Ackley Improved cartridges

Anyone here have an Ackley Improved gun? I'm building a 338-06 AI and was wondering how you fireformed your brass. I've read of a few different techniques, just want to see what you have tried and how well it worked.

Going with 28 or 40 degree shoulder? I've loaded for '06&.30-30AI but never formed them. John Barnses has a method using cream of wheat(Really!) that may help you out Au338.

I used to have a custom 7mmAI (7mmMauser blown out) I fireformed 7mmMauser loaded ammo. Handloaded for the dang gun, never got it to shoot under 3" and sold it. Pity, cause it was a beautiful rifle.

Waste of time imo, if you want faster or more power just step up to the next size or either move into the weatherby'.

I've read of the cream of wheat method. Some suggest running the necks over a tapered expander one caliber larger, the resizing the necks, but leaving the base of the necks unsized. This is supposed to give a tighter chamber fit when fireforming the brass. Has anyone tried this? I may try this with the COW method.

Buddy of mine used the cow method and had good results with fire forming. Make it easy on yourself and just build a 338 win mag and be done.

Already have 2 338 win mags. This will be my light gun.

Just anneal and shoot it. You'll not split as many if you anneal first.

That was another option I have been considering. Thanks for the tip.

The Ackley idea is interesting. The common reply I get is the juice is not worth the squeeze.

It isn't but if you want to do a 338-06 I'd probably go AI just "because". I mean why not. There is really no case against it in that particular caliber if you are going with it regardless.

That's exactly my line of thought. Just because I want to do it.

I once had a 21" Contender barrel in 30-30 rechambered to AI. Jimmy McCollough in Selma had a reamer and did it for me. All I ever did to make the brass was to just load a standard 30-30 load and shoot it.

I hunted with it using 150g bullets at 2560 fps, so I wouldn't say it was a waste of time. No way to get that velocity in that barrel with regular 30-30.

I have several ai cartridges. The added velocity is nice, but to me the fact that I don't have to trim brass near much makes it worth it.

I form all my brass by firing regular rounds through my barrels. Surprisingly they shoot the non-ai stuff just adout as good as my reloads.

Never thought of that but I guess since you're shooting it in an ai chamber then essentially it's an ai cartridge.

Still have that barrel. Don't shoot it much but it's a great round.

Anyone done a 260AI? The claims of 2900 plus with 140s seems interesting to me.

There are a lot of claims about big velocity gains with Improved cartridges on the Internet. Most of these are probably loaded to dangerous pressure levels. Cases with little body taper tend to not display the typical high pressure symptoms (flattened primers, extractor marks, etc,) so people assume their loads are safe when they don't see these signs. There are basic formulas you can use to determine safe velocity levels when comparing standard and A.I. cartridges based upon added case capacity.

I only want to A.I. my 338-06 for the novelty. The velocity gain will be negligible over standard 338-06. Probably about 50 fps will be the most I can gain in velocity.

I wondered if you still had it; glad to hear that you do. I have often regretted selling it, so please give me a chance at it if you ever wanna get rid of it.

I have no personal experience with it, but 2900 from a .260 AI doesn't seem to me like it would be at all difficult. It's not hard to beat 2900 with a 150g bullet in a regular .308, and you are talking about more powder capacity in the .260 AI. I realize the smaller diameter of the barrel is gonna reduce efficiency, but it still sounds possible to me. I could be wrong.

One of the things I have noticed when it comes to the AI argument is that the quality of barrel matters.

When a regular factory barrel gets re-chambered you will see a velocity gain. A premium hand lapped barrel will give you more velocity.

Premium lapped barrels should be smoother and have less friction.

I've shot a lot of Ackley Improved and I've never seen much of the "Improved" aspect of those cartridges.

For what it is worth. 100fps isn't enough to make much difference if any at all. You can look at the charts and see you might get 100-150 more fps with max loads but that doesn't mean you'll get it along with accuracy. Shooting max is an assumption. Just depends. 1/2 the people on the internet are guessing at their velocity based on book numbers. They don't own a chronograph. Likely not shooting the numbers they think they are.

For the .338-06 though why not? You can't get it at Wal-Mart so I would imagine you reload. 50fps? Negligible. But why not?

Just for the hell of it. I already have a 35 Whelen ai. Gun writer John Barsness calls the 35 whelen ai the most useless ai cartridge. 338-06 ai is probably second most useless.

I love ai rifle. I like to hand load and that is a must.

I fire form new brass using a full power 243 win load with the bullet seated into the lands.

I have the brass annealed after I fire form.

I get about 200 fps over a standard 243 and 2506.

Just got a call from John Gallagher yesterday and he said my rifle is finished. Will pick it up this weekend.

I feel like a kid on Christmas eve.