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Need Advice for All Around Caliber / Rifle

TORCHRIDER said:
I am a little intrigued by the 280AI after looking into its ballistics. I do reload. Hmmmm.

It will do anything that a 7 Mag can. It is as flat or flatter shooting than either a .270 or a 30-06. It has the flexibility all the 7mm bullets provide and hits with enough authority to easily take anything in North America. And, as I previously stated, it is very easy to fireform. You could do a whole lot worse, however, you would be hard pressed to find something that would meet your needs as well as the .280A.I. can..
 
The 7mm/280's and the 30's have the best selection of bullets available. ie for the 30's--120g clear to 250g.
I think the 7's run from 100g clear to 190g.
Seems you should be able to cover what you need in either of those calibers.
 
I reload all the rifle calibers that I shoot. However, I like my hunting rifle to be a commercial round commonly available everywhere. That way I can find ammunition to use even if my hand loads get lost in transit or don't perform well at altitude or temperature. Consequently, I still recommend a standard caliber like the .270, the 30-06, the 7mm Remington magnum or the 300 Winchester magnum. Since elk were mentioned as an option, I would choose one of the two magnums. Take away elk, moose or bear, then I would choose either the.270 or the 30-06.

Cort
 
TORCHRIDER said:
I am a little intrigued by the 280AI after looking into its ballistics. I do reload. Hmmmm.

You should be intrigued, it is every thing that "Shooting Dots" said and a lot more! It is recognized as one extremely accurate caliber in a quality barrel.
Fire forming cases is as simple as putting a 280 cartridge in and using it as target practice. You will find that it is VERY accurate doing this.

It is probably the BEST all around cartridge for game in the US one could find. Great velocity, moderate recoil, high BC's and a sectional density that is outstanding for penetration with the proper bullets in large game.
 
Thanks for all the great replies. Assuming I want to go the .280 route who makes an accurate rifle without going custom? I have heard both good and bad about the Kimber Montana's. What are your opinions on a factory rifle?

Thanks!
 
.30-'06 in a Winchester Model 70 Classic Sporter, the one with the 24" lightweight hunting barrel. I have bedded and lapped a bunch of these (about 6-7), and they typically shoot 1/2 MOA for 5 shots with Berger 185 hunting VLD, and they are awesome at 750 yards on gongs. Ammo is everywhere, and you can load a light load (75% of max listed load) of H4895 with a 125-150 grain bullet for whitetails, or any bullet with TrailBoss up to the base of the bullet, and have a gallery load, about 1600 fps with almost no recoil, and no muzzle blast. Buy military surplus Lake City brass; it is as good as anything else out there, and very tough. You'll have the "rifleman's rifle" and be able to clean and disassemble your bolt in the field with your fingers, and you'll have the control round push-feed with the big extractor and fixed ejector, and you will love all those features. Dig the glue off of the setting screws on your MOA trigger, and back it out as far as it goes, which will give a great hunting trigger, about 3 lb. pull. Just writing this makes me want to go buy one.
 
Syncrowave said:
GSPV said:
If you do not reload, a 270 or 30-06 are going to be hard to beat.

+1

Jack O'Connor made multiple single-shot kills on moose at 600+yds with the 270 shooting the standard 130 gr bullet.

My memory is not what is once was, but I sure don't remember Jack O'Connor as being a "shooter" rather than a "hunter." Could you provide me with the article or book that you rely on for your statement? BTW, O'Connor's last rifle build was a .280 Remington built on a Ruger 77 action.

I too am a .280 AI fan. In fact, my latest build is one with a 27 inch Brux barrel (wanted to make sure I beat the 7mm Mags) on a Defiance Rebel action. My thought was this one might cure my rifle buying "addiction." So far it is working!
 
