280 Rem 700 custom shop

I acquired a very nice 280 Remington in a Rem 700 Custom shop mountain rifle with a 24" tube and bedded into a Mcmillan stock. It wears a set of Talley lightweights with a Vari X II 4-12x40 with fine duplex and target knobs. It is going to be my packing/backup rifle to the 16# 7-300 win mag. Working up a load with the 160g Sierra TMKs and H4831, Hornady brass, Win LR primer. Did a ladder test from 52-57.4g in .2g increments and was surprised at the sheer accuracy of this combo, and also the dismal speeds. Cant figure out how to post pics through the smartphone, but it's pretty interesting none the less.

The rifle

The target and chronograph results

Target/crony results

Hornady brass is garbage in a 280 BTW...The weight variation from low to high was 15g...Not impressed at all and I contribute the 2 flyers to brass capacity issues.

If I wanted to shoot the 160g at 2600fps I think it would do bug holes all day, however 2600fps for a 160g out of a 280 is about worthless for what I want it for, I need at least 2800fps. 57.4 gives right at 2800fps, but it's warm, plus it doesnt seem like H4831 will shoot as good at 2800fps as it will at 2600fps looking at the target...I have 2# to burn up of H4831 so I'll probably see how it shoots with 5 rounds loaded at 57g and go from there. Will definitely be trying a different powder to add a 100fps, with less pressure, and shoot at the higher node. Any recommendations from some 280 shooters?

remingtonman_25_06":3cd0mcp8 said:

If I wanted to shoot the 160g at 2600fps I think it would do bug holes all day, however 2600fps for a 160g out of a 280 is about worthless for what I want it for, I need at least 2800fps. 57.4 gives right at 2800fps, but it's warm, plus it doesnt seem like H4831 will shoot as good at 2800fps as it will at 2600fps looking at the target...I have 2# to burn up of H4831 so I'll probably see how it shoots with 5 rounds loaded at 57g and go from there. Will definitely be trying a different powder to add a 100fps, with less pressure, and shoot at the higher node. Any recommendations from some 280 shooters?

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It's looking like H4831 is too slow of a burn.
My personal choices of powder for the 280 Rem is Alliant Reloder 22 or 26. If you don't get 2900 fps with either of those 2 powders, there is something wrong.

Hawk

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H4831 is a faster burn than either of those. RL22 or 7828 was what I was thinking to try next. Always had good luck with RL22

remingtonman_25_06":2dkv3i2l said:

H4831 is a faster burn than either of those. RL22 or 7828 was what I was thinking to try next. Always had good luck with RL22

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RL-22 is an amazing powder. I don't think you'll have any pressure signs, and if you throttle all the way up to 60,000 psi, your rifle will handle it without any problem.
RL-26 is even a little better, if you can find any.

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Starline 30-06 brass turned out to be of excellent quality.

Would it be advantageous to re-form Starline 30-06 or 270 Win brass to the 280 Rem?

Guy

Guy Miner":ky98kh70 said:

Starline 30-06 brass turned out to be of excellent quality.

Would it be advantageous to re-form Starline 30-06 or 270 Win brass to the 280 Rem?

Guy

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I believe the .270 brass would be the closest to the .280, and it wouldn't work the brass all that much compared to the '06.

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I am going to more than likely just bite the bullet and order some 280 Norma brass....I thought of necking down 3006 Lapua, but I've read that necking up the 270 is the better route to go, if one was going to do such things.

I was actually able to find 280 Rem Winchester Nickel plated cases on GunBroker for a really decent price.
So I bought 100 of them.
All the components are out there online, you just have to go get them.
I buy 7mm bullets locally. The Sporting goods store down the street only has Hornady. I'm very happy to buy those.

Hawk

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My experience with Star line pistol brass would make me want to buy the rifle cases too. They're that good!

Hawk

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Winchester 280 brass is on shelves here in Missoula.

Nosler makes some excellent 280 brass. Check Shooter's Pro Shop every 3-4 days for over-runs and blemished cases. It's a good deal on them usually and the brass is really good.

Winchester 280 brass is on shelves here in Missoula.

Nosler makes some excellent 280 brass. Check Shooter's Pro Shop every 3-4 days for over-runs and blemished cases. It's a good deal on them usually and the brass is really good.

Sportsman's Warehouse - Missoula MT. 406-523-9000

Is that brass or nickel cases? I dont want nickel, that stuff is junk and that's all I can ever find in winchester.

I'm a little late to the party to answer your question "I have 2# to burn up of H4831 so I'll probably see how it shoots with 5 rounds loaded at 57g and go from there. Will definitely be trying a different powder to add a 100fps, with less pressure, and shoot at the higher node. Any recommendations from some 280 shooters?"

For me with a 160 grain AB in a 24" barrel I'm hitting 2800-2850 fps depending on weather.
RL-22 (can't recall charge weight but it was above most load books, and either 54.5 or 55.5 grains)
Nosler brass
CCI 200 primers
Load doesn't give pressure signs in my 280 Rem.

Oh yah, I'm about 3-4g over book max because books are very conservative with 280s since they originally came out in pump rifles. I have a 700, so I asked for 270 pressures. No reason a 280 should have any problems pushing a 160g to 2850-2900fps.

Remman,

I'm a little late here too. I have almost a twin to your rifle except with a 22" barrel. You must have a slow lot of H4831. I got 2803fps @80*F with 160 Part. in RP brass with RP 9 1/2 & 56.5 gr from an old can of H4831 into .642" for 4 shots @100 yds. 58gr gave me 2892fps @70* & less accuracy as well as starting to show pressure with .001" base expansion over factory load. Same 56.5gr load, same accuracy but speed dropped about 60fps @ 40*F.

I also got right at 2800fps with same brass, primer & 58.5gr IMR7828 at .586" @100 yds. for 3 shots with #1 being a clean barrel flyer to a tad over an inch. There was .0002" base expansion over factory & crunchy bullet seating. 7828SCC might work better?

This was all done back when RL19 & RL22 were magical new powders that worked well in my 280s but I concentrated more on 140 & 150 Solid Bases (remember them?) with no special brass prep (maybe flash holes & primer pocket depth) & partial FL resizing.

Hope that helps.