Round count on 280 Remington Barrel...

[marksman13]

Anybody have real world experience on the barrel life for a 280 Remington? I’ve got my eyes on a Remington Model 700 CDL DM. At least, that’s what I think it is. Might be a 700 Mountain Rifle. I didn’t look really hard at Barrel profile, and I’m not super familiar with Remington’s models. I honestly looked at it for about thirty seconds while running in and out of the gun store the other day. Told the guy behind the counter to stick it behind the counter and I’d be back for it. Bore looked fine from a quick look, but how many rounds can a person expect to get from a 280 Remington before hunting accuracy goes to crap? I guess what I’m getting at is, should I really be worried about the bore? I don’t believe the 280 to be a real barrel burner, but I figure there are people here that know this cartridge much more intimately than I do. Thanks in advance.

 

[jmr40]

I've never seen any numbers on a 280. But I doubt a hunting rifle has had enough to wear it out. The general thinking is that 308 is good for around 5000 rounds for match grade accuracy and 10,000 for hunting. The 6.5 CM about 1/2 that. The 280 should be somewhere in between. Not many high volume 280 shooters out there. Would cost $2000-$4000 in ammo to wear it out if it only lasted 2500 rounds.

 

[Offfhand]

how many rounds can a person expect to get from a 280 Remington before hunting accuracy goes to crap?

Hope you live so long.

 

[marksman13]

I've never seen any numbers on a 280. But I doubt a hunting rifle has had enough to wear it out. The general thinking is that 308 is good for around 5000 rounds for match grade accuracy and 10,000 for hunting. The 6.5 CM about 1/2 that. The 280 should be somewhere in between. Not many high volume 280 shooters out there. Would cost $2000-$4000 in ammo to wear it out if it only lasted 2500 rounds.

Yeah, that pretty much echoes my thoughts. I can’t imagine this rifle has had a whole lot of rounds through it.

 

[marksman13]

My wife picked her up today and if I’m honest, I’m still not sure if I’ve got a Mountain Rifle or a CDL DM. Barrel profile does not seem all that light.

 

[marksman13]

I honestly think it’s a Mountain rifle. It’s a good bit lighter than my standard Ruger M77 and my Winchester M70 Extreme Weather.

 

[earlthegoat2]

.280 and .270 are not all that dissimilar. I don’t hear about people shooting out .270s.

 

[MistWolf]

My wife picked her up today and if I’m honest, I’m still not sure if I’ve got a Mountain Rifle or a CDL DM. Barrel profile does not seem all that light. View attachment 862092

It doesn't matter- you got a very nice rifle in a great caliber.

 

[marksman13]

It doesn't matter- you got a very nice rifle in a great caliber.

Eh, it matters strictly because I’m curious and OCD about stuff like that. Your point is accurate though. Very cool rifle.

 

[eastbank]

home work-home work, should be done before you buy. its a nice rifle weather a mountin rifle or not.

 

[marksman13]

At $450 the homework didn’t matter that much, honestly.

home work-home work, should be done before you buy. its a nice rifle weather a mountin rifle or not.

 

[Varminterror]

At $450 the homework didn’t matter that much, honestly.

It would if it needed a $700 rebarrel.

 

[marksman13]

I believe I’ll be okay.

 

[eastbank]

you liked the rifle and you bought it and you ask about it and maybe the answers were not what you wanted to hear. good luck with your new rifle.

 

[Varminterror]

The 280 is a hunting cartridge, where low round counts are common. Such, nobody is going to have burned out a lot of barrels in 280, and we’re all stuck speculating based on burning out barrels with other cartridges.

I heard a masochistic match shooter who shot .30-06’s for many years say he was happy to get 4,000rnds from a .30-06, holding 1moa as the standard for “death.” Expecting 3,000-3,500, then disappointing life would be 2,500. This would generally be considered LESS barrel life than a .308win, naturally, as the ‘06 is running faster and with more powder. The 280 is a step further worse, same case, same powder, a little less bore diameter, and lot more velocity. So “less than 3,000-3,500” is one point in space.