Do what i did: bought two lightly used remington 700's. One in .308 and the other in .300wm. Got everything covered as far as i'm concerned.. ;)
 
Other than the elk I'd go with a short action in a 308 or a 7-08, they will take care of pretty much anything east of the front range. They can and do work on the elk too but you have to pick your shots more carefully. (you can't get the big heavies out there as fat as a large capacity case)

Personally I went from a 308 to a 7-08 a couple of yrs ago. Reloading you can push a 140 at 2900+ or so you can shoot very flat to 400.

Less recoil, less powder, cheaper to shoot, shorter, lighter.

If you are really hunting elk, then get a Magnum for that, when you need to. I have a 7mmRM that has not been out of my safe to hunt in close to 20 yrs.
 
If a stock factory barrel would shoot 5 shots in ½" at 100 yards, I wouldn't lap it. I haven't had that happen yet, so they get lapped and the action gets bedded. Then they shoot like I want. I'm doing both of those things for accuracy, but the traditional reason to lap is to make the gun easier to clean. Fact is, when you lap it, it is now broken in without firing a shot. OK, the first shot after lapping is usually not in the middle of the group, but subsequent shots are. The traditional reason to bed the action is to make the gun shoot in the same spot year after year, and to resume shooting well after removing the action from the stock. Both those things accomplish my goals. I lap every 400-500 rounds. I've done tests on a small scale to verify all this, and I would not bother to do it if it didn't work. If I could get the results some of the posters have documented with their groups in this thread, I'd do whatever they do and never look back. That said, my rifles done as above shoot like I say, and cost about $700 plus my effort. Sometimes I buy a used one that a guy can't "get to shoot" and spend less, and usually, but not always, get the same result.
Jim
It occurred to me that I should give some examples: Usually, a factory rifle, let's say a Savage 10FP in .308 Win, will shoot always under 1.25" for 5 shots, and sometimes right at 1". First, bed the action. It does not matter if it's in a $600 stock, the first thing is to bed the action. After that, they often shoot right at 0.9" for 5 shots, with almost any ammo, and may occasionally tease you with a 0.75" group. Now you lap the barrel. Then they will often (most of the time) shoot 0.27-0.39" groups. I'm basing this on the last 2 I did of that rifle. I did work on one other brand of rifle that gave 0.9" groups after bedding, and then shot 0.196" for 5 shots. It did not always shoot that small a group, but it's that much better than before.
 
jim_k said:
If a stock factory barrel would shoot 5 shots in ½" at 100 yards, I wouldn't lap it. I haven't had that happen yet, so they get lapped and the action gets bedded. Then they shoot like I want. I'm doing both of those things for accuracy, but the traditional reason to lap is to make the gun easier to clean. Fact is, when you lap it, it is now broken in without firing a shot. OK, the first shot after lapping is usually not in the middle of the group, but subsequent shots are. The traditional reason to bed the action is to make the gun shoot in the same spot year after year, and to resume shooting well after removing the action from the stock. Both those things accomplish my goals. I lap every 400-500 rounds. I've done tests on a small scale to verify all this, and I would not bother to do it if it didn't work. If I could get the results some of the posters have documented with their groups in this thread, I'd do whatever they do and never look back. That said, my rifles done as above shoot like I say, and cost about $700 plus my effort. Sometimes I buy a used one that a guy can't "get to shoot" and spend less, and usually, but not always, get the same result.
Jim

Thanks for the explanation Jim. Do you happen to know if this particular model is available with a composite stock and Stainless metal? Would a stainless barrel provide the same accuracy as the std. blued steel barrel?
 
The Winchester with a synthetic stock has a longer barrel, which is still blued, and it is in a Bell & Carlson stock. I think it's out of production, but there may be something in a B&C stock on the Winchester website. For the purpose of the OP, I don't think the heavier, longer barrel is indicated. Check the Winchester website and the Cheaper than Dirt website for model availability. Stainless and blued shoot the same, in my experience. I'm not sure a synthetic stock is worth the extra money, but the B&C is totally sufficient, and rock solid from grip to front sling swivel stud.
Jim
 
I have shot deer, moose, elk and bear with everything form a 243 to 338edge but i still like my 280AIs as my one rifle "go to" .
 

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