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questions on building 280 ackley

well ive picked up a fn mauser action to build a sporter from. I was thinking on getting a shilen 280 short chambered barrel and a 280 ackley reamer and go gauge and finish reaming with it to make a 280 ackley. would it be that easy, or is there more hidden details to doing this? I have a barrel wrench and vise, and have done some basic gunsmithing and kind of wanted to learn on this project. am I biting off too much?
 
Very 1st thing that you need to do is buy a book titled - Mausers - A shop Manual by Kuhnhausen(sp?). Read it cover to cover before you start anything. You can do it but there are a few things that you need to know before you start. The big deal is to set up the shank so the inner torque ring is contacted when the barrel is tightened against the face of the reciever. The other thing to keep in mind is that (and I'm sure someone will disagree, but this is from experience) you use a loaded round to headspace the chamber, stripped bolt. What you're looking for it a slight feel on the shoulder as the bolt is closed. IF YOU USE the go guage, your chamber will be LONG and you will start to get case separation after a couple firings. When you fire a 20 round in the chamber, the case should be TOTALLY formed to the improved chamber. If it isn't, the chamber is cut long. What you're looking to do isn't extremely difficult but you do need someone with a lathe to adjust the barrel shank. They are all supposed to be .625 but good luck finding one that is. Feel free to PM with questions.
 
Also do your research and make sure that you don't mismatch chambers and dies - there is the ORIGINAL 280 Ackley Improved and the newer Nosler-SAAMI version which is 13 thousandths difference in length - if you plan on shooting factory ammo, you probably want to go with the newer.
 
If, and I said IF all of your ducks are in a row....Yes it is easy. The hard part is having a lathe, the tooling, the instruments, etc. Like anything else, the tooling and experience come with time. Once they are all together, its as easy as pie. Keep us posted and Happy Shooting
 
Also do your research and make sure that you don't mismatch chambers and dies - there is the ORIGINAL 280 Ackley Improved and the newer Nosler-SAAMI version which is 13 thousandths difference in length - if you plan on shooting factory ammo, you probably want to go with the newer.
There is no difference
 
I got into a long argument/exchange over the 280AI a long time ago. There are different configurations of it, and one needs to be sure chamber and dies match.
 

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