The 280rem is my caliber of choice for most of my hunting, I've used mine for antelope & muledeer. For larger deer like muledeer & big whitetails i use 150gr Nosler Partitions, for antelope i use 150gr Sierra Gamekings. The 280rem really is an ideal caliber for handloading. Factory loads for the most part won't achieve what you can by handloading. The manufacturers are afraid to load it to the pressures it's capable of because there's a lot of semi-auto rifles still in use. A lot of the older semi-autos can't take the pressures so they're afraid of a lawsuit if one happened to blow-up! A bolt action can take more pressure. Think of it this way: the 30-06 is the father of the 270win & the 280rem. All three use the same case, just a few changes in the shoulder so they won't chamber in each other. So if the 30-06 & 270 are loaded to higher pressures so can the 280.

The 280 rem is one of the most popular custom rifle calibers. It's a good choice for mountain rifles like yours. I can almost duplicate 7mm rem mag performance with my handloads with less powder & felt recoil, 2910fps with a Nosler Partition.