280AI 22” BBL, RL23 or H4831SC?

Had my 26" BBL cut to 22", carbon wrapped, and added more freebore. RL23 is the Pixie dust for 280AI, at least with longer barrels. Going to start load development.

Smith was suggesting H4831SC for it's burn rate in shorter barrels. Would RL23 still be the best choice for a 22" or should I go with H4831SC? RL23 is slower on the burn chart. I wasn't finding info on short 22" 280AI with RL23 in my searches.


If it matter, it's a Lilja 3 groove carbon wrapped 1:9 twist
Hornady 166gr A-Tips
I'm going to start .015" OTL @3.507" COAL so I've got extra room in the case
Peterson brass
Planned on F210M, but may try the 215's

All my .280AI's are 22'' and RL23 checks all the boxes.
Each one liked one bullet or another a smidge better but they all like the 23 consistently.

RL-23

I'd be for trying both...

Mine is 22". 4831 did not get me the velocity I wanted. I shoot RL26 in mine now. I have never tried RL23.

I run the 162 grain ELDM, with 58.7 grains of H4831 through a 22" barrel, at 2824 fps, for a .316 moa. I also have a decent load with IMR7828, but not H4831 good. I haven't tried the Reloder yet.

Troutslayer2 said:

Mine is 22". 4831 did not get me the velocity I wanted. I shoot RL26 in mine now. I have never tried RL23.

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how was the accuracy of both powders for you? To date, and it's only a half dozen or so but on the Kimber 280 Acks that I've been around once one pushes hard on the R26 then the wheels begin to fall off accuracy wise.

I've noted that this particular round is pushed harder than most all out there! Must be kind of like owning a black or red vette

I'm running a 21 inch 7 saum with 180 hybrids over a full case of H1k. I'm throated long for the heavies as well.

I bring this up because the 280ai and 7 saum are very close in case capacity.

^ As mentioned, 7SAUM and 280ai are close here.

That said, RL-23 has been great with a wide variety of bullets in my 22" SAUM

Ok perfect, thank you guys! I planned on trying the RL23, just wanting verification it was the right choice. H4831SC is an accurate powder but for speed has always seemed underwhelming.

Plus I have 10lbs or so and need something to shoot it in lol.

dogz said:

how was the accuracy of both powders for you? To date, and it's only a half dozen or so but on the Kimber 280 Acks that I've been around once one pushes hard on the R26 then the wheels begin to fall off accuracy wise.

I've noted that this particular round is pushed harder than most all out there! Must be kind of like owning a black or red vette

Click to expand...

From what I remember, I shot 4831 exclusively in my 26" and it was great. When I rebarreled to 22" I tried hard to get it to shoot because I have a jug of it. I was not getting it all to come together and I attributed it to incomplete powder burn because my es was bad and so were my groups, and my velocity was lower than I hoped for. RL26 gets repeatable 1/3 moa for me and I see no reason to look elsewhere. I'm not driving it as hard as some. 2900 FPS with 168 grain bullet.

I have a notebook filled with notes on these combos as well as some 155 grain HH data with multiple powders, if anyone is interested I can dig it out. It will be worth exactly what you pay for it.

I went to 22'' and didn't want sub par velocities because of components.
RL-26 and 150 grain bullets always would throw a flier. RL-23 fixed that.
Then I moved to lighter monos and checked all the performance boxes.
Accuracy, terminal performance and velocity all in a handy package!

Mine likes rl22 and h4831sc. Under .4 moa with 22" barrel

I have a Lila steel barrel in 280 AI, 22 " barrel length. It shoots 150 grain barnes TTSX great with h4831sc.