Thread: 280AI - pros & cons?

Two .280AIs have been in the safe for 15 years here, currently 27" and 24". Having accumulated all the expensive necessaries including competition dies I probably won't change next time barrels need to be replaced... but if I could start again I would stick with a standard 280, or better still go with a 30-06. The rounds look good, very good - but other than that IMO there are cases in every direction with better capabilities that require less fuss and/or less cost. That said, I did enjoy scratching that itch for a while there.

For either flavour of .280 do watch the magazine length as KG mentions; ideally you would want up to 89mm to play with the Bergers & Amax hard into the lands. Anything less and you may not have the length for full experimentation, depending on the cut of the throat.

Originally Posted by Puffin

Two .280AIs have been in the safe for 15 years here, currently 27" and 24". Having accumulated all the expensive necessaries including competition dies I probably won't change next time barrels need to be replaced... but if I could start again I would stick with a standard 280, or better still go with a 30-06. The rounds look good, very good - but other than that IMO there are cases in every direction with better capabilities that require less fuss and/or less cost. That said, I did enjoy scratching that itch for a while there.

For either flavour of .280 do watch the magazine length as KG mentions; ideally you would want up to 89mm to play with the Bergers & Amax hard into the lands. Anything less and you may not have the length for full experimentation, depending on the cut of the throat.

Thanks for that - good write up