few weeks ago I picked up a Remington mountain rifle stainless in 280 and was wondering what your good and bad experience you had with the 280 ? I'm going to try some Federal 150 grain Nosler Partitions

You should love it, I assume you handload?

I purchased my first 280 Remington in 2003 as a camper-kept back-up rifle for the hunting lease. Bought 2 boxes of Remington Express ammo after sight-in & stashed the gun in the camper.

Next 350 mile trip to the lease I arrived to find that I had left my preferred rifle at home. Put the 280 to work and have never hunted without it since. I have had over 15 of them in that time. My three current keepers are the original Ruger 77 All Weather that started my love affair with the 280, a Wby Mk V UL & a Borden 280 AI.

I have whacked 50 animals with 52 rounds fired. All were killed with Rem. Express 150 Core-Lokts. I need no other cartridge to keep my hunting at maximum output.

Once you use it you'll be hooked.

My experience hasn't been very good, but not in the way you might think. My 280 is my "unlucky" rifle. I've owned it longer than any other rifle in my safe, yet the only thing I've ever killed with it is a coyote. I've never seen a deer with that rifle in my hands.

I plan to try again this fall, and carry it until I break it's curse. It's a great cartridge and my rifle, a Ruger M77 MkII, is very accurate. I just have to get a deer to cooperate!

I'll echo Don Fischer. The 280 Remington is one of the best hunting cartridges available. Low recoil, generally easy to find an accurate load for, and it kills like a sledge.

For whitetails and the like, it is pure poison.

Enjoy!

Tate....problem isn't the cartridge, it's the river. Buy a Remington in 280, your luck will change.

Lol...

Tony

I think it's a great round but like Tate I think I'm 280 cursed since I've had more misses and deflected bullets in the woods with a 280 than any other round, including what was probably the biggest buck I ever shot at. I have to chalk it up to the shooter and not the gun or cartridge and I always try to take clean shots, no brush busting. However mine has taken some deer quite handily also.

I don't think it's possible to have a bad experience with a 280 if you point it right.

That is the truth no matter what cartridge is used.

I've had better results on deer with the 280 (or 280 AI), than any other caliber I have used. That includes 30-06 and even 338. Not sure why, maybe just coincidence. It has given quicker kills, less tracking, and more bang-flops than the others. Preferred bullet now is a 140 TTSX or 145 LRX (280 AI). Tried the 120 grain TTSX, but they are a bit destructive at 3400 FPS.

I think coincidence is all it is....I've used the 280 an many other similar cartridges giving the same or similar bullets the same velocity,on quite a few game animals and can't see a difference.

No magic.

Now the 270 on the other hand is capable of producing pure magic...

Sam: I have favorite cartridges. The 270 and 280 are among them.

But I could never see that necromancy was involved.

Load up some 160 grain partitions and go kill stuff.

Ts300wsm: Back in 1986 I had a custom Rifle built in 280 Remington caliber.
Since then I have killed Mt. Goat, Blacktailed Deer, Antelope, Mule Deer, Black Bear, Whitetailed Deer and Bull Elk with it - so far.
Someday I will kill a Caribou with this wonderful cartridge/Rifle combination.
My 280 has a 25" Douglas Supreme medium weight barrel on a pre-64 Winchester Model 70 action in a McMillan fiberglass stock.
This Rifle is accurate and very reliable - it also is very lethal on medium size Big Game!
I use the wonderful Nosler 140 grain Partitions in my Rifle and have since day one - so no experience with the Nosler 150's.
If I ever get a Bighorn Sheep tag this is THE Rifle I will use.
The only two shot kill I can remember with this Rifle/cartridge was on a running Bull Elk that I "led" way to much.
My first shot struck that nifty Bull in the nose (I still feel bad about that!) but it stopped him in his tracks and my second shot was right through the heart/lungs and that was that.
All my other kills were one shotters as I recall.
I hope you have as good luck with your 280 as I have had with mine.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I built a .280 a couple of years ago...great round.
140 grain barnes.

