swap out yourself. You can file or grind some material off the existing bolt stop to allow the bolt to slide back the extra 1/4" or so.

It should be straight forward.

I built my .280 on a .25-06 but the .243 also has the right bolt face.

Because Tikka are modular buy yourself a handful of them, it's an easy swap between stocks and other accessories to reconfigure these for different purposes.
 
If you are close to Houston - Randy Fite 936-662-6263. Great craftsman. Built 6 rifles for me from scratch including 28AI. If close to Oregon Darrell Holland 541 439 5155 also good. Has Built a 22-250 for me
 
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