Ad in the local paper listed 280 Remington ammo for sale at $10 a box. So I called the number, drove over and picked it up.

Turns out it was reloads: New unfired brass, 150 grain Ballistic Tips, all in plastic boxes.

OK so I bought it, mainly for the brass. 10 boxes.

Read the load data sticker on the boxes:

IMR 4350 55.5 grains.

Nosler lists 51.5 on their site as MAX. My old Nosler manual has 50.5 Max.

Hmm. Wonder what the gent was smoking when he loaded up the rounds.

I was planning on pulling bullets and dumping powder anyway.

Goes to show that unknown reloads can't be trusted!

While I think it is an excellent idea to pull the reloads and not shoot them in a rifle they weren't designed for.

I have a number of older manuals that take 4350 up to and above 55grs. Those were before the lawyers and loads in the manuals went high enough to give a touch of head expansion.

Now days I "feel" loads listed stop at or near the saami limits and in the case of wildcats the parent limit.

With that said the 280 is loaded to below 60,000. At the same time the 270 is loaded to 65,000. QL calculates the pressure of your ammo between the two.

If I had bought them I would pull the bullets pitch the powder (are you sure it is 4350?) and work up a new load. you got a good price for the brass and bullets.

As stated,, book loads for the 280 are somewhat conservative, and 4350 is pretty slow; 55 grains might not be a very hot load. Not to say they won't be in your rifle. I don't load as hot as I used to either; no real point in it. I used to load until the primers got loose, then back off a grain; good to go.

I have many loads that I have worked up that are over 10% of the max loading called out in manuals.

I assume you have pulled a few rounds, weighed and looked at the powder. If it looks like 4350 and weighs the same as printed on the box, then I would also GUESS that's what's in them.

In that case I would measure head diameter and fire a couple of them in my rifle (with a long string) and then look at the brass. If it showed any signs of severe pressure, I'd go ahead and pull the ammo down for the components.

If the brass looked and measured fine after being shot in my gun and didn't give sticky bolt lift, loose primers, any of that BAD kind of stuff, then I'd use the rest of it for what it was assembled for...shooting.

Not recommending that to you just telling you what I do.

Good idea AC. I would first closely examine and take measurement of the cases. IF they look good and the measurements are correct, then I would see if they even chamber in your gun. If not, you'll have to resize them anyway. If they do, do as AC said and reduce the loads when reassembling them AND shoot the test loads over a chrono .

Older manuals show loads with that charge.

I once bought a boat load of 7X57 loaded with Nosler Partitions. The powder looked like 4350 and was loaded with a charge appropriate to 4350 so I fired one and pressure was mild. I shot a few more with no problems. I still have a lot of that ammo to hunt with.

I just checked an online reloading data service I have and there were a couple of sources that listed 55gr of IMR4350 with a 150gr bullet and one used the solid base Noslers. If you have some IMR4350, you may pull enough bullets to load some test rounds working up to 55-55.5gr and see if they work in your rifle. That would save having to pull all of those bullets.

Pulling the loads takes what? An hour or so? And you still have the cases, the bullets and the cases are primed as well.

A wrecked rifle or a seeing eye dog is the worst case. No brainer. I ONLY ever shoot such reloads as I assemble or as are assembled by someone I know and trust as competent.

I would pull some down and drop the charge to 52grs and work up. I loaded some 154 sp's in my 280 and stopped at 54 grs of RL 17 which is said to be comparable to 4350. I could go higher, but didn't push it.

Some of my older books list a load of 55grs of 4350. I doubt that shooting a couple of them is gonna result in smoking shards of steel sticking out of your head.
I'd shoot a couple and see how the cases looked.

Pull the bullets, fertilize the yard with the powder, a load the rounds yourself so you KNOW what's in them. Saving few dollars on powder is not worth risking a rifle, serious injury or worse. JMHO.

280 Rem has a SAMI spec of 49,000 CUP or there abouts IIRC. I think it has to do with the Rem auto & pump rifles that this cartridge was chambered in.

Just compare that to a 270 Win with 150 gr loads! Lyman website has this at 2833 fps max with the same powder.

In a modern bolt action (safe) rifle - How much of IMR 4350 do you need in a 280 Rem to get that velocity? And you should be able to get 75 fps more as the expansion ratios are safer with the larger bore.

I am NOT recommending unsafe or super high velocities. I am just suggesting the we look closer at all the variable in the situation and make some valid comparisons.

I had to go through this process 15+ years ago in developing loads for my 280 AI Imp. I measured case head expansion for virtually every loading session for about 2 years! Those were the days when Nosler manual did not list the round and all info was based on PO Ackley's 1940s info and other wildcat data. By the time I arrived at my top / best loads after 5 years of patient development, Nosler comes out with virtually identical data for H4350, IMR4831 & VV N160 - for 140, 150 & 160 gr bullets!

You could check old Peterson's Hunting magazine articles by Bob Milek that have hot loads for the 280 Rem. I would not go there!