Is a .280 with good bullets enough gun for a Sable???

[TERMINATOR]

If not what is the lightest caliber you would consider in a non magnum rifle?

 

[saeng101]

A .270 worked fine, used Nosler bonded.

 

[shangwari]

i had a client shoot much bigger animals than sable with a 280 remington.it will work very good on sable.use premium bullets and do your bit on shot placement! you cant go wrong if you dont risk the shots.enjoy.

 

[Wolverine67]

The 280 Remington are a fine cartridge capable of taking quite big animals. More than enough for a sable I guess. Its really not so far behind the 7mm RemMag.

 

[huntingbigun]

If not what is the lightest caliber you would consider in a non magnum rifle?

Work great about a week ago, mine is a 280AI but I dropped the load down to 2850 grouped better, the 150 Barnes TTSX did its job on Sable, Waterbuck, Impala, Nyala, and Kudu.

View attachment 11694

 

[enysse]

It's more than enough gun!

 

[sestoppelman]

Its a fine round as is its metric, ballistic twin the 7x64 that I am currently playing with. The great PH Finn Aagaard used his 7x64 on all manner of plains game in Kenya before it closed and felt it was perfectly adequate for all plains game. Opinons will vary of course but my one sable required 4 shots from my .375 to finish him. Shots were marginal per placement though. Many sable have fallen to '06 class rounds which the 280 is.

 

[BARTFRNCS]

The 280 is a 3006 necked down to 7mm or.284. It's more efficent than most 7mm cartridges so the answer is use it with good shot placement you should be fine.

 

[sestoppelman]

The 280 is a 3006 necked down to 7mm or.284. It's more efficent than most 7mm cartridges so the answer is use it with good shot placement you should be fine.

Exactly right Bart! One other thing though.. It is not merely a necked down '06 because its shoulder is moved forward a bit giving a longer headspace than the '06 or .270 so in theory at least it would not be possible to fire it in those chambers. In doing so it increases slightly its capacity as well. I know that you are aware of this Bart but others may not be.

It is one of the greats. In mine I was able to achieve safely, just over 2900 fps with the 160 gr., over 3000 with the 150 and nearly 3200 with the 140 gr. It is a custom Ruger 77 with 24" Douglas barrel and I suspect it may be a little "faster" than most barrels as I know of guys with the AI version that had trouble keeping up with mine.