280 Ackley Improved question

[freebird63]

This is kinda a two part question, so here she goes???
So far I have not shot this gun a whole lot, its a custom build, 26" Douglas barrel, 1-9 twist, jewell trigger, its a remington 700 ALD reciever, its setting in a Boyds thumbhole stock. For glass I have a sightron S3 6-24X50 with mil-dot reticle mounted on a nightforce 20moa rail and nightforce rings. Hoping to eventually replace the scope as I want something better in the glass department.
I do reload and so far I have tried 140gr accubonds and they shot pretty good and then I tried 162gr A-Max bullets and out to 200 yards they shoot great, but I think they are just a tad heavy and trying to decide if I should go with the 154gr hornady SST's or back down to the 140gr accubonds??? Anyone care their opinions on those three bullets???
My next question is about powder, I know hodgdon has their extreme line of powders and have used H4831SC and H1000.
I see lots of good results from either IMR 4350 or IMR 4831. Now how temp sensitive is IMR powders???? So there ya have it thats my two questions for the night. Thanks a bunch.

 

[6mm Remington]

freebird63 I do not have the Ackley but I did have a 280 and it loved both IMR4350 and H4831SC with 140 gr. Nosler Partitions. The Accubonds had not came out yet to try.

I found IMR4350 to be very consistant and shot great. I only played with the H4831SC a bit before I foolishly sold the rifle. (needed cash) With the H4831SC I worked up my loads using Magnum primers instead of large rifle just to get a better more consistant ingnition in cold weather if it panned out for me to be accurate, which it appeared as if it was going to do.

I think both those two powders would work well for you also. I used the 140 from everything from coyotes, antelope, deer, to elk and was never disappointed. I think if you can get the Accubond to shoot well for you I would just stick with it! Good luck.

 

[cowboy]

You said you had a 1-9" twist in your barrel. In my opinion you are just starting to take advantage of the twist with the 162 gr Amax and should very easily stabilize up to and including the 180 gr Berger's. I and my son both shoot this cal. in a 1--10" twist barrels and are using the 168 VLD Berger with great results. If you want to shoot the lighter grain bullets I would think you would have been better off going with a slower twist than 1-9".

As far as the Hogdon powders being more temp. stabilized then say the RL powders. I think a lot of this has to do with where an individual uses these reloads and what temp changes you may incur. If you are in the south part of the U.S. and pretty much stay there then that is one story but if you live in Montana like me where it can be 100 plus in the summer and WAY below zero in Nov. then that is a different story. Yes there is a difference.

I use H4831sc in my 280AI and my son uses RL22 in his. In August one year we put 6 rounds of his and 6 rounds of my reloads in the freezer for a week, took them out , put them in a cooler packed with ice and went to the rifle range. Temp that day was 90 something. We each fired 5 rounds through the chrony with ammo that was not in the freezer. Then one round at a time we removed them from the cooler and shot them through the chrony. The H4831sc was far superior in matching the ambient temp reloads versus the RL22.

With that said the RL22 produces much faster velocity than the H4831sc and shows no signs of pressure.

With the H4831sc and H1000 I would think you are on the right track. I always wanted to try some retumbo but was afraid I wouldn't get the velocity - I guess a person never knows unless you try.

 

[freebird63]

I live in Idaho so our climate is alot like Montana, I had a 300RUM prior to the 280, I have become disabled and could no longer shoot the heavy recoil of the sendero 300RUM. I clearly came out very well on the deal. I was either hoping for a 7MM or a 280AI. When I first got my 300RUM I tried some US869 and that stuff was all over the board in low temps. I had talked to Aaron Davidson and he suggested 168gr bergers also. But being disabled with no income its kinda hard to justify or even coming up with the money for reloading supplies. As far as powders go I have a full jug of H4831SC, a little bit of H1000, almost full jug of H414 and a little bit of IMR 7828SSC. As soon as I can wrangle up the cash I want to buy a new set of dies, I have an old set of Lee die's and they scratch the heck outta the brass oh and I need to get some more brass. I wished I could find someone that had like 10 of the berger 168gr for me to try as I don't want to waste any money on something that won't shoot for me. Right now as far as bullets go I have like 2 boxes of the 140gr accubonds, 1 box of hornady SST 154gr.

