Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Competitive Shooting 6.5 question

Just curious... why is the 6.5x284 a real sweetheart with the long range competitive crowd, but the 6.5 Remington Magnum is not? Are there inherent disadvantages to using the magnum case? Disclaimer: I am not a long range competitive shooter, so if my "newbie" question offends anyone's sensibilities I apologize in advance. Its just that inquiring minds want to know...

Thanks in advance.

My first 1K BR rifle was a 6.5x284. I never even considered the 6.5 Rem mag, but that is because the 6.5x284 is a well established round and a known quantity.

Neither the 284 Win or the 6.5 Rem Mag were/are hot sellers. It could just be as the 1k BR crown "discovered" the smaller 6.5s shot as well as the big 30s, the most available case at the time--and it might also have a capacity advantage--was the 284 Win. Nowadays you can get 6.5x284 brass and/or 284 Win brass from Lapua, Norma, Win, and maybe Nosler. I think Rem is the only one who loads the 6.5. BTW, the belt is not an issue.

The 6.5x284 uses the same rimn diameter size as the .308 or 30-06. The 6.5 Remington Magnum uses a larger rim diameter.

Going back to the 1960s, almost all the high power match rifles were .308 or 30-06. Rebarreling these for the 6.5x284 was a lot simpler than conversioin to the 6.5 Remington Magnum.

Yeah, but the dedicated 1K rigs--like for the Winbledon Cup--have been 300 mags for a lot of years.............

The 6.5X284 is the case that will allow a shooter to shoot a 140+ bullet around 2950 FPS. With several powders, at a pressure level that allows good case life.

Just looked it up. The 6.5mm rem mag has 4 grains more case capacity than the 284 Win.

That ain't much considerin' that Lapua makes 6.5-284 brass to match specs and the 6.5 remmy is tough to find.

BMT