reform 30-06 to get 280Rem brass

[roysclockgun]

In a trade I am acquiring a Browning Stainless Stalker with CR BOSS, in 280Rem. For years I cleaved unto my 270Win. but learned that in the area of ballistics, the 280Rem. is superior. I will not have much in the rifle, so that makes ownership even sweeter. I am putting a Zeiss 3-9x40mm Conquest scope on the rifle. The scope I also recently acquired in a trade, so the fun will begin when I hand load various concoctions and begin to range test, in order to find the load that I want.
My question is: Since I have a large inventory of both 30-06 brass and 270Win. brass, which one will be best to reform into 280Rem. brass? Either? Neither? What?
I am thinking of loading 160gr. AccuBond bullets for the 280Rem., rather than the 140gr. AccuBond that I have used successfully on white tails and mule deer for a number of years. The reason being that here in Florida, I am getting more opportunities to kill wild pigs and the 140gr. AccuBond has not proven to be a bullet that can knock a pig down. At least that is what I am finding. Will the 160gr bullet appreciably increase the knock down potential?
I am looking forward to enjoying range work with the 280Rem. as I have always been able to fire many rounds at one sitting, firing 30-06 and 270Win., but not so much fun firing all day with 7mmRemMag!!
Thanks in advance for an recommendations,
Steven

 

[DrMike]

The 280 is one of my favourite cartridges. I get 1/4 inch groupings with a variety of bullets out of my 280. I shoot 139/140 grain bullets almost exclusively. I would think that a 140 grain PT or a 140 grain AB would work very well on hog. I'm getting 2800 to 2900 fps with these bullets from a 22 inch barrel. I wouldn't be uncomfortable taking a large black bear, and this cartridge would be better than a stick in the eye should I be required to face a grizzly. It should work quite well with hogs. However, there should be no question but that a 150 PT or a 160 AB will do the job quite well. You will need to fire form the brass you have, whichever you opt to use, as the shoulder on the 280 is set forward to avoid chambering a round in a 270. I would think it will be easier to neck down than to neck up, so the 30-06 brass may be easier, unless you have a tapered ball on your sizing die, in which case the 270 brass will neck up easily. You are only expanding the neck of a 270 by 0.007 inches. That is an excellent scope you have chosen. I have three of them, and they are great scopes.

 

[OldMan]

In a trade I am acquiring a Browning Stainless Stalker with CR BOSS, in 280Rem. For years I cleaved unto my 270Win. but learned that in the area of ballistics, the 280Rem. is superior. I will not have much in the rifle, so that makes ownership even sweeter. I am putting a Zeiss 3-9x40mm Conquest scope on the rifle. The scope I also recently acquired in a trade, so the fun will begin when I hand load various concoctions and begin to range test, in order to find the load that I want.
My question is: Since I have a large inventory of both 30-06 brass and 270Win. brass, which one will be best to reform into 280Rem. brass? Either? Neither? What?
I am thinking of loading 160gr. AccuBond bullets for the 280Rem., rather than the 140gr. AccuBond that I have used successfully on white tails and mule deer for a number of years. The reason being that here in Florida, I am getting more opportunities to kill wild pigs and the 140gr. AccuBond has not proven to be a bullet that can knock a pig down. At least that is what I am finding. Will the 160gr bullet appreciably increase the knock down potential?
I am looking forward to enjoying range work with the 280Rem. as I have always been able to fire many rounds at one sitting, firing 30-06 and 270Win., but not so much fun firing all day with 7mmRemMag!!
Thanks in advance for an recommendations,
Steven

Steven, I did just what you are asking some years ago and it worked just fine using 30-06 brass necked down and trimmed in the 280. A word of caution if you reload your 280 and also have a 7mmRemMag! I shot my home brewed 280 round in my 7 mag by accident. I was really lucky as all it did was blow the floorplate off and break the clip that held the extractor to the bolt. I would have shot again if the case had extracted! I had the 280 in my gun rack along with my 7mm and while heading to my hunt I spotted a nice buck, grabbed the 7mm and jumped out and shot. I went up to the buck to finish it off with an empty gun, reached in my pocket for another shell and finished it off. I felt a big blast of hot air against my pant leg and felt something hit my foot (floorplate).

