.280 Ackley Improved

[cowboy]

One of the best non-magnum calibers out there

 

[strombeckj]

I have a Rifle Project at Carloina Prcision right now. I sent in a Remington 700 action and a McMillian Remington Sporter that I had ordered for the project. This is my first custom rifle. Im having a Pac Nor Super Match installled for the .243 Ackley. 24" #4 1x9. Its also getting a Sako Extractor as I was told that that would be a good idea, plus Its getting a Jewell Trigger. Matt Poly Kote ...................$$ 1850 Pretty much the same price I would have paid for a Cooper without the six month wait.....................However Pac Nor like so many other barrel companys are way back ordered and what was suppose to be 12 weeks is now 20
I talked with John Lewis last week about getting a barrel make for it in the 7mm-08 Ackley...................I know that one day soon Im going to wish I had something a little bit bigger as my wifes parents live in Carmen, Idaho right on the Montana, Idaho boarder. They ask me if Im coming up to hunt Elk this year ....................??? I dont have my rifle back yet and if I do ...........I will buy a deer tag..................instead

That's why I have an interest in the .280 Ackley Im sure that the 7mm-08 Ackley will do the job.......................But then I would like to have a Cooper just to see if they are everything people say they are.

Greg

Greg I have just posted some 6.5mm and 7mm barrels...No wait!

Jon

 

[the444shooter]

Got this a while ago, and went to shoot it for the first time last night. She's a winner! I don't know the exact barrel twist, so I grabbed a box of Nosler Trophy 140gr Accubond load and figured it'd be fine no matter what twist. As an added bonus, my Rapid Z 800 yard reticle matches the 140gr load precisely at 1" high at 100, all the way out to 800yds on 13x magnification.

Specs:
Steyr MIII professional action
26" custom bbl--manufacturer unknown (possibly Shilen)
double triggers (you can almost breathe on the trigger and it will go off after it's set)

Looks like I have my "walking around" rifle!

squares are 2", so it is a sub moa shooter with factory loads--the two holes off to the right in the bottom pic were sighters before I adjusted and stacked the other 3 on top. We'll hafta see how it does with 154gr-168gr loads.

 

[bmcnabb02]

I recently acquired my first custom build in .280AI last week...

Remington 700 action, HS Precision Sendero stock, Jewell trigger, Lothar Walther match grade barrel 1:9 24", Leupold base/rings, Leupold VX-3 4.5-14x40mm CDS.

I haven't had a chance to shoot it a whole bunch yet but the load my Smith worked up for me ended up being 3088 ft/second with 140 gr. Berger VLD's loaded w R22 shooting a .324" group (3 shot) @ 100 yds. The only shooting I've done myself was real quick one evening at 230 yds. laying prone on my crawfish pond levee on a makeshift rest with the mosquitoes trying to take the rifle away from me. 2 shots overlapped and a third "flyer" opened the group up to right at 1".


I'll be shooting more in the next few weeks to get everything dialed in for this season. My next venture is to acquire some reloading equipment and start loading myself so I can do some experimenting and get the most out of it.

 

[midmo]

What is a standard or go to lengthy on the .280 ai?

 

[ol mike]

Are you talking about the COAL --cartridge overall length-- for loading ammo ?

 

[Limbic]

I seat mine .010 in the lands. 168vld

 

[midmo]

Yeah I did leave out the most important part of my question.... I was wondering about barrel length. I didn't know if 24 was enough or if 26inches made a huge difference. I like .280 so naturally I am gravitating towards the ai version.

 

[FEENIX]

Yeah I did leave out the most important part of my question.... I was wondering about barrel length. I didn't know if 24 was enough or if 26inches made a huge difference. I like .280 so naturally I am gravitating towards the ai version.

~50-60 FPS gain from 24" to 26"