Maybe they should have named the .243 Ackley the .243 Ache-ley because it seems like a pain, due to the short barrel life and compared with the seemingly small benefit obtained?
I’ve ran Ackley’s or similarly improved shoulders in 223, 243, 25-06, 6.5 Swede, 7 Mauser, 7-08, 7-30 waters, 30-30, and 30-06. Technically, my 284 shehanes are “improved versions of 284win too, I suppose, but the capacity gain is less than the others. The ballistic gain is marginal, but it’s “more marginal” in some more than others. The .243win Improveds (there are two - so watch your ass when buying dies and Reamers) do gain more than enough to be worth while. The Mauser cartridges pick up a lot too, since they have a lot of taper and sloped shoulders. Didn’t gain anything in 25-06 except trimming... The major advantage is the time savings, and brass life. Less brass stretch, no trimming, means I save a lot of time trimming, deburring, and chamfering in every loading. I just anneal, size, and load. The 150-200fps I pick up in MOST of those is just gravy.
I usually do my fireforming with a false shoulder. Shoots just as accurately as my fireformed loads usually, and if the charge fits in the case, I can run my prelim load development in the fireforming step. I started hydroforming a handful of years ago - only complaint there is the added cost of dies, but really, they’re usually custom dies, custom barrel, custom reamers - all with custom prices, so an extra hydroform die really isn’t terrible.
