.280 GNR! Need some help!

[taylorce1]

Well here is my first attempt at a wildcat cartridge! 8) Well almost I do have a 8mm-06. This one is based off the .405 Win cartridge, necked down to 7mm. Supposed to give me .280 AI performance out of a 17" Garry Reeder Encore Pistol barrel.

I necked the brass down in a three step process running it through some 06 based cartridge dies (35 Whelen, 8mm, .280) without the decapping rods and expander balls. I used the .280 rem die instead of my GNR die for the final size because my frame would lock up easier. Once fire formed the frame locks up easy as well. I'm using a bulk 140 grain bullets seated to the cannelure to fire form with 49.5 grains of H4350 for the charge.

The other two cartridges are what it will look like when I'm done fire forming the rest of the cases. I loaded the Ballistic tip to where the boat tail was just below the base of the neck. Looked a little long but chambers without hitting the lands. The other is the same bulk bullet loaded to the cannelure I used for the fire form loads.

According to the data I have 56 grains of H4350 and LR Magnum primer will push the NBT at 2900+ fps out of my barrel. I didn't have any Mag primers so I worked loads from 54-57 grains of H4350 with CCI 200 primers. We will see how good I'm able to shoot this pistol hopefully this weekend if weather cooperates! :grin:

Might have to try it on an elk or deer this fall! That is if I can get my shooting up to par with a Encore pistol.

 

[JD338]

taylorce1

Looks like a cool round with plenty of performance.
Let us know how she shoots.

JD338

 

[Greg Nolan]

Pretty Neat!

 

[FOTIS]

Very interesting indeed!

 

[DrMike]

I'm was not familiar with Gary Reeder's efforts, but they do look interesting. Consequently, his pictures of "Stupid Gun Ideas" is indeed entertaining (http://www.reedercustomguns.com/information/stupid.htm).

 

[taylorce1]

Here is some pictures of my Encore pistol that I'll be shooting this cartridge from.

 

[DrMike]

That could be a handful, but it should do the job on game.

 

[taylorce1]

That could be a handful, but it should do the job on game.

What I've already shot out of it the recoil is really mild, of course that means that the brake works. I have a 7mm-08 barrel as well and the recoil from it is by far more stout. I fireformed a few rounds before I ever got a scope for the barrel.

 

[nomosendero]

What is case cap. compared to the 280AI. I understand the rim design relative to an Encore/Single Shot, just curious about capacity.

 

[taylorce1]

What is case cap. compared to the 280AI. I understand the rim design relative to an Encore/Single Shot, just curious about capacity.

I don't remember exactly off the top of my head but it is over 60 grains. I did fill the cases that were fire formed full of water and weigh them but I'll have to find what I wrote down. I do remember reading somewhere that most of the guys who are using this barrel worked up there data from the starting loads of either the .280 or .280AI.

Just looked it up I filled 5 cases with water and they averaged 73.1 grains.

 

[nomosendero]

thanks

 

[taylorce1]

Well finally got to go to the range today and shoot this pistol. Thought I'd start with the fire form loads to get on paper, good idea in theory. Luckily I was on paper at 50 yards with my first round.

Fired the first shot hit paper all excited. Extracted the round to examine it not so excited. Had two vertical splits in the shoulder area. Thought might be a fluke, so chambered another round and fired. Hit paper again real close to the first shot, extracted the case again a split in the shoulder area. :evil:

Decided to call it quits on the whole fire form process for the day. Decided to shoot some of the loads I worked up. First three shot group had all three shots come in around 1" , second 3 shot group came in under an inch, and the next two groups I shot opened up to about 2". All this was done at 50 yards. Started to notice the recoil in my hand so called it quits figured I could come back and finish up the rest of my groups another day.

So I need some help from all of you who have to fire form loads. My load was 140 grain bulk bullet with 50 grains H4350 and CCI 200 primers. Would you back off the powder? if you look in the pictures at the top of the page I do have to move the shoulder quite a bit. Am I on the right track? Should I use a lighter bullet to FF with if I need to reduce the powder charge? I'm just going off the data I got from the guy who traded me the barrel and using the FF load that he did.

I did the final size using a .280 Rem die instead of the .280 GNR because they chambered easier in the barrel. The .280 Rem has a much longer neck than the GNR by quite a bit. Could this be my culprit as well? I'd hate to ruin all these case they cost me $1 a piece at least for .405 Win brass.

 

[honkeetonkin]

maybe case anealing before fireforming but I would get ahold of GARY Reeder first for his expertise, he's been doing this for a long time . nothing wrong with expliotng the experts

 

[taylorce1]

maybe case anealing before fireforming but I would get ahold of GARY Reeder first for his expertise, he's been doing this for a long time . nothing wrong with expliotng the experts

Gary didn't think anealing would help. He told me to back down my FF load up to 10 grains and use a 1/4 sheet of toilet paper to hold the column in place. He thinks I pushed the neck back too far and that is what is causing my necks to split.