Glad you put that video out yesterday. I was hoping to see some more of that rifle since we’ve heard bits and pieces about how well it’s doing.
Thought I would put this out here instead of on YouTube because most of the YouTube comments are stupid.
Browning has a few sku’s in 280AI, but if you do a search on GunBroker there’s absolutely zero available. I’ve also seen few on some of the websites from my local gun stores but not in stock. I’ve asked the gun stores and they have communicated with their suppliers and they don’t know when or even if they will be available. Browning apparently has a habit of creating sku’s, but then never producing them.
No Seekins in 280. I asked their custom shop a year or so ago about making them and they said no they wouldn’t deal with that caliber. Maybe that’s changed
There are a number of fierce out there in 280. I don’t know if they’re currently being produced though because last time I checked the website they weren’t listed. So these may be old stock.
Your main Factory offerings currently are from weatherby, savage, and cooper. Not sure about Christensen either.
The older Browning offerings, as well as what Fierce produces/produced are nice because they typically have faster twist barrels. The weatherby’s and Cooper’s tend to have the more traditional 9 or even 9.5 twist.
I agree, it seems like a well-balanced cartridge along with the 7SAUM. I feel like the 30-06 and its siblings (270,280, 35W) strike a really good balance between suitability and downrange performance. There’s a reason our great-grandfather’s and such made them so darn popular and it wasn’t due to YouTube influencers.
I also liked the video and it makes me kinda of wished I had listened to advice I got a few years back from a guy on my lease who suggested my next rifle be a 280AI.
But here is my question:
Pick one
280AI
7mm SAUM
300WSM
There is so much crossover between these rounds, with the outlier being the WSM due to cailber displacement. But if you had to choose just one, whch would you choose and why?
I had been settled on the 300WSM, since I am not a reloader yet. But, if there is a significant advantage to either the 280AI or the 7SAUM that might actually push to me to become one.
Own all three, and love all three. Like asking me to pick which of my dogs I like the best.
As of right now have only had a chance to take game animal with the 280.
The 280 and SAUM are ballistic twins, at least with the heavier bullets. I do believe maybe with the lighter ones you can get a little more velocity out of the SAUM at least looking at Hornady load data. Very little factory SAUM ammo available, 280 much better, but not to 308, 6.5CM, 6.5 PRC… standards.
I’ve loaded my 300WSM with lighter bullets in an attempt to help keep the recoil down so it’s basically shooting the same weight bullets as the 280/SAUM. But significantly faster But you can certainly go heavier if you want and you obviously have the larger frontal diameter which can come in handy.
The recoil numbers for the 280AI and 7SAUM seemed to be the biggest gain to me over the 300WSM, but from what you mentioned about the lighter bullets, did that bring recoil down to a comparable point to the other 2?
Wish I could have all 3, but the misses would throw the challenge flag on 3 rifles that basically do the same thing. Too hard an argument for me to win lol.
To me they feel similar enough right now. But I’m going a bit by memory. I don’t think I’ve ever taken all three to the range on the same day and compared at the same time.
Perhaps when I get home later today I’ll run some numbers in Gordon’s and see if there’s a significant difference.
Of course I’ve got Backstops on the SAUM and WSM, but not 280. I’ve got cans on the 280 and SAUM, and a brake on the WSM ( which I may change out to a can that I just purchased). So things aren’t exactly similar with every rifle
Two or three years ago when I wanted to get my first 280, I found a Browning which fit what I was looking for absolutely perfectly. It was a little shorter so I could put a can on it, but not too short. It had the faster twist barrels. And this particular model came in one of their McMillan stocks, better than standard factory.
But I couldn’t find it anywhere. I had my lgs’s look for it. I did GunBroker searches could not find it. I ended up emailing Browning and asked them if it was something that hadn’t been released yet. They said oh, we decided to discontinue that. I emailed them back and asked how many they made, perhaps I could find one on the used Market someday. They said we made zero of this SKU. So they discontinued it before they even made it.
Yeah, you’re absolutely right. They are so similar.
But who doesn’t want more rifles!
Here’s what you tell her:
You need different bullets for different situations. And you don’t want to mix bullets in a single rifle because it can affect accuracy.
Need the WSM for shooting monos.
SAUM for shooting ELDX
280 for Berger or other rapidly expanding projectile.
She can’t argue with that!
PS
Did you see the most recent video on spoomer’s YouTube channel? Tate snuck into the kitchen and asked his wife how much she spent on her nails in 6 months and she said $800. He then quickly said cool I’ve got a budget of $800 for a rifle!!
Ha! I didn’t see that one. Unfortunately for me that would never work - my wife never spends money, like ever. Someday if we go broke it will be 100% my fault, of that I’m sure.
Oh man!! That 21 ft/lbs on that 300WSM is sexy. Especially at 3200ft/sec. Yeah, I think that WSM is too good to not be my next rifle. Despite Jim’s new found disdain for carbon wrapped barrels, I am think a 20" WSM with a can, and then barrel swap to a 24" Bartline 6.5 PRC for off season distance shooting/fun. All I have to do now is sell a kidney.
I’m with you on that! Gavin from ultimate reloaded made a video a while back peter malan from impact shooting have videos on it so you should go check those out. Gavin actually built Peter’s rifle and he has taken a lot of different African game with it.
