Remington .280

Dirtysteve · May 8, 2003

I bought a Remington BDL in a .280 to help out a friend who needs the money. Now I'm trying to resell the gun but everbody asks what's a .280? I am quite fond of this caliber but seams to me not very many people know what it is.
If I didn't already have one I would keep this gun.
Does anybody besides myself shoot a .280?

2_Point · May 8, 2003

The 280 Rem is a .284 dia. or 7mm. It is a great gun. I have 2, a Rem Mtn Rifle and a Sako. The ballistic coefficient for a mulie bullet (140-160gr) can not be topped. The 280 is only 150+- FPS slower than the 7mm Mag. Great gun.

RLH · May 8, 2003

it's another one of those cartridges that remington kept changing the name of also. it was originally called a .280 rem. to compete with the .270. but when the cartridge was developed it was purposely constructed so that a .30/'06 couldn't easily be resized to work, like you can do with a .270, and this really hurt the sales. remington said it was so you wouldn't mis-chamber them and .270's but a lot of handloaders thought it was so they could sell more ammo. then it was renamed the 7mm express. seems like maybe they changed twist rate in the barrell a little, like they did when they changed the name of the .244 rem to 6mm rem. anyway, that didn't help much and eventually they changed it back to the .280 again. it's never had near the popularity that .270 has. a lot of folks that own them say they are far superior to the .270, but the fact of the matter is, it's only .007" (7 thousandths) bigger diameter than a .270 (.277 diameter), and has nearly exactly the same powder capacity. not a bad cartridge by any means. just never caught on like the .270. also, .277 diameter, like the .270 is, is exactly 7mm in diameter. the 7mm is really a little bigger than 7mm's. go figure.

kilowatt · May 8, 2003

I bought a Browning SS Stalker in .280 Rem back in 1993. It has the composite stock.
I would not get rid of it as it shoots great and for reloading , there are a lot of various bullet weights to pick from compared to the .270 caliber.
A great all around caliber for hunting, keep it.

Brian***

redrabbit · May 9, 2003

I think even a few of the earliest rifles escaped the factory with the barrels stamped 7mm-06. My first rifle which I purchased in the mid-eighties was a 7mm Express. Was swayed by an article by John Wooters and chose it over a 270.

Doug/Red Rabbit

RLH · May 9, 2003

you sure about the 7mm/'06 deal? i've seen 7mm and 8mm/'06's. quite a few guys after wwII took '98 mausers and had the chambers reamed so they could use '06 brass and resize it. but the .280 is different enough that this doesn't sound right. no big deal. just never seen one. when did they first make the .280? early 60's, late '50's?

centerfire · May 9, 2003

I shoot a 280 they are a great gun. I like the 28 caliber it shines on most N/A game.
When the need for more horse power is needed I pick up my 338 RUM. Have a good day!
cf

redrabbit · May 13, 2003

RLH,
I recall seeing a picture of a rifle barrel stamped 7mm-06 in one of the gun mags many years ago, but I must have thrown that back issue away out of hundreds I saved through the years. So I looked in the NRA Handloading book,c1981, where it says the 280 was released in 1957 with loads for their pump and autoloader with 50,000 cup. The "new", higher pressured 7mm Express was released in 1979, but was originally designated 7mm-06 and a few rifles manufactured. The name was changed to 7mm Express partly to avoid confusion and problems with 7-06 wildcats, like the Mausers you mentioned). You're right about the shoulder of the 280 being moved foward to prevent chambering in a loose 270, or that a 7-06 being used in a 7 express could cause excessive headpacing. What baffled me was that some would think the 7 Express should be fired in a 7 Rem Mag. Another candidate for the Darwin award. Hence, this is why I think that Rem changed the name back to 280.

Doug/Red Rabbit

RLH · May 13, 2003

some of the things people do with guns is pretty scary. some of the things that remington has done with marketing are too. i used to say many years ago that if remington hadn't adopted the 7mm mag and come up with the wingmaster shotgun that they'd have been bankrupt years ago. good night they've come up with some stupid things over the years and then done horrible jobs of marketing the good stuff they developed. i read a deal awhile back where remington claims that they started developement of the 7mm mag in wwII, when actually winchester did all the work on it and the .264 win mag at the same time and decided that the .264 was the wave of the future and marketed it instead. remington picked up the 7mm mag and the rest is history. i've never bothered owning a modern 7mm rifle of any kind. i have an old 7mm model 98 mauser. everyone who owns a 7 mag seems to think it's an elephant rifle and wants to shoot 175 gr bullets out of it, but when you load those heavy things in it, the performance stinks. shoots much better with 140's. the .280 is so close to a .270 that isn't even worth bothering with. never saw any use for the 7mm/08. the one 7mm cartridge that does intrigue me is the .284 winchester. if i ever find one in a good bolt action i'll buy it. it walks off and leaves the .280 in the dust and is real close to the 7mm mag, and is only about the same length as a 7mm/08.

Hankenstein · May 16, 2003

Trouble with the .284 is that it's generally always found in short actions. OAL is a bit of a compromise as you have to seat the bullet fairly deep into the case (especially on heavier (ie longer) bullet weights); therefore you do lost a significant amount of case capacity. A custom .284 built on a long action is a pretty solid performer though. Neck it down to 6.5 or 6mm and it's a real hot rod; albeit probably a throat-burner...

Bored @ work,

Hank

studpile · May 17, 2003

Don't shoot one, but have a bud In Nevada who doesn't shoot much of anything else. He swears by it. Now quit dinkin around and get back to work...lol I have asked around for you abit, but to no avail by the way.

Dirtysteve · May 19, 2003

Studpile
You just get ready to do some guiding in Nevada this year. I feel this is my lucky year! Just not here in Utah!
Did you put in?

studpile · May 23, 2003

Took me a minute to reply...I put in for Wyo this year...figure my odds are a bit better ya know. And good ol central Ut rifle, already picked that up.