30-06 AI

Anyone have experience with the 30-06AI? If so, what are the plus & minus? I am thinking about re barreling one of my 30-06's & would like as much info as possible. Thanks

My crystal ball tells me...you will end up getting suggestions to go 280ai instead.
But I have no experience with either.

I'm guessing better case life and a marginal gain in velocity.

...and then you'll have to buy more expensive dies and go through the fireforming process. Give up a little to get a little...it's all about certain compromises.

What will the rifle be used for?

as versatile as the 30-06 IS, I don't see the point

Yup, Yup.

Maybe lower ES, as well.

But there are plenty of shooters who shoot very tight shooting ammo, while fire forming. Then once it's formed they know they'll have a velocity gain, and I would re-work a load using formed brass. So if it were me, I'd decide just how much brass do I want to have for the rifle (200 pieces is my personal minimum for each rifle). Start with brand new, high quality, regular .30-06 brass. Shoot all of it once, then work up a new load with fire-formed A.I. brass.

It would be an interesting cartridge for sure, you should do it!

If you are tight on money, can't afford a stable of firearms, or have a 30-06 that you like, maybe a good Winchester 70 or Remington 700 and it has a nice wood stock and good trigger and the stock comb and LOP fit you then go for it. You will get an increase in capacity, about 3 grs if I remember correctly. If you have plenty of 30-06 brass you are farther ahead. You will have to buy new dies for any new caliber but the fact you have some bullets available is nice.

I did the fire forming and load development for a relative's rifle that he took to Africa. He had a gunsmith set back and re-chamber his existing barrel and then handed the rifle to me. It only took a few hours to get the load worked out but I spent almost a week fire forming the brass.

The plus side of an improved 30.06 is about a 5% +/- velocity gain and reducing how often the brass will need to be trimmed.
The minus side is to see the benefit of an improved round you are stuck fire forming the brass. You can use any rounds you have loaded already and hunt/target shoot with them to blow out the shoulder though. I used pistol powder, cream of wheat and paper towels. It was a pain.

Very familiar i have loaded alot for my cousins and had lots of trigger time on the load work up. With that said its a solid round and an ack imp shoulder and loss of taper is straight sexy. I would strongly look at a 30 Gibbs up to 180gr i ran within 50fps of my 300 wm. It was a fantastically accurate rifle and really the only one i regret selling.

I'm sorry, but I have to question your math on the FPS increase. 15% on a standard 30-06 cartridge would be over 400 FPS gain, and would make it out-perform a .300 WM with the same bullet weights. That doesn't seem accurate, given that a .280AI outperforms it's standard cousin by about 150-200 FPS in most loads.

I would just get a 300 WSM or 300 WinMag. But I'm lazy.

I think he meant 1.5%.

I have NULAs in both. I have never done a apples to apples comparison. But it is roughly 150 fps gain max. I like my AI more because I can get it over 3000 with ease. And if you ever lost your ammo mine shoots regular 30-06 just as well. If you want something different go for it but the gain is minimal in the grand scheme.

Thanks for the info, guys. I think you have changed my mind about the re barreling.

That was a typo. I didn't proof read my reply and it should have stated +/- 5%.

With his rifle there was an increase in muzzle velocity of just over 130 fps, with the 180 gr. accubond.
Still quite a bit of money and work for a modest gain in velocity.

130 fps increase is very significant, in my book! Especially with a 180 gr. 30 cal.

130 fps isn't that tough with Reloader 22 and magnum primers.

I've never owned a 30-06 AI, but have always been interested in the cartridge. Now I am more interested.