It's killed the best whitetail of my life ('14), a 300lb mountain goat last Fall, and daughter killed a nice cow elk with it last Fall, too...DRT.

So far I've tried Remington Core Lokt 140, 150, and 165 grain bullets in my 700 bdl. It likes 140's the best. I wish my chrono hadn't broke so I could see what velocity they're hitting.

If it likes the round, who cares? I've never had a chrono, and other than some mild interest, never missed it.... . I want accuracy first, terminal performance next (or reversed, maybe, within reason!) and trajectory (speed) comes a distant third.

I would prefer using 120's with my .260, but it doesn't like anything but 140's (that I have found so far). And it likes those very well indeed. Doncha hate when that happens? I can live with MOA in a non-preference weight. I guess.....

I've used the .280 - it's a fine round. Mine too liked the 140s best, but did OK with others

I had a Ruger M77 heavy barrel in .280. But it was a righty, and I shoot lefty.

So I sent it down the road and got a Remmie 7600 when they brought it out in .280. Got a lefty safety put in it, and rocked it ever since. It likes a Hornady 139 BTSP.

It's a good 'middle' cartridge between the .270 and '06.
Good selection of bullets, too.

My main hunting rifle is a 7x57Ackley Improved which is nothing more than a standard 280. 56.5gr of RL19 behind a 140gr Nosler for 3050fps is pure magic on Texas stuff. powdr

That's one round that I have never owned nor has any of my friends. It's a shame as it has the attributes that could make it one of the best all around hunting cartridges for NA game. One reason I never had one is I had a 270 and they are virtually twins . If I had neither I think a nice 280 would be the bomb, .everything the 7x57 is and more. If I had a 5x57 that didn't shoot well because of long throat issues a simp,e chamber reamer would be a easy fix.

I'm a fan. Had a 280 since 88 when the girl I was dating bought me a 700 Mountain Rifle and set the hook. I've killed loads of deer with it.

I bought one of the first of the Remington Mtn. Rifles back in 1986. While I was very impressed with the performance of the rifle and it's ease of carry in the field, the narrow stock coupled with the hard recoil pad was unpleasant to shoot. Had it Mag Na Ported, which was a mistake. I should have had a new, softer recoil pad installed.
Currently, I shoot a custom Ruger tang safety M77. After using the 7X57 extensively, the 7mm Remington Mag a good bit, I've decided the .280 is just right.
A couple of things about it.
Factory ammo isn't loaded as hot as the .270. But many have discovered it doesn't need to be.
While ammo or brass is harder to find, I've found that loading at factory pressures, or even less, can provide long case life, great accuracy, plenty of killing power and noticably less recoil than say the 30'06.
It's smaller cousins, the 7X57 and the 7-08 are alot more popular than many thought they would be. That's because they also produce excellent results w/o alot of fuss so to speak.
You can also load it hot if you wish as well. E

I'd have married her! :-)

Mike,
I did!

That was the last gun she ever bought me

I have a Remington 700 in .280 that was done by their custom shop. I converted it from a ADL mountain rifle to a BDL in a B&C stock. It use to shoot awesome with Hornady's older "Custom" 139gr load that was replaced with Subperformance, which I was lucky to keep on paper. Since I ran out of the old Hornady load, handloading has been the only way I can keep it shooting tight groups. Its got a mile long throat so my loads are 3.45" long and still jumping almost 1/10". However, it feeds smooth, is very accurate, and getting decent velocity so I plan on keeping it as is.

My load (mild in my rifle):

140gr Accubond
55gr H-4350
Rem Brass
CCI-200
COAL 3.450"
2950fps

The 280 is a round for the "nationality-confused", ie., one that can't commit to the purely Teutonic 7x57 or 7x64, but simultaneously can't commit to the purely American 270. The result is an attempt to split the difference with the 280.

I'm pretty sure that's in the introduction to the 280 in the Nosler loading manual...

