280AI take 2

[stagpanther]

My first go at putting an 280 AI did not work out as I had hoped, so I decided to give it a second try. It took a while--but Mike at Criterion made good and sent me a replacement barrel. It was worth the wait, the barrel is very nice (if heavy, it's a match barrel) and the bore is beautiful, immaculately polished and finished without a trace of any irregularities anywhere that I could find--and one of my pet peeves in most other commercial grade barrels--in particular the last two to three inches to the muzzle are completely free of any chatter or pitting--the rifling at the crown exits with perfect edges and no burrs or "tear-away" gouges. The width of the barrel--however--required quit a bit of foreend work to fit right but I finally got it seated well. The Patriot Valley barrel nut requires quite a bit space--but is well worth it as I found it to be easier to work with than a conventional savage tool slotted nut.

[oldmanFCSA]

Nice, very nice.

I want to build one also, but with a looong barrel with a faster twist to better handle heavier than normal projectiles with high BC's.

BUT - I'm too busy playing with my 50BMG target rifle which currently wears a 37" 1:14 twist SS K&P 1.750" dia barrel and a identical barrel in 1:13 twist is on order from K&P so I can better spin the 808 grain brass solids i shoot, and my RPR 338 Lapua Magnum which I use for ELR practice. My RPR will get a new barrel first and it will be 32" long with a 1:8 twist to better spin 300 grain Berger's and the brass solids I had machined. A Terminator TF brake is on order, although the longer barrel will negate some of the gas pressure that will reach the muzzle brake.

And I recently finally got my Ruger M77 Mark II in 25-06Rem varmint rifle dialed in and found a good load for the 26" barrel. This load works great and exits at 3200+fps using 115 NBT and IMR4831. Accuracy is unbelievably exceptionally good with the 115 NBT and the 117 H SST's. (It hates 75 and 87 grain projectiles.)

And I have a Rem 7mm Magnum to play with, and several others I may sell before playing with a new rifle. TOO MANY CHOICES.

[Japle]

I also just finished a .280AI.
Remington 700 BDL action, barrel by ER Shaw, stock by Hogue, bolt work by LRI, Timney trigger, Nikon 4.5-14X side-focus scope.
I had Shaw install the muzzle brake, mainly because it's also an adapter for a suppressor.
This is an all-around hunting rifle with enough features to keep my obsessions at bay.

[stagpanther]

Thanks Oldman; Everything involves compromises. This 26" 1:8 barrel is plenty heavy and the all-up weight ready to go is 12 lbs. The stock is a keystone which is nice and solid--but also required extensive inletting work to get things "just right." It is a low-end savage receiver, I did the best I could with what I have to accurize it, will try to test fire and zero today. I read somewhere that really heavy match barrels can put enough stress on the barrel shoulder/receiver face that it can affect the true and I am considering adding bedding in the front two inches or so of the barrel cylinder/step a la Townsend Whelen. Hopefully Bart B and or unclenick will comment.

Nice rig Japle--looks like a great long range hunting rifle.

[stagpanther]

Was able to get out and zero the scope at 164 yds and get a few break-in shots down the barrel. After a few shots to get on paper, here's a dozen shots of Federal's nice premium factory ammo which is topped with berger 168 vld hunting hybrids. I think it's a promising beginning of a good relationship.



Just when I thought my day couldn't get any better my dog found this freshly delivered.

[Nathan]

With any bedding job, I think the entire shank should be bedded. The more vertical support the better. Once past the shank, you are adding some vorizontal support which really should just be the lug. A couple inches is a good method. Be careful to fill the nut notches with clay or something.

Nice rifle. Is that group before any bedding?

Also, your critique of the barrel was interesting. If a Criterion had any issue, I’d think it might be a fake! Good to check.

Also, in general, no need to true a Savage....maybe time it. Fred at Sharp Shooter Supply can help you out.

[stagpanther]

With any bedding job, I think the entire shank should be bedded. The more vertical support the better. Once past the shank, you are adding some vorizontal support which really should just be the lug. A couple inches is a good method. Be careful to fill the nut notches with clay or something.

Nice rifle. Is that group before any bedding?

Also, your critique of the barrel was interesting. If a Criterion had any issue, I’d think it might be a fake! Good to check.

Also, in general, no need to true a Savage....maybe time it. Fred at Sharp Shooter Supply can help you out.

Is he the same guy who made the SSS comp trigger? Ironically, I just put together a new build using an old savage 111 that I had installed one of the original SSS comp triggers--the one where you had to grind down the bracket to get it to fit. A royal pain but a great shooting trigger once I got it tuned.

