.280 Enfield...Ahead of its time

[adamjp]

The FAL was originally developed in the 7.92X33 kurz round when in development. I see there having more problems with the new M855A1 round as we speak. It seems they had to up the pressure of the new round to 63000 psi from 55000 psi getting dangerously close to a proof round, accuracy standard of the 855A1 was dropped from 2 MOA to 5.5 MOA, and barrel life in comparable rifles is now half of what it used to be. We have spent literately millions upon millions of dollars trying to fix the problems with the 5.56 round or I should say trying to make the small round do something it can't, be a universal combat round. I still stand by my belief that a Grendel type round is the best caliber in the AR type platform.

Agree with everything you have said about the 5.56. The armies of the world keep pouring $$ and time into trying to make it something it cannot be. All the research and smart bullet constructions can be applied to a slightly larger bore and deliver far better results.

In the end, this is what the British tried to do with the 280 Brit - apply some smarts to how it would work. They also applied lessons learnt 50 years before and loaded the cartridge to be suitable for use anywhere in the world, not just northern Europe where it is commonly cool to cold. I'm not suggesting the 280 was exceptional, and it did trend towards a traditional round more than what we would consider today, but it was a better approach than the 30/06 Kurz.

I should add that I still own a 30/06 and think it a great cartridge for hunting. The 223 is at best a fox round, marginal on larger game species - even with large for calibre bullets. It is popular with the Kangaroo harveting crews, but they must brain shoot so energy/wound performance is less important.