Help Support Long Range Hunting Forum
I got mine in 2012, and it is not a microseater. IIRC, I paid <$100 for it. Expect to pay $225 and up for a micro S match bushing 2 die set, but it is best to call them directly.
WBY now has them for $125/50 and Peterson via Graf for $115/50.
Great thread. First and foremost is the fact that if one goes Ackley Improved components are going to be available and not proprietary. I do not like being held ransom because some company wants to hold a particular customer base; capitalism dictating policy. Look at the Nosler 26, 28 and 30 cartridges. Usually the components are not available, or when they are the brass usually is $2-3 a piece. What I have found is that with the Ackley Improved cartridges the parent cartridges/components are usually quite available. Plus there usually are not any modifications needed in the feed rails or the bolt face. I am not too familiar with the Sherman cartridges, so I will stay away from them. Also with the Ackley Improved, especially in the calibers from .284 down one gets a pretty good increase in performance from straightening out the case body and putting a 40 degree shoulder on that case. Also I strongly that if you go with a build from the .284 caliber and down you go with nothing less than a 26 inch barrel to get all the horsepower that one can get from that extra powder capacity. I believe that there are some cartridges that will give one more bang for the buck than others. If I were to be looking to run a wildcat cartridge in 30-06, I believe that the Gibbs would be my choice over the Ackley Improved only because of the increase of powder capacity in the Gibbs. Please no insult to the 30-06AI folks here. Presently I have a .270 Ackley Improved rifles. I built these rifles (one for my son) for whitetail deer hunting. The rifles are Ruger 77s, 26 inch, 1:10 Lilja barrel. The round is giving me between 3100-3300fps with the 150gr ABLRs, and the round is extremely accurate. This performance puts the cartridge in the 7mm RemMag range, and with a lot less powder. I was strongly looking at the .280 Ackley Improved, however at the time of the build Nosler had me so confused between the actual Ackley Improved cartridge and their "proprietary" cartridge case that I did know what direction to go in. When I found that Nosler had made "their" SAAMI approved .280 AI cartridge-proprietary-I went with the .270AI. The dies are sort of incidental to me. Sort of like owning a boat. If a boat owner is concerned about gas then they probably shouldn't own a boat. I have posted a couple of attachments. The target I posted is a 300 yard target that was shot with a 26 inch, "sporter" barrel. I do not know why this cartridge has not shown the interest that it deserves. These attachments have been posted on this forum in the past, but...they are good examples of the .270AI. Good luck with your build.
There seem to be a problem in getting 7 twist rate barrels blanks all over the place. I know I have my smith place orders with 3 different places in trying to a barrel for my 25 build. Reamers have been slow to come by. also. I had started a 25 cal over a year ago. Still waiting for a barrel. The makers of a barrel sent out a wrong twist barrel and then tried to came that what was order. We had the back and stop that shi*t.
Is this really a problem though with modern bullets?
That's the way seem to be headed. All copper bullets and faster twist rates. Mexilfornia requires all copper bullets and no lead shot now. Far to many greeniee in this state. That's why I generally stay in Montana. I didn't bring any left wing idea with me either. The other problem is getting faster twist rate barrels. The cost of setting up a new barrel to handle the all copper bullets. I have make the determination that if need a different barrle I will have it built as a new rifle unless the barrel is gone anyway. When I do load development and get what I want or espected from the rifle, I stay with that. So I tend to not burn out barrels. I generally have a plan as to what I am going to use the rifle for and bullet weight I going to use. I work around that bullet weight and velocity, plua grouging in and under 1/2" @ 100yds. See how they do down ranges. I get my time on a rifle by shooting varmits. That tunes the eyes and trigger finger up and concentrate on shooting practices.
Best way to maximize traditional cartridges is to chamber in longest maximum magazine capacity action for the specific cartridge. I built a .270 Win on 700 LA with 0.290 freebore so I could seat longer heavier higher BC bullets out matching magazine to jump. Huge difference in overall performance from "standard" chambering. Essentially you are building a cartridge same way the 6.5 Creedmoor was done to take advantage of longer higher BC bullets. Cartridge Efficiency is easier this way.
We have not read all the Posts here and there are many more on other Posts asking you question about the AI.
Suspected. Won't know for sure til it's up and running.
It's likely an issue of what people know or don't know in their expectations. Just sharing my experience with a premium barrel manufacturer. When I told him my plans, he was comfortable. I assume some people are trying to run hyper speed (4000fps+) and when they fail, they try to blame someone else.
