280 AI

[greenecj]

I just put a 26" shaw barrel on my sons rifle. It has a 1:8 twist. 280 ackley improved.
What would be a good grain bullet to try with this barrel?
For him the shots with stay under 300
I may stretch it out a little further.
Also will only be used for Pennsylvania whitetails.
Also what's a good powder to try with this caliber? I'm very new to this caliber
Thanks

 

[Dmagna]

H4831sc is really good for 130-140 bullets for hunting, very temp stable. The 1-8 twist will allow you too shoot any 7mm bullet you want, but with white tails you don't need anything crazy. If you go 160+ gr bullet I would use H1000, RL23, or try H4831SC. I have shot about every bullet out of the four 280ai I have built. Accubonds are some of my favs but are super hard to find, hammers and Barnes are great but hammers are very expensive (but worth it) but I would get some time reloading for the 280ai before trying hammers.

 

[bamban]

RL23 and 175 Elite Hunter. Look up @lancetkenyon load work. I just zoomed right around his precision node and got what I am looking for in speed and precision. Saved me lots of components.

 

[Briant_az]

I agree with Dmagna, H4831sc is a great powder for the 280AI. It's really the only one that I've ever used because it worked great. I'm loading 140gr Accubonds though and they are really hard to find!
I've used 168gr VLD's in a 280 also. Shot great with 4831sc also.

 

[lancetkenyon]

I would say "whatever you can find" at this point.
I have used H1000, H4831SC, RL23 (my favorite), and RL26.
With bullets ranging from the 160 TMK and NAB, 168 HVLD and SMK, 175 Elite and SMK, 180 Hyb and VLD, 183 SMK, and 184 Hyb.

 

[DesertDweller62]

IMR 4350 and IMR 4831 SC are good choices to start with. For shots 300 yards and under, most any 140 -150 gr bullet with work well. For years I shot the old 145gr Speer because it preformed perfectly on deer and Jack O'Conner wrote about using it a lot in his 280. DD62

 

[Tidus56]

I use the 162 ELD in my 280 AI with RL23 and it's a great combo.

 

[john k]

All the above mentioned powders are great in the .280AI. 140 and 160 AB's are great for whitetail but hard to find. I've had great results with 150gr Barnes TTSX launched by H4831sc. I'm currently shooting 143 Hammer Hunters with RL26 with very impressive results. In a jam I have used IMR4350 and very accurate but velocities were much slower. Just be careful, you may become a .280AI cult member. Keep us posted

 

[Seabeeken]

I just put a 26" shaw barrel on my sons rifle. It has a 1:8 twist. 280 ackley improved.
What would be a good grain bullet to try with this barrel?
For him the shots with stay under 300
I may stretch it out a little further.
Also will only be used for Pennsylvania whitetails.
Also what's a good powder to try with this caliber? I'm very new to this caliber
Thanks

To best powders in mine were reloder 22 and h4831sc. Both shot under .5". I never did try reloder 26 but i should.

 

[birddog 68]

For my Pennsylvania WT load I use 139 grain Hornady interbond over Imr 4831 and when heading west I use 160 gr accubond on top of Imr 7828 sc. Some have had good success using 120 BT for WT but nosler is really slacking so you're going to be limited (for now) but Speer hot cor is a option and available. I like 140-150 pills for WT from the 280 AI.

 

[GLTaylor]

If you want to try Hammers, go to Hammer Hunter Load Data on this Forum.
About 200 pages of member shared load data for both Hunters and Absolutes.
Good stuff and very time and component saving!

 

[Slick8]

Anything from 140-180 will work for your purposes as well as the powders already mentioned. If wanting to hunt out west I'd steer heavier due to shot distance and wind.

For example I'm shooting a 20 inch 7 saum which is very close to yours in case capacity. I'm running a 180 hybrid at 2800 for Texas white tails to mulies this fall in NM. I wouldn't think twice about elk if I didn't have a 30 nosler running 230s. The 180s retain more then enough velocity to 1000 yards at 8000 feet which is just out of my comfort zone.

I'm a fan of H1k myself due to temp in-sensitivity and consistently low ES. It's a little slower than some and as many others it's very hard to find.

Ultimately shoot what you can get your hands on and shop around for preferred components.

 

[204_ruger]

I have a new browning xbolt 280AI. With a
26 inch 1@8 twist barrel. I been researching the bullets. Got it down to a few that i like.
162 gr eld m
166 gr A Tip
175gr Berger elite hunter.
Dont over the Berger 140gr vld hunting bullets. You can find easy them easy. I have used the 140gr and 168gr vld on deer. You can get a hornady 150 gr eld x. Berger makes a 150 gr classic hunter. The 175gr gr berger elite hunter. Nobody has them in stock. I am looking for a bullet to shoot out 600 yds. Good luck let us know how it shoots.

 

[Stockbroker]

RL17 with 160's did great for me, pressures past 3100FPS