35 Whelen
Member
O.K...I see/read lots of people talking about what an improvement the 280 AI is over the 280. I have owned a 280 for...gee....20 years I guess. Love it. It's my "business" deer rifle and my backup elk rifle.
I also have a 257 AI that I've owned for about 25 years, so I have nothing against the improved cartridges. However, after hot-rodding my 257 AI and thinking I had to run 100 gr. bullets at 3300 fps and nothing else would do, I realized two things:
1) I was destroying a nice little Mexican Mauser action, and
2) Using realistic, safe loads, I was only gaining about 100 fps over the standard 257 and handloads.
So.....
I see the 280 AI has about 100-125 fps over the standard 280. Has anyone here ever compared the actual downrange ballistics of bullets fired from these two cartridge? By that I mean if a 280 AI starts a 160 gr. partition at 3000 fps, and a 280 starts the same bullet at 2900 fps, how much real difference is there in the two?
I come up with just about 50 yds. difference in residual velocity, and about 3" difference in drop at 500 yds. assuming a 200 yd. zero.
So, is it worth the extra powder? Just curious of everybodies thoughts...
35W
I also have a 257 AI that I've owned for about 25 years, so I have nothing against the improved cartridges. However, after hot-rodding my 257 AI and thinking I had to run 100 gr. bullets at 3300 fps and nothing else would do, I realized two things:
1) I was destroying a nice little Mexican Mauser action, and
2) Using realistic, safe loads, I was only gaining about 100 fps over the standard 257 and handloads.
So.....
I see the 280 AI has about 100-125 fps over the standard 280. Has anyone here ever compared the actual downrange ballistics of bullets fired from these two cartridge? By that I mean if a 280 AI starts a 160 gr. partition at 3000 fps, and a 280 starts the same bullet at 2900 fps, how much real difference is there in the two?
I come up with just about 50 yds. difference in residual velocity, and about 3" difference in drop at 500 yds. assuming a 200 yd. zero.
So, is it worth the extra powder? Just curious of everybodies thoughts...
35W