Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Savage 6.5 cartridge?

Oh yeah, the 6.5-284 what a sexy looking round.

Bag of popcorn? Check.

Now, to sit back and watch the wheel be reinvented and with corners this time.

I have lots of 6.5mm bore rifles and I'm shooting the 6.5 Creedmoors more often than the rest combined. The Creed has great factory ammo, something that the 260 has only had intermittently, and even the least expensive Hornady American Whitetail ammo shoots MOA or better.

I got a 6.5 Creedmoor barrel directly from Savage a year or two ago, but when I tried to order another one this year, they wouldn't send me one, even if I gave them a signed liability release. They would only sell me a barrel if I sent the receiver to them for installation.

EDIT: The point being that the 6.5 Creedmoor and the 260 will produce approximately the same outcomes and, since they have about the same case capacities, that is what you'd expect if all other variables remained constant. Being a longtime 260Remguy, I didn't jump on the 6.5 Creedmoor bandwagon right away, but after it was established, I bought a V2 in order to give it a try. The V2 turned out to be the most accurate out-of-the-box CF rifles that I've ever owned with Hornady factory ammo. Whatever brand or bullet weight/style you fire from it, if you're not shooting MOA or better its the shooter, not the rifle or ammo. I went from having zero (0) 6.5 Creedmoors in 01/14 to having six (6) in 11/16. The least accurate of the six is a Marlin XS7 parts gun that I put that barrel from Savage on and it still shoots MOAish, just not quite as good as the RAR-Predators or V2s.

Anybody taking bets on the odds of when/how he's gonna fűck this little project up?

What's he like, four for four this year...

....picturing a tech advisor / service type leaning out of his cube and getting a cohort's attention,....while circling his finger next to his head, urging him to listen in..."It's that lunatic nutcase again"

GTC

I've wanted a 6.5-284 in a Savage 99 for a while now. I'd lean that way.

I have a 6.5-284 in a Savage 99CD. The magazine length is a limiting factor, making it (IMO) a sub-optimal choice in that platform.

Sure, it'd be better in a long action, no debate there. But, I'm a 99 guy. Thanks to you and all your custom Savages, I have a 99C receiver and the wood sitting here, waiting for a gunsmith.

A 6.5Creed would seem just about perfect for a 99.

Of the reworked 99s, I like the 99F in 260 the best.

I don't believe it is typically found using a short action.

But then what will I do with the .284 magazines I've accumulated for the project?

Yeah, I know, make it a 260 and be done with it. ho hum.

.25-284?

The 25-284 COAL give you a little more latitude in the 99CD magazine than the 6.5-284, but 100 grain 6.5mm bullets don't pose a COAL problem and go 3,100 or better from a 22" barrel.

Hey, take it to the .257 thread mister. Blasphemer.

How about a 6.5-300Savage, then?

It was invented for SA. Though it works better in a LA if one is pushing heavy and high bc bullets.

I have a 6mm-284bon a SA ADL. It works great. I sure would not be scared to rebarrel it in a 6.5-284 for 120, 123, 130, and even 140 gr bullets. Except for the VLD types in 140 gr.

A friend has a factory Savage in 6.5-284. He says it shoots quite well. The only reason I don't have a 6.5-284, because I already have a 264 on a 27 inch Pac-Nor, and another 260 coming in a 24 inch Krieger.

But the 6.5-284 is out of fashion two years, the 260 is out of fashion about ten years. The Creed is this year's media darling!

Funny thing is, either of the other two still shoot just as well as they ever did.

Or because Hornady makes very accurate factory ammo. for the Creedmor.

The 284 case is the same length as the 6.5x55 case and nobody that I know of typically thinks of the 6.5x55 as a short action cartridge. It seems that the primary (perceived?) advantage of the 6.5 Creedmoor over the 260 is that the shorter case allows for more COAL latitude when loading longer VLD bullets in a short action. OTOH, the longer 6.5-284 case actually does limit COAL latitude when loading bullets longer than the 120 grain BT in short actions.

The 284 was invented for the Win 88 and Win 100, both short action rifles.

Yes, long bullets do protrude down below the neck of the case when seated to 2.8 inches COAL.

Contrary to what seems to be common belief, (from reading gun rags, and some posts on this site) the 284 case still has greater capacity than the 308 case when the same bullet is seated to 2.8 inches in each.

But yes, loading VLD bullets in the 6.5-284 at 2.8" can be problematic if the ogive is actually in the case neck.

It is interesting to note COAL lengths listed in the Hornady #6 manual are 2.8 inches for 284 Win, 6.5-284, 6-284, 260 Rem, and 7-08. The 308 is listed at 2.810" while the 243 is listed at 2.710.

Whle, obviously, there is no law that a custom built rifle and custom tailored ammunition must be held to these measurements. They do indicate that a rifle so chambered will be quite satisfactory in most circumstances.