150gn TTSX in 280 AI

[Brian in Montana]

I haven't loaded Barnes bullets much, a little bit in .270 win. I'm going to try some 150grainers in my .280 Ackley. My real question to the group here is how far off the lands. With most bullets I start at .03 if mag length allows, but everything I read, including some loading I did in a .270 indicates X-bullets like to jump. I'm leaning towards starting at .05 off the lands. What say you?

 

[JLS]

0.050” is a good starting point. You have enough twist for those?

 

[Addicting]

That is where Barnes says to start. RL23 is the powder for that combo. I loaded it it to 3020 in a 280ai.

 

[Redman]

They for the most part like a jump to the lands. I do have one rifle that does great with them just off the lands. Have you considered the 120 TTSX? They would be a laser out of the .280AI. I load the 120gr in my wife's 7mm08 and she killed a couple doe this year with them. One was a quartering towards shot and I found the bullet perfectly opened up in the off side rear quarter.

 

[Caseknife]

Start at .050 and go shorter in .025 increments to fine tune group size. I have a few rifles that are in the neighborhood of .125-.150" off the lands. The 139 LRX would be great for that.

 

[Don Fischer]

I don't use those type bullet's, can't afford them. But they are loaded commercially and some people have claimed they shoot very well. Now you could load them in one rifle x" off the lands and find out you can't even chamber them in another rifle! Get the factory stuff and might not shoot as well but at least it will chamber in what ever facroty chamber you put it in.

Over the years I got caught up in loading off the lands for better accuracy but truth be known, I haven't a clue if it's true. See since going to just off the lands I have never tried shooting against factory spec's again!

My suggestion is to do factory spec's and fool with seating depth to find out what works in that rifle! You might find that everyone is right about how far off and then you might not. Great thing about reloading is it let's you experiment to find out what you and your rifle like!

 

[klampson]

I really like the 150 gr TTSX. Load them in my 280 AI and 7 mm Rem mags, all of which have 1-9” twist barrels. Performance on deer and elk has been stellar, and I have a lot of confidence in these bullets. As others have mentioned, these bullets like a lot of jump.

 

[Brian in Montana]

Start at .050 and go shorter in .025 increments to fine tune group size. I have a few rifles that are in the neighborhood of .125-.150" off the lands. The 139 LRX would be great for that.

.025 seems like a lot.

 

[Brian in Montana]

That is where Barnes says to start. RL23 is the powder for that combo. I loaded it it to 3020 in a 280ai.

RL23 seems very stable in 280AI. My best load in that rifle so far has been RL23 and 160gn Accubonds (blems, of course). That combo is leaving the muzzle at 2910fps and is more accurate than I can shoot. I was thinking of using RL19 with the X bullets though, but that's mainly because I have plenty of it and Barnes has published data.

 

[Lyfter1013]

RL23 seems very stable in 280AI. My best load in that rifle so far has been RL23 and 160gn Accubonds (blems, of course). That combo is leaving the muzzle at 2910fps and is more accurate than I can shoot. I was thinking of using RL19 with the X bullets though, but that's mainly because I have plenty of it and Barnes has published data.

What length of barrel and what powder charge are you using?

 

[nhenry]

They for the most part like a jump to the lands. I do have one rifle that does great with them just off the lands. Have you considered the 120 TTSX? They would be a laser out of the .280AI. I load the 120gr in my wife's 7mm08 and she killed a couple doe this year with them. One was a quartering towards shot and I found the bullet perfectly opened up in the off side rear quarter.

They are. I had a load with them at 3370. Top end was over 3400 without pressure signs but not as accurate out of mine

 

[Redman]

They are. I had a load with them at 3370. Top end was over 3400 without pressure signs but not as accurate out of mine

Did you play with seating depth? My Kimber Montana in .300WSM was a pain until I found it had to have quite a bit of jump before it would group Barnes.

 

[klampson]

I would try RL23 with the 150 TTSX. I’ve been tempted to try that powder in my 280 AI. Do you know anyone with Quick Load that could give you a some #s.

 

[nhenry]

Did you play with seating depth? My Kimber Montana in .300WSM was a pain until I found it had to have quite a bit of jump before it would group Barnes.

nah I just seated them all at 3.250" and called it a day. I have just the basic RCBS dies and prefer not to mess with something until I have to. The load that did work shot 1/2" groups until I switched lots of bullets, and then they opened up to 2" groups.

I'm going to be working up a load for 131gr Hammer Hunters shortly. I bought 145 of them for 100 bucks off of rokslide. Hopefully I can get some pretty good velos with them.

 

[Brian in Montana]

What length of barrel and what powder charge are you using?

26" barrel. 57.4gn of RL23.

 

[Caseknife]

.025 seems like a lot.

Right off their website in the load data.

 

[Brian in Montana]

Right off their website in the load data.

Maybe I misunderstood, but .025 is how much you move incrementally when "fine tuning" seating depth? Like I said before, I don't have a lot of experience with Barnes bullets, but I often test seating depth, but in increments of .01 or even .005. Seems like you'd be skipping over a lot of potential accuracy nodes going .025.

 

[Caseknife]

Load Data - Barnes Bullets

Find reloading guidelines and data for your Barnes Bullets products.

www.barnesbullets.com

Bottom, under Loading Guidelines, is all I am going by, and it works for me.

 

[klampson]

I‘ve worked up loads with Barnes bullets for eight different rifles. I usually adjust seating depth by the recommended .025 increment. Yes, it does seem rather course, but it yields results without having to fire a higher number of shots. I do admit I often make finally seating adjustments by .010 to see if I can tighten things up just a tad more.

 

[Brian in Montana]

Load Data - Barnes Bullets

Find reloading guidelines and data for your Barnes Bullets products.

www.barnesbullets.com

Bottom, under Loading Guidelines, is all I am going by, and it works for me.

Interesting. I'd never read that before on their website. Still seems course from what I'm used to, but I might try it.