Lots of guys shoot 284win in matches, typically expecting ~2,000-2,500 rounds of barrel life - with what I expect to be a lot less tolerance than that old match shooter and his 30-06. Plenty of guys might only count on 1,500 from a 284, but these guys are also holding a pretty extreme standard for precision, much smaller than 1moa tolerance, and often running crazy high pressures with the 180’s burning ridiculous speeds. The 280 is a little bigger case, a little more powder, and a little higher speeds = “a little less barrel life than the 2,000-2,500” expectation for the 284 is another point in space for our speculation.

Equally, lots of guys have burned out 7mm Rem Mags, typically touting 700-1,000 rounds of match-stable precision. Compared now to the 7RM, the 280 is looking pretty good, with less case capacity, less powder, and less velocity = better barrel life. “Better than 700-1,000 rounds” is yet another point in space.

If you think the previous owner burned somewhere around 1,000 rounds in the barrel before you picked it up, and if you plan on burning more than another 1,000 rounds, I would say you may have something to worry about. If neither is the case, then I wouldn’t concern myself too terribly much.

 

[Varminterror]

View attachment 862173 I believe I’ll be okay.

If you’ve never installed a barrel yourself, then I can appreciate that it’s easy to misunderstand what that Brownells product LOOKS like.

That barrel isn’t a drop in part... it’s short chambered, so you still have to finish chamber.

$320 for the short chambered barrel. At least $100 for a smith to install and finish chamber (I’ll assume any Smith will have a .30-06 reamer and won’t charge to buy one), $175-200 if you want it muzzle threaded...

The $700 I referenced was based on buying contoured blanks at $350-385 (check bartlein’s site today yourself for pricing if you like), plus $350 to the smith to thread, chamber, and muzzle thread. Take off $75-100 if you aren’t threading the muzzle. Another $100 off if starting with a short chambered, threaded blank.

That Shilen short chamber LOOKS less expensive than a smith installed blank... until you actually buy the tools do the job yourself... been there, done that, and I’m sure I will again, knowing full well what it takes to install it properly. So you buy that Shilen barrel for $320, then $140 for you to buy the reamer, plus at LEAST a reamer handle for $35-50, and of course, that doesn’t give you anything for action bushings, another $50 for go-no go set, $80-100 for an action wrench, $80-100 for a barrel vise, $10 for cutting oil...

And of course, if you mess up and cut too deep, you’re on the hook to either buy a new $320 barrel, or spend $100 having a smith set back the barrel, plus might as well just pay their fee for doing the install and headspace at that point.

Personally, I prefer the piloted handle and reamer depth micrometer set up from PT&G better than the free hand reaming set up spelled out above, but there’s something like $450 or $500 into that reamer guide kit alone.

If you’d insist on the install yourself, instead of buying the short chambered Shilen blank and taking the risk yourself, you’d be FAR better off to buy a McGowen or PacNor Remage conversion for around $400-450, rent a set of go/no-go gauges for $25, then only be stuck buying a $50 barrel nut wrench, $80 action wrench, and using a pipe wrench to take off the old barrel.

 

[marksman13]

you liked the rifle and you bought it and you ask about it and maybe the answers were not what you wanted to hear. good luck with your new rifle.

I don’t see where you gave any answers. You made a statement about doing some homework. I asked a question about people’s experiences with 280 Remington barrel life. I then questioned what model of Remington 700 I actually had. You failed to answer either of those. Some members, @Varminterror in particular, were quite helpful and his answers were precisely what I wanted to hear.

 

[marksman13]

If you’ve never installed a barrel yourself, then I can appreciate that it’s easy to misunderstand what that Brownells product LOOKS like.

That barrel isn’t a drop in part... it’s short chambered, so you still have to finish chamber.

$320 for the short chambered barrel. At least $100 for a smith to install and finish chamber (I’ll assume any Smith will have a .30-06 reamer and won’t charge to buy one), $175-200 if you want it muzzle threaded...

