Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Your best 280 Rem/140 loads?

What is your go-to loads for the 280 Remington when loading 140 grain bullets?

I have a 22" Pac Nor barreled Ruger 77 MK/II.

It is showing promise so far using RL 19, 57.0 grains and Nosler 140 Accubonds. 2793 fps

Going to try moving up slowly (57.5, 58.0, 58.3) and see how it goes.

I may try some more H-4350 also.

I use 61 grains of H4831 with a 140 grain Accubond for about 3000 fps. Shoots sub MOA from a Rem 700 with a 24 inch barrel.

I used 55gr IMR 4831, Hornady 139grSP, Rem case, Rem 9 1/2 primer. Never got to clock it, but it was a deer killing devil! Pretty fast.

Years ago I had a Ruger Mk1 .280 Rem 22"bbl. My favorite load was 57gns of RL19 and a 140gn Nosler Accubond.

IMR4350

[quote=dingo]
Years ago I had a Ruger Mk1 .280 Rem 22"bbl. My favorite load was 57gns of RL19 and a 140gn Nosler Accubond.


Mine is similar, 56g of R-19 behind the 140g NAB out of my Sako AV .280. Went with 56g over 57g because the group was tighter.

RL22 worked up to 60.5
3050 fps.
Might need a drop tube to settle the powder in

I have a custom built .280, with a 22” PacNor barrel. A load of 55.0 gr. of IMR4350 and a Barnes TSX 140 gr. bullet gives a MV of 3050 fps, and sub-moa accuracy.

I think we did this at about the same time last year.

Still MagPro and 140gr TTSX for me...

All of these work; I use the 59.5 gr of RL-19 the most.

MM

(The group covered up by the caliper in pic 3 is 59 gr of WW-780 & is shown in the last pic)

Reloder 19 tends to group well at "normal" temperatures, but in my experience so H4831 does pretty well too--and at varying temperatures is much more reliable.

H4350 and IMR 4350 are worth a try to, but in at least half-a-dozen .280's H4831 has done very well, which isn't surprising since a .280 with 140's is so similar to the .270 Winchester with 130's.

All good comments here. Keep them coming......

53.5 IMR 4350
140 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip
This has been as awesome load for me that has worked great for accuracy and stopping power for hunting for years.

57 gr IMR 4831 works well with 140 BT or 140 barnes TSX. Point of impact is the same at 300 yrds as Federal factory 140 BT.

55 gr H4831SC shoots one hole ragged groups with 140 AB’s in my Ruger 77 MK II & WBY UL.

H4831sc was my powder of choice with 140gn bullets (Woodleigh, Accubonds, Hornady IL). However, I did buy a couple of pounds of Re19 on a whim and it provided the same accuracy but with another100 fps velocity. I found the same thing with my 7x64 earlier this year. Though due to availability issues at times, when the Re19 is used up, I'll revert to H4831 again and go back to H4350 in the 7x64 as H4831 runs out of room in that case with long 150gn Ballistic Tips.

So far I've found a couple of pretty good loads for the 22" Pac Nor barreled Ruger 280 Rem.

(1)
55.5 H-4350
Nosler 140 Accubond
3.340 OAL
CCI 200
Avg. Velocity: 2883
ES: 19
SD: 9
7/8" 3 shot group

(2)
57.0 RL-19
Nosler 140 Accubond
3.340 OAL
CCI 200
Avg. Velocity: 2793
5/8" 3 shot group

I may try some Sierra 140 Pro Hunters and Hornady 139 BTSP over H-4350 and see how those shoot. I'm a little disappointed that my velocity isn't faster. I was expecting more as these velocities are really obtainable out of the 7mm-08. In the end, any good 140 grain bullet traveling at 2800 fps in going to be just fine for deer hunting.

A load of 58.3 RL-19 gave me 2919 avg fps and a respectable 1 1/8" group. I may get brave and slowly ease the load up just a little bit at time since I didn't have any significant signs of pressure yet at 58.3.

Alliant lists 59 gr of RL-19 as their nominal accuracy load with 140's & I'm a touch over that.

You really should be able to get to 2950-3000 FPS with RL-19.

MM