280 Remington, how boring

[bruce moulds]

received a call from a landowner this morning with a feral deer issue.
on arrival at the property, and establishing the whereabouts of the deer the hunt started.
found it some distance away about to move off and not standing still.
this made a head shot difficult, so elected for a lung shot.
the 140 gn nosler partition at 3000 fps meant that no range estimation was necessary or hold over/under.
bang. 1 dead deer. job done.
I have come to expect that from this rifle - an old friend - boring reliability in an easy package to use.
the partition did its job, missing any rib on the way in, and leaving an amount of damage on the way out.
not a lot of wasted meat, even on the ribs.
bruce.

 

[Mike B]

I have my Dads old .280, it’s a great gun but getting harder to find ammo for it. I’ll probably need to start reloading at some point, but I haven’t had the time to get into it.

 

[Bullthrower338]

The 280 Rem is a great cartridge, shame it never caught on here in the states like it should have.

 

[sestoppelman]

I am on my second, the first I had for many years. Never had much luck hunting with it, or anything else for that matter, but did shoot it in competition and did very well, it being a very accurate round as well as a very capable hunting round.

 

[meigsbucks]

It is grossly underrated and under used. I haven’t used it as much as I should have.
The ammo companies produce mostly 140 gr loads with only a smattering of heavier bullets, which is unfortunate as with a good 160 gr there is little in North America and all but the largest plains game in Africa that is out of it’s league.

 

[HuntingGold]

Slightly off topic, but yet nearly on, I'm in the final stages of putting a 280 AI together. The above posts encourage me to get the darned thing done. Initial shooting out of a pattern stock with Nosler Ammo is quite encouraging.

 

[Aaron N]

Feral deer? Is there any other kind??

 

[sgt_zim]

The 280 Rem is a great cartridge, shame it never caught on here in the states like it should have.

I always thought if it had come out before 270W, it would enjoy the popularity 270 does, and 270 would be even less known than 280 is now. For factory ammo in the 130-150 gr range, they're close enough in performance as to make no difference. But the men get separated from the boys at 160, as there are a lot more choices for reloading the 280 in that space than there are for 270.

 

[Hearties]

I’m waiting for license approval for the metric equivalent - the 7x64 - hope to be extremely bored soon...

 

[bruce moulds]

well if any cartridge responds to reloading, this is it.
feed it the right bullets and powder for the job and don't ask it things unfairly, and boredom levels are high.
140 at 3000, 150 at 2900, 160 at 2800 is easy to do safely with thought and correct powder choice.
and don't overlook the 120s for some applications approaching 3200.
at some time in history it was the most chambered custom rifle.
factory loads are saami spec at lower pressures than 270 win, but the cases will take the same.
bruce.

 

[bruce moulds]

some might know that fred huntingdon, of rcbs fame, was a great safari hunter.
one rifle he took often was a mauser custom 280, stocked by monte kennedy.
the fact that an expert like him chose one speaks for itself.
a gun writer who's name eludes me pestered fred to sell him the rifle which he would not do.
then one day when fred was old he mailed the rifle to the writer as a gift.
bruce.

 

[MikeW]

Just picked up a Cooper Backcountry, which is my first in 280 Rem. Still trying to work up a load that is shooting 160gr bullets. Doubletap has a load with Sierra Gameking that I am hoping it likes.

 

[Standard Velocity]

I always thought if it had come out before 270W, it would enjoy the popularity 270 does, and 270 would be even less known than 280 is now. For factory ammo in the 130-150 gr range, they're close enough in performance as to make no difference. But the men get separated from the boys at 160, as there are a lot more choices for reloading the 280 in that space than there are for 270.

If Remington were charged with the introduction of the iPhone we would all still be using the telegraph.

The 280 was bungled from the start with light loads standard for their auto loader. Add to this the 7mm Rem Express confusion and it’s amazing the 280 still exists.

The 280 AI is where it’s at. Most of the quality manufacturers have a couple of factory loads even. Reasonable velocities at reasonable pressures with reasonable bullet weights; how reasonable.

 

[7x57Joe]

Never had a .280 but, I like it's metric counter part, 7x64.