[Nathan]

Is he the same guy who made the SSS comp trigger?

Same guy.

Sharp Shooter Supply

[stagpanther]

I remember talking to him many moons ago about the original sss trigger.

[DaleA]

Just when I thought my day couldn't get any better my dog found this freshly delivered.

Ha! It was all I could do to get the dog I used to have to fetch a tennis ball!

Just remind your dog to only fetch packages left on YOUR doorstep. Could be interesting but of course it would be wrong. just trying to stay inside the guide lines of the forum.

[stagpanther]

My biggest fear is that she gets loose and runs off into the woods--her coloring and ears are like those of a deer, and even though deer hunting is illegal where I live I think somebody would be tempted to blast her.

[ndking1126]

Also, in general, no need to true a Savage....

Nathan, if the OP doesn't mind a small detour, can you elaborate on that? Is there a mechanical reason for this, like maybe the floating bolt head? Or are you saying the match barrels are accurate enough that theres no practical benefit to it?

[stagpanther]

I don't object at all to "detours"--especially learning opportunities.

[stagpanther]

Trying the action out on an MDT chassis. Simple bolt-on in just a minute or two for a solid mate. Got a test load of 185 gr rdf's to try.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by ndking1126

Nathan, if the OP doesn't mind a small detour, can you elaborate on that? Is there a mechanical reason for this, like maybe the floating bolt head? Or are you saying the match barrels are accurate enough that theres no practical benefit to it?

The floating bolt head is a big part of it combined with the word of my gunsmith and from the experience of other success stories I have read about.

Often Savages get trued by their bolt bore like a Remington. They look bad when doing this. That is because the thread bore is the datum. Then the action face and lugs look better. I addition, the bolt head is a simple part to machine accurately and the Savage ones are generally considered good from what I read...not sure.

[stagpanther]

Thanks Nathan.

This morning the forecast was less than ideal--temps in the teens, windchill below zero and winds 20 to 30 with gusts over 40 mph. Nobody in the right mind would choose to test some handloads in those conditions--I thought "why not, how bad could it be?"

Actually I just wanted to fire the first group of 139 LRX's using ramshot hunter just out of curiosity. Target was at 164 yds and being a simple cardboard box was being pushed around by the wind. The surprising thing was the POI's were almost exactly where the 185 gr rdf's were.

[old roper]

stagpanther, Did you use R-26 with 185gr RDF?

[Sanch]

What is the actual differential of the .280 Rem AI and the .280 Rem?

[stagpanther]

stagpanther, Did you use R-26 with 185gr RDF?

Unfortunately I was never able to get any before the "great draught" set in. In this particular load I used only a low power charge of 7828 ssc. I will come back to the bullet later.

What is the actual differential of the .280 Rem AI and the .280 Rem?

I assume you mean what is the difference--basically the AI has a sharpened shouldered which frees up room for a bit more powder capacity, resulting in around maybe another 100 fps potential. A 280 rem cartridge can be safely fired in a 280 AI chambered rifle.

The only real issues I've had with my limited experience is the variations between SAAMI specs and actual chamber and case dimensions, my personal opinion--that seem to be backed up by some others'--is that brass made by Nosler is a tad on the lower side of SAAMI specs in the head area when you stack the possible space in headspace tolerances in movement of the case; resulting in some bulging in the head area.

I sent my first Criterion barrel back when even the factory ammo cases were bulging, Mike had advised me to headspace on the low side of tolerances which I did, but I still was getting bulges. So they made me a new barrel, which still shows some signs of slight expansion at the head under full-power loads--but otherwise there are no signs of overpressure, the cases come out of the chamber with no difficulty and the primers show no signs of cratering or flattening.

I talked myself into going back out to finish the rest of the loads, it seemed a fool's errand since it was like shooting in gale conditions, which in fact as it turned out it was. Was kinda fun pushing myself to the limit in cold wind conditions. The barnes lrx's driven by ramshot hunter do very well.

[stagpanther]

164 yds 139 lrx ramshot hunter

[Nathan]

Too cold and windy to hit anything!

[stagpanther]

Too cold and windy to hit anything!

I thought so too--but was curious to try. Oddly enough, the few times I hunt the weather often has a mysterious way of turning to crap just for me, so I thought this would be kinda like training for crappy conditions. On the other hand, it would be fair to say that "gratuitous" expenditure of scarce reloading components isn't very wise given the shortages which may hang around for a long time.