From a practical point of view all the Ackley' s are more a matter of ego than performance....They do seem to all have the advantage that standard factory ammo can be fired in them.....however as previously mentioned the .280 is not so popular a cartridge that you can plan on finding it just anywhere. I agree...it' s a handloaders gun mostly.

In all honesty it' s equivalent (in practicality) to the 7MM magnums and the .30-06 and is one of the most underrated cartridges in the business. It' ll do anything the .270 can do and more and is available in some extremely light rifles.

Build a .280 Ackley if you wish but don' t do it for the small amout of performance gain.....you' ll never notice it nor will anything you hunt. It' s a darn fine cartridge.