Help me Pick a Cartridge

Four22 said:

I think I've settled on the 280 Ackley but the 6.5x284 is still in the back of my head. I haven't ordered the barrel yet but should be doing that soon.... so maybe I'll order both barrels and build 2 rifles!

I plan to also start a "rifle overhaul" thread when I start in on the project.

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Good luck. My 280ai with 160s is a killer.

Keep us updated. Are you going to do the barrel swap yourself or take it to a gunsmith?

7x57 or 280 plenty of room for the new Noslers with either. Also I would consider going big like stated by a few others 35 whelen, 8mm-06, 338-06

As asked earlier, how many rounds do you have through the gun? Everyone has different ideas of how to properly clean a bore and what product to use. I've seen rifles with 8000-10000 rounds through them that were still shooting at MOA. These were properly cleaned and cared for. And I've seen some guys deer rifles with a few hundred rounds through them that were shooting 3-4 inch groups because they didnt clean their rifle properly or at all.
Not all bore cleaners are equal! From experience; Montana extreme or Butches are the best bore cleaners. I'd make sure your barrel is actually clean and also that the crown hasn't been damaged. You can get a cheap bore scope off a Ebay, that attaches to smartphone for pretty cheap.
If your barrel is clean and action screws torqed correctly, I still lean towards the 25-06 or something more common. You'd be up the creek finding odd ammo when you travel from Ohio to out west and realize that you left your box of ammo on the counter.

Since you're a handloader and not worried about buying factory ammo, I'll throw out another wildcat option....the 256 Newton. Basically a slightly shorter 6.5-06, but you definitely don't see many of them around. Between my dad and I, we've had two and they are accurate clean killers as most 6.5's are.