Which would be the better candidate between the 7wsm and 280AI for a long range deer and antelope rifle? Why? Is the 7wsm better because of the short, bottleneck case? Any advantages/disadvantages in having a rifle built in either of these on a remington/savage/howa action? With either of them it looks like I would have to rebarrel, so a cheap donor action would be required, and my guess is it would be one of these three. I would probably go with a B&C Medalist stock to save some $$$. Any other common sense items to add on/change out?
7wsm or 280ai
- Thread starter hawkhunts
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JARHEAD1371
Well-Known Member
If you aren't dead set between the two rounds you might want to check out the Remington 7mm Short Action Ultra Mag. It is easy to reload for and basically matches the WSM but uses less powder.
I wouldn't be too caught up on saving money. If you want one particular type of stock, action, or whatever do yourself a favor and get it. Even if it delays your build in order to save more money. You will be happier with the finished product.
If you haven't read this before give it a look. It might help you make up your mind.
7mm options
I wouldn't be too caught up on saving money. If you want one particular type of stock, action, or whatever do yourself a favor and get it. Even if it delays your build in order to save more money. You will be happier with the finished product.
If you haven't read this before give it a look. It might help you make up your mind.
7mm options
trebark
Well-Known Member
These two cartridges are great and would be a tough choice. I might let fate decide. Given that one is a short-action and the other a long action and you don't have a donor action yet, I could leave it up to the action I could find - that would decide it.
nmsheephunter
Member
I have a 280ai built from a 700 action on a bansner stock, shoots outstanding, however the 7wsm is an excellent round to my knowledge. I am shooting my 280ai to 600yds so far and hope to shoot it out to 800 or 1000yds soon. Good luck with whatever you decide either one would be an excellent long range gun.
I would get the one you want.
muleyman
Well-Known Member
Not sure what your thoughts are on ammo but things to consider.
Of the two choices you list...........
7WSM- Factory loaded ammo (Lots of choices there), factory brass, good availability, reloading dies are a little cheaper, great ballistics, possibly a little harder on the barrel, is going to use a little more powder to get velocities, more than likely you will get a good rifle right from the get go and not worry about rechambering, barrel, ect. This might leave the gunsmithing expense out of the overall price that could be spent on better quality optics, stock, whatever.
280AI- Only factory loaded ammo is from Nosler, same with headstamped brass otherwise you will have to fireform your own from standard 280 Rem (No real big deal just adds a few extra initial dollars and components), great round, I love mine, great ballistics, darn near reaches 7mm mag performance with less powder and recoil, not your everyday caliber.
One other thing, I also agree with others that advise to wait and get what you want. I tried to cut a few corners in the beginning and so far it has just cost me more in the long run.
Anyway that probably did more to muddy the waters than anything. Good luck, either would make a fine round that would do just about anything asked of it.
Of the two choices you list...........
7WSM- Factory loaded ammo (Lots of choices there), factory brass, good availability, reloading dies are a little cheaper, great ballistics, possibly a little harder on the barrel, is going to use a little more powder to get velocities, more than likely you will get a good rifle right from the get go and not worry about rechambering, barrel, ect. This might leave the gunsmithing expense out of the overall price that could be spent on better quality optics, stock, whatever.
280AI- Only factory loaded ammo is from Nosler, same with headstamped brass otherwise you will have to fireform your own from standard 280 Rem (No real big deal just adds a few extra initial dollars and components), great round, I love mine, great ballistics, darn near reaches 7mm mag performance with less powder and recoil, not your everyday caliber.
One other thing, I also agree with others that advise to wait and get what you want. I tried to cut a few corners in the beginning and so far it has just cost me more in the long run.
Anyway that probably did more to muddy the waters than anything. Good luck, either would make a fine round that would do just about anything asked of it.
