Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Okay all you 280 guys.

I need a load for mule deer. Last year my brother shot the 160 grn. Barnes. He had to through both front shoulders away. They were all bloodshot. The year before he shot a 140 grn. partition through the ribs just behind the shoulder. The deer looked like it was stuffed full of dead grass. Not gut shot. Some load ideas please.

My "go to" load for mule deer and white tail is Fed 210 primer and 59 g. WXR with a Hornady 139 g SP. It has never failed me. However, now that I am finally running low on WXR,I'm working on a couple of new loads. Fed 210, 56 g RL19 and 140 g AB gives me good ballistics and great groups. Another load that shows great promise is 59 g VN165, Fed 210M and Nosler 140 BT. Hope you have a good year. It looks like we will have a good hunt this Fall.

55gr of IMR4350 under 140 grain BTs has worked well from what I've seen.

My rifle likes the Federal Classic 140 grain Pro Hunter.

An arrow will create bloodshot if you hit the shoulder. The grass in the lungs was probably from the esphogus getting cut and the stomic contents pouring out. If a 160 grain barnes is to explosive for him out of a 280 he will never be happy.

160 Partition works for me.

140 Accubonds and RL-19 have produced 9 straight one shot kills on mulies and whitetails for my wife and I,7 with the .280Rem,and 2 with a .280AI(RL-22). I won't be trying a different load,accuracy is excellent.Monashee

140's with Accubombs and R19 here too. I've plunked a couple of large 300#ish Canadian whitetails with 140gr Speers too - deer weren't real fond of them either.

Thats what I was thinking too.


>scratches head
Maybe he needs a 175. (?)

I have had great success with 140 balistic tips,139 Hornady BTSPs,and 150 partitions out of my 280s. I can't remember any of them that failed to expand well or exit on deer,what more do you want?

If a bullets expands,it can cause blood shot meat,if it hits the GI tract it can spill gut contents. Just shoot em in the lungs and you don't make a mess of them in my experience.

Britt

For the record, "Bloodshot" is NOT the same as blood that leaks out between the shoulder and the ribs.
If your brother's bullet smashed the bones in both shoulders, it will certainly create bloodshot - blood leaking into all the ripped up muscles and bone chips surrounding the wound channel. That's not the bullet's fault, it's the shooters'. Don't shoot the shoulder bones!
However, any bullet placed just behind the shoulder will cause a significant amount of blood to leak out of the lungs and into the space between the shoulder and ribs. Completely unavoidable. And it is NOT "bloodshot" - after opening the shoulder cavity, nearly all that blood can be wiped or rinsed out, and does not ruin the shoulder meat as so many wastefully believe.
I'm not saying you were wasteful, but for others benefit I just thought I should set that straight, way too many people throw away any meat with blood on it ( but not "in" it) and call it "bloodshot".

+1

Britt

I've taken 2 red stags (around 450 lbs each) with the 160 Accubonds a few years back. One at 100 yards, the other at 300 yards, both with full penetration with the bullet lodging just under the hide on the offside shoulder. Both were perfect mushrooms, retained weight around 103 and 105 grains each, IIRC.

I would think the Accubond would be about perfect for mulies, either in 140gr or 160gr weights.

Bought my 280 in 1993 and the first load tried was so accurate, I never changed it. Used AA3100 near max charge and WW 150 grain bullet. It has busted several truck loads of deer and never failed to perform well.

I love the 139 hornady spire point on top of H4350.

I've had very good luck with 150 gr. Partitions. At first, I was a little concerned because the ballistic tables indicated that I'd be better off with 140 Gr.for deer. However, after five straight drop in their tracks deer; the 150 Grainers appear to be just right.

The gun is junk. Sell it back to me and have your brother pick up a .243 He will be happier and so will I.

Where in the world did that come from? He loves the rifle, I just wanted to know what loads people are using. What the heck?

I think it is called a joke.

I forgot to toss in the smiley face! Kidding, joking, pullin' your leg.....