Fierce CT Rival 280ai

[jgriffin82]

Well, I went back to the drawing board after the advice I was given here. I haven't been able to work on my buddy's rifle however, I re-barreled a flat back Savage 116 with a 1:8 X-caliber carbon fiber 26" tube in 280AI about a month ago. The action and bolt were blueprinted years ago by Scott @S&S Gunsmithing in Driggs, ID. The stock is a bedded Mcmillan game warden. It was formerly a 300RUM. I finally had time Sunday to get to the range with it. Unfortunately, I didn't have my chrono or good rest. I made do with my old Caldwell rest. and a rear bag. Long story short, IMR 4895, RP Brass trimmed and prepped with Redding Master hunter dies, primer pockets uniformed, case mouth deburred and chamfered, WLR primers, 140 grain TTSX bullets .040 from the lands. I shot a powder ladder of 6 charges starting at 45 grains. None of the loads had pressure signs minus the 50 grain charge. The primer was slightly flattened. I shot a .365" 4 shot group @ 100 yards with the 46 grain charge and the 47 grain group was slightly larger but, still a good 5 shot group at just over .429. Temp was around 60 degrees w/ overcast. No wind. I think from here, I am going to load from 46-47 grains in .1 grain increments and do the OCW method.

I've been looking at annealers lately. Is there a decent annealer that is less than $500?

Edit: I also started crimping. I did a 1/2 crimp on these rounds. I will experiment with my chrono to see how the crimp affects my SD/ES. I'm curious on the necessity of crimping.

Jim

 

[Old Rooster]

Glad your rifle shoots Barnes good.
Your buddy's rifle should shoot better than your getting.
A couple reasons may be the Hammers need a super clean bore to start.Not a single strand of copper anywhere in the bore.They are test fired at the factory before leaving but not cleaned!
Another reason I found out that Hammers LIKE to be pushed close to max loads.I wasted many hammer bullets trying to get lower velocitity loads to print good groups.Mine won't and some others have had the same experience.Try getting close to max and then measure groups.
I hope this helps.

 

[jgriffin82]

I have three boxes of the 140 TTSX's. I'm glad they shot well too. They are readily available and inexpensive. I have RL19, H4831, IMR 7828, AA4350 and IMR 7977. Any experience with these powders and the 280AI?

I'm worked up a 6 load powder ladder for my friend's rifle with H4831 and 143HH. He's going to shoot them Friday. I started at 57 and went up to 62 grains. I didn't worry about seating depth on these. I put them about .030 from the lands. I used his new Nosler brass. I deburred and chamfered because I noticed with the last batch that the case mouth was shaving a bit of copper off and the bullet seating wasn't smooth.

 

[Old Rooster]

While I have never loaded for 280AI there are many here on this site that have and they will come along soon.
I like Hammer bullets but also like many others.I like choices.
Good luck

 

[Mike Matteson]

Annealing: This is what I did! I purchased a Bench-Source Machine. Instead of small propane tanks, I have a 5 and 10 gal propane tanks from my trailer to use. Found a Propane splitter hoses from the tank to the Bench-Source Machine. So no small tanks to deal with. Some of the problems with the Bench-Source was the use of small tanks and not being able to keep a consistent temp at the necks. , or uneven heat. Due to tank volume being uneven or running low. The only thing is I haven't set it up yet, because it's in Montana, and I am in Mexico-North. (aka Calif). I got these items from Amazon. Tempil Surface temperature pen, and the propane tank splitter hose. It took me a bit to locate the splitter hose there. They had several different types of set up. I wanted it to come with a regular on the set up. I went back and found my order #, but I guess I didn't save the order to get you the item number. I am planning on writing about the set up after I have used it. The AMP is probable the best way to go. The other is marking the cases for temperature. I have the bottles of Tempilaq, but come across the pen @ Amazon. So I got one. It looks easier to use. In these blogs there is quite a bit on annealing. The annealing I have done in the pass extend the case life greatly. Stop my neck splitting. From all the reading I have done, I am setting up to anneal every time. It help in unforming your neck to release the bullet consistence. It's all in what you want and do for your reloads. Beside it's only money!

 

[dougduey]

The 280AI likes powders in the 4831 burn rate, so stick with H4831 unless you have some RL23
Hammers are typically pretty easy to load develop. Seat bullets past the last drive band (meaning you're seating them as deep as you can and get a nice crimp on it) and do a course pressure test increasing in 0.5 gr increments to see where you hit pressure. If you can do this with a chrono it's advised. Now, your course pressure test should group pretty darn well, if not, your gun doesn't like the powder/primer combo and I'd suggest switching powders to find one that it likes and not waste your time.

Once you find pressure, drop down 1.5-2.0 gr and then shoot groups in 0.3 gr increments up to just short of the max load.
I'll be very surprised if you don't find a winner in one of those. Here's where you can play with seating depth if need be. I load Hammers in 7 different cartridges and only had my 300 WSM need a seating depth change and I think my issue was more about me not adhering to the proper twist rate (mine is 1:11 and suggested twist is 1:10.5)

 

[Mike Matteson]

A lot of my rifle are of the slower twist rates. So I feel that the hammer bullet won't work for me. I have a 6mm/280AI that has a 7-1 twist rate. I had planned from the start to use Hammer bullets with that new rifle. Any that I have built going forward I will step up the twist rate. I do agree with "dougduey" on his input on loading steps. A new rifle to me I first start out with loads and if it's in the 70gr case area. I start at the low powder charge in work my way up .5gr increase going up and above the manuals high charge rate. Watching for pressure signs. Save that info to go forward with. I don't shoot for groups at that time, but I do watch on a ladder test to some what. The only other thing is fire forming your case. You need to set a reduce load and put the bullet into the lands. That pushes the case base against the bolt face and and forces the shoulder to move out, and not at the case base. So really thinking about it, you need to back up and fireform your cases first. Same time if a new rifle you will braking in the barrel. Use 2nd type bullets and some type of powder that you don't like. Save your go to powder for the real work. I use IMR 4831 for that job. I don' like the IMR powders. They are temperature sensitivity. I don't know which state you are from. I hunt in weather from -20 to + 100. Velocity can change 1fps for degree with some powders. That mostly from double base powders. Single base powder have seem to less problem. That has become my rule of thumb. New rifle to me the field is way open. The rifles I have I have develop a load for it and I stay with it.