New 280 AI Build

[JW74]

I thought I would share my latest build. Last year I put together a 300 WSM on a long action that turned out great. Everyone here was a great help with info during the build process. The 300 wsm was built specifically for target shooting and way too heavy to lug around for hunting. This year I built a rifle that I could shoot long steel with but also was comfortable enough to carry when hunting.

The specs are (280 AI):
Stock: Manners MCS-EH1A w/ PTG bottom metal, AICS mag.
Action: Stiller Tac 300
Barrel: Bartlein 5R Sendaro contour 27" with 8.7 twist w/ APA Little B. brake.
Trigger: Timney 517
Scope: Burris XTR II 4-20x50 w/ horus reticle

So far the rifle shoots pretty good (better than me for sure) and is throated long enough to seat the Berger 180, and 195 grain bullets. If anyone has some preferred bullet powder combos for the 280 AI that they'd like to share that would be great! I attached a couple of pics. Swamp camo stock and sniper grey cerakote on the metal.

 

[elkaholic]

Very nice! I would try some RL26 in it. It works great in my 280 Sheman which is similar to your A.I. Start with about 58-59 grs. Behind a 180 and work up. I was able to reach 3100 with about 63 grs. In the Sheman.....rich
.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Another good powder for the heavies in my .25-06 AI and .30-06 AI is IMR 7828 SSC. The .280 AI is right in the middle, should work good for you.

 

[JW74]

Very nice! I would try some RL26 in it. It works great in my 280 Sheman which is similar to your A.I. Start with about 58-59 grs. Behind a 180 and work up. I was able to reach 3100 with about 63 grs. In the Sheman.....rich
.

Rich thanks for the info. I'll give RL26 a try with both my 180 grain and 195 grain bullets and she how she shoots. Load development is always an enjoyable process to me.

 

[JW74]

Another good powder for the heavies in my .25-06 AI and .30-06 AI is IMR 7828 SSC. The .280 AI is right in the middle, should work good for you.

Mudrunner, I have a bunch of 7828 SSC on hand as that is my go to for 230 grain Bergers in my 300 WSM. I will run that through my Quickload program and start working up some rounds with 7828 this weekend. Thanks!

 

[TG-5150]

what about H4831SC ? its amazing in the wifes stock 25-06 and i liked it in a .270 i used have.

 

[JW74]

TG, I will take a look at H4831SC as well. I have used it in my 300 WSM with 208gr Hornady's and 215 Bergers. It worked well with both of those.

 

[geocodyrgia]

I can +1 the 7828 in 25-06. That and a Sierra 120gr HPBT are showing incredible promise in my tang safety Ruger. It's my go-to accuracy gun at the moment.

I can imagine it would work just as well for heavies in 7mm with the -06 case as well.

 

[longrangehunterII]

Nice build, what twist did you use, and who put it together?

 

[JW74]

Nice build, what twist did you use, and who put it together?

Thanks! The barrel twist is 8.7 and Pete Hubbard from Homeland Gunsmithing here in Denver put it together for me. He also built my 300 WSM last year.

 

[JW74]

I loaded up a few Loads this past weekend and saw some good results. During load development I shoot 3 shot groups as it lets me know right away what has potential and what I can eliminate. As I find loads that look promising I begin fine tuning and shooting 5 shot groups with the final loads. The best load was with IMR 7828SSC. 3 shots ended up being 0.22"! 195gr Berger EH and 180gr Hornady ELDM both on top of H1000 also show great potential. I posted some pictures below. Thanks for the advice on using 7828! I'll work through the other powders recommended as well.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Glad I could help, and looks like it's shooting great.

What app are you using to measure those groups in that first picture? Do you upload a pic and it measures it automatically?

 

[JW74]

Glad I could help, and looks like it's shooting great.

What app are you using to measure those groups in that first picture? Do you upload a pic and it measures it automatically?

MudRunner, that first picture is a screen shot from my Balistic AE app. One of the features of it along with ballistic tables is that you can take pictures of your targets and it measures groups in inches, moa etc. Great app in my opinion. You can also store all of your favorite loads in there as well for future reference.

 

[MudRunner2005]

That's cool. I'll have to check it out. I have been using BulletDrop+ and iStrelok for my ballistics apps for years, but neither of those do any target measuring. I wish they did, it would save me from downloading yet another app. LOL