Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats If you had $850 and a burning desire for a 6.5-284

What would you do? Also, would it make any difference if you also had a 98 mauser action at your disposal, chambered in 30-06, but otherwise military. Would it make any difference if you also had a M70 featherweight chambered in 6.5x55 swede?



I should add that the intent is to build a hunting rifle around 8 lbs.



Tom

I'd send the M70 to PacNor for $420 and buy a McMillan handle with the balance....................

Ditto what Stick said. Suppose you could rechamber instead of rebarreling if the current barrel is a good one.

Sir you have excellent taste and I too have been mulling over the idea of sending my 6.5x55 featerweight to Pac-Nor to convert to 6.5-284.

This may not interest you at all, but I am also considering getting an Encore barrel made up in 6.5-284 by one of the custom makers and then you are a frame and stock away from perfection. Barrel should run about 400 dollars and 400 dollars should be more then enough to get a frame and stock.

If this sounds interesting at all there is a group from www.accuratereloading.com getting a group barrel purchase together from Mike Sirios at OTT. He guarntees his barrels will put 5 shots in less then an inch, and I can vouch that they will. Just got one of his barrels in anther 6.5mm wildcat a couple of weeks ago and shot a 3 shot group today that went .271 and that was with really bad range conditions! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I suspect with the group purchase the barrel should run under 400 in stainless and probably closer to 300 in chrome moly.

Ditto the Big Stick comment.

BMT

And you could save a few bucks getting a McMillan Featherweight from that guy Rick Bin.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

I don't ditto. Let me explain.
You said you are looking for a fairly lightweight hunting rifle in 6.5-284. Your Winchester action is a long action of fairly heavy weight (compared to a Remington) and your existing 6.5x55 chamber will get you to within 70 fps of a 6.5-284 chamber with your 22" barrel. I suggest you take that Mauser and trade it in on a short action Remington 700 ADL. You should be able to pick one up for $350, less $100 trade in from the Mauser ends up costing you $250. Send the Remington to your favoite gunsmith and have him screw a 23" #2 contour barrel on and chamber it for 6.5-284. That will cost you about $450. Use the existing stock until you can afford one of Bansners and use the leftover $150 towards rings, bases and dies. You now have a fairly lightweight(much lighter than your Winchester would be) Hunting rifle.

I know a lot of you feel the 6.5-284 should be chambered in a long action, but the 284 cartridge was designed for short actions! It's the most you can get with a standard boltface in a short action rifle and does that job very well. If you want to go long action, then go to a 6.5-06 or 6.5x55 BJAI. They are made for long actions.
John

Not that I know much about much, but I think that you can get a couple hundred FPS more out of the 6.5-284 than from the 6.5x55, given equal barrel lengths and load pressures. I know that I've never been able to get the 6.5x55 to come close to 6.5-284 performance with bullets ranging from 95 grains to 140 grains in my rifles. But I'm not a "maximum recommended, plus" reloader.

Jeff

if you decide to rechamber something keep the barrel twist in mind. i know the 260 rem chambered 700s are a slow twist and dont do as well with the big bullets. also, if you are building on a long action the 06'ai in 6.5 would be a sweet notion. cheaper brass by far and like if not better performance. 6 of one half dozen of another. plan on a quality barrel $450 and work from there. if you want a win build yours, if remmy turns your wheels swap out for one. i would still build on a long action either way. leaves plenty of room for whatever you decide to send down the pipe. no real difference in weight, your sling selection would offset that. if you reallly want a dream flyweight trade in your swede on a TI long and send it to pacnor. might be a few extra bucks but what a dream gun to hunt with <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
woofer

A 6.5-284 with a 22" barrel will produce about 2850 fps with 140 grain bullets. More may be possible, I'm not sure. The 6.5x55 will reach 2770 fps with the same bullet and barrel length. I've actually exceeded that speed in two different barrels of this length. Regardless, even 100 fps is hardly justification for a rechambering. I really think the 6.5x55 BJ Ackley Improved would be a better cartridge to rechamber to.
John

I get about 3050 FPS with a 140 grain Partition out of a 22" rechambered 6.5x55 Winchester 70 Fwt barrel. The same rifle in 6.5x55 will go about 2850 FPS with the same bullet. I can't get quite that much velocity in a 6.5x55 22" Remington 700 Classic without high pressure signs. Perhaps because the Remington has a shorter throat than the Winchester. The Remington won't chamber the old Norma 156 grain RN Solids. but the Winchester will.

Jeff

Jeff,
You get 3050 in a 6.5-284 with a 22" barrel? That's incredible. With that kind of velocity, I would definitely say do it. I've never been able to get that kind of speed from even a 24" barrel.
John

260guy,

To get that velocity out of a 22" barrel you must be way over book max loads??

Having just about finished my 6.5x284 (21") I did quite a bit of research before starting load development. Nosler #5 has data for all the relevant 6.5 cartridges and lists the following maximums with 140 gr. bullets.

260 Rem-2830-24"
6.5x284-2925-26"
6.5x06 -2860-24"
264 Win-3088-24"

My own results indicate that this Nosler data is pretty darn close. My 21" bbl. seems to deliver ~~2840 w/140 Sierras. This is @ 1 1/2 gr. below the first firm bolt lift.

Anything is possible I suppose, but I'd be suspicious of the pressures of any loads that exceed these velocities by very much.

"She ain't blowed up yet" is not a reliable sign of sane pressure levels.

JimF

There you go again, requiring sanity from one of us at the Campfire.



Next thing you know, we'll all have to get a psych eval in order to get another important tool that is desparately needed to save the American way from rampaging ground squirrels! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />



Sanity has never been a requirement in this great past time.



Now. . . . . safety violations and using over book max handloads just be stupid, not insane. There's a difference, ya know!



BMT <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

There you go again, requiring sanity from one of us at the Campfire.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry!!.........lost my head.........dunno what I wuz thinkin'

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

JimF

57.5 grains of VVN 165 will do it in this rifle. Since the Winchester is a long action and the 140 grain Partition has a flat base, it can be seated with the base at the bottom of the neck. I use a drop tube to fill my cases, but don't know if I need to, but using the the drop tube is a matter of habit.

The bullet is seated too far out with this load for my Remington 7 based 6.5-284, but I don't use 140 grain bullets in that rifle, so it isn't an issue.