Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting getting the 280 ready

Sounds good, especially the part involving your son

Get some extra ammunition while the sale is still on and practice A LOT. Most kills are made by good shooting and your set-up will be fine.

While you are at it, put up a target at 200, 250, 300,350,and 400 yards and see if you are comfortable with the accuracy you get at such ranges.That was an educational experience. I looked at my results and decided to limit my shooting to XXX yards. I like elk with just one bullet hole.

I’ve heard good things about the etip. Picked up some 165 grain to try in my 308 win.

I’m planning on using my .284 for elk this coming October. It likes the Barnes TTSX 140-gr bullets very well and I’ve used them to take a large whitetail at 500 yds, a large mule at a 100, and a beautiful cinnamon blackie in between.

I also have the Federal Tipped Bonded Bear Claw in the same weight to try but am wondering if anybody here has used the Hornady 7 mm 150-gr ELD-X in their 284/280...

It looks like it might be another good choice.

I have been using my Remington Mdl. 725 in .280 Rem. for many, many years. Bought it new in 1962. Killed elk, deer, Black bear, and antelope. No problem whatsoever putting game on the ground.

I use 160 grains Nosler Partition in front of 54.0 grains of IMR 4350. That is very good elk medicine.

Good luck on your hunt.

L.W.

I have posted this before, but I'll say it again here. Back in 1990, just before I headed out on my second Colorado elk hunt, I wrote to Jim Carmichael and asked him if I should take my 280 or my 30-06. He very graciously wrote back and said that either would be fine, but his personal favorite elk rig was his custom 280 shooting 140 grain Nosler Partitions. I have that letter around somewhere. If the 280 with a 140 grain bullet is good enough for Carmichael it should be good enough for the rest of us.

I shot my first Elk with the 140 TTSX. I was quite curious what the bullet would do. It hit the cow in the brisket & traversed the entire thoracic cavity, exited the rear ham & re-entered the hindquarter & exited a second time. That cow was running about half trot when the bullet hit her. She slowed immediately and began to wobble, stopped & fell over. It reminded me of a young boy on his frist bicycle ride not knowing how to stop properly.

The 140 TTSX left the muzzle of my 7 Wby at 3400 fps. The straight line penetration surpsrised me. I have no doubt in my 280 being capable of the same within its velocity range.

I would zero that load for 250 instead of 200 as your scope is not a turret-twisting type and I take it you do not have a ballistic reticle all of which is ok. That change in zero will keep you under 3” high at mid-trajectory (~ 150 yds or so, so hold a bit high) but instead of ~ 18” low at 400 yds you will only be about 14” low, reducing hold-over at that range.

Makes it a bit easier at those longer ranges.

You could always dig it out after the shot to check.

I prefer mine with 2 holes....one entrance and one exit! 7mm Wby does it with 150 TTSX. No reason why your .280 won’t do the same at reasonable range. Happy Trails