I just sold a stainless Ruger Hawkeye in .280 Rem. Nice caliber but I never could get the gun to shoot as well as I expected, no matter what I tried. I handloaded for it and if I could have found another .280 that would shoot, I would have stayed with that caliber. The only option I could find was the Remington "mountain" rifle, which was heavier than my Savages so I didn't really consider it. I ended up with a Tikka T3x in '06 and haven't looked back.
Like jmr40 said, factory ammo is spotty but not impossible to find. If you're a handloader, the selection of 7mm bullets is outstanding.
The biggest difference between my old .280 and my '06 is felt recoil. Granted, the Ruger (.280) was a full lb. heavier than my Tikka, but that .280 kicked like a full load .308 to me. The '06 kicks noticeably more. So that was in the .280's favor. However, downrange ballistics aren't as superior to the .308 or the '06 as I thought, once I started to load for those two calibers.
If I had it to do all over again, I would have just spent the money on a nice .308 and called it good. It can do anything inside of 400 yards that the .280 or even my '06 can do. The '06 just gives me another 100 yards to play with. That's about it.
BTW, if you do decide to get one and need brass, let me know. I have about 150 .280 cases just laying around.