What's your go to 280 Rem bullet/powder combo?

[YoteSmoker]

I just bought a semi-auto Remington 7400 in 280 Rem for my girlfriend as she is left handed. I'm a bolt or single shot guy myself and this will be the first semi auto rifle or rifle in 280 cal. I'd appreciate any experience and advice in loading for this gun and also for the 280 Rem. I admit I don't have a lot of time to experiment with loads as the season is only a few weeks away. Thanks for your help!

 

[YoteSmoker]

Here's a link with pics of the gun: http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIt ... =140652096

 

[DrMike]

The 280 has to be my all-time favourite cartridge. I have several loads that shoot very well for me. Nosler 140 grain PT and 54 grains of H100V gives excellent velocities and very fine groups. Nosler 140 grain AB and 56 grains of RL19 gives less velocity but even better groups. 57 grains of RL19 and 140 grain BST is also a very good round. I'm certain your GF will enjoy the rifle. I have seen some of the 7400 that were exceptionally accurate, and they are a pleasure to shoot.

 

[wildman]

Yote not sure if this will help you or not but I have a browning bar in a 280 rem. that simple loves hornady's factory loaded 139 grain sst bullets ,it's just there standard load not the light magnum stuff .Hope this helps ya out a lil.. :grin:

 

[6mm Remington]

I had a Remington MTN rifle in .280 that loved 140 gr. Partitions over 54.0 grs. of IMR4350. It also shot equally well with the same bullet over 59.0 grs. of H4831SC. I used Winchester cases and Federal Primers. The .280 Remington is one of the best out there period!!

 

[JD338]

Yote,

The 280 Rem is a great caliber. My go to load is 1 140 gr PT or BT with 57.0 grs of RL 19. This is a MAX load that has shot very well out of a couple of M700's. You may want to back it off a couple grains for the semi auto action.

Let us know how she shoots, and your girlfriend too. :grin:

JD338

 

[YoteSmoker]

Thanks guys! I just got back from bass pro with some rem brass (prefer win but it was nickle plated), dies, and some 140 accubonds to try out. I have IMR4350, RL22, and H4831SC on hand to play with along with some 210 primers. Will let you know in the next couple of weeks how she shoots. I hear ya JD on working up around mid-range loads for it at around 7mm08 velocities and keep the recoil down. In fact, I was contemplating buying a 7mm08 barrel for my Encore but for not much more I was able to buy a complete rifle with scope in a repeater, which is probably better for a new hunter anyways.

 

[JD338]

Yote

Here are a couple more loads. These were shot out of a 700 Classic 280 Rem
so work up slowly.

140 gr PT
IMR 4831 56.0 grs .670"

IMR 4350 53.0 grs .5xx"

160 gr PT
IMR 4831 54.0 grs .400"

JD338

 

[old #7]

Reloader 19 and 140 bt's or ab's 210 primers and norma brass shoot the best in my rem 700 ltd 280
Congrats on the new rifle.

 

[Desert Fox]

My 280 recipe - 150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip, IMR 4831 55.5 grain. Good for bolt gun but too hot for your 7400.

 

[buckfever]

53.5 gr RL 19 120 bts works great for deer low recoil and very accurite and 57 gr of RL19 and 140 gr pt for Elk is what I load for my wifes Ruger M77

 

[RiverRider]

I was convinced H1000 was the nuts for .280 (and .270 as well), at least for a time. It does work well, but you just can't *quite* get enough of it into those cases to get top performance with a 150-grain bullet so you end up giving up about 100 to 150 fps with H1000 as compared to H4831. With 59.0 grains of H4831, 3,000 fps can be had.

Before anyone gets excited and declares that to be an overload, first explain to me why an '06 case can be loaded to 65,000 psi (as in .270 Winchester) with a .277" bullet, but must be kept down to 60,000 psi when you stuff it with a .284" bullet (as in .280 Remington).

Whether or not you believe the .280 is perfectly safe at 65,000 psi, it's hard to do better than H4831.

 

[longwinters]

My 280 loves about everything you can put down the pipe as long as I use H4831. In my rifle 140 Accubonds and 58 gns of 4831 is just amazing.

Long

 

[RiverRider]

Longwinters, I tried 140-grain Accubonds in mine, but it just wouldn't shoot them no matter what I did or what powder I tried. I think if I had seated closer to the lands, I may have achieved good accuracy but then the rounds would have been too long for my magazine. After a lot of frustration I tried 150-grain Partitions and groups went to sub-MOA immediately. It likes Winchester 150-grain PP soft points too.

 

[blacktailhunter]

My go to load for the 280 is 56.0gr of IMR4831 with the 145grn Speer Hot-Cor or BTSP. A close second is 55.0gr IMR4831 with the 140grn Ballistic Tip. H4831 was a poor perfomer in both velocity and accuracy. R-22 is very popular in the 280 Rem. 44gr of IMR4064 with a 150grn Sierra is a known accuracy load and would be a good one to look at for an auto-loader.

 

[Powerstroke]

Yote,
Congrats on the new gun ! My .280 has always been my light carry gun. Hard to beat it for an all around caliber.
My bolt M-700 turned out to be a finicky son of a gun however... but it loves 150gr B-tips and Viht N-165 powder.

Short of that all I hear is how good the RL-19 works for the .280

Good luck and keep us posted !

 

[longwinters]

RiverRider,

My 280 likes Partitions as well. Course rifles are different, but the OAL on my Accubonds is 3.330

Long

 

[HTDUCK]

55-57 grains of RL19 and either a 140 BT or AB are like lightning in my Rem 700.
The last group I shot with 55 grains of RL19 and ABs was five rounds I could cover with a dime.
YMMV and I'd also reccomend backing that charge down a bit due to the 7400s action.I have my dads old 740 in 280 that he bought in about 1957 and it likes 52 grains of IMR 4350 and 145 Speer BTSPs.

 

[YoteSmoker]

Thanks for all the advice. I ended up trying some loads with the 160 AB and IMR4350, but was unhappy with the 3" or worse groups in the 7400. Went back to the range yesterday with a federal box of 150 Partitions and 150 core-lokts as time is getting short. My girlfriend was able to sigt in and shoot 1.5" groups with the 150 Partition factory loads and from a semi, I was pretty happy with the results. She saved the rest of them to hunt with and shot the core-lokts to get comfortable with her gun which shot those in about 2" groups. She is very confident and happy with it and said the deer and elk don't stand a chance. That works for me! We will be leaving Friday morning to set up elk camp. Time to clean the gun and sharpen knives now...

 

[Powerstroke]

Yote,

Good luck to you both ! Weekend weather looks to be fantastic.
I'm headed out to help my Dad and another hunting buddy this weekend for both deer and elk.

Fill us in when you get back.