Forrest Ebert
Well-Known Member
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These are both good choices as others have said but you never mentioned if you were going to handload for what ever you choose? The WSM is a little harder to load for due to the short neck and as one of the other posters put it the 7mm SAUM is the better choice due to the longer neck and you can acheive the same performance with less powder. The 280AI which I have is a Great round easy to load for and if you find yourself looking for ammo you can always use standard 280 Rem. and with the hand loading you can seat the bullets out where they should be as you arwe not confined by the short actions magazine,neck etc. If this rifle is going to be for deer and antelope only I might look into the 6.5x284 Norma but that is another topic all in it's own. The 280 AI loaded with a 168 grain Berger on top of 63 grains of Retumbo I wouldn't hesitate on taking any North American and African plains game with except for the dangerous game and then I would dig deeper into my safe for something bigger.
I hope this helps you out in your decission.
gun)
I hope this helps you out in your decission.
gun)
geargrinder
Well-Known Member
I'd go with the WSM in a long action.
That way you can seat heavy bullets out to as long as you want and still run it as a repeater.
That way you can seat heavy bullets out to as long as you want and still run it as a repeater.
It will all be handloaded. I do not consider myself a master reloader, but can definitely handle the fireforming process.
For those that mentioned the 7rsaum- good info on the neck length, I never would have thought of that.
The reason for my interest in the 280AI is the excalibur rifle from cooper arms- it is a synthetic stocked, 1/2 moa guaranteed rifle. Not cheap, but it seems like it would be a very packable rifle that would do it all.
For those that mentioned the 7rsaum- good info on the neck length, I never would have thought of that.
The reason for my interest in the 280AI is the excalibur rifle from cooper arms- it is a synthetic stocked, 1/2 moa guaranteed rifle. Not cheap, but it seems like it would be a very packable rifle that would do it all.
liltank
Well-Known Member
Can I make a suggestion? Here is a 7mm-08 Savage Centerfire Hunting Rifle 16FHSS for less than half of what you will pay for the cooper. You could have it reamed for an additional $140 to $150 depending on your gunsmith to either caliber of your choosing. That will give you almost $1200 to put into your scope. Just a thought. I know that you can do the same with Remington and a Howa if those are a possibility. You could even restock it with a custom stock and still have around $800 left over for glass. By the way, don't go by the suggested retail price offered by Savage. You can find them cheaper.
Tank
MontanaRifleman
Well-Known Member
Both are good cartridges and If I had to choose between the two (280 AI and WSM/SAUM) for LR, I would go with the WSM. More specifically, the 7-300 WSM for a little more capacity and Norma brass. This is easy to do with Redding bushing dies.
I have nothing against the SAUM but I would be very skeptical of any beneifts it may be reported to have over the WSM. They are basically the same cartridge. And no flame intended to anyone, but I will not believe that less powder will give you the same performance out of a case that is shaped almost the same. I think that the fatter cases "may" be a little more efficient than the longer ones, but I wont buy any difference between the SAUM and the WSM. Both good cartridges... both basically the same. The SAUM is Rem's attempt to get a share of the short fat case market, period. The longer neck may be somewhat of an advantage, but IMO, not significant. The WSM neck is "good enough" and 7-300 WSM set a record group @ 1000 yds recently.
So get what you want and be happy
Cheers and good shooting,
Mark
EDIT... Cooper rifles are a bargain for the price, and with a little load work will usually shoot .2's-.3's. No flame to Tank, but the Coopers *are* guaranteed to shoot less than .5 MOA *and* come with factory shot target. Said target is only shot @ 42 yds, but many groups resemble one hole. In fact the first Cooper target I ever saw - I thought it was only one shot. Coopers are also made with custom quality craftsmanship and materials. Take a close look at their bolts and actions. Not at all knocking Savages... most apparantly shoot very well, but there is no guarantee and no tartget and in no way can compare to Cooper in overall quality. You usually get what you pay for and Coopers are a bargain.
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geargrinder
Well-Known Member
You don't have to go to a wildcat to use Norma brass. It's a simple fireform to go from 270 or 300wsm Norma brass to 7mmWSM.
MontanaRifleman
Well-Known Member
True, but I think it's simpler to just neck down the 300 with a bushing than fire form and you get a tad more case capacity. JMO
EDIT: after thinking about this for a minute... how can you fire form to a smaller case? Am I missing something?
