280 or 7mm-08

L

Logan9885

New member
I have finally decided between two cals. for my new encore barrel....280 or 7mm-08. Which would you choose? Deer will be the game.
 
7mm-08.
VERY good round - use 139 to 150 grain soft points.
I love ballistic tip bullets, but if bullet hits a crusty snow covered spot on deer, it will open too soon and fail to do as it should. But I still use them!
End of story.

270Win is overrated in my opinion, takes a longer action and barrel to accomplish the same results.
Sorry read it wrong.

I have a 280 and love it but for shorter ranges and a quick handling gun, I would still use a 7mm-08. Mine is a Remington youth model 7 with walnut stock and 3x9 Leupold scope with QD rings. My 280 is in a 7400 model Remington.
If you want a "beanfield" rifle, get the 280 Ackley Improved version.
 
Having owned both in the past I can say there isn't a huge difference between the two. Expecially if you're going to use 140 grain bullets or lighter. The 7-08 Is more popular and easier to find ammunition for.

If I had to choose I'd pick to .280, simply because I don't hunt just deer. I also reload so not being able to find ammunition isn't a problem for me. Plus it will handle heavier bullets more easily than the 7-08.
 
7mm08 hands down. Its a great little cartridge and is capable of doing a whole lot more than most will give it credit for. I prefer the 150grn bullets as I get the best results accuracy wise from them. For deer, there is probably no better round out there, it has the best attributes of the .308 and the .243 mixed together.

The .280 is a good round too. I have a very nice A-bolt in .280 but it sits in my vault in favor of the 7mm08. If I think I'm going to be shooting across a beanfeild, then I'll grab the 7mmMag or 7mm08 still.
 
The .280 Remington is one of those oddball cartridges that never really caught on, but those who use it, love it. It's very useful and fits between the .25-06 and the.30-06, basically being a 7mm-06. Remington didn't help with the popularity of the cartridge, calling it for awhile, the 7mm Express. If I'm cruising the used gun racks, I'll look for it and I'd love to find an older Rem700 marked Express. I'd probably buy it just for the weirdness factor.

That said, the most accurate factory rifle I ever owned was a Rem Model 7 in 7mm-08. When I bought the rifle I also picked up two boxes of standard Remington green-box ammo and found that the little rifle shot those 139 grain core-lokt bullets into the same hole at 100 yards. I never bothered to reload for that rifle because I simply couldn't do any better than factory ammo. I hunted with that rifle for five years, then lost it in the financial dynamic of a bloody divorce. I miss the rifle a lot more than I miss the woman.
 
I used the old 7mm Express hunting deer and I use the 7-08 in a factory match class and my 280AI was a factory 280.

With the Encore your not worry about action length so that's a plus. I like the 280 and it's a good handloader case not that there is anything wrong with the 7-08.
 
I've read many good things about the .280, but I have never shot it. I do own a 7mm08, though, and I absolutely love it. It has been nothing but accurate, so far, and I have high hopes for it come deer season. I can get ammo for it for $16.99 a box locally, which is a pretty decent price for 7mm08, and, even with the cheap ammo, accuracy is not an issue.
 
Normally I'd prefer 7-08, but in that rifle I'd go 280 if you handload. If you're buying factory loads forget 280 in any gun.
 
For deer, within the common shooting distances of less than 200 yards (or even 300, for that matter) it's six of one, half-dozen of the other.

How to not "forget to take the ammo": Before hunting season, put a box of ammo in the glove compartment of whatever vehicle is to be used to go to the place of hunting. If it's already in there, a mid-season attack of the terminal stupid won't hurt a thing. :D
 
The 280 has very little benefit over the 7-08 and has drawbacks regarding ammo availability, load data, resale of the barrel, etc....

To me, it's a no brainer. 7-08 every day and twice on Sunday.

Performance is substantially identical, the cartridge is far more common.
 
