I've had a number of 280s over the years and they've all shot OK, but never great. What have other people's experiences been?

My pet .280 is the same way...I get adequate hunting accuracy , appx. 1.5 " groups at 100 yards, but nothing to brag about...It is also very load selective...I had to find just the right combo to get groups as good as I get..

However the only times I failed to kill any animal I shot at with it, it was because I screwed up, and they were not all short range shots, either...

reloads with H4831sc and Nosler 150gr partitions and also Hornady 139gr boattails are very accurate in my .280.
Normally 3 shots under an inch.
Great caliber!
There is probably a bullet out there your rifle will like better, but maybe if you have decided your load is the bullet you want to use for hunting the accuracy you are getting is good enough.

The was a thread here saying that the 280 has a wrong leade design. A particular gunsmith said that he knows what the correct one is!

I looked in my book of cartridge designs and indeed the 280 is different, as I recall, than others such as the 30-06 for instance.

At one time the 280 was the top choice for custom rifles.

My .280 is a custom job, but the worst load I have put through it was 2". It shoots just about everything into 1 1/2" & many groups have been half that. This is from a very thin 23"bbl. (total rifle wt. w/ 3-9comp. is 7 1/4#).
I like 160gr bullets o/ IMR7828 & 140-150gr bullets o/ IMR4831 or H4831.

I have the original version, the 7x64. It was made in 1946 and still shoots MOA with Norma factory 175 gr loads. The barrel is 23.5" with a mannlicher stock.

My pair of Remington 725's will break an inch on a good day but average in the 1.25" range for 3 shot groups....with bullets ranging from 139-154 grain.....IMR 4350 or RL19 work well for me...

I like the 280 Remington but have found the 270 to be easier to develop loads for......

my Winchester Featherweight is incredibly accurate with lots of different loads. I've never had another M70 FWT that was anywhere near as accurate....Jim

[ 07-24-2003, 06:22: Message edited by: olarmy ]

Broke in a Ruger 77 with a Hogue stock for a buddy. With handloads its ultra-accurate.

My old Rem 700 was mediocre until I had it rebarreled with a #3 taper Douglas barrel. It shoots most hunting bullets into 3/4" or a bit more.
My newer Weatherby Ultra Lt Wt in .280 Rem is VERY accurate, especially with ballisitic tips. I have shot several under 1" groups (3 shots) at 200 yds with the Wby.

I have zero complaints when it comes to the .280 Rem, one of my favorite calibers.

FN in MT

My 7x64 Sauer 202 shoots many hunting loads into < .7 MOA and its petload -upper left in the pic- goes .4 MOA. Considering the similarity between the 2 calibers, I would expect the same accuracy in a good rifle.

Mine shoots right around 1 MOA with any of Speer or Hornady spitzers between 139 gr. and 154. In fact I measured a bunch of groups early on and they averaged 0.99"! Some groups are significantly better, none are significantly worse.

Only bullet I've tried that it won't shoot for some reason is the 150-gr. Partition.

Johan,

I just stumbled upon a wartime 22F in 8x57JS. It was made in 1943 and has all the typical Brno markings in German instead of Czech. Very interesting rifle, as I did not know they produced any sporting rifles during the occupation.

I'll post pics and shooting results in a couple of weeks.

I know three 280's that will shoot 1/2 inch groups. Two are factory and the other is a custom job. They are the only three I know.

Chuck

Johan,
Routine groups from the Sauer with different bullets and powders. The upper left in the above pic is the best group to date, though : 1,08 cm / .37 MOA. To make my point, here's the backing paper of the first shooting of my 202 when I started developing a load : 30 shots, 3 bullet weights, 6 powder charges... all in 2.6 MOA.

I would say the 280 is as accurate as any other cartridge. I have 4 of them. An early Ruger 77,a Rem 760,a custom 03 Springfield and a custom rifle built on a Tikka 65 action.The Ruger and the Tikka will both shoot 3 shot groups that touch at 100 yds with 139 Hornady's. The rem pump will group into an inch at 100 with 145 gr Speer's and the 03 groups in an 1 1/4 at 100 yds with the 145 or 160 ge Speer's.All shoot best with IMR 4831 or H 4831SC at near max loads. A riflw that shoots groups like this and pushs a 139 -145 gr bullet at close to 3100 fps makes a pretty decent deer rifle. Don't really know what else you can ask for in a hunting rifle.

i have 4 seni custon 280's-1 mauser, 1 m70, 1 mountain eagle and 1 m700ks.. they are not the best shooters in the world, the mauser is a full house custom but has .15" of free bore and i have never really got it to consistantly shoot better than 2" groups.. i need to get the builder th take a few threads off & rechamber it.. the mountain eagle is at kruger being rebarreled at the manufacturers cost, never would do better than 2", the ks will shoot 3/4" groups all day but has never been hunted, the m70 is in a borden rimrock stock and was assembled by a well known sc gunsmith ..it shoots 140 gr partations & 154 hornady flat bases in 1/2" it is my mule deer out west scope but has never had good luck in georgia, so it mostly sits in a corner..

bottom line is i think the 280 is not a cal i would fool around with because all winchester brass is plated and i have got a lot of bad brass from remington..i think the 30'06,270, 257, and 25'06 are easier to get to shoot well. in the field on deer there is really no difference in any of these cal's. and on elk i'd move up to the '06 or 300 wm.

none of my 280's come close to the volecities you read about on the internet..

After shooting 270's,280's and 30-06's ,I find the 280's just as accurate as the other two if not moreso.

I've been working on loads for my old man's 280 now for a couple of months. It's a out of the box A-bolt hunter. 139gr. Hornady flat bases are a 1" load. Some times better. 150gr. Btips-moly are 1/2" and some times under. I have to do my part of course.

No luck with 154gr. SST, 145gr. Speer HC.