280 AI project revisited

[stagpanther]

Thank you for the disclaimer of your armory knowledge, but you sound well self taught ^_^

I prefer to be honest about it rather than pretend to be some kind of expert. I shoot a lot (though my results are not all that great much of the time) and have done quite a bit of "home hobbiest" tinkering, but there are other real experts on this forum who "rise above the chafe"; you'll recognize them after a while. I simply have a lot fun; gives an old man something to do once he's been parked in the back lot and forgotten about.

[stagpanther]

After making the upgrades my rifle reminded me that the most important thing needing improvement is me. In other words--not any meaningful difference so far. I had an opportunity to stretch the distance a bit, and I was curious how federals slick-looking terminal ascent cartridges would perform. I shot my handloads first--suffice it to say they did not group nearly as well they had in past--I don't know why, but at one point one of the cartridges had a hangfire that lasted about a second--might be something in my reloading has gone off.

The 5 shot group of Federal's terminal ascent beat my handloads handily with the exception of the one shot that I pulled as the shot broke. Otherwise, a very accurate hunting ammo. The one thing that I thought was odd is that the shots were impacting about 6" lower than my heavier handloads (183 MKs) even though the velocity of the federal ammo is much faster.

[stagpanther]

I about died laughing this morning when I saw a video by Erik Cortina on chasing the lands on Youtube--when I saw this t-shirt I knew I had to have one.

[stagpanther]

Went out and shot a few 183 gr matchings at 180 yds off the hood of my truck after putting the action back in my keystone wood stock. I know this gun can do a 1-holer if I just kept my stuff together. That's 3 shots in the kisser but I obviously moved a bit for the other 2.

[MarkCO]

I can put 5 in one hole too, but I doubt I could with those bags off the hood of your truck. Don't beat yourself up.

[stagpanther]

I can put 5 in one hole too, but I doubt I could with those bags off the hood of your truck. Don't beat yourself up.

The only other option I have is that (un)stable table which wobbles too much, proning out isn't an option since I shoot in an active gravel pit (lots of heavy equipment traffic). Really accurate rifles/barrels have an uncanny way of letting you know they can do better.

[MarkCO]

Tripod? Shooting mat in the back of the truck?

[stagpanther]

Good suggestions--A good tripod I think is pretty expensive. I have shot off my truck's bed, though I have a cap since I rely on it for covered hauling. It works--but the echo effect is pretty intense. I may eventually end up designing and building a shooting platform on a trailer along the lines of what another guy posted on the forum recently.

[MarkCO]

A good light field tripod is $400 and up. A good heavy aluminum tripod is not bad at all. The BOGs are still on sale on Midway for a while. Kind of a tweener in both CF and Aluminum. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1020678542

[stagpanther]

I'll spend some time looking into that, thanks.

[stagpanther]

BTW--Old Roper; I did eventually settle on 2.525" for standard case length because that seems to be the best all-around length across different brass manufacturers that I have. I ended up having to segregate much of the Nosler brass I bought since much of it fell short of that even after repeated firings.

[old roper]

stagpanther, My OAL using Nosler brass changes once case is fully fire form to chamber and Peterson brass is same way. Looking at last group what ever your doing is paying off. Those first 3 off those bags is great shooting

[stagpanther]

Why thanks! As Tom Petty says, even the losers get lucky sometimes. I'm obsessed with getting a 1-holer with this 183 MK only cause I know the barrel and cartridge can do it if I finally have everything come together.

[stagpanther]

Gave it another try today, the elusive 1 holer is getting closer all the time. The first three shots went into the right cluster and the remaining two hit slightly left of them.

[stagpanther]

BTW @ old roper & MarkCO--The contact at Quality Cartridge tells me he will keep me in mind when he makes the next run of 30-06 parented brass (which includes the 280AI) and I committed to at least 200 cases. Once he reaches the threshold for commitments--he'll probably make a run.

[stagpanther]

Let one slip off the rear bag (my most common error) causing the flyer. I think I'm approaching using up a pound of powder on this one load! One day I hope to learn the secret of a consistent hold that works all the time.