Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles How Good is the .280 Rem?

A .280 Rem is just an American version of the 7x64 Brenneke, which is about the oldest pure big game hunting cartridge in existence (not a military cartridge adapted to hunting). If the 7x64 can remain popular in Europe and Africa for over 90 years, its clone can't be bad, either.

Brooks misses most obvious point of all.

A guy with a 280 is 95% likely to be a handloader and a rifle looney.

A guy with a 270 is 95% likely to be filling his magazine with factory x-mart ammo.

A few years ago I was the worst rifleman I knew. I got a 280 and learned to handload to maximize the cartridge. Owning a 280 leads to more trigger time, which makes a better rifleman, which makes a better hunter.

The 280 was an education that I could not replace. 'Course I've "graduated" to 7x57's, 6.5 Swedes, and 7mm08's for the wimmin an chillins (good use for all the .284 boolits).

Besides, the 270 has Jack O'Conner. The 280 has the "7mm Express Death Cult".

How cool is that?



GE

7mmEDC#2

It almost scares me to think about how much money I might presently have - which I might not have spent on rifles- if my first CF rifle was actually the 700 ADL 7mm Express I nearly bought many years ago. I don't think I've yet killed anything since that time that I couldn't have killed with a 280/Express, and I haven't actually even used one on anything other than targets. Everything else on both sides of the scale has sure worked though; 7mm-08 on moose and 375 on caribou.

BR,

That's the best post I've read in a while! you've inspired me to get my old shot out 22-250 out of the closet, and rebarrel it to my new wildcat. I'm going to take the 22-250 brass, and neck it up to .257 I figure I'll have almost the power of the 257 Roberts, in an shorter short action capable cartridge.

Have a great Day!!

Sycamore

You're a gun nut! Of course a matching pair of 280 and 338-06 is perfect.

I wish I was more of a hunter, than a rifle nut. I would have standardized on a 308 or a 270 years ago, and been miles ahead.

Messing with the slightly different calibers is more fun for me. Get your 280 and live happily ever after!

from one nut to another.

Sycamore

My thoughts exactly!Who would want a .270 Walmart special when one could have a .280!I have 2,and a .280AI and wouldn't trade them for any .270.7MM Rules! Monashee

Thanks!

I was (not obvious to all) speaking tongue in cheek!

There is very little diference between the two. The .270 Win. does WIN out for me because my next step up is a 300 Win Mag. I have no need for a 280 given my battery.

I love the 270's 110gr Barnes TSX bullets at 3300fps and the 140s at 3026fps. For me, that covers everything from Pronghorn to Moose. Isn't that about perfect? I like to call it the 280 Improved, the 270 Win that is!!

Have a super day,

Oh, the angular momentum propensity does depend on twist rate, bullet weight, velocity, and ability to produce more BS

The 280 is a great cartridge;just like a 270.If you've used one, you've used the other.Arguments for the superiority of one over the other are kinda funny,actually.

But the only way I'd own one again is if I stumbled over a really nice rifle that I really liked a lot,like a sexy custom Mauser or something.I'd justify it by saying"....well, it ain't a 270, but it's just like it..."Beyond that, the cartridge holds no mysteries, or magic, for me.Ditto the 280AI.I'll take the 270 Win any old day.

Please share with us the specific loads you are referencing here.




Its the beauty of the internet, folks, where anyone with a computer becomes an expert on virtually any subject. I'd be willing to bet that the individual who posted this has never owned either cartridge, much less shot or loaded for one. I am curious, though, as to what bullets are available for the .270 that aren't available for the .280?

The .280 is a fantastic round, as is the .270. Calling one better than the other shows complete ballistic ignorance.

I really like my 280. Shoots VERY well and recoil is rather mild. That said, I figure it's just like any other cartridge. It's only as good as the operator.

Quite a few years ago a smith said that the 280 R. did not have the right throat and he knew what the right throat was! I looked at the drawings of the various cartridges and as I recall the 280 differs from other chambers.

