7mm-06 Remington

I think that is also called a 280 Remington, and 7MM Express. It was called the 7mm-06 only very briefly. Boxes marked 7mm-06 would be very rare if they exist. Good luck.
Yup the sorry, sordid tale of the 280 Rem. It was loaded to a lower pressure because it was available in the 740 and 760 Rem rifles so it never really caught on. So them renamed it 7MM Express but then it was confused with 7MM Mag. So they called it 7mm-06 which it is. Then they changed back. If the 280 Rem was loaded to .270 and 30-06 levels from the start I think it would have wiped out the .270 and be as popular as the 30-06. But Remington didn't have the best of luck with the metric cartridges except for the 7MM Mag and 7mm-08.
 
Yup the sorry, sordid tale of the 280 Rem. It was loaded to a lower pressure because it was available in the 740 and 760 Rem rifles so it never really caught on. So them renamed it 7MM Express but then it was confused with 7MM Mag. So they called it 7mm-06 which it is. Then they changed back. If the 280 Rem was loaded to .270 and 30-06 levels from the start I think it would have wiped out the .270 and be as popular as the 30-06. But Remington didn't have the best of luck with the metric cartridges except for the 7MM Mag and 7mm-08.

It was loaded to the .30-06 Springfield's pressure of 60K psi., not the .270 Winchester's 65K.

Loaded to the same pressure, the .270 has an SD advantage, the .280, velocity (for more recoil).

The 7mm's higher twist rate is its biggest advantage.
 
I was trying to recall the history?
When it first came out it was the 280 rem. To try to drum up sales after the 7 rem mag came out (I think) the rebranded it the 7mm Express. That flopped and confused 7rm owners. So it went back to the 280 rem. Was it ever branded the 7-06??? Must have been if it has ammo manufactured for it???

It seems like the 280 AI may end up the most successful of them all!
 
I never knew factory ammo was was ever stamped 7mm-06. I know the round was a wildcat for a while and just assumed that shooters made their own brass from 30-06 brass. Much like 338-06 before it became standard. And to this day I've never actually seen any 338-06 brass. Last time I looked it was $80-$100 for a box of 20 rounds. I had one for a while and I just resized 30-06 brass and considered it a handloaders only cartridge.

When it was 1st available commercially it was 280, then 7mm Express, then back to 280 which I'm sure confused a lot of shooters. But it isn't exactly correct to say it was downloaded to work in pump and semi-auto rifles. It has always been loaded to the same pressures as 30-06.

Handloaders easily beat that. Easily beat factory 30-06 loads too. We have to keep in mind that 30-06 power levels have upgraded 4 times in the last 100 years. You can buy 30-06 factory loads today that are 400 fps faster than the loads my grandfather carried in WW-1 and 300 fps faster than my father in WW-2.

When the 280/7mm Express became a standard factory loading it was at the same power level as WW-2 era 30-06 loads which were the norm at the time for 30-06. Over the years people figured out that both 280 and 30-06 were not being loaded to their true potential.

FWIW I like the 280. I've had a couple over the years and consider it SLIGHTLY better than 270 or 30-06. At least on paper. In the real world probably not. But I have 30-06 rifles with too much history to part with and couldn't justify keeping both.
 
Really cool post! I had read about the 280/7mm-06/7mm Express and back to 280 story... but never heard of any 7mm-06 stamped brass. You learn something new all the time I reckon.
 
I'll b darned. This is a new one to me. For as long as I have poured over gun and shooting content, I never knew that there was a 7mm-06 headstamp.
 
It seems like the 280 AI may end up the most successful of them all!

Yup. Ditto to what was said about Remington’s failure to launch, big surprise with the 280 REM. The 280ai is my “Goldilocks” cartridge…just right.

The 280 REM/7mm Express/7mm06 is a great cartridge all in itself, but I wouldn’t buy that chambering in todays market with availability with 280ai such it is. With the 280ai I have better performance, longer brass life and commercial continuation for longer than into be expected from my 280 Rem of old. Not to mention bullet manufacturers are focused on longer projectiles these days so the faster twist in the 280ai rifles plays to that dance.

Would I change from a 280 REM to a 280ai if I was a person completely satisfied with its performance. No, but the ackley improvements are quite significant in the 280 as compared to the differences between sight standard cartridges and their “ai” fraternal twin.
 
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