280AI & 143 HH

[JD Jones]

I received some feedback on my Berger load thread that lead me to trying the hammer hunters for a mono option on my new rifle. This thread is documenting my load work up with 143 hammer hunters on the Christensen Arms Ridgeline FFT….

Ordered bullets Saturday and had them in my hands yesterday. Read through some others experiences and landed on a starting place.

I'll first be looking for pressure and capturing velocities.

Brass: Peterson 1x, 2thou bump to the shoulder, 2thou nt set with mandrel
Primer: CCI 250
Powder: RL26 58-62.5gr
Pill: 143 HH
COAL: 3.316

 

[BEEMAN]

Following. The 140 AH is working good in my 280 AI. But interested to see your results.

 

[Mark37082]

How much jump are you running? The HH is not supposed to be very sensitive to jump, but I am looking for a good starting point myself.

 

[Dmagna]

I didn't have the best luck with RL 26, too slow for such a light bullet. I used h4831sc or n555, good luck though.

 

[JD Jones]

I didn't have the best luck with RL 26, too slow for such a light bullet. I used h4831sc or n550, good luck though.

Noted. I have h4831sc as well

 

[Allen Kitts]

Adding myself to the list as I am waiting on a box of 143's for my AI.

 

[Longtine88]

I shoot the 143 HH in one of my saums. Awesome results for sure. Funny I had the best results with RL 26. Different caliber but powder charge was 67.5 grains 3,301 fps and .1 moa so not bad results lol

 

[nimrod_gn]

Did a load workup for my 280 AI with 140 absolutes but accuracy was very poor with several different powders. Going to have to try the 143 hammer hunters. Finding from some other people that some guns just don't like the absolutes. Crazy because I developed a load for my 28 Nosler with 143 Hammers that shot accurately but with something going on that really impacted the BC negatively. Steve at Hammer told me that's why they developed the absolute - to address that issue. Point is - - you might have to try both in the rifle to see which works best.

 

[MarkTheFark]

How much jump are you running? The HH is not supposed to be very sensitive to jump, but I am looking for a good starting point myself.

I usually go 20-thou. That has always given me under half-MOA with numerous different rifles, cartridges, and HH bullet weights. Did some depth testing and found it to be a waste of time.

 

[Longtine88]

Most of my accuracies are found in the last band. And I always crimp the 1/8 turn. The 7saum mentioned above is 0.106" off lands

 

[Mark37082]

Most of my accuracies are found in the last band. And I always crimp the 1/8 turn. The 7saum mentioned above is 0.106" off lands

Wow! You must have a long throat. I definitely understand the need for a crimp at that seating depth.

 

[adk hunter]

"Last band" for me is nearest the nose which I call the first band

 

[RockyMtnMT]

As a general rule I would say the Hammers like to be pushed. Some rifles shoot everything and some rifles will tend to tighten up as the pressure gets closer to the top. We have done well with rl26, rl23, and rl16 in the 280ai with the 143g Hammer Hunter. Have done very well with powder like h100v and rl16 with the 140g Absolute Hammer. H100v gave me about 80 fps more than rl16.

They aren't picky about jump. Some rifles will respond to seating depth adjustment more than others.

The 280ai should push the 143g Hammer Hunter 3200 fps plus in 24" barrel. The 140g Absolute Hammer at about 3400 fps.

 

[AnesthesiaMD]

I shoot the 143 hh in a 7 saum. It is a short barrel at 20" but running h4350 with fed 215m in ADG. I got right at 3100 when I dropped 1 grain below my first ejector swipe. They shot well and performed well on game so far.