"John Lewis>

Posted 23 January 2003 13:35
Savage 99 - I've seen iffy accuracy out of some factory .280s, real good out of some others. A few months ago I sighted in a A_Bolt .280 Rem that I shot three 1/2" groups with factory ammo. I changed the leade angle on the reamer I had made to match my .280 Ackley and my 7mm Rem Mag. All of the .280 Rems. I've built shot as good as the Ackleys and Rem Mags. Over the past eleven years I've built more 7mm Rem Mags than any other single cartridge. They have been outstandingly accurate and of course very effective on game."

You would have to ask if the 280 is as accurate as similar rounds?

The 280 (aka the 7mm Express)is a great cartridge. Like others have said, the efficiency and range of the round are unparalleled. I've successfully hunted Elk, Deer, Caribou and Antelope with one for almost 20 years. You won't regret getting one.

As far as the earlier post goes, you should be suspicious whenever someone tries to convince you of something based solely on conceptual Angular Momentum or any other mathematical construct. The theory of Momentum allows that a bumblebee, going fast enough, can stop a freight train in a head on collision. I would hope we all can see the lack of common sense and life experience in that kind of thinking.

Oooooh--yer' just asking for it

Actually, I would choose the 270 over the 280 too....

The 270 operates at higher pressures, and seems to do well with a 22in bbl. The 280 is often overloaded to match the 270 pressures, but there are reasons for SAAMI max pressures.....

The 280 doesn't seem to come into it's own until it gets a 24in+ bbl ( and all my serious huntin' rigs have 22in bbls).

The 140gr in 6.5, the 150gr in 270, the 160gr in 7mm, the 180gr in 308, all have virtually identical Sd and BC--from that point, it becomes a velocity choice.......

Personally, I think factory ammo for BOTH the 270 and 280 are pretty crummy......


Casey

Thank you all for the comments both good and bad. Yes I am a rifle nut and love to handload, lets face it, you can buy factory 338-06 and spend $3 a shot or handload and really have fun. This is one of my reasons to go with these two cartridges. I was also looking at the 25-06 but the deer do get a little bigger where I hunt and believe in more bullet weight the better.

I could get away with just the 338-06 and live happily ever after but how much fun would that be. I have 2 great loads worked up for it with a 180gr Nosler AB and 210 Nos Part.

The 280 has interested me for yrs though and nothing against the 270 but I like being different. Plus being of German desent, have to have a 7mm somewhere in my hunting/shooting career.

The thing I worry about is the 338-06 will get lonely if this thing shoots good....

"has greater angular momentum propensity and drive on animals"

Hmmm.... can this partially be compensated for by adding two drops of Tabasco Sauce to each cartridge followed by a pinch of fairy dust?

A fun thread and great cartridges, the 270 and 280!!!

I think maybe Mr. brooksrange needs to be fitted with a Troll hat.....

Try telling that to about 50+ animals I killed with my .280. I am simply amazed at some of the crap posted on this & other hunting sites. O'Conner, late in his hunting career, advised a friend to NOT BUY a .270 & instead purchase a .280 due to the greater flexibility(hand loading). Your statement is similar to those that state a 30-06 bounces off a elk or moose or that a .308 is to small for anything other that whitetails.

read his latest post ... I think he was funnin' with you guys. That's the way I took it when the angular momentum propensity line came up.

No doubt that the 280 Remington is a fine cartridge. I've had it come across my radar screen when considering a new rifle purchase. I reload, but ammo availability is still a variable in my decisions. Due to the similarities between the 280 and the 270, I decided that the 270 is a wiser choice (with careful considration to my use of the word "wiser"). If you have the hankerin' for a 7mm round, there is the 7mm Mag, which has more Umpf and awesome ballistics! So the 280 sorta seems hedged by those two more popular cartridges.

If you're someone who enjoys possessing something that is a little less common (I admire and respect that), I think the 280 would be a really swell addition to your stable. I'd consider the AI version too and have access to the factory Nosler stuff. I hear that their brass is quite nice.

I'm tellin' you guys, that for 95% of the hunters in the lower 48 (Disclaimer: 89.721% of all statistics are made up on the spot!)

The .308 Winchester is THE only, bestest, and super-smartest choice!!!