280AI brass question (Nosler vs PO Ackley)

[nphunter]

So when I built/bought my 280AI it had been chambered with the OG Ackley reamer. At the time Nosler had just come out with their version.

Anyway back then brass wasn’t really around and I fire formed Norma brass for my rifle. When Nosler brass became readily available there was a bunch of controversy on wether or not it could be safety used in the original Ackley rifles due to a difference in head spacing between the two. I already had Norma brass and was fire forming so I didn’t worry too much about it.

Fast forward to now and I’ve reloaded my brass several times now and thinking about buying some more to have on hand. I’m curious if anyone with an original Ackley rifle has had luck with Nosler or if I should just pick up some more Norma and form it. I figure by now there has to be way more info on this since the Nosler 280AI is so popular now. Reading online there is a lot of back and forth but most of those posts are old and I’d rather just try to get info from someone that has actually tried or researched this themselves.

Appreciate the info.

 

[Trogon]

I cant help you with the reamer dimensions of old vs new; but you should be able to run whatever you get through a FL sizer and be close right? After one firing you'll have "fire formed" anyway.

You cant do much better than petersen brass: https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/113347

 

[nphunter]

I cant help you with the reamer dimensions of old vs new; but you should be able to run whatever you get through a FL sizer and be close right? After one firing you'll have "fire formed" anyway.

You cant do much better than petersen brass: https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/113347

Thanks for the link.

The original concerns was the new brass is too short so sizing wouldn’t help in that case. Apparently there was/is a headspace difference and there is too much headspace when using 280AI brass in and original Ackley gun.
I was just curious if anyone had tried and if there were issues or if it was all a bunch of talk at the time.

 

[nphunter]

Well, I guess I'm going to find out for myself if there is a headspace issue. I just bought 200 rounds of Peterson brass. I have a bunch of formed brass so I will just measure the new brass vs my formed brass. It sounds like part of the issue is there wasn't consistency when building the wildcat 280's, hope that mine has a somewhat tight chamber and I will be good to go. If not there will be some nice brass in the classifieds and I will just fire form a bunch more 280 rem brass.

 

[wind gypsy]

The dimensions on 4D reamer rentals website for traditional and SAAMI reamers indicates that the SAAMI spec is LONGER to the shoulder and brass OAL. Based on that, in theory a guy should be able to size that brass down to the same as your FF 280 brass and you may need to trim back the case mouths a fair bit.

Sizing them down will likely move some shoulder brass into the neck which isn't ideal but it may not have any negative impact.

 

[nphunter]

The dimensions on 4D reamer rentals website for traditional and SAAMI reamers indicates that the SAAMI spec is LONGER to the shoulder and brass OAL. Based on that, in theory a guy should be able to size that brass down to the same as your FF 280 brass and you may need to trim back the case mouths a fair bit.

Sizing them down will likely move some shoulder brass into the neck which isn't ideal but it may not have any negative impact.

Interesting, everything I've read says the SAAMI is shorter and I will have a head spacing issue using SAAMI spec brass in my rifle. I have quite a bit of formed brass, I should be able to tell pretty quickly once I receive the new brass.

 

[wind gypsy]

This article agrees with what you're saying: https://www.redding-reloading.com/tech-line-a-tips-faqs/133-280-changes but the Images from 4D's website pasted below show the opposite. Note that the SAAMI reamer spec is also larger in diameter, especially at the shoulder. Maybe their reamers are just different from the norm?

SAAMI


"Traditional"


If you have a case comparator tool, i'd measure distance to shoulder datum difference with the virgin brass and compare it to your fired brass. If new virgin brass is way short in comparison, you may want to shoot first firings with bullets jammed in the lands to get the new brass fire formed to your chamber and avoid issues due to long headspace for that brass.