Rechamber a 6.5creed to .260AI?

I have a few questions for people with better judgment and experiences than yours truly.
This year I had a neck injury at work, a herniated disc thats causing nerve Impingement in the c5/c6. Havent worked since January doing physical/ traction therapy. Still not out of the clear for surgery.
Doctor told me I probably shouldn't be shooting anymore magnum rifles. My hunting rifles are- r700 in .300 rum, Tikka t3 in 7saum, M70 in 7 saum, and a Tikka CTR in .260 Rem. Also have a ar10 in .260 Rem that I havent hunted with, but could. But its a heavy rifle.
Hunting whitetails locally the Tikka .260 will do me good. But I might be going cow elk or antelope hunting out west this year and the possibility of moose in alaska is possible in the n3xt year or so.
I'm looking at purchasing a Tikka T3x Superlite in either a 7mm-08 or 6.5 (24 in. barrel) and having it rechambered to a .280 AI or .260AI
Now that the background story is out of the way. I have a few questions.
1. This will become my primary big game hunting rifle. I do understand that my long range shots will have to be cut shorter by some distance compared to shooting my .300 or saum on game. Which caliber would you choose? Pros and cons. I do reload.

2. Should I be lookimg into rebarreling or will it be alright to just ream out the chamber to the new Ackley chamber? And does anyone know of any gunsmiths that do this? I know, I could call aroumd and ask a bunch of smiths if they will do that for me, but what the heck maybe someone has already done this and refer me a good smith.

Thanks you all in advance.

the 7mm/08 is a short action, you would not be wise to re-chamber it to .280AI. It'd be a single shot rifle. You can spend as much re-chambering a barrel as you can cutting a new chamber in a blank, and you'd still have a "factory" barrel with a re-chamber.

Don't over look 7mm-08AI. Very close to 284 Win. performance.Any good smith could handle the rechamber and for hunting a factory barrel does fine. Shooting beyond 500 yards average, might look at a custom barrel.

I am not a fan of Tikka, but if you want to rebarrel with the two mentioned then you will have to go with the 260AI because of the short action. My opinion.

.280AI and 7SAUM are twins ballistic wise. And you already have two 7SAUMs. So you would not gain or reduce anything from what you have. Put a brake on your two 7SAUMs and call it done.

If you have a .260Rem now, a .260AI will only gain you 100-150fps. Not enough benefit unless you just want another excuse for a new rifle. Then, by all means, do it. If you want to step up the .260Rem, I would suggest a 6.5SS or 6.5 SAUM. Gain 300-400fps. Put a brake on it, and viola'. A perfect LR deer/pronghorn rifle.

7 SAUM and 280AI are virtually identical so you won't have less recoil there.
6.5 Creed and 260 with a 139 Scenar or 129/142 LRAB or 143 ELDX will work on cow elk out to 400/500 no problem. As will a 7mm08 with 150 Scenar/ELDX/LRAB.
Do you use a brake or suppressor? Helps with recoil.

Dang, Lance beat me to it!

lancetkenyon said:

.280AI and 7SAUM are twins ballistic wise. And you already have two 7SAUMs. So you would not gain or reduce anything from what you have. Put a brake on your two 7SAUMs and call it done.

If you have a .260Rem now, a .260AI will only gain you 100-150fps. Not enough benefit unless you just want another excuse for a new rifle. Then, by all means, do it. If you want to step up the .260Rem, I would suggest a 6.5SS or 6.5 SAUM. Gain 300-400fps. Put a brake on it, and viola'. A perfect LR deer/pronghorn rifle.

Click to expand...

6.5 SAUM requires a magnum bolt face. That may not be an option.

shortgrass said:

the 7mm/08 is a short action, you would not be wise to re-chamber it to .280AI. It'd be a single shot rifle. You can spend as much re-chambering a barrel as you can cutting a new chamber in a blank, and you'd still have a "factory" barrel with a re-chamber.

Click to expand...

The Tikka is a long action only. I would need a different extractor and magazine if i converted a 7-08 to a .280 ai.

I didn't realize the .280ai is that close to the 7 saum in ballistics. I do shoot suppressed. I just might try shooting my 7 saum after my neck gets better.
Thanks for nothing......you guys just talked me out of buying a new rifle.

Kidding aside, appreciate the advice. Thanks.

Why not a 6.5x284?

Never considered a 6.5x284 before. Gonna have to look into it.

Tikka makes a superlight in "The Swede." This gets you a high performance 6.5 in a factory chambering.

"The Swede" has been outdoing the "creedmoor" for almost 130 years.

Unless you are a riflesmith or have a really good friend that is one, it will cost you about $300-325 to rechamber it. Additionally, the .260 is a bit longer which means you will have to cut some of the threads and rethread it! My position would be to sell the barrel and get a Krieger and have a good 'smith chamber it up for you..