I have the opportunity to pick up a Sako 75 Finnlite in .280 caliber at a great price. However, I am not that familar with the .280 and I do not hand load.
This gun would mostly be used for deer (whitetail and mulies). Would I be satisfied with this caliber?
Great cartridge especially if you handload. I believe factory ammo is loaded to less than safe maximum due to Remington chambering their auto-loader for it. Ammo can be a little hard to find though.
The 280 Rem. is a very good cartridge but not as popular as the 270 Win. The 280 can be used for deer, elk or moose hunts depending on the bullet. If you could reload this cartridge, it could be reloaded from 120 grain all the way to 175 grain bullets. You should be satisfied with the 280 depending on the availability on what they keep in stock at the sporting good stores.
I have a finnlite in 7mm mag. Fabulous rifle. The .280 although very similar is a better round than both the 06 and .270 in my opinion. Buy it you won't regret it!!!!
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Excellent cartridge, factory ammo can be had just not as much choice as say 7 rem mag, 270win, etc. For a handloader it has great potential as their is a wealth of .284 bullets to choose from without the recoil and blast of a rem mag. However since you really want it for deer you should have no trouble tracking down appropriate factory ammo to use(Winchester, Federal, Rem, Hornady)...if you said moose or elk then the choice narrows somewhat in OTC ammo.
The .280 Remington will do nearly exactly anything the .30-06 or the .270 will do, no more.........no less! It has fewer factory loads than either of the other two simply because it is not as popular.
You should be very happy with it based on your proposed uses. (Don't let anyone tell you it is either better, or worse than either of the other two named cartridges. It is only a matter of preference!)
Hope this helps.
Dave
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I second akbound, the 280 is not better, no worse than the 06 or 270. Same casing different bullet caliber. I look at it this way, it did not really take off when introduced so either folks didn't like it or more likely it didn't offer any advantages over the existing cartridges. Don't know about your area but in mine it would be hard to walk into any shop and have hopes of a selection of factory ammo on the shelf. If you buy this rifle, learn to handload or stockpile your ammo.
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RE: .280 Caliber
7mm remington express will chamber in a gun marked for .280, somewhere I heard you can shoot a 7mm remington express through a .280, but you cant shoot a .280 through a gun marked for 7mm remington express.
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.280 Caliber
