280 Remington Range Report

[JD338]

My buddy had given me his Ruger M77 280 Remington this past spring to give it a good cleaning and load it up for his son to use this year on WT deer.

I took it out to the range to try one of my proven loads....

280 Remington
140 gr BT/PT
IMR 4350 52.5 grs
R-P case
W-W WLR primers

With the 140 gr BT (factory seconds) I had to get to zero and of course fouling shots but she settled doen and 3 shots went .581" in the center diamond.
The next group in the lower went .359" so I called it good. This load has a Avg MV of 2747 fps, ES 84 SD 28. Not a top end velocity but accurate and perfect for a 12 yr old to hunt deer with.

The group on the right is the same load with 140 gr PT seconds. The first two went .575" and I messed up the third shot! These 3 had an avg MV of 2769 fps, ES 17, SD 9.
I will load up a few more PT's just so they have them.

JD338

 

[Woodycreek]

Looks like you have a great combo ready to go for him.

 

[nodak7mm]

JD,

Your Flippin Golden with the .280..... :grin:

Makes me want to buy one & send to you for its blessings.....

Good shooting...

Rod

 

[SJB358]

Great shooting Jim. That kid is well set up now! He could hunt deer for the rest of his life with those loads and never know he wasn't shooting full house loads, and probably kill everything deader than a door knob! Scotty

 

[DrMike]

Those are some great groups with the 280. With the 140 grain BT or PT, it will be deadly on whitetail. A 140 grain anything in my 280 drops deer like a hammer. The young man should have a great hunt.

 

[Scott Spencer]

Great shooting, Jim!! Looks sort of similar to my Ruger M77 Hawkeye .280 Rem performance. :grin:

280 Rem
140 AB
Rem brass
51 gr IMR4350
F210M primer
2741 fps avg

 

[DrMike]

Am I going to be forced to throw up some of my targets? Great group, Scott. It is the sort of groups I expect from the 280. I must say that if the day should ever come that I was forced to pare down my collection to one rifle, my 280 would be in contention for the last rifle to leave my safe.

 

[JD338]

Scott,

That is some excellent shooting! Plenty fast enough to quickly and effeciently take deer size game and the accuracy to place the bullet precisely where it needs to go.
Great job Scott!

JD338

 

[JD338]

Am I going to be forced to throw up some of my targets? Great group, Scott. It is the sort of groups I expect from the 280. I must say that if the day should ever come that I was forced to pare down my collection to one rifle, my 280 would be in contention for the last rifle to leave my safe.

Mike,

I agree with you, the 280 Rem is tough to beat. Load it to the true potential with the right bullet and you have a round that is capable of taking every animal in North America.

JD338

 

[FOTIS]

Not too shabby for one of the most underrated rounds!

 

[Oldtrader3]

Remington sure mismanaged marketing of one of the best .30-06 cloned cartridge designs ever. First chambered in the 1950's for only for the Model 740-760 semi-Auto's, then the disastrastrous name change. Some how the caliber has mangaged to rise about all of that . Plus, a great many custom made, really high quality, bolt action, custom rifle have been made in the past almost 50 years of this cartridge's history.

I own a Browning A-Bolt and it is a very accurate, capable round for any deer sized game in your hunting areas.