Posted by denny mcdaniels on Mar 24, 2025 in Rifle Cartridge Reloading
Judson Hembree from Alabama Reloader provided his progress on the 280 Ackley
.280 Ackley Improved – My Journey
The road to choosing the .280 Ackley Improved started several months back during a livestream
where me and a handful of my subscribers started discussing “potential” 7mm elk cartridges that I could
one day use on an elk hunt out west that’s likely to never happen. Over the course of subsequent
livestreams and additional hours of research (watching YouTube videos) I settled on the .280 Ackley
Improved. Settling on the cartridge turned out to be the hardest part of the process. I handed over my
Tikka T3X chambered in .270 Winchester to Heavy Precision located in Huntsville, Alabama and they
knocked it out of the park with the re-barrel job. With 200 rounds down the barrel of some initial testing
my favorite combinations so far are:
Federal 175gr Tipped Fusion and Midwest Powders MP620
Federal 155gr Terminal Ascent and Midwest Powders MP620
Nosler 140gr Ballistic Tip and Reloader 19
McGuire Ballistics 160gr Copper Rose and Ramshot Hunter
Y’all come follow along on this journey as I begin to dive deeper into the load development
process and publish my experience on YouTube at Alabama Reloader. Thanks in advance for the support
and y’all have a good one!