280 loads for winchester feather weight classic

[280shooter]

I took my 70 feather weight classic out for more test load shooting,,,Barrle is free floating,I used imr 4350, 50 gr, behind noslers 140 gr, Have any one used the imr 4350 powder for the 140 gr, bullets? and what kind of groups have you got.Is there a better powder for the 140 gr, bullets.?I I can't get this to shoot well for me anymore..Im going to change out the scope this week,Maybe,,, I hope maybe, its a scope issue.. Rings and mount are rock tight,ANd this is the feather weight,,

 

[GooseGestapo]

If it won't shoot IMR4350 with a good bullet, It probably won't shoot good with anything.

However, that load seem's a little light. I'd check that load and work upwards till the velocity stabilizes...
(FWIW; I use 52.0gr of IMR4350 w/140gr bullet in a .270....) That charge seem's a little light to me. Ditto, I use 46.5gr in a 7mm08. This is max as it's all you can seat a bullet over w/o distorting the bullet due to compression.... I also use 46.0 with a 150gr bullet. Hence, I think upping the charge might help.

Also, it's more likely that the gun doesn't like the bullets, not the powder. Try some 140gr Sierra ProHunter (flat-base) and Nosler 140g ballistic tips. If you (and rifle) still aren't happy, try the same in 150gr. My 7mm08 prefers a 150gr bullet.....It shoots a Winchester 150gr PowerPoint and Corlokt 150gr bullet better than any 139-140gr bullet, and shoots the better 150's even better. It is finicky about powder charges too.... but it's a Remington Mod-7, so it too has a "skinny" barrel too..... They can be "Particular" about exact powder charge they will "group" with....

If IMR-4350 doesn't work try IMR4831 or RL22. Also, use Federal 210 "Match" primers to see if that helps....

 

[Striker Fired]

I've had 5 .280's,most were Rem 700's, but almost all of them favored 120gr and 130gr but flat base bullets. I had some good luck with IMR 4064 and H4895.The only .280 I had that truly shot many bullets at decent groups(under 1.25@100yrds) had a bull barrel.
Nosler Balistic tips were one of the better bullets but out of 6 or 7 deer shot with them,I never had one that expanded normally(good blood trail or sizable exit wound) all were shot in the ribcage. Did have one doe that the bullet went through a 4inch tree first, she was bled out before the bullet was 1 foot out the other side.

 

[280shooter]

Heres what I loaded and tried..for the past years,

Going ack over some of my targets,,and notes,,I loaded and killed a Caribu with 54 gr of IMR 4350, 140 gr Nosler Par.So far it looks like my Winchester likes the loads at Max,
I have the old Hornady number 2 and 7th, Lyman 46th along with small book the powder company puts out.. It seems the new books have all the loads My rifles like or liked to be over Max. So thats one reason I tried to load to the middle and go from there,,,

IMR 4350 . 44.4 gr Sierra boat tail 140 gr
imr 4350 54.9 Nosler par. 140 gr and Ballistic tip
imr 4350 44 gr noslers Par 150 gr and ballistic tip
imr 4350 57 gr Hornady 130 gr,
H 4350,,, some loads same bullet weights,,,
so I tried a lot of bullets.. 140 -150
from hornady , sierra, noslers,
I did the ladder system.
IMR 4350,,from 51..to 57 grs..and all sorts of COL.

I keep all my targets, and wright on them what loads and weights

 

[Striker Fired]

I found some loads I had using heavier bullets
145gr Speer bt spitzer -49.5gr IMR4350
145gr Speer bt spitzer -54.9gr IMR4831
154gr Hornady SP -52.5gr IMR4831
Thats all the info I can find on my .280 days,I sold them and switched to 25-06,then tp .270WSM.If I find the rest of my loads I will post them.

 

[280shooter]

i loaded some more tonight,,,53.7 gr imr 4350 Hor, 140 btsp
53.0 gr '' '' '' '' ''
54 gr H 4350 "" " btsp
I will change my scope tonight before I go back out to shoot,,I still believe its a broke scope...well A piece of Crap anyhow,, I will put my Nikon on it tonight,,

Thanks for the help..

 

[Striker Fired]

One other thing to try is if your seating your bullets .020 off the lands try .06 or .08 maybe. Sometimes that will work better than the close loads,or vice versa.I think partitions are one of those bullets that Nosler recomends it to be seated that far,same as Barnes. Not possitive on the Nosler though.

 

[280shooter]

Yes i did try all sorts of COL..I hope to get out to the range tomrrow. I did add the nikon scope tonight. So I'll know more tomrrow..