280ai ordered...now what?
I decided I wanted to split the difference between my 7mm-08 and 7mm Rem mag so I ordered a Fierce Edge 280ai with a 24” barrel today from Prophet River.
I sold my 7mm-08 a while ago and will either be selling my Cooper Jackson Hunter 7mm Rem Mag or re-barrelling it. Its at Cooper Firearms for a small warranty issue and they are giving me a very, very good deal on a re-barrel job if I want. The Jackson Hunter is about a 7 1/2 pound gun which could help with recoil if I went with something larger. Could go the "heavy hitter" route like a 375 H&H or lighter like 257 Weatherby, not sure what I will use more, as my 280ai will be my “go to” deer, moose and elk gun. So without changing the bolt face what would you re-barrel it to and why? oh yeah, I don't have any other centre fire rifles. **Found this online- not sure if its accurate or not but these use the same bolt face as my 7mm Rem Mag. Long actions with a bolt face .Dia of .540 +/- 257 Weatherby, 264 Win Mag, 270 weatherby Mag, 7mm Rem Mag, 7mm Weatherby Mag, 7 STW, 7mm Rem Ultra Mag, 300 H & H, 300 Win Mag, 300 Weatherby Mag, 300 RUM, 303 Brit, 8mm Rem Mag, 338 Win Mag, 340 Weatherby Mag, 338 RUM, 375 H & H, 375 Weatherby, 375 RUM, 416 Rem Mag, 458 Win Mag, and the 458 Lott. |
Id go 257 bee :)
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35 nosler
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I rebarreled a 7RM to 257 wby. Pretty nice that you can hold on hair to 400yds
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Lott? Why not? Everyone needs a 6000 ft-lb heavy hitter.
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Congrats on the 280!
What about a Nosler 26? |
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Same here Jay on your new purchase.
Now that your thinking or doing the 280 AI, what is your Harvesting or shooting plan with your other rifle. Just asking is all. Do you reload for your self, target shooter, strictly a game harvester, or would this rifle just be a back-up unit for you or others to use once in a while. Oh, if you have it in 7mm Mag, what do you like and dislike about that cartrage if I may ask. I've heard that it is a pretty good cartrage over all for North American hunting and shooting. Don |
Re-barrel to a fast twist 300 Win Mag or RUM to shoot 215 plus grain bullets. Or even better the upcoming 245 gr Berger. Not sure if Cooper will give you the option on a fast twist barrel. But with all these new bullets coming out from Berger,Sierra and Hornady fast twist barrel sales are going to go up. For less recoil and better barrel life than the 26 Nosler, you could go 6.5 SAUM with a 7.5 twist minimum.
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I do reload. I enjoy shooting at the range, my range goes to 500 yards, but I always shoot my hunting rifle. I don't think I wouldn't buy a target rifle just for shooting. I will build/buy another hunting rifle. I don't dislike anything about the 7mm rem mag. But my rifle has a 26 inch chromoly barrel and its heavier so i didn't love carrying it around. I loved my 7mm-08 with a 22 inch barrel, so I split the difference with barrel length and weight with the 280ai with still having good down range "punch"...and I have a lot of .284 bullets too that need to get shot:) |
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What bullet weights are you loading for my 280ai's? |
You guys are all wrong. Go with 300H&H
She is a classy girl!!! |
I decided I wanted to split the difference between my 7mm-08 and 7mm Rem mag
I have the same three chamberings here. 7's in 3 different packages. 7mm-08 in a Kimber Montana...5lbs 15 ounces scoped Custom 700 in 280AI....7lbs even scoped Christensen Mesa in 7 Mag....8lbs 4 ounces scoped Light, medium and heavy.. With those three you'll need nothing else..... |
I have a 280AI as well it is a great General purpose do everything big game rifle. Personally I don't like having rifles that overlap or serve pretty much the same purpose with 168gr bullets my 280ai only gave up about 100fps to the 7rem mag I used to have (in all fairness also comparing reloads to factory ammo) thats not enough of a difference for me to justify having both. Seeing as your other rifle is a magnum bolt face I would go big and I wouldn't do another 7mm. When I ran the numbers in order to get significantly better performance over the 280ai in a .30 you need to push the 200+ grain bullets to at least 2700fps. Assuming you reload I would go with either a 30Nosler of a 300Norma mag both out perform the 300win mag with a more modern case design. Most importantly though is determine what role you want this rifle to serve the build to suit. No point in having a Big Boomer for anything under 500m.