I love the .280 and the Ackley version. Mild recoil, plentiful brass, super bullet selection, and way more cool than the .270...grin...

Cartridge Schizophrenia
Cartridge schizophrenia is a severe brain disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally. Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior,especially regarding minute differences in performance between closely matched cartridges of slightly different caliber.......

A common affliction among rifle nuts with noses buried in ballistic tables;sometimes also displayed in persons with limited DRT experiences....

Of course none of this applies to those posting here.....

Yes, this entire site is filled with a very definite neurosis... present company excepted.

Nationality-confused - I like that:) I appear to have that disorder - I've had this KS in .280 for 20+ years.

Well, gee Brad, I hate to admit it, but, in my case, you might/probably be right.....
Then there were Jack O'Connor's comments late in his life. He said he shouldn't have advocated the .270 to the point where he gave the impression it was somehow better than the competition such as the .280......
Even Townsend Whelan (Sp ?) jumped in the fray. He declared that if a guy had a .270, or an '06', not to bother. But if he didn't, then a .280 would be superior (somewhat/slightly) than either......
In the meantime, we are all having fun during the off season. E

It's a 7mm, but don't tell anyone.

G2

Jim Carmichael said he was having a custom rifle built in .280 when he ran across O'Connor and Jack asked what he was building ? Jim sheepishly lied and said "270". To which Jack replied " go with the .280 instead"

Jack took a real shine to the 280 later in life.

Although I’ve been shooting a 7mm RM since 1982, my experience with the .280 Rem is pretty limited. One antelope doe with a Ruger #1 I later sold. It was a.5MOA shooter with 120g and 140g Barnes TTSX, 140g North Fork SS and 140g Nosler AccuBond bullets but it was just too pretty to take elk hunting. Sold it to help finance a Ruger Scout .308 and Ruger Hawkeye All Weather .280 Rem.

The Ruger All Weather .280 Rem has also proved to be a very accurate rifle and I took an antelope doe with it last fall at 373 yards using a 140g AccuBond.

My last experience with .280 Rem/140g AccuBond ammo turned out poorly. I had a stationary 6x5 bull elk facing away, 50 feet below me and about 100 yards out. I was shooting from a sitting position, off a tripod. The setup couldn’t have been more perfect. After centering the scope on the spine a bit behind the shoulders I gave the trigger a squeeze. To my amazement the bull was unfazed and slowly walked off. Later I discovered the problem. At the last second I decided to leave the .280 in the truck and take my .338WM instead. Yup, I had loaded the .338WM with the .280 Rem ammo I had stuffed into my pocket before deciding to make the switch. (Dumb. Fortunately, after I realized my mistake, I was able to take the bull at 411 yards using a different .280 – my buddy’s 7mm RM which was pushing a 160g Speer Grand Slam to about 3000fps.) While I screwed up, I have no doubt that at 411 yards the .280 Rem would have taken the bull just as cleanly as the 7mm Rm did – a few steps and down.

Thanks for all the replies still haven't had a chance to shoot it yet

Best rifle that Remington EVER produced! 700 KS in .280

No argument here.

Sako AV .280 here. Shoots well under an inch with 140 NAB's.

Maybe so. O'Connor had three custom rifles built in .280. But I don't think he ever hunted with any of them. He certainly never mentions killing anything with a .280.

I've pretty much always had a .280 Rem in the safe. I currently have two.

I'm not sure how you could have a bad experience with one. If you do, it's not the caliber.

Of the deer that have fallen to mine, one has taken a step or two. He was heart shot and went about 10 yards, died in sight. The rest went right down.

140gr Federal Fusions have been what they've been getting fed lately, but Remington Core Locs have done fine too.

165gr Rem core locs are great for accuracy though I've never tried one on a deer yet.

Recently started handloading and 120gr NBT's and 120gr Barnes TTSX's have been doing all the work there. Loaded over Varget of IMR 4350