Building a .284 - Ackley or Sherman?

[TG-5150]

Picked up my barrel at a SOWW event, so it came straight from Proof. It is easier and quicker to find the barrel you want from a retailer. If you can't find what you want then go straight to Proof. Proof is located here in the same area as we are and often we get a barrel quicker out of FL than we can 10miles down the rd.

And often times cheaper, too. A few of the Action and barrel manufacturers sell at their MRRP price to allow their distributors to set their own prices. This I am finding out now, looking for parts for Sherman build.

 

[josef]

If you ever plan to travel out of country to hunt, plan on having brass headstamped that match the barrel markings.

Not trying to. Derail this thread but is this truly a thing? I've never used my own rifle outside of the US. What country have you run into this issue with?

 

[RockyMtnMT]

With a barrel stamped 280 Sherman and brass stamped 280 ai you might be good. The checking your equipment could be an ***hole and keep your ammo if he thinks it does not match the rifle. I took my 338 Lapua imp to Africa. Brass did not say imp on it and had no trouble.

 

[TG-5150]

With a barrel stamped 280 Sherman and brass stamped 280 ai you might be good. The checking your equipment could be an ***hole and keep your ammo if he thinks it does not match the rifle. I took my 338 Lapua imp to Africa. Brass did not say imp on it and had no trouble.

In the case of a Sherman you could just stamp it(rifle) .280 A.I. Imp.

 

[elkaholic]

That's been done!

 

[TG-5150]

That's been done!

Dernit, someday I will get to originate sumthin

 

[RockyMtnMT]

That is right. You can have the barrel stamped however you like. If you stamped it 280ai Sherman you would have no trouble traveling with it. Just tell them you built the rifle in honor of your best friend Sherman.

 

[jpfrog]

So do you use 280AI brass or 270win brass to form the 280 Sherman case?

 

[josef]

In the case of a Sherman you could just stamp it(rifle) .280 A.I. Imp.

This is what I was thinking as I don't have anything on my barrel right now. I know for importing into Europe rifles go to proof houses and get stamps. I dont think that's the case for temporary travel though.

Does anyone have experience with this going to Canada?

 

[elkaholic]

So do you use 280AI brass or 270win brass to form the 280 Sherman case?

You can use either. Obviously a.i. would shrink less in length when forming, or another way to put it, wouldn't have to stretch as far. It doesn't really matter though. Just choice of brass mfg

 

[MudRunner2005]

Well, the time has finally come. I am going to build a light weight, full custom rifle. I only have factory or semi-custom rifles so far, and I've always wanted to take the plunge, so now seems good! I will be using this for packing/carrying, specifically, packing/carrying at altitudes where those gorgeous and elusive elk are known to roam. Weight is being considered, and with a scope, I'd like to keep it as close to or under 8 pounds as possible.

I know it will utilize a Stiller Predator Long Action with a standard bolt face and sit in a Manners EH3. Jewell is my favorite trigger, but my smith has me thinking hard about a Trigger Tech he seems to really like lately. I know it will hold a Proof Research Sendero Light 1-8" twist barrel finished at 24". Probably also a brake. I also plan to shoot Steve's (@RockyMtnMT) Hammer Hunters, so went with an 8 twist so I can shoot his 169gr or 177gr Hammer Hunters. It'll probably also be topped with either a VX-5HD in 3-15x44 or a VX-6HD in 3-18x44.

Easy- done, right? No. I have decided I want to give the .284 cartridges a try because I don't have one yet. I have .243win, a couple of 6.5 offerings (6.5x47, 6.5-284), a .270win, a couple of .30 cals (.308win, .300win mag), and a .338 Lapua. The challenge is to find something that gets me slightly more than my trusty 9-ish pound .270win, which I pretty much use exclusively for Texas whitetail deer and absolutely love, and my .300 win mag, which is amazingly accurate but weighs about 14 pounds scoped.

All that said- I'm obviously missing a 7mm from my lineup, so I bought the Proof barrel. I know the .280 Ackley Improved has done quite well for quite a long time, and has helped to revolutionize the way cartridges are looked at by the big manufacturers. Nothing about the .280 AI is bad, from what I can tell anyway, and there are even some decent factory offerings and decent brass availability. All of THAT said, this guy Sherman (@elkaholic) came along and made my choice difficult. I like the looks of his 6.5 Sherman but I wanted a 7mm. Easy, until I saw he also has a 280 Sherman. Darn it!

I hand load everything, but in the past have always gone with a chambering I could also acquire factory ammo for in a pinch if something were to prevent me from using my hand loads. I have never done a wildcat before, but the Sherman line seems fairly straight forward, no?

So there's the question- Sherman or Ackley for my .280 build? Please educate me with your views on performance, brass availability (I know Sherman hooked up with ADG- are they supplying for the 280?), barrel life (this will be a hunter only, so minimal annual use), cost of dies (I like Redding Bushing dies, but open to others).

Thanks in advance, and thank you for sticking through this long post!

Go for the .280 Sherman. Fire-forming is not as difficult as most people think, and you will love the performance boost of the Sherman cartridge. It produces nearly identical performance to the 7mm RemMag. And, you can use cheap .270 Win brass to form your cases.

 

[jpfrog]

Go for the .280 Sherman. Fire-forming is not as difficult as most people think, and you will love the performance boost of the Sherman cartridge. It produces nearly identical performance to the 7mm RemMag. And, you can use cheap .270 Win brass to form your cases.

I was wondering when you were going to chime in, being it's a 7mm and a Sherman!

I am leaning in the direction of the Sherman- going to run a few more things by my smith next week, but aside from the scope/rings, I already have all of the other parts I need or will have them later this week when the deliveries arrive. I also have a BOATLOAD of 1x fired .270 Winchester brass that I can play with until I find the velocity the Proof 8 twist likes and decide to order some RWS. Man, I sure am getting excited about this!

 

[MudRunner2005]

I was wondering when you were going to chime in, being it's a 7mm and a Sherman!

I am leaning in the direction of the Sherman- going to run a few more things by my smith next week, but aside from the scope/rings, I already have all of the other parts I need or will have them later this week when the deliveries arrive. I also have a BOATLOAD of 1x fired .270 Winchester brass that I can play with until I find the velocity the Proof 8 twist likes and decide to order some RWS. Man, I sure am getting excited about this!

It sounds like you're already perfectly setup for the Sherman, with all that .270 Win brass sitting around.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

jpfrog,

If your smith doesn't like the Proof barrel there are a bunch of great smiths on this site that will. Some don't like the carbon barrels because they don't have extra chances to get it perfect. So if he hesitates you may want to rethink who is doing the build.