SHOOTING
.280 ACKLEY IMPROVED
F
By Jason Brooks, WHJ Field Editor
OR THOSE WHO RE-
LOAD THEIR own
ammunition then
Potter Otto Ack-
ley is a name that
they’re most likely familiar.
Ackley, often referred to as
P.O. Ackley, was an inventor of
wildcat cartridges who is best
known for taking mainstream
cartridges and adjusting the
case shoulder to a 40-degree
angle. This increases the case
capacity and turns the “aver-
age” caliber into “near mag-
num” performance with very
little increase in recoil. The
benefit for this is obvious when
it comes to building guns. The
pressure isn’t increased to the
point where an action needs to
be beefed up to accommodate
a magnum; thus gun makers
can use the standard actions
already in production. Even the
same barrels can be used after
the chamber is reamed to the
Ackley round.
Another name that most
big game hunters know is Jack
O’Conner. The famed writer
and hunter favored the .270
Winchester and because of
the exposure O’Conner gave
this cartridge it became one
of the most popular cartridges
during his time. However, in
modern times the .270 seems
a bit light compared to other
advanced calibers, such as the
7mm Remington Magnum. So,
in 2006 Nosler decided to pro-
duce a new commercial round.
Preferably hunters would want
one that shoots like the .270
but with near 7mm Magnum
performance. Nosler didn’t
have to look far, as they start-
ed experimenting with loads
for the .280 Ackley Improved,
a cartridge that P.O. Ackley
first started to develop as a
wildcat from a 7mm and a .30-
06 combination. Ackley even-
tually came up with the .280
Ackley Improved from the .280
Remington, which was Rem-
ington’s attempt at narrowing
the gap between the .270 Win-
chester and the .30-06, one
of the most popular hunting
cartridges ever made. Since
the .280 Ackley Improved was
already popular in the wildcat
world, Nosler decided to start
working on loads for a com-
mercial offering.
In 2007 Nosler increased its
research and production of the
.280 Ackley Improved. Look-
ing at the “6th Edition Nosler
Reloading Guide” it became
obvious that with light bul-
lets, such as the 120 grain Sol-
id Base Ballistic Tip, reaching
over 3,300 fps it is even faster
than the .270 Winchester with
the standard 130 grain bullets.
Comparing the .280 Ackley Im-
proved to the 7mm Magnum
with a 140 grain Accubond, it
fires at over 3,200 fps whereas
the 7mm Magnum firing the
same bullet, the difference is
less than 100 fps.
John R. Nosler took this rifle
to Africa to test its boundaries
and wrote about killing an im-
pala in the “Nosler Reloading
Guide”. “I placed the Accubond
bullet right behind the shoul-
der and he dropped like a sack
of potatoes.”
One unique feature that
most Ackley Improved car-
tridges are known for is the
fire forming of cases. Since the
.280 Ackley Improved is based
140 GR ACCUBOND MUZZLE VELOCITY
(FPS) ENERGY
(FT-LBS) 100 YRD DROP
(INCHES) 200 YRD DROP
(INCHES) 300 YRD DROP
(INCHES) 400 YRD DROP
(INCHES) 500 YRD DROP
(INCHES)
270 WINCHESTER 2900 2613 0 - 3.2 - 11.9 - 26.8 - 49
280 ACKLEY IMPROVED 3150 3084 0 - 2.5 - 9.6 - 22 - 40.5
7MM REMINGTON MAGNUM 3200 3182 0 - 2.4 - 9.2 - 21.1 - 39
Ballistic Data provided by Nosler.
52
WESTERN HUNTING JOURNAL