.280AI Loads

[john k]

Has anyone tried RL 22 in their 280 AI loads? RL 23 is virtually impossible to find. I have been using H4831sc with very good accuracy but no great speeds. Pushing the 160 Accubonds. Reason I'm asking is I did trade for some RL 22 but never have tried. Most of my shots range from 100-300 yards. My hunting loads are more than adequate but for some unknown reason I'm always chasing max speeds coupled with excellent accuracy. I'm not ready for counseling. The chase feels too good at the right time to keep me trying. Lol

 

[Mike Matteson]

Right now about all I have for this caliber would be H4831SC and RE26. I have a ton of Varget and H4350 for some of the other calibers I primarily use. Now I can't even find find 160 Accubonds, so I am hoping they come back one day.

Try your H4350. I use a lot of it, and have good grouping with it. Components are the big presently. I generally us Fed 210 primers. They are to start with.

 

[Raudy707]

@ john k Everyone hunting in October or November and beyond have shyed away from Rldr 22 because of the whole temperature instability thing. It's a great powder 40 to 80 degrees and I still shoot it here in California with the mild climates. Same goes for Rldr 19 and some say 17. I've never seen a real issue with Rldr 17 using heavier bullets with max charges but that's just me. Hodgdon extreme powders are amazing and for guys shooting over 500 yds are top of the list. Rldr 16 and 23 are really good as well. Rldr 26 has proven to be temperature resistant if you will. POI 400 yds and under should be fine with most powders.

 

[L.Sherm]

Has anyone tried RL 22 in their 280 AI loads? RL 23 is virtually impossible to find. I have been using H4831sc with very good accuracy but no great speeds. Pushing the 160 Accubonds. Reason I'm asking is I did trade for some RL 22 but never have tried. Most of my shots range from 100-300 yards. My hunting loads are more than adequate but for some unknown reason I'm always chasing max speeds coupled with excellent accuracy. I'm not ready for counseling. The chase feels too good at the right time to keep me trying. Lol

I used RL22 before RL23 came out.
22 isn't very stable i picked up 40 fps in 2- 280AI when I switched and every bit as accurate if anything 23 was better

 

[john k]

I used RL22 before RL23 came out.
22 isn't very stable i picked up 40 fps in 2- 280AI when I switched and every bit as accurate if anything 23 was better

Thanks

 

[john k]

@ john k Everyone hunting in October or November and beyond have shyed away from Rldr 22 because of the whole temperature instability thing. It's a great powder 40 to 80 degrees and I still shoot it here in California with the mild climates. Same goes for Rldr 19 and some say 17. I've never seen a real issue with Rldr 17 using heavier bullets with max charges but that's just me. Hodgdon extreme powders are amazing and for guys shooting over 500 yds are top of the list. Rldr 16 and 23 are really good as well. Rldr 26 has proven to be temperature resistant if you will. POI 400 yds and under should be fine with most powders.

Thank you for the helpful info. I'm getting good results with RL 19 in my 7mm-08. I hunt in southeast US so I don't normally run into temperature issues. Thanks again I appreciate the info

 

[Jpistolero02]

I got lucky and found RE23 at Natchezss tonight. I will give it a try and see what happens. Thanks again guys.

 

[Bob Wright]

Would like to try this load. Mind me asking what your charge weight of RE23 was?

I started having donut issues with Nosler brass. I managed 3100 fps with about 57.6 grains, Hammer Hunter 143. It is not capable, IMO, with Nosler brass of getting up to 3200+ due to primer pockets opening up. I have my next ladder using Peterson brass. Will expect this brass after fireforming to jump to a higher node. I plan on shooting these next week.
RE23 is great in this chambering, but as Lance Kenyon mentioned this isn't all there is. Different bullets like faster or slower but if you are diligent you can have good speed, great accuracy and great terminal performance if you want it all. So many choices. Doug Duey, Lance and Steve at Hammer, was also a great resource. Once I started with the mag primers, and donut corrections it really settled down on velocity. That is really key. Variation, bullet performance...wonderful, simple 280AI.

 

[Bob Wright]

Has anyone tried RL 22 in their 280 AI loads? RL 23 is virtually impossible to find. I have been using H4831sc with very good accuracy but no great speeds. Pushing the 160 Accubonds. Reason I'm asking is I did trade for some RL 22 but never have tried. Most of my shots range from 100-300 yards. My hunting loads are more than adequate but for some unknown reason I'm always chasing max speeds coupled with excellent accuracy. I'm not ready for counseling. The chase feels too good at the right time to keep me trying. Lol

RE22 is the baseline I used for developing RE23 loads. Start low and work up to pressure. Not much data out there on RE23 and SAAMI load info.

 

[slas]

I started having donut issues with Nosler brass. I managed 3100 fps with about 57.6 grains, Hammer Hunter 143. It is not capable, IMO, with Nosler brass of getting up to 3200+ due to primer pockets opening up. I have my next ladder using Peterson brass. Will expect this brass after fireforming to jump to a higher node. I plan on shooting these next week.
RE23 is great in this chambering, but as Lance Kenyon mentioned this isn't all there is. Different bullets like faster or slower but if you are diligent you can have good speed, great accuracy and great terminal performance if you want it all. So many choices. Doug Duey, Lance and Steve at Hammer, was also a great resource. Once I started with the mag primers, and donut corrections it really settled down on velocity. That is really key. Variation, bullet performance...wonderful, simple 280AI.

Funny, when I started loading for the 280ai I also had initial donut issues.....I recently picked up a few containers of RE23 and have yet to try it with this round. Have a ton of of the Federal 215 primers also so I'm set. Thanks for the info

 

[Jeremy Henderson]

We are running H4831 at 56.5 grains running around 2750fps with a 168 ABLR . Not burning it up by no means but have 14 reloads on Nosler brass. We are just now starting to see a few split necks. Barrel has around 3500 rounds down the pipe and had builder scope it to see if it was ready for re-barrel. Did not tell him the round count and he guessed around 1200-1500. I am wanting to try R23 whenever I can find some.

 

[fremont]

I am guessing the outfitter won't allow me to take shots past 400 yards or so anyway.

They will on the last day. ;o)

 

[Jpistolero02]

Haha, he might take one look at me and try and keep it inside 100. I found some RE23, so I will update you guys when I have a chance to go shoot.

 

[john k]

We are running H4831 at 56.5 grains running around 2750fps with a 168 ABLR . Not burning it up by no means but have 14 reloads on Nosler brass. We are just now starting to see a few split necks. Barrel has around 3500 rounds down the pipe and had builder scope it to see if it was ready for re-barrel. Did not tell him the round count and he guessed around 1200-1500. I am wanting to try R23 whenever I can find some.

Sounds interesting. Going to try H4831 in lieu of H4831sc. I have some IMR 7828ssc that I will try also. I have 160 AB's to push. Just haven't found the manic recipe to push 3K with very good accuracy