ejpaul1

Howdy all, I am contemplating getting either a 280 with a 26 inch barrell or a 7mm mag with a 24 inch barrell. I was thinking that the 280 with the 2 inch longer barrell on the 280 would be darn close in velocity (with the right powder)to an average 7mm mag of similar bullet. I am hoping Drilling Man and bigbulls can reply on this one. Tell me what you all think. EJ

DM

I really like my 7 express Rem... It's light weight, very accurate and quite handy for a bolt action. Also it has done a very good job of flattening everything i've shot with it.

Useing the proper bullets, it will easily harvest 98% of everything walking in the lower 48 and Alaska, so what's not to like??

I just don't understand why anyone needs to "squeak" out that last hundred fps out of it with a long bbl.. I've flattened everything with mine and it has a 21" bbl. that i find MUCH handier.. I hate stalking game with long bbl. guns.

My vote goes to a 280 with a 22" bbl, or if you must, the 7 mag. with a 24 or 26" bbl... At least the 7 mag. has enough case capacity to use the extra bbl. length.

I use to shoot a 7 mag. quite a bit, and for me it's only better than a 280 with the "heaviest bullets", on the "biggest animials". (read brown bear) A 7 Mag. with 175 NP's do flatten big bears, and works very well for that purpose.

I went away from the 7 mag. when i built my 7 express Rem., and it was a good choise for me. I never liked the extra noise, recoilor weight of the 7 mag..

Drilling Man

ejpaul1

Well, I ask about the 26 inch barrell because NEF offers it as an accessory barrell. I either want another 270 or a 280. Thier kinda close in ballistics so I torn. I dont have the cash to get either right now, but I figured that it is a good time to research. Thanks, EJ

AmericanPioneer

I would go with .280 in 26 inch. The NEF has a short action like my Encore, so the 26" barrel wont be so noticable. You will get higher velocity with it in the lower grain bullets but I dont know about the heavier 175 gr. There will be less recoil also. You could call a technician from one of the major reloading companies and ask them what they think. They do it for a living. I have and they usually will help you.

zrexpilot

I vote for the .280, I have never owned one but I have had2 .270's and I was less than pleased with accuracy, could have been the guns but my buds .270 was the same.
He sold his as I did mine.

ejpaul1

Well Zrex, I might be with you on choosing the 280 but for bulet selection reasons. I did read an article about how the 270 seemed to be inherently less accureate than other calibers, but the end of the argument was that the bullet selection was the blame if there was any. The test barell they used was pumping out groups of three that touched consistently. So, I am thinking it was the rifle. Thanks for the info and I know, I should just get another 243 Instead! EJ

buckstalker1187

280 (24" barrel) using 140gr. softpoint = 2780 fps @ the muzzle
--------------------using 150gr.soft point core lokt = 2660 fps @ muzzle
--------------------using 165gr soft point core lokt = 2300 fps @ muzzle

7mm rem mag (24" barrel) using 150gr.soft point core lokt = 2675 fps@mz
-------------------------using 175gr.soft point core lokt = 2400 fps@mz
-------------------------using 140gr.softpoint = 2400fps @mz

280 (26") using 165gr. extended range bowtail = 2990fps @muzzle
7mm (26") using 165gr. extended range bowtail = 3056fps @muzzle

hope this helps

bsteve

Buckstalker , I don't know the source of your ballistics, but I don't agree with them. I have a Rem. 700 .280 with a 22 inch barrel and I get 3000+ fps. with 140 gr. bullets. I've verified this with a chronograph.

buckstalker1187

I showed velocities of almost 2800 fps from (1 bullet type) for 140gr. in 280.
So this is what makes you dis agree with me? I also see that there are 140gr. bullets that are charted at almost 3200 fps. This doesn't make your gun wrong. There are alot of different bullets that are the same weights but designed to perform differently.

Ive taken this information from the shooters bible. And I have found atleast 3 websites that compare pretty close to the shooter's bible.

I was looking under the ballistics that showed barrel lengths (and it only listed 2 different forms of ammo for each caliber.) Might not be the most accurate for all configurations of ammo) but it gives a rough idea. Now,if I go to the next page, were barrel lengths are (not stated), it shows higher velocities, but then again...each caliber has about 20 different styles of ammo listed. So this is quite possible For higher velocities to be achieved with different ammo even at the same weights.

I could have taken info from the page that didn't list the barrel length, But I dont think that I would have honestly been able to assume what velocities were and were not acheived by certain barrel lengths.

buckstalker1187

And steve,I have toagree with you, both the 7mm and the 280 show alot more velocitiesover 3000 fps. than they do under the 3000 fps mark.

Now that I look at it, I don't know why there is so much of a difference between the 2 charts. The chart that doesn't show barrel lengths hardly even has any velocities less than 3000 fps. (this is strange)