to anyone who shoots a 280, please tell me the pros and cons of this caliber.

thanks

Hard to find ammo, rifles seem to be more finicky than a .270, less resale than a .270, ammo more expensive than the .270. I sold mine, and bought another .270. And don't give me this crap about the .280 shoots heavier bullets, if you can't do it with a .270 and 150's, you need something bigger than a .280!

It is my pet cartridge..

I've used mine or everything from woodchucks to Alaskan bull moose and it has performed well..

My pet load features a Nosler 140 Ballistic Tip over enough RL-19 to get about 3000 FPS...It works well for game up to the size of caribou right out to 400 yards as long as you know your rifle and where to hold..

My heavy game load load features the Nosler 160 Partition and IMR 4350...

The 280 has less recoil than the 30-06. As for anything else its what you like. It is capable of killing anything in North America. Ballistically it shoot like the 30-06. depending on the twist rate of the barrel as to what weight of bullets they like to shoot. Seems the recent guns like the 140gr. bullets but some of the old ones will only shoot the 160gr. stuff. This is based on my experience with my 280 and a freinds. His will shoot the lighter bullets where mine likes the 150's and 160's but not the 140's.

There is not a bad caliber they all have a purpose and a use.

Good luck
Chuck

[ 12-27-2002, 07:47: Message edited by: Chuck66 ]

I have 3 and just like the cartridge. I shoot factory loads and get good accuracy. Could probably do better if I hand loaded. Am working with a Ruger No.1 now. Just got it out of shop after having forearm floated. Plan to shoot as soon as it quits raining.

I have two; one a .280 AI on a Rem 700, the other a box stock Wby Ultra Lt Wt in standard .280 Rem. Both are very accurate,especially the Wby.

Took the Rem 700 when it was a std .280 on two Africa trips and took blesbok,impala up to a nice black wildebeest. All one shot kills. Used that same rifle to take my best elk to date as well. Used it on a lot of deer and antelope out here in Montana too. For me the .280 Rem has worked out very well. I enjoy handloading so factory ammo availability isn't a big deal to me.

The "sour grapes" from the .280 haters/.270 lovers, somewhat surprises me. Maybe the idea of something a bit different, or having to handload for a round is a bit more than some people can take.

Any advantages over a .270?? Probably not really with todays bullets. But I certainly don't feel one is at a disadvantage versus the .270 Win either.
If one was to take the .270, .280 and .30-06 with bullets of similar construction and BC/SD figures and shot a hundred deer and elk under various conditions one probably couldn't see a big difference between ANY of the three.

God love America as I CAN have a .280 just because I want to!!
FN in MT

-*I shoot a 7x64(CZ550) when deer hunting. The only load I use is 150gr Nosler BT at 2850. Accurate as hell. W#ish I could post the last range target.

The .280 is one of my favorites. The pros of the caliber are that it will match the legendary performance of the .270. Some will argue that it is slightly more versatile because of the availability of heavy 7mm bullets as a result of the popularity of magnums in this caliber. The cons are that ammo may be hard to find as the caliber is not that popular. The .280 also has a reputation for being finicky as to what bullet weights it will shoot (i.e. will love 140s, but not shoot 160s, etc...). I have personally seen this, but it is only limited to one .280 Rem 700 Mt. Rifle. On the other hand, you may only need one good load to get the job done!

Regards,

Lou

If you really like the ballistics of the 280 than you may want to consider a 7mm-08. Shorter action, numerous rifles available and lots of factory ammo. Besides, short and fat is the "IN" thing with todays cartridges.
VH

I dont think there are many cons to owning this caliber if you are a reloader. Accuracy issues will not be proved by an idividual cartridge selection in this case. I own a 270 and a 280, for international interests I wish the 280 was as popular as the 270. I see no versatility issues with the 280, too me, a cartridge that can be had at many different weights of bullets has nothing to do with versatility. I find that many people who favor rifle cartridges with "mass bullet weight selection" are oftan those who dont own many rifles and want to "cover all the bases" and/or theorize to much and never go hunting.

[ 12-29-2002, 01:10: Message edited by: smallfry ]

I have been shooting a .280 for only a couple of years, but I really like this caliber, especially in a light weight rifle (7#). The only real downside is lack of alot of factory loads (buy a .270/.30-06 if you don't handload). The up side is a great bullet selection & light recoil even in a light weight rifle. It's not the perfect elk rig, but a 160gr NP @ 2850fps will do. 140-150gr conventional SP are perfect for deer & antelope. If the .280 came along before the .270, the .270 would never have had the following it has today (JMO). As far as accuracy, mine shoots better than I would admit to. I have yet to have any load group over 2MOA @ 100, factory or handload, w/ many groups under 1MOA.

I have owned both 270 and 280 and in a nutshell it's 6 to one half dozen to the other. John.

