280 ackley problem

turko77

A few years ago I had my browning 280 rem punched out to a 280 AI...and have been fire forming brass for it since ...I recently picked up another 280AI built on a Mauser action.I full length resized my brass and now they won't fit in my browning. Never had problems before.I also picked up nosler pre prepped brass and they won't fit in the browning either...Whata think?

Cheechako

The 280 AI is a wildcat and, as such, different gunsmiths and shooters may have different ideas of what they want their chamber to look like. Not major differences, they may only be in thousandths of an inch but still enough to cause problems. I'd say you have 2 rifles with slightly different chambers.

Take one of the cases that will not chamber and paint it all over with a black magic marker. Try to chamber it. When you extract it, you should be able to see where it's sticking. That will help you in finding a cure.

Or, simply keep your brass segregated.

It may be that the Mauser was chambered without setting the barrel back while the Browning was. Or vice-versa. The difference is only .004" +/-, but that's enough to keep cases from one being used in the other.

Good Luck

turko77

Thanks cheechako, but I still don't like the idea I can't buy nosler 280AI brass and not use it in the browning .....

Cheechako

I had a 280 AI that I used for quite a few years. I made cases from Norma and Rem brass. That was before the Nosler brass came out. A friend bought some of the new Nosler cases and they worked fine in his rifle. I tried them in mine and they would not chamber. So, the Nosler must be slightly different. Whether it was the headspace, body taper, base diameter, or whatever, I never tried to find out. The magic marker will tell you.

Tailgunner1954

Turko
Find out who makes reamers to match Noslers spec (I like Dave Manson of Manson Reamers, but "the other Dave (Kiff, Pacific Tool & Gauge)" is good too), than have the Browning chamber dusted with a reamer that matches the "factory" brass.

ETA:
Ray
The 280 AI became a SAAMI standard in 2008 (just looked it up).
Turko
There is no guarantee that your older chamber or dies meet the current SAAMI standard for the 280 AI. You may well need to acquire new (in spec) dies, AND have your existing chambers lightly cut to bring them into compliance.

Cheechako

Bob

The problem with wildcats that have been upgraded to SAAMI standards is that 99% of the rifles in existence were chambered to dimensions set by the gunsmith, reamer grinder, or shooter. There is no guarantee that a SAAMI reamer will clean up a wildcat chamber if the chamber was oversize to begin with. This is especially true with the "Ackley Improved" chambers because so many of them were chambered without setting the barrel back.

Ray

RCrosby

Sounds like in whatever dimension, one chamber is tighter than the other. If you don't want to segregate brass, size for the smaller chamber and brass should run through either, though perhaps with shortened life in the larger.
Depending on the press you use (I.e.
NOT Bonanza Co-ax) you could adjust your dies for the tighter chamber, then shim the die up the necessary amount to size for the larger. Of course that gets you back to separating brass but IMHO, the best solution.

footlong

280 Ackley is the caliber that made Kenny Jarrett famous.. He built one for me in the 80s.. Kenny said to just neck size the 280 Rem brass after the initial forming.. When they startd getting sticky to just trim them and keep brass segregated

JustC

a question, do your cases not fit the chamber after FL sizing ONLY?? or have you FL sized them, and then seated bullets in the FL sized cases??

and are you saying that the original brass you formed in the browning, was never used in the mauser?? and if so, the only thing you did was FL size it and it doesn't fit the browning chamber anymore??

turko77

They do not fit after full sizing and a bullet is seated...and some of the brass was fired through the Mauser

JustC

quote:Originally posted by turko77
They do not fit after full sizing and a bullet is seated...and some of the brass was fired through the Mauser


mic the body dia at the case shoulder/body junction. If it is "swelled" at that point, your seating die body is too far down in the press. Back the body off, and set the seater stem down to make up the difference.

footlong

Buy yourself a couple boxes of Remington Brand 280 factory ammo..Fire a box in each rifle.. Mark one box ''mauser'',one box ''Browning''. Keep them segregated.. Do not mix. Neck size ONLY.. Reload them.. Shoot Mauser in Mauser.. Browning in Browning. Problem solved.. That's part of the fun/pain of wildcatting..wildcat ctgs are for people who want something ''different''

turko77

That's my plan footlong....thank you everybody got the comments#128077;

footlong

The beauty of Parker Ackleys wildcats were the simplicity of forming the brass.. Just shoot the factory stuff to fire form,,.. Another benefit is /was ..lf you run out of ammo.. You can always buy factory as a backup [^]

JustC

quote:Originally posted by footlong
The beauty of Parker Ackleys wildcats were the simplicity of forming the brass.. Just shoot the factory stuff to fire form,,.. Another benefit is /was ..lf you run out of ammo.. You can always buy factory as a backup [^]


The PROBLEM with Ackley's chamberings is that many "half azzed" gunsmiths exist. The Ackley chamber is supposed to be cut so that the factory cartridge has a .002" "crush" on the datum line of the shoulder when chambered in the Ackley imp chamber. Many "gunsmiths" cut the chamber too long, and create all kinds of headaches for the owner/reloader.

I have 3 ACK IMP chambered rifles and am a big fan of them, but knowing your gunsmith does it right is a BIG part of the job.

I am betting if you check the datum line on the shoulders of the cases fired in both rifles, you will find one chamber is longer than the other in that regard.

footlong

JC--Talk to Kenny Jarrett...Kenny actually apprenticed under Parker Ackley back in the 70's..

http://www.jarrettrifles.com/

nononsense

Actually, the datum line is shifted from the shoulder to the neck/shoulder junction when the Ackley chamber is cut if the barrel has been properly set back in the first place. By shifting the headspace or datum line to the junction you allow the shoulder to blow out while still maintaining the headspace datum.

This can be fixed by casting the Mauser chamber and matching a reamer to the cast. Then set the Browning barrel back a thread or two and cut the proper chamber.

Best.