280ai load development (continues)

[slickyboyboo]

Cleaned barrel, Went back to the range fouled the barrel then Retested **only Slowed down this time**

Thanks for the opinions and conversations. I'm more than happy with my results. 3 was a little out but acceptable and likely me anyways.
View attachment 388672
Gonna work a mono up next. Thinking 150 cx (I have 100), LRX, maybe hammer hunter 143.

To those who hunt with monos, what Would you play with first? This would be for elk. 280ai and I would like to have a round capable of 500-600

I'm getting 3186 fps out of the155 gr Absolute Hammer, and shooting very tiny groups with that setup.

 

[JD Jones]

3200 out of a 22" barrel… I'm impressed
what powder/brass

 

[Mark37082]

You're on your way. Hopefully we will see some loosening of component situation down the road. I always squirrel away a couple boxes of my all time favorite NAB's. I won't pull them out until I have everything settled down due to extremely short supply out there. If you can't get there with what you have right now, something is out of whack. Good shooting!

 

[Mark37082]

I'm getting 3186 fps out of the155 gr Absolute Hammer, and shooting very tiny groups with that setup.

With a 280ai? That's impressive.

 

[slickyboyboo]

With a 280ai? That's impressive.

Yep, I've pushed them to 3300 when my barrel was 27.25", but accuracy was at 3235 fps. I had my barrel cut to 25", and only lost 49 fps. It's at 3186 fps now, and 1/4 MOA.

 

[Bruce Treloar]

Rifle- FFT/280 AI/7.2#
Brass- Petersons 1x
Bullet- Berger 168
Powder- RL26
Primer- BR2

Last week I did a rough seating depth test in 10 thou increments working back from 20 thou off jam. At 40 thou off I got:
View attachment 388423

At 50 thou off I got:
View attachment 388424

Today I did a 6 shot string. I just about split the diff on seating depth, loaded up charges 57.9-59.4 in .3grain increments.
Results:
View attachment 388425

These groups suck and there was an element of rushing and some called fliers.

Based on the targets, what direction would you recommend I go?

Play with seating depth?
Change my bullet?
Change my powder?
Other opinions?

The string 3 communicated to me that my perception of feeling rushed and a flier I called as soon as the trigger broke… was spot on since a near identical load (seating depth change) was half that group size just last week.

I feel like the target also indicates at least the vertical between say 58.2-58.8 is close?

Taking opinions!

 

[Bruce Treloar]

I try to get a seating depth tune as fast as possible so as not to wear out the barrel before taking it out hunting. I start at 10thou off the lands and then 50 thou off to see which one it likes. Check the groups for vertical or horizontal pattern. It's awhile since I tuned a new barrel but by seating the bullet out the group goes more horizontal and by seating it in the group goes vertical. I look for the middle between the two. Vertical or horizontal could be opposite like seating in could show vertical and seating out goes horizontal. When the best group from a new barrel is round, I know it's going to be a real good barrel and just needs an increase in powder to shrink group size. Do go with a top bullet like Berger that has best jacket concentricity and stick with that.
Can't help with a powder but there's enough information here to select a suitable powder.
Best of luck

 

[.300 Dakota]

Rifle- FFT/280 AI/7.2#
Brass- Petersons 1x
Bullet- Berger 168
Powder- RL26
Primer- BR2

Last week I did a rough seating depth test in 10 thou increments working back from 20 thou off jam. At 40 thou off I got:
View attachment 388423

At 50 thou off I got:
View attachment 388424

Today I did a 6 shot string. I just about split the diff on seating depth, loaded up charges 57.9-59.4 in .3grain increments.
Results:
View attachment 388425

These groups suck and there was an element of rushing and some called fliers.

Based on the targets, what direction would you recommend I go?

Play with seating depth?
Change my bullet?
Change my powder?
Other opinions?

The string 3 communicated to me that my perception of feeling rushed and a flier I called as soon as the trigger broke… was spot on since a near identical load (seating depth change) was half that group size just last week.

I feel like the target also indicates at least the vertical between say 58.2-58.8 is close?

Taking opinions!

Deleted post. OP has solved his own mystery.

 

[BEEMAN]

My 23" 280 AI with the 140 absolute hammer gets me just over 3300 FPS with H100V. I ran it much faster but started to see flat primers. No extractor mark or heavy bolt lift. But with flat primers I didn't want to wreck my brass. Will be taking this set up for elk in November.

 

[JD Jones]

My 23" 280 AI with the 140 absolute hammer gets me just over 3300 FPS with H100V. I ran it much faster but started to see flat primers. No extractor mark or heavy bolt lift. But with flat primers I didn't want to wreck my brass. Will be taking this set up for elk in November.

Very nice!

After doing some research and talking with a few folks here, I bought some hammers last night.

 

[creklund]

I recently purchased a ts customs 280ai. I'm consistently getting es of 10 and around 4 sd's gun shoots .5moa all day.
Peterson brass
210 match primer
175 eldx
58.8g of h-4831sc
seated .010 off lands
2835 velocity

 

[vancewalker007]

Rifle- FFT/280 AI/7.2#
Brass- Petersons 1x
Bullet- Berger 168
Powder- RL26
Primer- BR2

Last week I did a rough seating depth test in 10 thou increments working back from 20 thou off jam. At 40 thou off I got:
View attachment 388423

At 50 thou off I got:
View attachment 388424

Today I did a 6 shot string. I just about split the diff on seating depth, loaded up charges 57.9-59.4 in .3grain increments.
Results:
View attachment 388425

These groups suck and there was an element of rushing and some called fliers.

Based on the targets, what direction would you recommend I go?

Play with seating depth?
Change my bullet?
Change my powder?
Other opinions?

The string 3 communicated to me that my perception of feeling rushed and a flier I called as soon as the trigger broke… was spot on since a near identical load (seating depth change) was half that group size just last week.

I feel like the target also indicates at least the vertical between say 58.2-58.8 is close?

Taking opinions!

I've used a ton of VLDs for hunting. They can be a bear to get to shoot sometimes. Because of that I'd give you 2 pieces of advice. First, don't change powder loads and seating depth at the same time. You will toss components out the door fast that way. With the potential squirrely nature of VLDs I'd shoot a powder ladder and find a suitable stable velocity, then play with seating depth using that powder load. Second, with VLDs, as Berger counsels, they will usually shoot very close to the lands or way off the lands. I've found more good groups around 100 off than tight. And usually nothing in between. I can usually find a very good group in about 40-50 rounds doing this. Last thing, sometimes VLDs will simply not shoot in some rifles. I think my father shot up 2 boxes of bullets in his old 7mm STW several years ago before giving up.

 

[James DeTorre]

Following this closely. Wanna use my 280ai on elk in 2023.
my best so far was with H1000 and 160 ABs. No H1000to be had. Have plenty of RL 26 to work with And some 140 HH.
Use magnum primers or not ?

 

[john k]

Not that it's mandatory but I definitely would use magnum primers if possible. RL26 is faster and more accurate in my .280AI with 160AB's. I know each rifle is different. Hope you have time to try the Hammers. I've used both and are very effective. I know as hand loaders we look for the best bullet, with fastest speeds, and best performance. Keep us posted!