Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 280 Remington

That's one round that I have never owned nor has any of my friends. It's a shame as it has the attributes that could make it one of the best all around hunting cartridges for NA game. One reason I never had one is I had a 270 and they are virtually twins . If I had neither I think a nice 280 would be the bomb, .everything the 7x57 is and more. If I had a 5x57 that didn't shoot well because of long throat issues a simp,e chamber reamer would be a easy fix.

I'm a fan. Had a 280 since 88 when the girl I was dating bought me a 700 Mountain Rifle and set the hook. I've killed loads of deer with it.

I bought one of the first of the Remington Mtn. Rifles back in 1986. While I was very impressed with the performance of the rifle and it's ease of carry in the field, the narrow stock coupled with the hard recoil pad was unpleasant to shoot. Had it Mag Na Ported, which was a mistake. I should have had a new, softer recoil pad installed.
Currently, I shoot a custom Ruger tang safety M77. After using the 7X57 extensively, the 7mm Remington Mag a good bit, I've decided the .280 is just right.
A couple of things about it.
Factory ammo isn't loaded as hot as the .270. But many have discovered it doesn't need to be.
While ammo or brass is harder to find, I've found that loading at factory pressures, or even less, can provide long case life, great accuracy, plenty of killing power and noticably less recoil than say the 30'06.
It's smaller cousins, the 7X57 and the 7-08 are alot more popular than many thought they would be. That's because they also produce excellent results w/o alot of fuss so to speak.
You can also load it hot if you wish as well. E

I'd have married her! :-)

Mike,
I did!

That was the last gun she ever bought me

I have a Remington 700 in .280 that was done by their custom shop. I converted it from a ADL mountain rifle to a BDL in a B&C stock. It use to shoot awesome with Hornady's older "Custom" 139gr load that was replaced with Subperformance, which I was lucky to keep on paper. Since I ran out of the old Hornady load, handloading has been the only way I can keep it shooting tight groups. Its got a mile long throat so my loads are 3.45" long and still jumping almost 1/10". However, it feeds smooth, is very accurate, and getting decent velocity so I plan on keeping it as is.

My load (mild in my rifle):

140gr Accubond
55gr H-4350
Rem Brass
CCI-200
COAL 3.450"
2950fps

The 280 is a round for the "nationality-confused", ie., one that can't commit to the purely Teutonic 7x57 or 7x64, but simultaneously can't commit to the purely American 270. The result is an attempt to split the difference with the 280.

I'm pretty sure that's in the introduction to the 280 in the Nosler loading manual...

I love the .280 and the Ackley version. Mild recoil, plentiful brass, super bullet selection, and way more cool than the .270...grin...

Cartridge Schizophrenia
Cartridge schizophrenia is a severe brain disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally. Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior,especially regarding minute differences in performance between closely matched cartridges of slightly different caliber.......

A common affliction among rifle nuts with noses buried in ballistic tables;sometimes also displayed in persons with limited DRT experiences....

Of course none of this applies to those posting here.....

Yes, this entire site is filled with a very definite neurosis... present company excepted.

Nationality-confused - I like that:) I appear to have that disorder - I've had this KS in .280 for 20+ years.

Well, gee Brad, I hate to admit it, but, in my case, you might/probably be right.....
Then there were Jack O'Connor's comments late in his life. He said he shouldn't have advocated the .270 to the point where he gave the impression it was somehow better than the competition such as the .280......
Even Townsend Whelan (Sp ?) jumped in the fray. He declared that if a guy had a .270, or an '06', not to bother. But if he didn't, then a .280 would be superior (somewhat/slightly) than either......
In the meantime, we are all having fun during the off season. E

It's a 7mm, but don't tell anyone.

G2

Jim Carmichael said he was having a custom rifle built in .280 when he ran across O'Connor and Jack asked what he was building ? Jim sheepishly lied and said "270". To which Jack replied " go with the .280 instead"

Jack took a real shine to the 280 later in life.

Although I’ve been shooting a 7mm RM since 1982, my experience with the .280 Rem is pretty limited. One antelope doe with a Ruger #1 I later sold. It was a.5MOA shooter with 120g and 140g Barnes TTSX, 140g North Fork SS and 140g Nosler AccuBond bullets but it was just too pretty to take elk hunting. Sold it to help finance a Ruger Scout .308 and Ruger Hawkeye All Weather .280 Rem.

The Ruger All Weather .280 Rem has also proved to be a very accurate rifle and I took an antelope doe with it last fall at 373 yards using a 140g AccuBond.

My last experience with .280 Rem/140g AccuBond ammo turned out poorly. I had a stationary 6x5 bull elk facing away, 50 feet below me and about 100 yards out. I was shooting from a sitting position, off a tripod. The setup couldn’t have been more perfect. After centering the scope on the spine a bit behind the shoulders I gave the trigger a squeeze. To my amazement the bull was unfazed and slowly walked off. Later I discovered the problem. At the last second I decided to leave the .280 in the truck and take my .338WM instead. Yup, I had loaded the .338WM with the .280 Rem ammo I had stuffed into my pocket before deciding to make the switch. (Dumb. Fortunately, after I realized my mistake, I was able to take the bull at 411 yards using a different .280 – my buddy’s 7mm RM which was pushing a 160g Speer Grand Slam to about 3000fps.) While I screwed up, I have no doubt that at 411 yards the .280 Rem would have taken the bull just as cleanly as the 7mm Rm did – a few steps and down.

Thanks for all the replies still haven't had a chance to shoot it yet

Best rifle that Remington EVER produced! 700 KS in .280

No argument here.

Sako AV .280 here. Shoots well under an inch with 140 NAB's.