My personal hunting quiver right now is a 243 loaded with light bullets for coyotes heavy for deer and as a loaner rifle for newer hunters 280AI 168 grain bergers at 2950 first rifle I grab out of the safe everytime 300wsm just bought it to be a light compact hard hitting package and the wsm case has always intrigued me its an excellent design. Its going up for sale because it gives no real advantage to the 280ai with the load I worked up for it. I know deep down when it comes down to that tag of the lifetime I am grabbing the 280ai out of the safe no reason to have this rifle Future only other hunting rifle I would consider would be a .30 or .338 boomer something that would serve dual purpose as a long range 1600+ toy and long range hunting rig. |
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what bullet weights are you using in each of your rifles? Do you use a specific gun for different animals or different hunting styles? My 280ai will probably be about 8 pds scoped, maybe a little lighter if I switch scopes, currently have the Leupold vx6hd 2-12x42. May go with the Swarovski z3 3-10. I'm not too concerned with weight as long as it shoulders/points and balances well. My 7mm Rem Mag was just over 9 pounds, not great to carry all day, but shoots well. |
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As far as what I would use on what animal?.... I can't see it making any difference. A hole through the lungs is a hole through the lungs, nothing will live. Which one I carry will be decided upon,...well, which one I decide to carry for no other reason. I tend not to over analyze this stuff. |
replacing the 7 Rem Mag
Now that your going to have a 280 AI You need a BIT of a THUMPER the 338 Win Mag will do it for you ! :) jmo RJ
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I'm glad you decided to get the 280ai, now all you need is a coyote gun because you've got the rest of North American big game covered. That's the reason I went 6.5 Creedmoor with my new gun. Fun to shoot, cheap to load, and all the guns I need. The 6.5 Creedmoor has really gained a lot of attention lately, and it's well warranted in my opinion. Not long from now and it'll be like a 270 or 308 when you look on the shelves for ammo. Heck, hornady is starting to make 280ai ammo now :) |
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280ai
I have been shooting a Kimber in 280 AI and with the nosler accubond 160gr bullet at 3000fps I have shoot moose , elk and deer I have know need for any other caliber sold most everything except a old browning safari in 222 rem for varmints and a Kimber longmaster in 308 win for some range fun . The 280 AI is really the do it all cartridge
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280ai ordered...now what?
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Factory Nosler 160 Accubonds is what my rifle apparently shoots best. Factory target. Hopefully have it in a few weeks https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f4c409b541.jpg Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
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You’re either grossly over loaded, or you need to step outside for a dart. |
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https://load-data.nosler.com/load-da...kley-improved/ |
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Go make some loads up with you’re 26” bbl’d 280AI and report back your findings. For the record, I’ve got a 25” gain twist .280AI, and albeit a slow twist rate. Getting much over 3050 with 150’s resulted in horrid case life.(high pressure) I can’t see 3 k with 160’s as a high return proposition. And seeing that cracking the 3k mark with a 160’s in a 7 Rem Mag is doable but you’ll ride the upper end of the pressure threshold to do it. Again this is real world numbers, and dispense with the fast barrel slow barrel stuff too, we tested 5, 24” bbl’d 7 Rem mags and fastest to slowest in barrels was a whopping 25fps, on average. I’ll still call it a highly unlikely endeavour. Enjoy this video. https://youtu.be/N1Sw8fe9hJI |
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First and foremost, my apologies to jayquiver. Great post and 280ai is an awesome choice. However I feel compelled to reply to "Dick". My humblest apologies ...... Dick. Oh wise one ......... thanks for the video link, perhaps you should also share it with the Nosler corporation. I do not consider myself an expert. Never have, never will ...... unlike yourself. I simply took the information at hand when you called out Struff55 and went to what I considered to be a reliable source (Nosler.com) for the bullet and cartridge combination listed. Obviously I was dead wrong, for that I apologize and I stand corrected. Sorry to have challenged you, obviously your ego is fragile enough to cause you to launch into an (unwarranted) attack. Peace out. |
If thinking of a .375 h&h, maybe step up a bit to a .375 weatheby. Bit more fps (same brass, just blown out)
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I've shot a 280 AI for a number of years. If there's one issue with it is that its almost too good as a do it all round, if that's even possible. I bought smaller and larger calibers and sold them off because my ackley could do it all. I then decided I WANTED something bigger, not to replace by any means but just because. I had an itch for a 338 so going that route.
You could do a 338 WM, base barrel length and twist on desired performance and ease of carrying/weight then play around with the newer powders and bullets. |
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