i recently took an early retire3ment, it was that or have my position eliminated ! my freinds and co-workers gave me a winchester model 70 classic featherweight, nice rifle, chambered for the .280 remington. i hunt the southeast, for deer, hogs, and varmints, what loads would you reccomend, and, is this caliber as useful as the old .243 that i have reloied on for about 25 years ? thanks much.
.280
- Thread starter vanh
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loadedround
Member
Vanh: I have always considered the the 270 and the 280 to be almost identical twins ballistic wise. The one exception is the 280 will handle a wider range of bullet weights than the 270, and possibly be a better all round cartridge in some rifles. I would suggest obtaining several good reloading manuals such as the Speer or Lyman and use some of their recommended loads. H8831 and H4350 seem like two good powders to start your reloading. Good luck with your new rifle.
like loadedround said... it is VERY similar to the 270 but really comes into its own with some heavier bullet weights.. it is a very versatile round and can pretty much be loaded to take down anything you wish at moderate ranges.
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rangerruck
Member
the 280; a great round-- basically a 7mm. 06. There is a huge variety of 7mm bullets out there, if this is in fact the correct sized bullet for the 280, so you will have a absolute ton of choices. for a killer varmint rig, say from whitetails on down to the small stuff, i would look to 120 grainers. For mulies on up, i would start with 160's and larger; even with 160's on up, it will be a nice , long, flat shooter, simply because the 7mm bullet is such a good atmospheric buster. You really got a great rifle and caliber there.
xphunter
Member
If I had to chose between the the two cartridges you mentioned I would pick the 280 every time for hunting a number of big game.
Love the 7mm's
Love the 7mm's
Uncle Mike
Member
The 280 is, like all have said, a GREAT cartridge! a 140 SST, Nosler or just about any pointed bullet launched out of the 280 will handle pretty much anything walking or crawling in North America less the big bears and maybe moose.
The versatility of the cartridge, like its daddy, the 30-06, is phenomenal.
If Remington would have invested more, and or better advertising and PR for the 280 as Winchester did with the 270, it would be all about the 280, and the 270 would be the red-headed step child of the two!
The versatility of the cartridge, like its daddy, the 30-06, is phenomenal.
If Remington would have invested more, and or better advertising and PR for the 280 as Winchester did with the 270, it would be all about the 280, and the 270 would be the red-headed step child of the two!
longdayjake
Member
I know a lot of .270 guys are into their .270 but what I don't really understand is how they are saying that the .270 and .280 are almost identical. As far as I understand it most 7mm bullets have a better BC in bullets of similar weight. Not only that but you can get the heavy bullets in the .280 with really high BC and in hunting rounds as well. I personally think that the .280 is superior to the .270.
Uncle Mike
Member
Well, there are a great many 'text book' hunters out there...in the field, under actual conditions, and for the average guy at common hunting distances, telling the difference between the two is going to involve bat wings and voodoo... in other words, it ain't going to happen, for the most part!
The 280 CAN be loaded with a broader selection of commonly higher BC bullets, but the performance gains or losses is not going to be readily noticed from the treestand or blind...just in the lab, where the sliderule, rules! hehehehe
jimmyraythomason
Member
Throw in high praise from Jack O'Connor and the .280 never stood a chance!
But wait! I have a chart! In fact, I've got a couple of charts, and they show a bunch of numbers about ballistic coefficient and sectional density! They can't be about the same, because my numbers show a difference, and prove that the .270 Win is a horrible, wimpy, useless caliber for hunting. Same thing with the .308 vis-a-vis the .30-06.....
Actually Jack O'Connor's last rifle was a custom .280 built on Ruger 77 action. He actually said he thought it was a touch better than his beloved 270.
On paper it is actually a better round than either the 30-06 or the 270. In reality there is not any real world differences between any of them. Especially with today's much better bullets and advances in powders.
On paper it is actually a better round than either the 30-06 or the 270. In reality there is not any real world differences between any of them. Especially with today's much better bullets and advances in powders.
longdayjake
Member
Defend your .270 all you want, but how many long range shooters use a .277 bullet compared to a 7mm bullet?
You can be sarcastic all you want about how similar they are but that won't change mathematics and physics at all. Those charts you make fun of are actually based on natural laws that don't dissapear just because you make fun of them.
You can argue all you want that the .270 is almost identical to the .280 but you can't argue that the .280 has a slight advantage in almost everything you can think of. Bullet selection, bullet BC, bullet weights, etc. It can simply do more than a .270 can do any way you look at it. The only thing that the .270 has over the .280 is amount of factory loads you can find at wal-mart.
One that shoots the .270 and says its almost identical to the .280 is like a mom telling their ugly child that everyone is beautiful. Thats just something they say to make them feel better about themselves. Trust me, I'm one of those ugly children that often needs to feel better about myself.
Try not to be offended. This is all in good fun. Though I would like to see more than sarcasm as a way to discredit my assertion.
For hunting purposes they will all work. I guess this is what you mean by they are almost identical?
You can be sarcastic all you want about how similar they are but that won't change mathematics and physics at all. Those charts you make fun of are actually based on natural laws that don't dissapear just because you make fun of them.
You can argue all you want that the .270 is almost identical to the .280 but you can't argue that the .280 has a slight advantage in almost everything you can think of. Bullet selection, bullet BC, bullet weights, etc. It can simply do more than a .270 can do any way you look at it. The only thing that the .270 has over the .280 is amount of factory loads you can find at wal-mart.
