Question
[?]I have several guns that I need to sell because I no longer have the time or funds to take them to the range and I have to keep them so locked up at home that they are not really practical for home protection. With my third child due in November, I really need the money more than the guns at this point, but I am not willing to give them away. I have gotten some pricing info. from several different sources but it is so varried that I am still clueless! I figured that "Asking the Experts" was my best bet! The guns are listed below and ANY input that anyone could give would be greatly appreciated!
1.Winchester Model 1200 Police Stainless, 18" barrel and 7 shot magazine.
2.Ruger P89 9mm, 2 15-shot clips that came with the gun, and 1 15-shot clip purchased after-market
3.Ruger SP101, Stainless Steel 357 mag 5-shot
4.Ruger VAQUERO 44 mag 5 ? inch barrel
Thank you so much for your input and advice![:D]
1.Winchester Model 1200 Police Stainless, 18" barrel and 7 shot magazine.
2.Ruger P89 9mm, 2 15-shot clips that came with the gun, and 1 15-shot clip purchased after-market
3.Ruger SP101, Stainless Steel 357 mag 5-shot
4.Ruger VAQUERO 44 mag 5 ? inch barrel
Thank you so much for your input and advice![:D]
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Just got back from the range. My son was shooting his SW22s for the first time. 200 rounds want down great, The last 50 where all over the target. And seemed to be hitting sideways. The first 200 perfect little holes, Last 50 looked like slots.
Any suggestions on what the heck is going on. I am thinking it might have gotten fouled. But way?0 -
It stands for Ackley Improved. Named after it's developer P.O.Ackley. 0 -
P.O. Ackley Many years ago started to 'blow' out cases to make more room for powder. Basically, he reamed the chambers of guns so the case would straighten out some of the taper and the angle of the case shoulder would be sharper and shorter. This leads to a more efficient burn and 'push' on the bullet. In general an AI cartridge has about 100 to 300 fps more than it's parent cartridge. Many years later the ammo producers tried the same idea and we got all the "short magnums" now. Bob 0 -
The "A" stands for Ackley, as in Parker O. Ackley gunsmith, experimenter and teacher.
The improvement is to increase the powder capacity of the case (other benefits are often touted, but are unproven/unprovable), but it does nothing to the bullet itself.
Below is a side by side of a "standard" and a AI round. The Improved version has the case capacity of the 220 Swift, and matches it's performance.
Not all improved cases are called AI (nor do the more modern case designs offer the increase in capacity), below is the 300 Tomahawk AKA 300 RUM Improved 35^ next to a "stock" 300 RUM case
Another line of "improved" cartridges is the Weatherby version (the majority of Roy Weatherby's cartridges are nothing but blown out 300 and 375 H&H cases)0 -
The Ackely Improved series has two main advantages:
The case is "blown out" larger to hold more powder and give higher velocity.
The design lets you fire standard factory loads in an AI chamber. The brass will safely fireform to the larger chamber and can be reloaded as such.
Ackley claimed other advantages of reduced thrust on the bolt and longer brass life but those are hard to prove or disprove.0 -
There is also the RCBS versions of improved cartridges which were developed by Fred Huntindon. His shoulders were more typically 28 degrees. You can find those in some older Sierra and Hornady books. 0 -
If they "blow out" the cases to a larger
size ,won't they weaken them in theory
because they will be thinner?
Thank you for all the great answers.
Ron0 -
In theory, yes the brass is thinner/weaker. BUT It's the chamber that contains the pressure, not the brass. I have 6 boxes of 5.56x45 nato ammo that has a brass base and a plastic/polymer case. It was designed to allow fast running m16's and SAW's to run cooler.
It was made by Natec. Bob[img][URL=http://img406.imageshack.us[/img][img][/img]0 -
I don't see them getting thinner, as after fireforming, they are shorter than the unformed case. The material is drawn rearward from the casemouth to make the difference in the fireformed case.
If they were weaker, the hot-rod reloaders would have discovered that years ago.
I have 3 AI chambered rifles and have plans on another.0 -
quote:Originally posted by rong
Good morning folks!
Can any one explain to me
what the heck AI means after
a cartridge name. I'm guessing
something "Improved" but how
does the nomenclature affect
the original bullet?
Thanks-Ron
What it means from a practical perspective is that you should be able to use factory ammo, but the velocity will be lower because you have a standard powder charge in an extra large chamber.
If you reload you should find out if dies are available for the AI version of the round you want. Dies for the standard version of the caliber might not work at all and would surely cause the brass to quickly crack due to excessive cold work.
There's a chance not all the reamers made for AI cartridges have good uniformity and your chamber plus the data you need may be different from your dies you buy or whatever data you find.
The rounds use more powder so they'll be harder on the barrel; however, any used rifle can be shot out, potentially.
Not sure about these factors, but the rounds may not feed as smoothly from the magazine if it's designed for tapered rounds, and they may be a bit more likely to stick in the chamber under extreme conditions. That's just speculation based on the fact that Mauser style cartridges and their derivatives like 308, 30-06, etc were tapered and given easy shoulder angles for reliability-who knows how dirty they actually have to be in order to jam, and it's not a problem in many shooting sports.
The brass may be a bit thinner up by the shoulder even if it gets a little shorter-there's no guarantee it gets shorter by replacing ALL the thickness in the new shoulder-but it's the head of the round that needs strength and that part doesn't change. The main problem might be that the brass would crumple a bit easier if you misaligned a bullet during loading or something.
Even if the standard round gripped the chamber walls not at all, and the AI round gripped it well, the bolt thrust would only be reduced by an amount less than the strength of the walls of the brass case. I say less than because the brass is much less rigid than the steel so it simply carries less load. However, we know that standard rounds do grip the chamber walls a bit or there would never be head separations because the whole case could stretch evenly instead of the head tearing off.0
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