Well, the best caliber I have use!!
I like it so much that I have made a webpage for it (in swedish):
http://communities.msn.se/280RemingtonSweden

You can read a lot of it under the line "Your favorite loads" here att Accurate.

.280 Sweden

Hey 280 Sweden,

After I sent that shot of the AI on your site I got interested and tried to read it. It got me interested in a straight 280 so I bought a Dakota 76 then a custom mauser. Like it so well I sold my old beautiful Sako 270 and Weatherby 25-06. Still use the 280 AI in rougher country because of fiberglass stock and teflon coating, but any easy hunts see the mauser, it's so sweet.
Thanks

[ 12-31-2002, 05:40: Message edited by: easyup ]

shooter65 Two of my buddies use the 280 Rem. One went to Africa and shot all manner of plains game Including a big ELAND. He used Federal factory 150gr. Nolser Partition. All were one shot kills except The Eland, at the first shot he walked about 5 feet and the PH said shoot again, at the second shot he took one step and fell over. The PH was impressed with the 280, He said that he was sorry he made him "waste a bullet" as both shots penetrated good and were in the right place.
The ONLY disadvantage to the 280 is finding Factory Ammo, you can find 270WCF and 30-06 nearly anywhere. However I must say that the 30-06 is better for game from Elk size and up. The bigger the game the more the advantage, IMHO.

Hey esayup,

Thanks again for the picture!
Great that you had get some inspiration from my 280-page. How was it to read swedish?
Some day when I got a lot of time I will translate my 280-page to english.
Your new rifle sounds great!!
The improvment I will do on my Ruger m/77 RBZ one day is to change barrel, some kind och match barrel. Proberly a Lothar Walter barrel that is easy to get and cheaper in Sweden than barrels from U.S.
The last six months I have use Nosler Partition 150grs in my .280, get me accurance and bringing down the game quick.

.280 sweden

I have the European .280, the 7X64. I have not been able to get any of my reloads to shoot any better than factory Norma 150's, but boy, are they hot! Cobalt

Cobalt

What are you handloading in youe 7x64. Im getting .5" at 100 yards witn the Nosler 150gr bt.

Cobalt,

Do you mean the 154grs spitzer factory load?
The 154grs factory load from Norma shoots also very good in my .280Rem, in the same class as my best handloads.

mecke

I just got a rem 700 BDL,24 in barrel in 280 have only shot it 8 times,just to take deer hunting the last week of season but didn't see anything to try it out.I did some research to get a stsrt in what bullet and powder to start with.I started with IMR 4350 and 57 grs with a SST 139 gr bullet,shot 3 times to zero at 100 and the next five cut the first hole.I still want to try different loads when the weather gets decent.
Question is,has anyone using the same load of 4350 and if they have chrony,it.The Hornady book gives 3000 in a 22 in barrel,with a 24 in barrel should be close to 3100.I will use my chrony when I get to shoot it more to find out ,wondering if anyone allready has and what fps. in their length barrel.Thanks

There isn't a deer in the world that can tell the difference between getting hit in the proper place with the proper bullet from a 270,280,or 30/06. Factory ammo for the 280 can be hard to come by in out of the way places but I have never hunted in an out of the way place without bringing enough ammo. I have all three calibres mentioned and handload for each. There is something about the 7mm bullets either SD or BC that they perform better than expected.

owensby, in my .280 I have had better luck w/ slower powders like 4831, RL22 & 7828. My current load is a 160gr bullet over 57gr 7828. It will make 2900fps on warmer days from the 23"bbl. I have yet to take an animal w/ it, but the more I shoot it, the more I like it.
I have tried several loads w/ 139gr-145gr bullets @ about 3050fps but I just like those longer 150-160gr bullets.
(REMEMBER THESE LOADS ARE FOR MY RIFLE & SHOULD BE APPROACHED W/ CAUTION)

There was a thread that said .280 Remingtons did not group as well as 06's or 270 due to the throat design. I would look for John Lewis to chime in on this.

I have a Sako Hunter 280 which I bought new back in 95. I have yet to get it to shoot 1 inch groups. I keep trying but I can't seem to get it done. I have a Ruger 77 300 Win Mag that has never been floated and bedded that shoots better. I love the look of the gun but 1.75 inch groups I all I get it.

I think the 280 is the best theoretical chambering out their. In theory it should be the puurrrrfect answer for North American game. It may be so, but...real world performance results in less than 30-06 and!!! less than 270 performance. Why? Don't ask me, in theory it should be better than either. Maybe it is in that gap between the proven ones. But the folks I know have traded their 280's for either 7 Mags or 270s...go figure.

To get the most from your .280 you need to handload. Factory stuff is downloaded for use in the rem. semiauto rifles. 2850fps w/ a 160gr bullet is easily reached in most rifles. A good choice for most N. American game, better than a .270? Maybe a bit?!?!