Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 30/284 reamer

So have been slowly going through stuff from auctions, amongst the reamers I found one marked 30/284, would that be one to play with, maybe using one of my 308 rifles?

Just curious if it would work well feeding wise and such.

What advantage does a 30/284 in a short action offer over a 30-06 aside from saving a small amount of weight?

Using a 284 case in a 308 length action is really cutting short the performance.
You need at least a Mauser (7x57 etc) length action to be able to seat the bullets
out where they should be.
You may need a good gunsmith to work on the feeding also.
But the 284 Win case is cool and I often thought of doing a 30x284 but never
got to it. I do have a 284 and 6.5x284 in long actions and love them.

Introducing the 284 Win in short action Model 88s and 100s did not do the cartridge
any favors. But is is cool and effective in my opinion.

OKay thanks, just was curious when I saw this reamer, I will have to go and see what else there is in the stuff.

None.

Which is why all the usual talk of "seating bullets out where they should be" is irrelevant--as it has been ever since the .284 itself was introduced.

Might add that the difference in weight between typical "short" and "long" bolt actions is 3-4 ounces.

I bought the Remington 700 Titanium when they first came out in 7mm/08. My serial number is 00042X. I immediately rechambered to 284 because I wanted maximum performance. Yes the bullets are seated to where they taper but the last group I shot was 3/8" and it consistently will deliver 7/8".

It's not just the weight, as those will long actions always point out, the rifle is also shorter. Powerful, short, and light was what I was going for and the 700 Ti delivers in spades at 5.95# scoped. I've used it on numerous Idaho elk and mule deer hunts where I hiked in, on a BC goat hunt with lots of climbing, and a Kyrgyzstan ibex hunt where we were above the glaciers. Powerful, short, and light was the spot on choice. I have since learned the short rifle is handy for shooting from blinds.

I see no reason to go to 30 caliber given the performance of modern bullets. If I were to do it again I would go 6.5/284 but that's just splitting hairs.

I've got one in a Savage 99. Haven't figured out what I need it for yet.

Yeah, the rifle's also shorter--about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch when using the same weight/length of barrel.

Just did a column for Sports Afield which discusses the supposed advantages of "short-action" rifles and cartridges. It hasn't appeared yet, but have considerable experience with them, and most lightweights built on conventional short actions don't balance all that well, due to most losing most of their weight through shorter, skinnier barrels--just like most very lightweight wood-stocked rifles.

There are better solutions--and have been since 1985 when Melvin Forbes developed his Ultra Light actions, so a conventional contour/length barrel could be used and still result in a well-balanced rifle. The Remington Ti was among the commercial ventures on the same theme, but still missed Melvin's design for various reasons. Which is why the 7mm-08 Ti Remington I purchased back then didn't stick around, but several NULAs have....

I have built some 30-284's. The first one was done to straighten up the chamber on a Remington 308; the original chamber was eccentric to the bore. This was a workable solution and the project was a success, mostly. The downside was that the larger cartridge developed a little more recoil than the 308; just like a 30/06.
For a real rifle looney, using a wildcat, based on brass which is not readily available, to match the all-to-common 30/06, makes perfect sense and the 30-284 is the perfect representative. GD