280 AI

[ismith]

Dang it. Now y'all gone and made me post a picture of my 280AI again.
I hate this place.


View attachment 368348

This would make a wonderful oil painting.

 

[Big Sky Guy]

I truly think that the 280AI is one of the most “balanced” rifle cartridges out there. If I didn’t already have a few other rifles in cartridges on either side of it (270Win and 30-06), with abundant components, dies, etc, I would own one. If I ever build a “one rifle to rule them all” custom then it will be a 280AI. It really seems to be the sweet spot in so many ways, and still has strong roots in some history that gives it panache

I like how it was created by a guy genuinely trying to improve cartridge performance for hunters/shooters within the limitations of his time and available resources rather than seemingly being created out of thin air to market to modern hunters.

 

[Big Sky Guy]

This would make a wonderful oil painting.

Actually had to look twice because at first that’s what it looked like.

 

[bluegrassdan]

I sure love the one I just built for a Moose hunt in NF in 2026. That scope will NOT be on that rifle, its about as useful on a hunting rifle as a boat anchor.

 

[kodiakisland]

This would make a wonderful oil painting.

Thanks, I've thought of having a jigsaw puzzle made and glued to a board for my gun room. It was quite a beautiful morning on the mountain above heavy valley fog.

 

[BAKPAKR]

I sure love the one I just built for a Moose hunt in NF in 2026. That scope will NOT be on that rifle, its about as useful on a hunting rifle as a boat anchor.

How heavy is that rifle, without the scope?

 

[kodiakisland]

How heavy is that rifle, without the scope?

Looks heavier than I prefer for a backpack rifle, but looks can be deceiving.

 

[BAKPAKR]

Looks heavier than I prefer for a backpack rifle, but looks can be deceiving.

Mine is just under 7.5 pounds scoped. I like that for carrying.

 

[kodiakisland]

Mine is just under 7.5 pounds scoped. I like that for carrying.

View attachment 368768

Yeah, that’s about where my Kimber is.

 

[bluegrassdan]

How heavy is that rifle, without the scope?

About 7.5-8lbs due to the laminated stock. I am waiting on the AG Composites stock to get through production, so this works for now. We typically build light weight hunters with AG/Manners stocks and CF barrels but since this one was for me and I already had a flutes SS barrel in stock, that's what I used.