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rdinak Offline OP
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Is it my imagination or is the .280 harder to get to shoot well vs the 7mm rem mag? For sake of conversation both rifles have been extensively tuned and both wear identical Leupold 6x scopes in QRW rings. It just seems that the .280 can be a little bit finnicky when trying to find a load it likes. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> The 7mm seems far less concerned with what you feed it to get groups under an inch at 100 yards. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Has anyone else noticed this?


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I own a .280, my 2nd, and have owned two 7 mm Magnums as well. I have not noticed any correlation between the two as to accuracy. Unless the rifle has something wrong with it, lousy bedding, rough barrel crown, a sloppy chamber, either should do that well, assuming a reasonable quality bolt action or a single shot. Auto loaders and pumps, no. I had a BAR in 7 mm Mag that shot 1.25 - 1.5 MOA, however.
Some rifles are finicky as to what they like and how many loads they shoot well. The lighter the barrel, the fussier they tend to be. E

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All else being equal , the 280 should produce better groups as to the lighter recoil. Remington 40X & XBR's, were gauranteed as to group size, and 22-250 was not held to the same standard as 222 family because of recoil, same for 308 vs 300win mag. IMHO the round recievers were easier to bed (correctly) than flat ones. Flat ones deal with recoil marginally better than round also.


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I have loaded for several rifles of each chambering, and accuracy seems to depend more on other factors than the cartridge--just as it does in most cartridges of the same approximate power and bore size. If you consistently find the .280 tougher to get to shoot than the 7mm Mag I'd begin to suspect something's up with the .280 dies.


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Dear Rdinak,

There has been a debate for a long time now on the merits and demerits of certain calibers, one of which has been the 280. Usually though, the comparison is between the 280 and it's almost identical twin, the 270. A couple of our pre-eminent writers have written that the 280 is an inherently more accurate caliber than is the 270. I didn't believe that statement (and still don't), but had no personal experience with the 280. I've been using one of several 270's for four decades now, so never had any interest in the 280.

Naturally, I have contested that statement in print. In order to have at least a little experience, I had Glen Pierce put a 280 together for me. I used a Heym SR-20 action, Heym hammer-forged 7mm barrel and a McMillan stock. The rifle is very accurate, every bit as accurate as most of my 270's, but not any more accurate than any of them.

I contacted several of my custom maker friends and inquired about their experience with the cartridge. A few reported that they had no real problems getting a 280 to shoot but a few also reported that they would not accept an order for a 280 due to past problems getting them to shoot acceptably.

I know of no technical reason why this would be so, but I can only report what I was told. The 280 and 270 are so much alike, it makes no sense to me why one would be more accurate than the other - but, at least a few of our best custom makers believe that there is a difference.

My one and only 280 will shoot under an inch all day long. Based on that experience with one rifle, not a good idea, I would say that there is no inherent differences. Perhaps we can get some more experiences here. I certainly respect Mule Deer's comments, but, based on what I've been told by guys making their living building rifles, perhaps there is more to it than that.

Tom

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Hey, T-Square, good to hear from you.

Like T-Square, I have owned a lot more .270's than either 7mm Mag or .280. In my experience .270's are easy to get to shoot, and they do the same things to game as the two 7mm's, so I tend to stick with them.

Have owned two .280's and loaded for a few others. The two I owned were a custom job from Dave Gentry, which was of course very accurate, and an out-of-the-box Winchester Model 70 Feeatherweight Classic that was just as accurate!

The last 7mm Remington Magnum I bought was a very slightly used Remington 700 ADL synthetic. The first three groups averaged well under .6". Over the years my other 7mm mags haven't been quite that accurate but then I didn't know as much about handloading back then.

Like T-Square, have talked to some custom riflemakers who have a preference for one of the other but there's no consensus, and the differences are pretty much hair-splitting. In my experience (about a dozen .270's, and half that many .280's and 7mm magnums) any of them will shoot well under an inch if we take the time and trouble to "accurize" the rifle and construct good ammo. If we shot 1000 of each there might turn out to be 2/10ths of an inch difference between them, but what difference would that make in the field?


“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
John Steinbeck

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