140 to 150 grain bullets

[Deerherder]

I shoot a .280 Browning A-bolt as my main deer rifle. I have been shooting 140 grain Remington Accutips for a number of years, but .280 ammo is getting hard to find locally & since I am generally shooting at <200 yds I thought a soft point bullet might be better. So, I settled on factory Federal ammo pushing 150 grain Nosler Partitions.

I haven't shot the Federals yet & was wondering if I should expect a significant change in zero or aim point going from the 140 to 150 grain?

My guess is that I should not, but wanted some idea as to what to expect before I hit the range. And yes, I will test fire the Federals before I hunt with them.

 

[45/70 hunter]

You should hit paper but odds are greatly against not having to re-zero. I've seen same weight bullets of different manufacture hit several inches apart at as little as 50 yards.

 

[DRS]

I have had very few rifles that shot different ammo to the same point of impact. In this case I would expect the point of impact to be off several inches.

I have a Rem. 700 in .270 Winchester. It will shoot several different brands well. They all are the same weight bullet and they all have different points of impact.

Only way to know for sure it try them.

 

[grunt]

Yep, it should be on the paper but off by a few inches. Ive killed a bunch of deer with a 280 and a Partition bullet. I think you will like the performance.

 

[Blackwater]

They should work well, but as has been noted, you'll not hit the same point. The partitions don't group quite as well as some of the tipped bullets but are more than adequate at that range. I'm getting ready to load some more Sierra Game Kings for my .280 and a few 165 grain Core-lokts just to see how they group. I'm not sure what the twist is in my barrel and the 165's might be too heavy to stabilize adequately. Also have some 150 Combined Technology coated bullets to try.

 

[Deerherder]

Thanks for the responses! I'll finish off the box of Accutips then re-zero & shoot the Federals.

 

[GregC]

Let us know the difference

 

[klim]

I use to shoot 150 core lokts out of my 280 in a winchester model 70 featherweight but made the switch to federal 150 soft points (blue box) last year. I think I only had to adjust the scope maybe 1/2 inch. I was very surprise there wasn't much difference.

 

[nchawkeye]

I've got a target I shot in my garage with 5-6 different factory loadings...

They all within a couple of inches of the original zero at 100 but my scope would have needed
to be reset for each...

 

[moosemike]

They should work well, but as has been noted, you'll not hit the same point. The partitions don't group quite as well as some of the tipped bullets but are more than adequate at that range. I'm getting ready to load some more Sierra Game Kings for my .280 and a few 165 grain Core-lokts just to see how they group. I'm not sure what the twist is in my barrel and the 165's might be too heavy to stabilize adequately. Also have some 150 Combined Technology coated bullets to try.

The 165's are round nose so they will stabilize. Bullet weight doesn't factor into stabilization as much as bullet length does. No .280 is twisted too slow for a 165 RN.

 

[Blackwater]

The 165's are round nose so they will stabilize. Bullet weight doesn't factor into stabilization as much as bullet length does. No .280 is twisted too slow for a 165 RN.

I checked the twist and it's 9.5 so it should be fine. This old Remington 165gr is 1.210" long, bearing surface is appr. .640", and when it is pushed out to the lands the COAL is 3.507. Problem is the commercial Mauser magazine is only 3.40" so seating it back to 3.360 will give me .040 of wiggle room in the mag in order for it to feed but that puts me .171" off the lands. That ought to give it enough running start, huh? I can get .050" more out of the mag by milling the back wall, and I've already moved the feed ramp forward to flush with the front of the mag (military action, commercial mag). One other option is to load them out closer to the lands if that is what it takes for accuracy, and then feed them one at a time, thus making it a single shot. I have the same problem with the CT 150's but not so severe, with the COAL being 3.480, but it will still push me back .120 off the lands. Fun, fun, fun!

 

[41magnum]

I'd shoot a 5 shot group off sandbags first, then, if it didn't group well, sell the rest of the box and move on.
I wouldn't waste ammo sighting in ammo that won't group.