 

[chet]

Old man, That is scary shite!!!!!! I can't see how the 280 cartridge even fired, especially pointing downward at a wounded animal, gravity would have moved the case far enough away from the firing pin. It must have just happend just right!! scary man!!!! the case heads are different size too...... the extractor must have held it against the bolt face somehow,
At least it was the right bullet diameter, lord knows what woulda happened if it was a 30-06 shell :shock:

 

[R Flowers]

You should have a great time with the new rifle. The 280 is a much overlooked cartridge that deserves the apparent new interest it is receiving.

Necking 270 Win brass up or 30-06 brass down should either one work fine. You may have to fire form the cases though, as the base to shoulder length on the 270 and 30-06 are both 1.948 inches, while the same measurement on the 280 is 1.999 inches. (according to the latest Nosler Reloading Manual)

In regards to bullets, I would forget the AccuBond all together. You indicate you do not think the 140 grain AccuBond is much of a hog bullet, I don't think the 160 will be either. I would suggest going with the 150 or 160 grain Partition, I think it will work MUCH better.

In regard to a 280 round firing in a 7mm Rem Mag, it will happen! Why do you think Remington changed the name back so fast when they tried renaming the 280 Remington the 7mm Remington Express? People interpreted the Express as meaning it was a magum load and shot them in 7mm Rem Mag rifles, with much the same effect as listed above. Heck, one guy did that here in town and he owned a gun store. It sure messed that rifle up and scared the heck out of him.

 

[Elkman]

Roy
I will stick my neck out here and say it would be easier to size the 270 into the 280, and along with that a couple of cautions. If you still own an 06 and 270 you will almost need to paint or mark the seperate cartridges. You have three cartridges all based on a 06 case with different bullet diameters. Without being really careful you could intermix with disasterous results. I have an 06 and 280 and I always load them seperatly (by days) and always keep each caliber in a different colored box. I never mix them in any way. Good luck with your 280 you will love it. I already mentioned it but the 160 PT is a wonderful hunting bullet.

 

[JD338]

You can fire form 30-06 cases to 280 Rem but new R-P 280 Rem brass would save you time and money (bullets) by not going through the fire forming process. Locally, Remington 280 Rem brass is about $18.95 per bag of 50 pcs.

JD338

 

[SJB358]

Yeah, it is hard to mess with resizing since it is so cheap to buy properly head stamped brass. Plus, you won't have to shoot a bunch of rounds just to get nicely fireformed brass for your chamber! Scotty

 

[Guy Miner]

It's been a long time since I hunted pigs, but as I recall the preferred kill shot was well forward in the chest, through the shoulder rather than behind. Heart was low in the chest too. I'd think pretty much any bullet well forward in the chest would work.

Haven't got a clue about making .280 brass from .30-06 brass, I just leave it as .30-06 and call it good! :grin:

Regards, Guy

 

[elkeater2]

I load 7mm-06, .25-06, 7mm-08, .308. and .243, and have done some down and upsizing. Different color boxes works, until you put them in your pocket or backpack. To avoid confusion and disaster, I recently started using different color sharpies coloring all the way around inside the extractor rim. It doesn't wear off and can be checked easily. Works for me.

 

[Mountain Goat]

Don't even consider using 270 or 30-06 brass, even with a large inventory on hand. 280 Rem brass isn't difficult to find and isn't expensive. Mixing head stamps is not a safe practice, and in your case, it's easily avoided. You would need to fireform the first loads which is just a waste of components and forces you to start with once-fired brass, if not twice or thrice-fired. Right there, you will have spent more $ than if you purchased new 280 brass to begin with.

I'm not sure why you consider the 140 AccuBond inadequate for pigs, but since I haven't hunted pigs, I can't add any experience except that they work very well on other big game animals. I can't imagine the 160's not performing well. Personally, I would use one of the monometal offerings, the 140 or 150gr E-Tip would be an excellent place to start. It would be difficult to stay away from the 160-175gr Partition if you don't shoot long distance. Those plow through the tough stuff and really bore a nice wound channel.

The 280 is one of the best all-around cartridges in terms of performance, versatility and shootability, which is why it's one of my favorites. Just because the 270 and the 30-06 were first doesn't make them better, it just means that they have more ownership. A good design is a good design no matter how old, or new. Say RemSpringChester introduced these three cartridges in the same year and none of them had a pimp writer for support, which is the best? I say they all are, but for different reasons.