The $700 I referenced was based on buying contoured blanks at $350-385 (check bartlein’s site today yourself for pricing if you like), plus $350 to the smith to thread, chamber, and muzzle thread. Take off $75-100 if you aren’t threading the muzzle. Another $100 off if starting with a short chambered, threaded blank.

That Shilen short chamber LOOKS less expensive than a smith installed blank... until you actually buy the tools do the job yourself... been there, done that, and I’m sure I will again, knowing full well what it takes to install it properly. So you buy that Shilen barrel for $320, then $140 for you to buy the reamer, plus at LEAST a reamer handle for $35-50, and of course, that doesn’t give you anything for action bushings, another $50 for go-no go set, $80-100 for an action wrench, $80-100 for a barrel vise, $10 for cutting oil...

And of course, if you mess up and cut too deep, you’re on the hook to either buy a new $320 barrel, or spend $100 having a smith set back the barrel, plus might as well just pay their fee for doing the install and headspace at that point.

Personally, I prefer the piloted handle and reamer depth micrometer set up from PT&G better than the free hand reaming set up spelled out above, but there’s something like $450 or $500 into that reamer guide kit alone.

If you’d insist on the install yourself, instead of buying the short chambered Shilen blank and taking the risk yourself, you’d be FAR better off to buy a McGowen or PacNor Remage conversion for around $400-450, rent a set of go/no-go gauges for $25, then only be stuck buying a $50 barrel nut wrench, $80 action wrench, and using a pipe wrench to take off the old barrel.

View attachment 862188 View attachment 862189 View attachment 862190 View attachment 862191 View attachment 862192 View attachment 862193

Very good points to consider. After doing some digging today, I found out that I know the former owner quite well, so I shot him a text asking about round count. He originally bought the gun new and five boxes of Hornady ammo. He still had one box of ammo, so the rifle has had less than 80 rounds through it. He was not sure if it was a Mountain Rifle or not, because frankly, he just didn’t care. He saw the gun. Liked it when he picked it up and bought. Sold it because he’s getting older and recoil was a little stiff. Also got tired of not being able to source ammo locally.

 

[gotboostvr]

Very good points to consider. After doing some digging today, I found out that I know the former owner quite well, so I shot him a text asking about round count. He originally bought the gun new and five boxes of Hornady ammo. He still had one box of ammo, so the rifle has had less than 80 rounds through it. He was not sure if it was a Mountain Rifle or not, because frankly, he just didn’t care. He saw the gun. Liked it when he picked it up and bought. Sold it because he’s getting older and recoil was a little stiff. Also got tired of not being able to source ammo locally.

Your barrel probably has a fair amount of life in it then I'd say.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I’m going to answer your questions in the original post very directly given the information provided in said post and the experience I have buying quite a few used rifles.

No you should not be worried about the barrel. Almost assuredly it has plenty of life left. People use .280 for hunting and hunting rifles usually don’t get shot much.

@Varminterror has outlined a reasonable speculation on barrel life for target shooters. For hunting accuracy (depending on your standards) you can probably triple that number.

But really, you should shoot the rifle to see how accurate it is now. That really is all that matters at this point because we don’t even have a baseline to judge anything else.

 

[marksman13]

I’m going to answer your questions in the original post very directly given the information provided in said post and the experience I have buying quite a few used rifles.

No you should not be worried about the barrel. Almost assuredly it has plenty of life left. People use .280 for hunting and hunting rifles usually don’t get shot much.

@Varminterror has outlined a reasonable speculation on barrel life for target shooters. For hunting accuracy you can probably triple that number.

But really, you should shoot the rifle to see how accurate it is now. That really is all that matters at this point because we don’t even have a baseline to judge anything else.

It’s getting shot tomorrow. Had a chance to look at the bore last night and clean the rifle up. It has spent some time riding in the back seat of a truck during hunting season, but it hasn’t been shot much at all according to the previous owner and what I see looking down the barrel bears that out. Also, it is a mountain rifle for sure. Overall, it might be the best $450 I ever spent.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Sounds like a great deal. Good rifle and cartridge combo.