Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Your favorite loads for the .280 Remington

What kind of vels are you getting with this load?
Thanks in advance,
BD

I'm sure John can answer you quicker than I can. I'll send mine through the chrono in the next couple of weeks. Crazy good load in my Weatherby U/L.

With a couple of exceptions, I'm trying to convert everything to "H" powders. If this load keeps shooting as good as it has been, I'm going to buy an 8 pounder....

That is If I can find the stuff...rare as hens teeth around here!

Thanks CLB, would like to hear what kind of numbers you get once you've had the chance to shoot across your chrony. Does mid 2900's fps sound about right.
I know you won't find this load in the books...... Though I like Rel 19 a lot and it shoots extremely well, I have very little left on hand and plenty of H4831......
I thought this load may do quite well with the 150 gr. LRAB's I picked up recently.

Certainly this load would be a smidge north of 2900 with the 24 inch barrel on my rifle. Really accurate and plenty quick for my needs.

I've been getting 2950-3000 fps with the 150 LRAB in my 280 AI with H4831sc that bullet has been accurate in my rifle .5 or less...

That's great, Have you had a chance to use the LRAB on any game yet?
I'm running a 25 " Lilja spout on my standard .280, I'm interested to see if I can hit 2900-2950 safely with the above load and bullet also.
BD

You should move quick before some one patents that load it works so good....

BD, I havent shot any game with the LRAB yet plan on hunting with the 160 AB this year and pick up load development for the LRAB after hunting season..the 168 LRAB has been shooting well for me also with velocities running around 2920...with MRP powder..I have pushed the 150 LRAB and the 160 AB well over 3000 fps in the 280 AI but accuracy goes away..seems like my gun likes to run 2880 to 2950..

Interesting about your vels, is it just with these bullets? Looking forward to hearing what you fellas get worked out with the loads.

RL22 and 154gr Hornady Interlocks shoot real well in my brothers Ruger 280 Rem. that I reload for him. Worked great on his first bull caribou this year.

RL-19 has been a top performer for me in several different .280s.

Looking at Hodgdon's load data, they list 4831 maxing out at 53.7 with a 150 Partition. Nosler lists the IMR version at 55 max, so 55.5 with H4831. I know the 280 was saddled with a low pressure ceiling, but is it really that much?

I'm not saying y'all are wrong or it's a bad load, in fact I'll be working up to see how mine likes it. Just makes me wonder why the the pressure limits were apparently set so low especially in a round that is relatively modern?

About 4,000 CUP low, Remington set the limits on it, supposedly it was because the cartridge was designed for the Remington 740 semi-auto and 760 pump.

Not even a hint of excessive pressure in my rifle.....what are you shooting for a rifle? Work up and see how it responds but you will probably be fine.

BlackDog, the 740/760 reasoning makes sense.

It'd be nice if the manuals would show different sets of data different actions. The 45-70 comes to mind, with data for trapdoors, middle of the road lever actions and then "strong" actions like the number 1.

The rifle is a 77 HE so I guess I'll be putting a bit more gas behind a few bullets.

Yah, the 740/760 reasoning makes sense, but then those same semi-autos and pumps were also chambered for the .243, .270, and .308 cartridges which are loaded to higher pressures.

So, I think they could have raised the pressure limit for the .280, (E.G. .270 levels), but they never did.

Quickload and working up carefully are your friend with the .280. Quickload can give you load predictions for 65000 psi which is what the .270 loads use. It makes a big difference for the .280.

I can't imagine a better all around load for the .280 than 56.5 of RL19 and the 139gr Interlokt by Hornady...unless you use the 154gr Interlokt w/55.0gr. powdr

Now you're talking. I've gotten better results with IMR-4831 than RL-19, but it could be just my particular lot of RL-19.

Anyway, those are very similar powder charges to what I use.

I like IMR-4350 with the 139/140-grain bullets, IMR-4831 with the 150/154-grain bullets, IMR-7828 with the 160-grain bullets, and H-1000 with the heavies.

Yes they (742, 760) were chambered for higher pressure cartridges, ironically and interestingly it was also anemically chambered in the 725 bolt rifle......
The data in the Nosler 7 guide has some very good velocity .280 loads, especially with heavier bullets.
On an aside, since I'm unable to do any shooting for the time being, I've been comparing/measuring shank bearing lengths on some 7mm bullets the last day or so, particularly the 150gr LRAB compared to the 140 gr. Accubond and the 162 A-Max.
As close as I can determine, the 162 A-Max and the 140 Accubond have nearly identical lengths of approx. .475" +or- .005"....the 150 LRAB's are approx. .125" shorter or .350" +or- .005".
Not sure if this is of any help to anyone but someone might find it useful when working with these particular bullets at higher pressures and velocities.

Best,
BD