 

[DrMike]

Mountain Goat,

Welcome to the forum; good to have you on board. Thanks for your input. 280 Remington brass is fairly easy to obtain (even in Canada). I certainly concur with your assessment that the 280 is a great cartridge. It is a grossly underrated cartridge which has harvested many head of game for me.

 

[JD338]

Mountain Goat

Welcome to the forum, happy to have you here with us.
I couldn't agree more with your thoughts, the 280 Rem is a classic.

JD338

 

[roysclockgun]

The input from this group always causes me to know why I read what is contributed on this site. I had not thought through the idea of using either 30-06 or 270Win brass to create 280Rem brass. Of course, as others have already written, doing so would be not only foolish and perhaps create a hazard, but not cost effective. I will order 280 brass when I order the reloading dies.
About this statement : "Say RemSpringChester introduced these three cartridges in the same year and none of them had a pimp writer for support, which is the best? I say they all are, but for different reasons.Mountain Goat "
I think that Mountain Goat and I are on the same dance card. However, had the scenario taken place were 30-06, 270Win and 280Rem had all be introduced, on a level playing field and on the same day, I wager that 280Rem would, today be in the top two cartridges, right behind 30-06. 30-06 had a number of advantages. It was the first out of the chute. It did come with millions of rounds either released or being supplied by the US military and other country's militaries, either at very low cost or no cost. And, probably most important the 30-06 had a number of waves of surplus military rifles released to the public, in a time when money was tight and a $12 rifle chambered for 30-06 could easily be cut-down and used for any sort of meat gathering.
When Remington introduced the 280Rem, renamed and recycled from the 7mmExpress, the real nut to crack, was to sell the 280Rem head to head, against the 270Win. The 270Win had a lead of several years and plus, had been pumped by writers like Jack O'Connor, who must have killed everything in the world that walks or crawls, using his trusty 270Win chambered rifles! While I can argue that ballistically the 280Rem is superior to the 270Win (even Old Jack in his latter days agreed to that!) the 280Rem just could not knock the 270Win out of the box. A similar event took place when Remington brought out their 6mmRem. Many riflemen will agree that the 6mmRem is superior to the 243Win. So what? One cannot find new rifles chambered for 6mmRem today, while even big box outlets carry rifles chambered for 243Win. We could go on, telling of the great fanfare that occurred upon the introduction of the 260Rem.! My gosh, if one believed the gun rag hacks, the 260Rem was going to make five or six other, older cartrdiges obsolete, in no time flat. But today it is gone from the shelves.
Summing all this up, and again agreeing with Mountain Goat, there are many cartridges out there that a very young man could buy and keep and use for his entire life and never be undergunned, nor miss game. A local acquaintence, whom I often chat with regarding the long Florida deer season, carries a much worn US Model of 1917 in the original chamber of 30-06. He only buys one ammo, which happens to be 180gr. Rem. Core-Lokt. The regular rifle season for deer runs from Nov. 13 to Jan. 9. This gent is in the woods with his scarred, cut-down 30-06 rifle for at least 20 days out of 30. So far this year, he has bagged six deer, with three being antlered bucks. I doubt anyone on this panel could convince him that he needs another rifle, in any caliber!
Where I differ from that hunter is in the area of being fascinated by owning and using many rifles and many calibers. Please, don't make me choose only one! <8^))
Steven

 

[OldMan]

There was one thing I forgot to mention, When fireforming the 30-06 to 280 you must leave a headspace bump. I always sized mine to fit tight in the 280 because the headspace of the 280 is longer than the 30-06. I agree that it is best to use the right brass to start with.

 

[chet]

roy, well written! I could'nt agree more

 

[FOTIS]

There was one thing I forgot to mention, When fireforming the 30-06 to 280 you must leave a headspace bump. I always sized mine to fit tight in the 280 because the headspace of the 280 is longer than the 30-06. I agree that it is best to use the right brass to start with.

+1

 

[PJGunner]

There was one thing I forgot to mention, When fireforming the 30-06 to 280 you must leave a headspace bump. I always sized mine to fit tight in the 280 because the headspace of the 280 is longer than the 30-06. I agree that it is best to use the right brass to start with.