lancetkenyon

Brandon PMed me, and I actually texted and said, "Why didn't you just text me?"

It will be a full power hunting rifle. I have another 6.5 that I use for shooting a lot of rounds through. I went down to visit my rifle today to check seating depths for all of my rounds I loaded up. That thing is looking amazing too! Eric open up the feed opening a touch since this was originally a standard action, not a WSM/SAUM action. It feeds crazy smooth. This is a 140 Hybrid seated really long. The base of the bullet is still above the body/shoulder junction. I knew what the Wyatt's extended box length was going to be (2.990"), so I made sure I kept the COAL shorter than that length And still get at least .264" of bearing surface in the neck. I am about .030" or so short of the max mag length I pushed the round down in the mag to make sure it would not stick. Still good. I also took a bunch of loose bullets and an empty case with a neck that was a bit loose, but still held the bullet tight enough that I had to use a kinetic puller to get them out after chambering the round to check where they would be jammed to the lands. Amazing how different bullet shapes change CBTO when jammed to the lands. Also shows the comparators we use do not measure to actual ogive, but slightly above. Here are the jammed CBTOs for various bullets. 127 LRX 143 ELD-X 142 NABLR 142 SMK 140 HVLD 140 Hybrid

I did for my .25-06AI that runs on RL22. It is about 1fps per 1° difference. It worked perfectly taking this into account. Had hits out to 800 on a variety of varmints, and at 488 on Deer. Never concerned me after I had that info input into my ballistic program and drop charts. I will take the extra 100fps it is supposed to give over H1000 and run with it IF it is as accurate as I am expecting. If not, these are fore forming loads, and I can do load development with both RL26 and H1000 simultaneously to see which one performs better. I would give up .1" for 100fps gain. Time will tell. I will also be working up two loads. A 140 and the 155 Elite Hunter when it comes out. Or maybe a 150 or 160 Matrix.

RL25, yes. RL26, no. It has been proven to be much more temp stable than the earlier Reloader powders like 15, 17, 19, 22, 25. I am trying RL23 in my .280AI also. Same thing with RL23 vs. RL22. http://www.alliantpowder.com/products/powder/reloder26.aspx http://www.alliantpowder.com/products/powder/reloder23.aspx

I have seen some bulls from 6A, 7W, and 10 that all looked great. But even on average years, there will be bulls that dwarf others. So it is hard to judge a population by the biggest bulls. But having a tag means you are already ahead of the game!

Stayed up too late last night and got some fire forming loads worked up. Using RL26, I did two charge weights 5 grains below max according to Rich Sherman. His max loads for a 140-143gr bullet is around 62.0-63.0 of RL26. I figured to be safe I would do 57.0 & 57.5gr. Five rounds of each charge weight, five different bullets just to break up the monotony. 142 SMK (actually 10 of the 57.0 for sight in and fire forming of the 57.0 load), 142 NABLR (which I have never had good results from), 140 Berger Hybrid, 127 Barnes LRX (only the 57.5gr charge weight), 140 Berger HVLD. Got 50 of 101 pieces run through the FL die, chambered, annealed and loaded. 142 SMK 140 HVLD 127 LRX

Let the tourists go to the wolves now. Not try to bring the wolves to the tourists. Besides, they will never be seen! And I am sure the hunters in 9, 7, 10, 12/13 would just LOVE that!

I call it the .280 Foreskin.

I will weigh it when I get it back to find out what the total weight savings are with fluting the barrel, fluting the bolt, alloy bolt shroud, and alloy 20MOA Picatinny rail. I know the rail lost about 3 oz, the bolt shroud lost 2 oz. My LA bolt lost just over 1oz with fluting, another 1 oz, with the CF bolt knob install vs. the factory steel ball and 2 oz with the alloy bolt shroud. Went from 14.5oz to 10oz. But I added a muzzle brake and Cerakote. So I bet I won't lose too much. Maybe 4 oz?

Eric is fitting the Wyatt's box today for the 6.5 SS, and might be Cerakoting this week still. Man, I can't wait to see it! My S&B PMII 5-25x56 is getting lonely sitting in my safe waiting on the rifle to come back. Should be a deadly combo a long ways out. And those 155 Berger EOL Elite Hunters.

Here is a quick couple photos of the .280AI too.

Eric is ready to Cerakote my 6.5 SS. He got the bolt knob on after drilling it out and retapping it, and he got the muzzle brake turned down and blended in. This is an AxisWorks muzzle brake design. New item in his repertoire. That is a separate brake of AxisWorks design, turned down to blend and threaded on the barrel. Pretty darn nice machine work.

I was about to say the same thing. You better buy that guy a 6 pack of his choosing.

For elk: Main carry rifle: 7RM pushing 180 Hybrid Main long range (and main back-up) elk rifle: .300RUM pushing 230 Hybrid Back-up back-up rifle: .280AI

Nope. I have had less than stellar results in all but 2 rifles I have loaded them in. Don't get me wrong, most people would be thrilled with some of the groups in a hunting rifle. And they are supposed to perform very well on game. But I have never seen an animal walk away from a bullet from a green/yellow/orange box that a bullet from a red box would have dropped.

I am not THAT overweight. I just enjoy my game meat. I definitely "G rating" photobombed a bunch of cameras lately. And I would NEVER tamper with one.

Yes, Bartlein #3 in .264 bore.

Eric got the rechambering done on the 6.5 SS, trued up the new bolt, and put it back together. Next is the new muzzle brake and then Cerakote!

That appears to be the swivel model. And yes, it attaches to a sling stud with no extra pieces needed.

Bump

Got some test loads worked up for the .280AI. Not going to have time to do a full load workup before my elk hunt, but I want something shooting decent so I can use it as my back-up back-up rifle. 168 HVLD & 160 TMK are touching the lands. 145 LRX is .0500" jump per Barnes started recommendation. 168 HVLD 160 TMK 145 LRX

I have had great luck with several SMK loads. .224" 52 SMK on a bunch of small game/varmints .224" 69 SMK on quite a few jackrabbits, cottontails, a fox, a javalina, and several coyotes from 10 to 300+ yards .257" 100 SMK on a coyote at 1327 yards .257" 100 SMK on a javalina @ 100ish yards .257" 100 SMK on 4 different deer from 80 to 200+ yards .264" 142 SMK on several coyotes from 25 to 300+ yards .284" 183 SMK on a coyote @ 350ish yards .308" 175 SMK on bull elk @ 160ish yards .308" 210 SMK on bull elk @ 211 yards I am going to try the .284" 160 TMK in my .280AI and see how they fly and kill.

Blur them parts out and post the pics on here! Get his face across the web. Still hoping the people that had cameras in 7E the last couple weeks are members here and post my photos. There are some good ones out there. Not naked.

Good luck. Hopefully he had an honest person following him.