Did some trading with a friend for a Christensen Ridgeline in 280 AI. He said it likes RL26 and 140s. I’ve some IMR-7977 and some 175s I hope will work for a 1000yd deer gun. We shall see. Anybody shooting one of these with a heavy bullet well?
New to me 280AI
- Thread starter 7mm-08 Freak
- Start date
Using mine for target shooting only and never hunted anything beyond 300 yards (which seems far enough?).
I use 140-ish gr SMK or Scenar-L and push them well above 3000 fps with N560 if I want to (not that I usually do).
Got some 168 gr Berger Hybrids to load for it when I find the time... Looking to get som 175 gr HPBT for it too.
What twist has it got and barrel length?
Well it’s not that I’ll ever shoot one that far but it would be nice to know that Gun has enough energy out that far probably be more like 500 tops but it’s like having 1000 hp in your car you know you don’t need that much but it’s nice to say yeah I have it.
I’d like a 150/160 grain load I THINK. I’ve got a 338 pussycat (338 Federal) with some 210s that’s fairly mean out to 200. I shoot it for big stuff. I’d like a long range deer rig even though I’ll probably never use it for a long range.
I'm using the 7mm Berger 140 VLD Hunt exiting at 3250 fps, EASILY good (devastating on light skinned game) to 500. This rifle is zeroed at 275 yards which gives me 3" high somewhere about 175 yards and 3" low about 315 yards (I have it written on a DOPE sheet taped to the stock and am not going to go verify exactly) so the vast majority of hunting shots are just point and click. I've verified the stadia lines in the Swarovski scope out to 1000 yards and have those yardages written on that sheet that is taped to the stock. If I can guess the wind, which I'm not real good at, it's not hard at all to get a less than 1/2 MOA group or first round rock kills. I kill lots of rocks.
This sound like what I’ll wind up doing. I too have harvested a few rocks when times were slow.
I have seen excellent results on multiple mule deer and antelope with my 280AI with factory Precision Hunter 162 ELDX at 2850. 75 yards to 350 yards.
My 280 likes the 162 with 4831SC, 7977, or H4350. It didn't shoot too bad with 4000MR either. I have been using more H4350 in my 21" barrel, and more 4831SC in my 26" barrel.
I'm gonna guess 160-168 is the sweet spot for the .280 AI... should be able to manage 2850 to 2900 at the muzzle depending on barrel length. Of course, if you're willing to hot rod, anything goes ;-). I could only squeeze a touch more than that out of my 7mm RM. Pretty confident the rifle/bullet would do fine... me as the shooter? Not so much...
That sounds pretty reasonable to me. Most of my loads with 162s are in the 2700-2800 range. I think the H4350 was 2790 in new brass, and 2820 in 1x. That is for a 21" barrel.