I own both and have shot deer with both. No deer on the face of the earth will ever be able to tell if that 140 grain bullet was launched from a 7-08 or a .280. Personally I love the 7-08 but it has more to do with the little Rem Mdl 7 rifle vs. the Rem 700 than anything. And if your biggest worry is for some reason thing that a current Nosler Ballistic Tip bullet is going to explode on contact with a little snow on a deer then you need to find other things to worry about. Ballistic tips were for years my go to bullet, many many things dropped to them, never once had one mis-behave even in a 7 mag. (yeah I like 7mms;)
 
The 280 has very little benefit over the 7-08 and has drawbacks regarding ammo availability, load data, resale of the barrel, etc....

To me, it's a no brainer. 7-08 every day and twice on Sunday.

Performance is substantially identical, the cartridge is far more common.
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Peetza,

While I don't disagree with all your points it is all dependant on where you live as well. I agree the .280 ammunition isn't as common and the load data is weak. However, out here in Colorado the .280 is a pretty common rifle. Most people who own them wouldn't give them up for anything, and they are running them at .280 AI levels for the most part.

Encore rifles aren't as popular here as well as they are in your neck of the woods. But when people do sell the barrels out here, there is no real difference in the cost between the two if they are the same type of barrel unless you are talking pistol barrels. If I were running one as a pistol the 7-08 is the hands down winner.
 
Yeah? I guess I'm not too surprised. Big game hunting with rifles has not been legal in southern NY until very recently (and still isn't in some counties). Most people who have rifles only have the most common calibers. 22-250, 223, 243, 308, 30-06, etc.

I'm not sure I've ever seen 280 ammo in a store. Maybe Bass Pro has it, I'm not sure. Certainly no little guys. Even 7-08 isn't common around here, by any stretch.
 
7mm-08 / .280 Rem

the short round is a great cartridge, and if I was going for a lightweight mtn rifle, that would be a good choice.
I already have a .280 Remington 7400 that's as accurate as most bolt rifles and I'm looking at a Ruger M77 mkII in .280.
I know it's a long action, but it is such a great round, of course I handload, 130 grn to 162's and they all shoot really good,
but 150grn Remington Core Lokts group exceptional in my gun.
Thompson Center and Ruger "Hawkeye" have cataloged a .280 for this year, proving it's worth bringing back!!
 
Basically the same argument as the 30/06 vs 308. No best answer. Are you willing to compromise power for a POSSIBLE very slight increase in accuracy? Would you accept a little more effort at the reloading bench to have the power of the bigger case AND the accuracy to deliver that extra power a few more yards? I use all 4 cartridges mentioned and each has it's niche but those niches may be so narrow as to be undefineable in most cases.
Unrelated to this discussion is the fact that my old 30/06 was nicknamed"The Buck Hammer" by my kids( I don't name my guns) strictly based on it's ongame performance.
Longest kills by caliber:
30/06=540 yards deer
308=410 yards coyote
280=315 yards deer (Son's longest deer kill)
7mm08=285 yards deer-very tricky neck shot in heavy brush
all are adequate for most hunting conditions
 
Both rounds are equal unless you handload. Then you can get a little more out of the .280. I'd take the 7mm-08 (had one) because they are a short action and a really great deer rifle.
 
You can't go wrong with either cartridge,Deer being the game probably would sway towards the 7mm-08 because of ammo availability definitely it favors the 7mm-08.
I really like both.
Dad still has his Rem 721 280 I couldn't even count the number of deer that rifle has taken?Liked the 7mms so much 14 years ago I bought my son a Rem 700 mountain rifle in a 7mm-08 it has been a great deer rifle cartridge.
 
The 280 is a handloaders cartridge. With proper loads it is substantually better than the 7-08, especially when heavier bullets are involved and at longer ranges. The 7-08's biggest advantage is that it fits in a short action. In this rifle that is irrelevent. If buying factroy loads, then the 7-08 has a slight advantage.
 
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