This cartridge was constructed in 1957 for Remington’s model 740 Autoloader. It is basically a .30-06 necked down to accept 7mm bullets, but the shoulder was moved forward a little in order to prevent the cartridge from being loaded into .270 Win. rifles by mistake. However the other way round it is still possible to load a .270 into a .280 Remington by mistake, and hereby almost certainly create a case rupture and in the worst case a flood of gas leaking into the face of the shooter. The proper solution would have been to enlarge the diameter of the shoulder instead.

Otherwise the .280 Remington is a very good design being very versatile and a good choice for all hunting in USA, Europe and most of Africa. Like for its almost identical European predecessor the handloader has a vide range of bullets to choose from in this caliber. With lighter bullets the .280 Remington becomes a good varmint cartridge. For a short while in 1979 and 1980 Remington tried to reintroduce this cartridge under the name 7mm Remington Express, but too much confusion arose and the .280 Remington name was chosen again.