.280 Ackley Improvements: A Celebrated Histories

The slender.280 Ackley improved was born from humble beginnings. However, it has earned a place among the all time great hunting cartridges. The springbok was perhaps the most suited to these almost impossible conditions. There were many springbok, some numbering in the thousands. The species was not high on my priority list because I had already taken a good springbok on an earlier safari. When Professional Hunter Mare van der Merwe spotted a magnificent ram, my priorities changed immediately. This springbok stood out among the crowd. Mare spread the sticks to provide cover and told me that 300 yards was the maximum distance we could get. There were too many eyes to try to close this gap. I inserted the forend of my rifle into the crotch of the sticks and held it there for 6 inches before releasing the trigger. I’m not sure which was louder, the sound of the 160-grain Federal Trophy Bonded Tip bullet striking the ram or the sound of the former-rugby-player-turned-professional-hunter slapping my back.The cartridge used that day was another wildcat success story: the .280 Ackley Improved. The.280 Ackley Improved is the most popular cartridge in the line. It has a superior performance to its parent cartridge and is very close to the performance the 7mm Remington Magnum. In order to understand the history of the .280 Ackley Improved, we must start with the development of the .280 Remington..280 AI’s Humble BeginningsThe U.S. Army’s new .30-03 Springfield–designed in 1903 to supersede the .30-40 Krag–used the same .473-inch rim diameter as the 7×57 and 8×57 Mauser cartridges, albeit with a longer case length (64.5mm versus 57mm). Three years later, the fateful redesign of the cartridge in both case length as well as projectile choice would result in the world-famous. It would be the.30-03 predecessor, which would serve as the parent case of the.270 Winchester. It was released in 1925. Threety-two year later, Remington would use that same.30/03 case to create their own cartridge. This would mate that case and 7mm bullets to make the.280 Remington. The.280 Remington, in my opinion, is one of the most important designs of the era. It has the capacity to use all 7mm bullets with great success. EffectParker Otto Ackley was known as P.O. and was always tinkering around with cartridges to improve their performance. He would remove significant body taper and increase the shoulder angle to increase velocity. P.O. would have given it the Ackley treatment if it was in production during his lifetime. P.O. would have given it the Ackley treatment if it was in production during his lifetime. The.280 Ackley Improved is his most well-known improved cartridge. It is a cartridge that can be used in all calibers. Ackley was experimenting in the 7mm-06 Mashburn (a.30-06 case that can hold 7mm bullets) just before the.280 Remington was officially established. He had blasted out the body taper and sharpened his shoulder, but he stopped working on the.280 when it became commercially available. He turned his attention to the.280 Ackley Improved. Fred Huntington, father RCBS reloading equipment started the ball rolling with his.280 RCBS with a 35-degree shoulder. Ackley’s design used a forty-degree shoulder. The.280 Ackley Improved was a slight improvement on the 7mm-06 Ackley Improved. P.O. P.O. I was unable to afford a Jarrett rifle back then, and I couldn’t afford to pay much attention. But I didn’t forget about this cartridge. The Jarrett.280 AI is still a staple of the Jarrett line-up. Kenny Jarrett was unable to afford a Jarrett rifle at that time, but he didn’t forget about it. There is a slight difference in the SAAMI-approved wildcat chamber and many older sets of reloading dens. If you plan to reload your.280 AI, ensure you get a modern set designed for the SAAMI chamber. P.O. states that “it will be quickly apparent that there is not much difference between the top velocities of the.280 Improved Magnums and the Magnums. This clearly shows that there is no advantage in using a belted Magnum for anything below.30 calibre.” Ackley, Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders Volume 1. There’s no doubt about the effectiveness and popularity of the 7mm Remington Magnum. It remains one of the most loved big-game cartridges in this field. P.O. However, P.O. The same results were seen in handloaded ammunition, but the gap is smaller. The.280 Ackley Improved holds approximately 15% less water, depending on the brand of case, than the 7mm Remington Magnum and does not suffer from the case stretching that is associated with belted cartridges. The.280 AI’s body diameter is smaller than the 7mm RemMag’s, and the velocity differences between them are negligible, makes the.280 AI very attractive. The rimless.280 AI cases, which use the shoulder to headspace, benefit from the steep 40-degree shoulder. Additionally, the ammunition can be tuned to the chamber to shoot the more common.280 Remington ammunition in a pinch. Ackley recommended that I use this case for his wildcat. This was long before they were made commercially. My.280AI is a Savage Model 110 Long Range Hunter. I chose a 160-grain Federal Trophy Bonded tip printing 1/2 -MOA groups at a muzzle velocity at 2,965 fps. (Federal’s factory ammunition is for the 7mm Remington Magnum at 2,950 fps). The cartridge is also a good choice for most North American game. Its energy and trajectory are equal to the 7mm Remington Magnum or so close that no game animal would ever be able to tell the difference. Mag. Mag. Six loads are available for the.280 AI from Nosler, who was so instrumental in bringing the ex-wildcat to the masses. Their AccuBond comes in 140-, 150 and 160-grain weights. The Partition is loaded at 160 grain and the Ballistic Tip (and lead-free E–Tip) at 140 grains. Hornady loads the 162-grain ELD-X in Precision Hunter at 2,850 fps. Federal offers three loads: the Partition is loaded at 160 grains and the Ballistic Tip and lead-free E-Tip are loaded at 140 grains. The company also chambers the Axis II, Axis II XP and Timberline as well as their Ultralite in the.280 Ackley Improved. Ruger produced a limited number of their classic No. Ruger offered a limited run of their classic No. 1 shot in memory of Joe Clayton. The Ruger Hawkeye African now comes in.280 AI. Kimber offers their Hunter rifle, Mountain Ascent, and Cooper offers the Model 52 Classic, Timberline and Backcountry. Christensen Arms also offers the Ridgeline in.280AI. The street price for the Savage Axis II is under $400. For the more discerning, Christensen Arms offers their Ridgeline in.280 AI. He had developed or produced load data for many cartridges. Many of these would go on to become commercial cartridges over the next few decades. His expertise and his opinions on cartridges are hard to dispute, even though there have been significant changes in projectile and powder technology. Ackley did little more than give a sharp shoulder to the.280 Remington. But, looking at the amount of work he produced and the legacy he left behind, Ackley will be remembered by shooters for many decades to come. Ackley, like Ned Roberts, Col. Townsend Whelen and others, left an indelible impression on the shooting industry. His.257 Roberts Improved, 7×57 Improved and.30–06 Improved are still in use today by my friends. I am certainly grateful for his efforts.