280 Ackley Brass

[shoot4fun]

I am putting together components for a 280AI build and am looking at the brass situation. I was finally able to purchase 100 rounds of Nosler 280AI brass and a set of Redding dies so I do have some brass. I really want to form brass from Lapua 30-06 and am wondering if any of you have experience with this chore. If so, tell me what pitfalls to avoid and if it will be worth the efforts. I have experience with Nosler brass and I know it's OK but case heads seem a little soft and primer pockets loosen up a little faster than other brands (not said to start a discussion on brass good/bad).

 

[jakelly]

Nosler sources their brass from different manufacturers. The 280 AI stuff is tougher than Winchester 270 brass. I've formed 30-06 & 6.5-06 AI brass from Lapua 06 brass and a few others. Use the Nosler AI if your time is worth more to you than 2 bucks an hour. Set your chamber up for the new SAAMI dimension 280 AI and enjoy the extra hours added to your life.

 

[expiper]

"shooter",,,,,use a cupla old "culls" (rem/win/etc) to experiment with,,,set your 280 AI resize die to partially size the neck down to 7mm,,,just enuff to where you have to "palm" the bolt closed on a resized ctg.....then use ~55% of total case volume of Universal Clays,,,and a 1/4 sq. of toilet paper to hold the powder in place,,,,NO BULLET !!!!......if 55% is not enuff ,,use more till you get a nice shoulder on the ctg,,,then go to the Lapua brass ,,,,Roger
PS...this method of FF causes no bbl wear and of course the ctg will be ~.040" shorter than a factory .280 will give you ,,,you will never know it,,,shoot the Lapua and enjoy the benefit of superior brass,,,,I gave data using Univ Clays because that is what I have and use,,,you can substitute and other powder in this burn range,,however you will have to test to find the correct load,,,,I have a FF bbl that I have formed over 1000 ctg on and it has no measureable wear since I started using it for forming using this method,,it will just knock the fuzz of the leade on a new bbl/chamber,,,,,,

 

[shoot4fun]

"shooter",,,,,use a cupla old "culls" (rem/win/etc) to experiment with,,,set your 280 AI resize die to partially size the neck down to 7mm,,,just enuff to where you have to "palm" the bolt closed on a resized ctg.....then use ~55% of total case volume of Universal Clays,,,and a 1/4 sq. of toilet paper to hold the powder in place,,,,NO BULLET !!!!......if 55% is not enuff ,,use more till you get a nice shoulder on the ctg,,,then go to the Lapua brass ,,,,Roger

Yes. I certainly planned on trying out the chore on old brass I have already. Don't have any Universal Clays in my stock but maybe I can find it.

 

[shoot4fun]

Nosler sources their brass from different manufacturers. The 280 AI stuff is tougher than Winchester 270 brass. I've formed 30-06 & 6.5-06 AI brass from Lapua 06 brass and a few others. Use the Norma if your time is worth more to you than 2 bucks an hour. Set your chamber up for the new SAAMI dimension 280 AI and enjoy the extra hours added to your life.

Definitely will be set up for the SAAMI version.

 

[Sheldon N]

Doesn't 30-06 brass end up with a bit of a short neck when converted to 280AI? I would suspect you are also going to need to neck turn to avoid donuts.

I run Lapua brass in my other guns but for 280AI I just run Remington RP headstamp brass, no neck turn. I'm currently on 10 firings on this lot, and have a couple hundred cases set aside for the next rebarreling.

 

[shoot4fun]

Doesn't 30-06 brass end up with a bit of a short neck when converted to 280AI? I would suspect you are also going to need to neck turn to avoid donuts.

I run Lapua brass in my other guns but for 280AI I just run Remington RP headstamp brass, no neck turn. I'm currently on 10 firings on this lot, and have a couple hundred cases set aside for the next rebarreling.

There is apparently no Remington brass for sale. At least none I can find. There is Norma and I did find Nosler 280AI brass. Guess I will just stay with the Nosler I have until things change (if they ever do).

 

[Sheldon N]

I scrounged mine off Armslist. Just do a national search for "280 brass" and see what comes up. I bought mine over the course of a few months, some of it once fired but was lucky enough to get mostly unfired new brass. I think I paid around $0.35/case on average. Lots of hunters and people selling off spare brass or getting out of reloading, etc.

Maybe not the best thing for ultimate precision/F class shooting, but for my purposes (tactical and long range steel) it does great.

 

[jakelly]

Prior to using the Nosler AI brass, I formed quite a few cases the old fashioned ways (less hydro forming). I found it to be a time consuming chore and I am in no big hurry to return to it. The cream of wheat method left the brass short at the shoulder datum, (about 5-8 thousandths) even utilizing the false shoulder didn't cure it for me. Which left me waiting until after firing the first time for fully formed brass, which kind of defeats the purpose of COW forming. The best results have come with firing moderate charges of slow powder pushing heavy bullets jammed into the lands. Using 30-06 brass will leave you short, quite short .050+, in terms of neck length, and you may have to employ the false shoulder method in addition to fire forming, on account of the headspace difference. All the while burning powder, primers, bullets, and your barrel getting your brass formed. Oh and btw think how long it takes to shoot 100 rounds without getting the barrel too hot, or changing around all your scales, throws, and dies for the fire form load. Its not really fun for this type of rifle. If it was a comp gun, probably not as big a deal, but for a hunting rifle... Stick with the Nosler.

 

[Patton243]

I purchased Nosler 280 AI brass recently and I had no issues with it that you claim. Aside from Lapua brass, Nosler is the second best on the market as far as I'm concerned. They take the extra time to prep the brass. The primer pockets are drilled and the weights and OAL were consistent. Even Lapua brass in my experience gets loose primer pockets. I also use Nosler brass in my 7mm magnum and I achieved better accuracy than Winchester. You talk about it being a "chore" to fire form brass, yet you have the availability to buy 280 AI brass over the market. In theory you're contradicting yourself. The effort to fire form the cases is a waste of time IMO. This is the only AI cartridge I actually looked into because of the availability of some after market support. Not to mention you're wasting barrel life and reloading powder/tips fire forming the cases. And when those fire formed cases go bad, which they will eventually, you have to fire form them again. Too much work IMO. And my experience with Remington brass FYI is it's one of the softest on the market. I used it in my 22-250 and consistently got split necks. I switched to Lapua and had no more problems. Good luck on whatever you do.

Chris

 

[rudysts]

Nosler 280AI brass is as good as it it gets I average 12+ firings on them.

 

[shoot4fun]

I've used 300WM Nosler brass and it has held up pretty well. I am at the point where I am losing a primer pocket here and there but overall still working well. I think the collet die from Larry Willis has helped save all my 300WM brass.
I have 100 Noslers new in the box so I am going to just be happy with that. I'm no neeb to AI cartridges and I really think it's going to be a good thing having brass already formed.
The parts are at Meredith Rifles and I am excited about making this project a reality.