One that shoots the .270 and says its almost identical to the .280 is like a mom telling their ugly child that everyone is beautiful. Thats just something they say to make them feel better about themselves. Trust me, I'm one of those ugly children that often needs to feel better about myself.
Try not to be offended. This is all in good fun. Though I would like to see more than sarcasm as a way to discredit my assertion.
For hunting purposes they will all work. I guess this is what you mean by they are almost identical?
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jimmyraythomason
Member
This seems out of place with the rest of your post.
Arkansas Paul
Member
Great all American rifle. Great round.
I like 140s for whitetail, and I would suspect they would work just as well on up to mule deer and caribou. I would use the same for hogs. If I were chasing wapiti, I would step it up to a 160 or 175. I love the .280 Rem. My only rifle chambered for the caliber is a synthetic NEF Handi Rifle, but I would love to add a nicer one like yours to my collection. You'll never be dissapointed in that gun or caliber. Congrats.
I like 140s for whitetail, and I would suspect they would work just as well on up to mule deer and caribou. I would use the same for hogs. If I were chasing wapiti, I would step it up to a 160 or 175. I love the .280 Rem. My only rifle chambered for the caliber is a synthetic NEF Handi Rifle, but I would love to add a nicer one like yours to my collection. You'll never be dissapointed in that gun or caliber. Congrats.
Maverick223
Member
Very true, but I still like the .280Rem. better...why settle for anything less?
vanh, I have a commercial Mauser just waiting to be converted to .280Rem. It is currently chambered in 6mmRem., which is a near ballistic twin of the .243Win. There is nothing wrong with the 6mm barrel (save for some bluing damage), but I want something that has a bit more punch for game up to Elk so the .280Rem was the obvious choice. IMO it is a great fit for the .30-06 case size and affords a very good selection of bullets.
Uncle Mike
Member
Now, I'm not saying, and I wasn't around there to see it, but I would bet a cold beer that Winchester had a little something to do with ol' Jack praising the 270 as he did!
Even the great Jack O'Connor realized his....I don't want to say 'mistake', but he did finally admit the 280 was an awesome cartridge that was....'a touch better than his beloved 270'! hehehehe
It's all in fun!
jimmyraythomason
Member
Well,the .270 was developed in 1923 and the .280 didn't come along until 1957. So he chose from what was available to him at the time.
xphunter
Member
For what it is worth a 270 built right and a 280 built right, that are both being stoked by Berger bullets would be closer than a lot of people would imagine.
I believe the real issue comes down to the person running the gun.
For the distances most people shoot, Don't think the critter is going to say, "Wow that .284 bore is so much larger than the .277."
If you put either in the boiler room, the animal is going to die.
I prefer the 7mm over the .277 because of bullet selection, but there are still a lot of good bullets in .277.
I would still use your 243 for varmints and deer when you felt like it.
I believe the real issue comes down to the person running the gun.
For the distances most people shoot, Don't think the critter is going to say, "Wow that .284 bore is so much larger than the .277."
If you put either in the boiler room, the animal is going to die.
I prefer the 7mm over the .277 because of bullet selection, but there are still a lot of good bullets in .277.
I would still use your 243 for varmints and deer when you felt like it.
longdayjake
Member
Well, it would be near impossible to imagine since berger doesn't list any match bullets for the .270. They do list some hunting bullets for them but they don't really compare very well to any of the 7mm bullets.
Maverick223
Member
Nor does Lapua and Hornady doesn't list any A-Max bullets either (would likely be my choice for long range big game hunting). Additionally I only see one SMK and that is a lighter bullet with a comparably low BC. Whilst the .277cal. selection is improving, it still has a ways to go before it approaches the .284cal. selection for long range shooting. That said, the difference is negligible for general sporting purposes.
xphunter
Member
A .531 BC is not bad for a 150 grain bullet
Berger's 7mm 140 grain BC is .510, but if you jump almost 20 more grains to the 168, BC is .617
Again, I don't even own a .277 bore, but I have a number of 7mm's: 7mm SAUM, 7mm Rem Mag Improved, and the 7mm Dakota.
I do not believe the OP had LR hunting in mind, to begin with.
Still a 150 grain .277 bullet @ XXXXfps shooting a bullet with a BC of .531 is going to have less wind-drift than the majority of rifles that hunters use in the field.
Again, at the distances shot by the majority of hunters the critter is not going to be able to tell the difference.
BTW-The A-Max has been a great performer for me in both 6.5 and 7mm for whitetail deer and antelope. Haven't hunted muley's yet with them, but likely will this fall (7mm SAUM, H-1000, Fed 210M's, 162 A-Max). Confirmed my drops out to 1200 yards last week on two consecutive days-Lots fun!
Lloyd Smale
Member
ive got two a win featherweight and a ruger 77r. Both are great guns, very accurate and its one of my favorite hunting calibers. The win likes plain jane 145 speers and the ruger 140 sierras. Ive shot animals as big as 600 lbs with both bullets and never seen where i needed a premium bullet or a heavier one. I probably use more 4831sc then anything in them.
surfinUSA
Member
I love these 270 vs. 280 threads. Although both are great rounds and the 280 should really win on the popularity and attributes of the 7mm bullet it uses, I have to sit back with an icy cold one and think "who's your daddy?" why of course, its my favorite the 30-06.
Maverick223
Member
Actually it isn't...it is the .30-03Govt. (due to the longer case length). The .270Win. is derived from the same parent case.
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