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My advise is the 6.5x280 ackley improved. 270 is a dud as far as I am concerned. Less bullet selection why bother with an AI in 270 when you can go buy a 270 WSM? More weight than the 25 and many very good bullets in 6.5. If you want bigger than the 6.5 I would skip the 270 and go to the 280 AI. Factory ammo in a pinch.
I'm taking my barrel off. Changing to a 25-284. Reamer and 500 131 BJ ordered! Liked my AI but it's time for a change. Barrel has to be close to done too I think. First semi custom I built.
I wanted to do a sherman in the worst way. My issues were I only shoot in the winter and in Mass ordering stuff online like brass and bullets is a pita. The economics of it it would curtail some of the fun along with the extra time which I don't really have. I did the 6.5/06ai because of these reasons. I got a reamer that was set up for the 140 amax. It was throated a bit longer by the smith for the 147's. The AI version reduces the brass flow more than enough to warrant it over the sloping case and shallow shoulders of the straight 06 case. With a bit more barrel than I would normally use I can easily run over 3100fps with the big bullets..From the present posts I am in a minority with a .270 Ackley Improved. It is on a Ruger 77 action with a 26 inch Lilja barrel. The rifle is very accurate, getting .5 groups at 300 yards with it; something that I never thought possible until I had this rifle built. I wanted a "wildcat" and that's the "reason" for building this rifle in this cartridge. I'm pretty much using .270WSM load data for starting loads and go from there. One of the posts here stated to just go with a .270WSM, if that's what you want then by all means that is the way to go. I'm getting close to 3300fps with Nolser 150gr ABLRs (BC .625), but that load is hard on brass and not the most accurate. Going to start playing with the Nosler 140gr bullets next.
I'd like to build a 6.5-06 Ackley Improved (just to have another Ackley), but having some trouble with deciding what way I want to go!???? My gunsmith is ole school, feels like the 6.5-06 already is overbore and doesn't see any reason to go more than 6.5-06, plus he doesn't have a 6.5-06AI reamer; and, I have a tremendous respect for his opinion/s. Also would not discount the 6.5 Sherman cartridge, for me not certain about the economics of getting set up in that cartridge; but, it does have some benefits of good barrel life and performance. I just read a thread about the benefits of the 40 degree shoulder, and the longer neck and barrel life that made a lot of sense to me; thanks Rich!
And.....one last comment about all of this stuff about what round is bigger, better and best! If one were to be honest, sat down with paper and pencil to write down all the specifications that all of the cartridges have and make a comparison, there really is not that much difference between the "high-speed" cartridges. Yes some cartridges have there pluses over others, but....when one comes down to it, there really is not that much difference. I am a .270 fan so when a new, high-speed, intercontinental, anti-tank, elephant round comes out, I do a comparison to see if that particular cartridge is better than the .270 Winchester or the .270WSM (for my particular hunting and shooting requirements/needs), and....oftentimes there's really not enough difference for me to change over. And.....boy I suspect that I'm going to get beat up over this comment
