I bet... are you drawing it to 28"?
When I first started out, I tried to make one and ruined a decent (too short) stave... turns out inexperience, impatience, and being an orangutan (honest 31.5"-32" draw) wasn't conducive to my project surviving very long. Hahaha haven't tried again, but I...
Internal case volume could definitely make a difference in pressure... velocity is probably your best evidence here, but be careful keeping 'everything the same' (except brass mfg) if you're pushing pressure
The 280ai and 139gr LRX with H4350 could be a really nice thing...
I shoot them out of a 7mmRM and wish I had a 280. They will definitely not 'fall apart'.
I'd step back and think if you would really like our wildlife and hunting managed by private landowners... if you come to the same conclusion, then I suppose we disagree on how we think that would work out for hunting and the average hunter.
The north American system of management is the reason...
Under your frame of mind, the land owner owns and manages the wildlife as well... not a great situation me thinks.
Selfish, short-sighted, and detrimental to hunting in general.
I've had good luck with the 139gr LRX for monos, and the 160gr Accubonds for bonded... pretty much anything works out of a 7mmRM to 400 yds. I prefer the light monos - especially with the twist and mag length limitations in the tikkas
Seems like the rub is your label of "sub optimal" (smaller) cartridges when the longest threads on rokslide seem to be quite a bit of evidence that they are actually the optimal delivery system for lethality for the majority of shooters, and in particular new/learning shooters?
Have you shot anything personally with smaller cartridges and the bullets advocated for on the posted threads?
I have not personally, I like what I like, but the results are pretty hard to argue with...