I have the 26 inch barrel NEF 280. I got my second deer with that. 200 yard shot. Droped in its tracks. 120 grain Sierra pro-hunter bullet at 2900 + a little fps. Its the only load I have tried so far I had some left from a long time ago. One could catch flack for saying this but the 25-06 or the 280 with Barnes X bullets will cleanly take anything in North America with the exception of the big bears. Even at that they have also fallen to smaller rifles than that. The Barnes X bullet if it shoots well in your gun, makes a killing machine out of samller rifles. A friend of mine shot a big muley buck this year with a 223 with the 45 grain X bullet. It broke both front shoulders and exited as they always do. I have a Swift 3x9 on my 280 and though I have a few Leupolds I am very happy with the performance of this 99.00 dollar Swift. I have a VX-1 on my 257 Roberts and a 6X fixed Luepold on my 260. I would buy another Swift in a heart beat.