Kirk, on the 270 vs 280 subject, the 280 Remington is marginally superior to the 270 Winchester in several aspects. One-the 280 has slightly more case capacity, Two-the 280 is a true 7mm and in that has available a greater selection and availability of bullets, but, IMO, another advantage is the 280 is available in the much superior action, the Remington 700. True, the Winchester 70 is classic, but Winchester has had 3 revisions of the Mod 70 trying to overcome some of its weaknesses.
When accuracy shooters are building a rifle for benchrest or other projects where maximum accuracy is desired, they use the Remington 700. A good benchrest gunsmith can true a Rem 700 is a short time to where it will, and many times has, equaled custom actions costing much more.
As to the 280 Rem vs the 7mm express. I was fortunate to get one of those when it first came out along with several boxes of factory ammo marked 7 Express Remington.
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