280 REM or AI

[grovey]

Hey all, my first post. I have a early 70's 700 adl in 7 mag, and was tossing around the idea of building a 280 out of it. I screwed up the extractor on it by shooting hot reloads. The extractor was replaced by a smith i knew nothing about, and failed after 1 factory round. Any input on why this happened ? I'm not sure what direction to go with it. Is it even possible to build a 280 rem or AI with the magnum bolt ? This would be a repeating hunting rifle .not a bench gun.

 

[markr]

The 280 uses a smaller bolt face.
You may just try taking your foot off the gas a little, so to speak....many times a rifle will shoot better backed off of "over max" just a little.

 

[expiper]

Hi grovy ....what a mess,,haha...since you still have to fix the bolt so you can shoot it as is or rebarrel,,,you can have it repaired with a sako style ,,claw,,extractor and have the bolt face bushed and it will work with 06'/308 based ctgs...or you can get a new bolt from Kiff prolly as cheep!!,,,if you go .280 the AI is a personal choice ,,they both are excellent ctgs....just some of the choices you are gona hav to make...Roger

 

[grovey]

Yes it is a mess. I had already bought the rem extractor and rivet to fix the gun when i was told the sako ext was the better fix.
Recently i read that the sako can fail as well. Bottom line is the gun needs attention. It seems the groups have opened up from the old days,
but i'm sure some of is my vison. I stored the gun for 2 yrs when i moved out west, and when i returned i found it had been put in a closet and had rusted.
The bore looks shiny to the eye, but....
So anyway as i get older i realize the 280 will do anything i need from a deer rifle here in pa.

 

[XTR]

The 7mmRM and the 280 use different bolt faces. The 280 is based on the 30-06 case with a .471 base, necked to 284, and the 7mmRM is based on the 375 H&H belted magnum case with a .512 base. Different bolt faces.

For true the 280 will do pretty much anything you want it to, in fact the east of the Rockies a 7-08 will do pretty much anything a hunter needs done unless maybe they get drawn for a Moose or one of the rare Elk hunts.

 

[MrMajestic]

The 7mm RSAUM would be a good fit with similar case capacity of the .280AI anyhow.

 

[grovey]

Many thanks to all that replyed. The kiff bolt looks like the ticket. I shot the gun 5 or 6 times after the first extractor failed, but i just can't see the new extractor breaking after 1 factory round. I need to get it looked over by a GOOD smith,then make the 280 decision based on the results. From what i read the action needs to be measured to size the bolt anyway.

 

[Larryh128]

One thing to remember is that you can still shoot 280 ammo out of a AI if you want to. 2 power levels by switching ammo.