Thread: 280 ai?

Mates been offered a mountain rifle in 280 ai 22"sitting in a browns light weight kevlar stock, shoots well apparently..1k. He's not a reloaded
at this stage and runs a 270 like me.
I have no idea about these 280 aisles.

Max distance he reckons he would shoot interested in would be 600 yards.
Is this really much of a jump or should he go the 7m rem mag or 300wsm for ease of ammo.. Is 280 ai a Reloaders proposition?

Cheers

Wsm and rem mag are far better options for factory ammunition, the 280ai is definitely a reloading mans caliber... an impressive one at that

Factory ammo is or used to be by Hornady federal and Nosler, not sure now you'd have to check.
Whether it would be easily obtainable here I have no Idea. I have difficulty sourcing 30 06 locally let alone 280Ai .
Traditionally been a handloading proposition but he may, as above, be able to order a supply in..
It would be a great cartridge easily capable of the distances he shoots and more.

I've had a couple of ordinary 280's both lightweights . one Weatherby MK V which was a great shooter [ a forum member still does very well with this one] and one Mountain rifle which had to be worked on to shoot well but was still capable of close to Moa in my hands and probably better in another pair.
I had to swap to a Timney in the Remington though the Factory x-mark trigger was horrible.

https://www.guncity.com/hornady-280-...-rounds-349902

Great cartridge, my favorite all round do it all with hand loads.

With a 22 inch barrel it will struggle to deliver more velocity than a regular .280 or .270.

I have recently bought a Forbes 280 AI to replace a 7mm Saum, Identical ballistics, just the rifle was 2lb lighter and at my age and arthritis in the hands that means a lot. What do you get? Well 7mm bullets at around 3k. What will it do that that the 7mm rem mag can't do? Nothing; what will it do that the 270 Winchester can't do? Nothing. Its just another fabulous all around cartridge that will take any game in N.Z. out to 400 yards without a worry. Just enjoy it.

I have a strait 280 and i would have to say it seems easier to find the 280ai factory

with a 150 or 160gr high bc bullet it will shoot to 600m with ease and authority
Id go with hornady factory if it shot well if he isnt keen to hand load

tell him to stick to the mighty poohseventy.......the ammo selection has come ahead leaps n bounds over the last few years,spending a grand to gain MAYBE a tiny little bit more velocity and MAYBE another hundred yards out at distance where he will have to be dialing and using a rangefinder anyway so could do it with what he already has....
yip go the mighty poohseventy. at least if you forget your ammo you can still pinch his,if he bought the .280 you would forever be paranoid of getting it mixed.

My main hunting rifle is a standard .280. I reload and will happily shoot to 600m all day long. Takes a bit longer to get there than a 7 mag but I know what it's doing. Have comfortably shot deer and a few tahr out past 500m in good conditions. To be fair, not much different to a .270 if you reload for both. I'd ai mine, but want a 30 cal magnum first.

I have often toyed with idea of going AI in the .270..........but it appears no one would be interested in doing it and there wouldnt be alot of gain....cause the origonal is pretty darn good anyway.

280AI really gotta be a reloader. 162gn ELDM with RE26 Forbes rifle:

While it might be a little slower than a 7mm rem mag it will hold 4 rounds instead of 3 and it will be more pleasant to shoot. Go the 280

Originally Posted by Tikka7mm08

280AI really gotta be a reloader. 162gn ELDM with RE26 Forbes rifle:

Attachment 133259

What length Barrel are you running on your Forbes?

From memory 24" but I should measure it.

I have std 280rem- shoot 162 eldx out to 550m no worries- MV is 2870 in new Norma brass and RE26 powder.

One problem with going magnum is, bigger boot- bigger suppressor size- more powder burnt-less likely to see shots fall at distance.

Also a lot of the guys i know of shootin 7mmrm with 162s are loading them not much more than mine- and similar to some of the guys who posted here with their 280ai. Ans while the 7mmrm is capable of more than 280/280ai- the differnce isnt huge.

At any rate I've seen plenty dudes miss/poorly hit deer out to 600 with magnums.

280 all day