.280 Enfield...Ahead of its time

[stanc]

It is also easy to forget that proper bullet design would have erased any practical difference between the .280 and the 7.62X51 in the defeat of light armor.

Any advances made to improve .280 anti-materiel performance could also be applied to 7.62x51, thereby keeping relative performance the same.

However, there is one aspect of the .280 that, if changed, ought to have improved downrange performance. As best I can tell, the Brits used only flat-base bullets, whereas the Americans started out with flat-base projectiles but then switched to boat-tail designs.