 

[J E Custom]

This is kinda a two part question, so here she goes???
So far I have not shot this gun a whole lot, its a custom build, 26" Douglas barrel, 1-9 twist, jewell trigger, its a remington 700 ALD reciever, its setting in a Boyds thumbhole stock. For glass I have a sightron S3 6-24X50 with mil-dot reticle mounted on a nightforce 20moa rail and nightforce rings. Hoping to eventually replace the scope as I want something better in the glass department.
I do reload and so far I have tried 140gr accubonds and they shot pretty good and then I tried 162gr A-Max bullets and out to 200 yards they shoot great, but I think they are just a tad heavy and trying to decide if I should go with the 154gr hornady SST's or back down to the 140gr accubonds??? Anyone care their opinions on those three bullets???
My next question is about powder, I know hodgdon has their extreme line of powders and have used H4831SC and H1000.
I see lots of good results from either IMR 4350 or IMR 4831. Now how temp sensitive is IMR powders???? So there ya have it thats my two questions for the night. Thanks a bunch.

Almost without exception, everyone I have built with a 1 in 9 twist shot the 160 grain Accubond
and the 168 Berger great using H 4831 sc and/or RE 19 Almost in the same hole at 100 yards
to 300 yards. The Berger's do slightly better at 400 to 1000 on targets but the Accubonds are
very dependable on game.

The first powders I try while working up loads is the extreme powders by Hodgdon because
they do work with temperature changes, and if they don't perform as well as I would like then
I search for something else.

J E CUSTOM

 

[freebird63]

I would like to try the 168gr bergers, but have not found anyone willing to part with 10 for me to try as I just can't justify spending the money on an entire box if they don't work out. Heck if someone needed some 30cal 168gr bergers I would be willing to trade as I don't have the 300RUM anymore.
I think I have like 40 of the 30cal 168gr bergers to trade if someone is interested. I am interested in them now.

 

[Pdvdh]

Here's my load, using H1000.

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f28/0-008-off-versus-into-lands-162-amax-55730/

 

[freebird63]

alot of people claim the a-maxes are not a good choice for hunting big game???

 

[Pdvdh]

From the research and the reading I've done, the Amax is a very accurate bullet, and an ideal bullet for longer range engagements where the bullet impact velocity has slowed down greatly, compared to at the muzzle. For higher velocity impacts the Nosler Accubond is proving to be a very solid performer, both with respect to accuracy and terminal performance - at either high or low (1800fps) end velocities.

 

[midnightmalloy]

I would like to try the 168gr bergers, but have not found anyone willing to part with 10 for me to try as I just can't justify spending the money on an entire box if they don't work out. Heck if someone needed some 30cal 168gr bergers I would be willing to trade as I don't have the 300RUM anymore.
I think I have like 40 of the 30cal 168gr bergers to trade if someone is interested. I am interested in them now.

I will send you some. I have a 280AI and my gun is a left hand sako 75 with a 25" benchmark #5 on it. My load is as follows:
nosler brass
cci br2 primers
54.8gr rl 17
168gr berger vld
2930fps

I have tried retumbo, H1000, hybrid 100v, H4831sc, 160gr accubonds, and 162gr amax.

If I had to do it all over again I would have gotten a 7saum in a long action. the 280ai will give you honest (not internet inflated) 2850-2950 fps wth 160-168gr bullets. If you are starting with a new load look into the OCW load development. anyway if you have any more questions just give me a shout.

 

[freebird63]

A 7 SAUM in a long action, is that so you can seat your bullets out longer?
Why not the 7WSM. What scope are you running on your 280AI

 

[TOM H]

I think we have some advantage to living in the Rockies. My garage door is almost 7800ft elevation and my gunsmith 600yd range isn't far from me.

1st elk season in Oct few times I could of use an AC in the tent and late cow hunt early Dec seen it 27 below couple times.

I've been having good luck with R-17 in my 280AI started at 53gr with 160gr AB @ 2834fps up to a max of 56gr/R-17 @ 3046fps using a 1/9 twist Lilja barrel 27" long,Nolser brass,Fed210M primer.

Haven't tried the Berger 168gr VLD but I have shot the Sierra 168gr match bullet good enough shot few PD with that rifle out east during antelope season.

I try and get my rifles when we have little winter left if not I like to shoot them thru one winter before I take them out hunting. I do have some Berger 168gr VLD but thinking maybe try the 180gr. I enjoy shooting the 280AI plus some other rifles. Well good luck

 

[midnightmalloy]

A 7 SAUM in a long action, is that so you can seat your bullets out longer?
Why not the 7WSM. What scope are you running on your 280AI

The 7 saum has a longer neck than the wsm but has a little less capacity. Either one is good. The long action is to seat the bullets out longer and still be able to chase the throat, and still be able to feed them through a magazine. I have a zeiss 4.5-14x 44 mildot on mine also.

 

[freebird63]

According to their website RL17 is suppose to be more temp stable then the others. Everybody keeps pointing me in the direction of RL22, but they say to go out and work on your loads during the same weather patterns that fall during my hunting season, so I guess I should be out there now working on my loads. Am feeling like I might go out to the cave and maybe load a few, but just what should I load, 140gr accubonds?, 154gr SST's?, 162gr A-Max??