doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Elmer Keith's 280 O.K.H. Custom Rifle

I found a drawing of the rifle in "Big Game Rifles and Cartridges" by Keith on page 57. In this illustration it has no blocks for a target scope, but instead a quarter rib and a multiple leaf rear sight with a banded ramp front sight. No recoil pad. There is a discussion of the .280 DuBiel cartridge from page 54 to page 58, but no mention of a .280 OKH.

Well, I thank you for looking. Perhaps there might be other books or articles that show or mention the 280 OKH specifically.

buckstix,
A really cool piece of history. While I can't seem to find anything on the .280 OKH per se, there are references that O'Neil tried the .375 case and the .30 Newton case before deciding the '06 case was the best with available powders.
See Simmons' book WILDCAT CARTRIDGES and Hagel's OKH CARTRIDGES in the #4 Handloader.
The load data you posted appears to be for the .285 OKH and not a bigger case according to the publications listed above.
Please keep us posted on your research.

Good shooting.

Thank you for the reply.

I'll keep seeking additional info for other possible loads for this rifle. I think that loads for the 280 Dubiel would be equivalent.

Actually The load given of 55g 4350 with a 180g bullet is correct for this 280 OKH cartridge. Its the load that came with the rifle.

The 280 OHK case is not really a big capacity case. Although its based on the 2.850 inch long 300H&H case that is necked down to .280 (.288) - it retains its original long taper giving it about 0.3 (gr. water) "less" capacity than the current 2.500 inch long 7mm Rem Mag case. (about 4% less)

Loads for 180g bullet in the 7 mag using 4350 powder are between 53g and 59g.

Therefore a cartridge with slightly less capacity would likely be in the 51g to 57g range. That puts 55g right in line.

The Handloaders Manual of Cartridge Conversions by John J. Donnelly lists the .280 DuBiel as having a case capacity in cc's of 5.55 and 85.75 grains of water. The only load listed is 57 grains of 4064 with a 150 grain bullet for a velocity of 3300 fps. The source for the load is listed as "DuBiel".

The case is described as being formed from the .300 H&H Magnum cartridge case, which is listed as having a capacity of 5.755 cc's or 88.82 grains of water.

There is no reference to the .280 OKH. The .285 OKH is described as virtually identical to the .280 Remington.

Keith's book "Hell, I Was There", has several photos of Keith's .280 Dubiel with an external adjustment target scope mounted on it, evidently the 8X Lyman Targetspot mentioned in his other book.

Thanks xausa,

Subtle differences "discected",

My Loadbook32 lists the 300 H&H as 85.7 grains of water and the 7mm Rem Mag at 83.0 grains of water. That would be 2.7 more for the 300 H&H.

However, when you calculate volume "without the neck" (that is to the base of the bullet) for each case, the 300 H&H is 76.4 grains of water and the 7mm Rem Mag is 76.7 grains of water - actually 2 grains more than the 300 H&H. Another tiny reduction in necking down the 300 H&H from .308 to .288 results in the 300 H&H having 76.3 grains of water to the loaded base of the bullet.

When all is said and done, the 7mm Rem Mag actually has 4% more capacity because of its fatter case.

With the 280 Dubiel being listed as approx 3 grains less than the 300 H&H, I'd feel pretty comfortable using its loading data for my .280 OKH cartridge; if only I could find someone that has more data from experience loading the 280 Dubiel.

Re: Elmer and his .280 Dubiel-

Cover (w/family and antelope) and article - November '34 AR.

Good shooting.

Thanks Wapiti,

I found a picture of it on the internet and downloaded it to my Elmer Keith Folder.

Well, I just got another lead on a book that might show my 280 OKH rifle or information about it. The book is "Gun Notes" vol.1 - This book has dozens of articles from the 50's and 60's compiled. Does anyone have this book that could take a minute to look through it?

Looked through Guns and Ammo for Big Game Hunting and can find no references to 280 OKH - just 280 Dubiel and 285 OKH.