I'm in the process of choosing a chambering for my custom rifle, and have it narrowed down to a few calibers. I heard that factory loads aren't up to the cartridges full potenetial. It seems that most load data is also kind of soft, whith the exception of Nosler's book. I was wondering what real people with real rifles are getting from their .280's.

Also, whats the deal with the "sloppy" chambering issue on 280's?

quote:

Reply

this will probably start a war but my 3 custom 280's do this

140gr 2,850- 2,950 fps
154gr 2,800- 2,875
160gr 2,700- 2,750

Lots of people claim higher speeds with a 160 but I would not want to be holding the gun. Before building a 280 remember that Winchester brass in nicle coated so you end up with Remington brass. I have sold 1 of my 280's & should sell the rest.

I built my first rifle as a 280 Rem. I was happy then and now.I thought the 7mm had a better selection of bullets than the 270 and I didn't want a 308cal. While I no longer own a 280 Rem I have my own 280 Wildcat and several other wildcats built on a blownout 280 case. In a normal 24" 280 rifle I would say Tom's velocities are in the correct range. I will admit to exceedng some of those but trade off in short case life and some blown primers.

Looking at a couple older books they are closer to the Nosler than my newer books. Fact of life is factory loads will leave velocity on the table. Max pressure for the 280 was set at 60,000 vs 65,000 for the 270. Why? Remington brought the darn thing out in their auto and pumps. So lower pressure.

I use nothing but Norma 280 brass it gives several grs more capacity. Some call it soft. I found that if you stay at 65,000 or below it will last as long as others. If you like to really push pressure then the Remington make more sense. I've found that I pretty much reached the same velocity. Little more powder lower pressure = less powder higher pressure.

I also have a custom 280 w/ 23"bbl. I pretty much handload for it but have tried some factory stuff. The Federal gives pretty good vel. as advertised. I have shot the discon. Speer Nitex & it is impressive vel. & accuracy wise. The 160gr load goes 2875fps & the 145gr does 2975fps & shoot well under 1moa. My handloads struggle to compete but they do measure up.
160grNP over 57grIMR7828=2825fps
145grGS over 59grIMR7828=2975fps

7x64

seems to confirm my suspisions.

Actually, the listed velocity of factory loads are pretty good. 3000 with 140 / 2900 with 150 / 2800 with 160s. This is about what I have been able to get out of the .280 with 22" barrel and max handloads. Some load data is pretty wimpy - but others are more reasonable. The Nosler load data shows good velocity, but I have found their velocities very optimistic for a given charge in most guns. Also, the Nosler .280 data is for a 26" barrel. IMR data is loaded to 52,000 CUP, which is the SAAMI max limit for the .270 and 2000 CUP over the .280 limit of 50000 CUP. This is a good indication of what the cartridge can really do when loaded to similar pressure as the .270.

Lou

I just started working loads up for Noslers 280 AI brass and quickly settled on 64.7 gr IMR 7828 SSC with a 150 gr. Swift Scirocco II. It's clocking 3150 from a 26" barrel. I had a slightly sticky bolt at 65.0 gr., and the current load does flatten the primers a bit.

About 10 years ago I ran across a Remington 700 SS/DBM with a 24" barrel in 280. It was VERY accurate and I could get 3100fps with 139s using the then current Hornady manual load of 57.0gr of IMR4350. I ended up hating the DBM part of the rifle so I traded it. I was never able to find another 280 that satisfied me. I was only getting 2900 or so with 140s.

I can get real close to that with a 7mm-08. So I sold it and built a nice 7mm-08 on a REM 600 action. If you're looking for max velocity, get a 24" barrel. If you're satisfied with 2900, then I'd recommend a 7mm-08.

RH