 

[bruce moulds]

today I broke the deer down.
I have always considered the lung shot to be a little bit the easy way out, preferring head and upper neck hits.
time to revise that theory.
reason being that I have never seen better bled out meat.
the chest cavity was a bucket of blood. obviously the blood was pumped out rather than draining.
the nosler partition shines in this type of shot.
the nose is like a varmint bullet, doing max damage to the lungs.
the inlet n
hole missed ribs, as did the (larger) outlet hole, meaning even the meat on the ribcage was virtually all useable.
I think this shot will become more common.
I thought the deer was square on, but it was a little angled, making the outlet hole a bit further back than ideal, but still ok.
just a thing to keep an eye on in future and allow for the angle a little better.
bruce.

 

[Major Khan]

It is the boring calibres which satisfy us the best. Take for example , my personal favorite plains game cartridge , the time tested .30-06 Springfield. Every now and then , l come across a book or magazine , where a few self proclaimed " gun writers " rant against this cartridge by calling it old fashioned , obsolete and other unsavory things .
They belittle the .30-06 Springfield to praise some new trendy cartridge of the day ( in recent times , l am seeing that the 6.5 Creedmoor is getting praised EVERYWHERE ) . Yet trendy cartridges disappear after the fad dies down and the old time tested favorites remain .
I do not think the .30-06 Springfield will ever die , as long as hunters have good taste .

Excellent shooting with your .280 Remington calibre rifle . What make and model , is it ?

 

[curtism1234]

I am seeing more and more rifles chambered for a 280 as well as more sporting good stores stocking the ammo. There must be some growing interest in this round.

10-20 years ago, the magnums were all the rage. Today folks are getting away from recoil and muzzleblast. While I will never get a 280 due to owning a 7mag, it is certainly a very capable cartridge.

 

[bruce moulds]

curtism.
that is refreshing to hear.
it means that at least some hunters are not falling for the current marketing trends that tactical rifles and cartridges are an improvement over tried and true equipment.
it is probably more experienced hunters going for the 280.
maj khan,
the rifle is built on a Dakota 76 action, with a no3 profile shilen barrel (2nd one), a brown precision stock,a leupold 2.5-8 scope, and a jewell trigger.
it was built to have the same recoil as a 7mag or 30/06 in a lighter rifle than std in those calibres.
great to carry, without going overboard on the light weight issue.
it has done some miles in tough hill country.
much of my work is offhand, and this rifle balances and points well.
it is the culmination of using many rifles and calibres, almost all good, but this is better as an all rounder.
bruce.

 

[curtism1234]

it means that at least some hunters are not falling for the current marketing trends that tactical rifles and cartridges are an improvement over tried and true equipment.
it is probably more experienced hunters going for the 280.

I would agree it's probably the older generation buying the 280.

1. They are the ones who remember when it was relevant

2. They wouldn't use anything less than a 270 on deer and don't trust new bullets / smaller calibers

3. Their shoulder and neck surgeries require them to downsize from the 7mag and 300 Win Mag.

I suspect the 7mm-08 is getting popular with that group - especially since the ammo is finally starting to come down in price. 5 years ago you couldn't find the cheapest box of 7-08 for less than $30. I think it's down to around $22-25 now. Cost is a barrier for the older generation

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

received a call from a landowner this morning with a feral deer issue.
on arrival at the property, and establishing the whereabouts of the deer the hunt started.
found it some distance away about to move off and not standing still.
this made a head shot difficult, so elected for a lung shot.
the 140 gn nosler partition at 3000 fps meant that no range estimation was necessary or hold over/under.
bang. 1 dead deer. job done.
I have come to expect that from this rifle - an old friend - boring reliability in an easy package to use.
the partition did its job, missing any rib on the way in, and leaving an amount of damage on the way out.
not a lot of wasted meat, even on the ribs.
bruce.

bruce moulds
That's what I like to hear no lengthy playing around
Pick up rifle (of your choice), pull trigger,game falls down. No problem. Right rifle for job, right bullet, right shooter no problems.
Well done
Cheers mate Bob