Originally Posted by PJGunner
I think some of the biggest handicaps for the .280 Rem are difficulty finding ammo unless he is a hand loader, the fact that Remington DELIBERATELY underloaded the round to favor their weaker (?) actions IE the pump and autoloaders. Funny thing and by funny I mean peculiar and not funny ha ha. Remington has no problem chambering those type rifles to the .270 Win. It almost seems Big R wanted the .280 to fail. I can easily hand load 160 gr. Speer Grand Slams, the older two core version to 2910 FPS with no apparent pressure problems and excellent accuracy. I'm thinking that if I can get another elk hunt lined up I'll give my .280 Rem. a try with my hand loads and see what's what. As usual my 30-06 will come along as back up gun or maybe I'll let the usual .35 Whelen play second fiddle.
PJ

This exactly. Factory 280 ammo is anemic. But if you have a solid bolt action and you handload you can really push the 280. There was a great article in the January 2001 issue of Rifle magazine by John Barsness on loading the 280. I either saved it or printed it out. If anyone is interested I can try finding it.

Mine is built on a CZ 550 action with a Shilen barrel.

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