.280 Remington

As a boy, there were more shotguns than rifles in our house, and even those 20 and 12 gauges were neglected until late summer.

- Lee J.Hoots

Over time a self-loading Ruger 10/22 .22 Long Rifle was added, along with used Remington .222 and Ruger M77 .243 bolt rifles, though nothing of larger caliber. It is therefore difficult to pinpoint just when an interest in the .280 Remington came about, but it was probably due to something written in a firearms periodical; the cartridge sparked an interest some time prior to having ever shot one.

When an opportunity to use one came up years later while hunting feral hogs near Bradley, California, with a Browning A-Bolt while still in my early 20s, the cartridge seemed a very reasonable option for hunting big game. Still, some of the “anti-.280” rhetoric floating around was befuddling. Rifle enthusiasts loved or hated it, no doubt due to the .280 being sandwiched between the old fabled .270 Winchester and the newer 7mm Remington Magnum.

Any long-time reader of Rifle or Handloader will likely recognize the name Bob Hagel. If so, it may also be known that he was a well-rounded hunter/shooter/ handloader who spent much of his adult life field testing firearms and cartridges. His published articles reflected no small amount of common sense, and often a preference for cavernous cartridges that held heavy powder charges and heavy-for-caliber bullets. He had a great deal of experience with the .285 OKH (O’Neal, Keith, Hopkins, 1936-37), a slightly hopped-up 7mm06 wildcat that attained a bit of notoriety due partially to Hagel and more to its designers.

It was often compared to (and sometimes preferred over) up-and-coming similar 7mm cartridges. The .280 Remington and .285 OKH were both based on the .30-06 case but with the OKH containing bullets seated flush with the bottom of the case neck for a slight increase in powder capacity.