"301" was the flavour of the week back in the '60's when there were tons of 283 blocks free for the taking and boring was like six bucks a hole. We used to go through a few before we found one that'd work. But when it did work, they were screamers! Can't see the reasoning behind doing that now, though. Just find a good 4" bore block and go from there.
283's can go to 292 with no problem, though. Or .060 overbore, that's about 290 cubes with stock GM pistons.