Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 6.5-284

Wandered my way into a very nice custom rifle 6.5-284 caliber. Can’t find A lot of into one it but best I can see it is a necked down .284 used by some long range shooters in matches. One guy set a record 1.5 inch group at 1000 yards. Also read that it is a fine hunting caliber for most game up to elk size. Recoils a little less than a .308 but much flatter trajectory. Factory ammo is a bit scarce so it’s helpful to be a reloader for this one it seems. Also,barrel burn out on this caliber is pretty common.

Is this a pretty good summation of this one?

I've got the 6.5x06, pretty muchthe same. One big advantage I think is getting brass to reload. Lot more 30-06, 270 and 280 brass out there than 284. Sorta doubt the reply on barrel burnout. Never heard that about the 6.5x06 and my 25-06 has lots of rounds through it with no problem. Thing I like about the 6.5's is the bullets! I ssuspect you gonna love your 6.5x284

I have been shooting a 284Win for a long time and also a 6.5x284. Lucky for me, I am setting on a small
pile of new Win 284Win brass so I am in good shape there.
I see 6.5x284 brass being production made now, so not sure how fast it disappears
Also some loaded factory ammo.
I think Winchester only makes 284Win brass every two years or so, but I could be wrong here.
I do not think you will regret owning and shooting a 6.5x284.
If you are able so shoot out a barrel, good for you doing a lot of shooting.
Tubbs put the 6.5x284 on the map.
Quite a few new 6.5 wannabees showing up now, but the 284 based one is a keeper.
Just my 2 cents.

I have a small one man shop rifle maker near me, and he swears by that caliber. He's a former Bench Rester. He replaces his barrels at around 800 rounds. His groups at 425 yards are better than mine at 100. But it's a 18 pound rifle with a barrel that is as thick as your wrist. He's got a 50 power scope on it. I went with the Hornady version the 6.5 PRC, and using 143x factory shot a large cow elk with it season before last.

I believe there are two versions of the same cartridge. The 6.5-284 Norma and the 6.5-284 Winchester. I can't recall exactly what the difference is but it may have to do with a bit longer neck.

Your summation is pretty spot on. It's a great cartridge and had been the darling of the 1,000 yard club for a while before the 6.5 CM and others made their way to the stage.

It's an excellent hunting cartridge. You'll enjoy it.

OSU Sig,

The difference between the Norma and Winchester versions is not in case dimensions, but overall length.

The Winchester version was the original wildcat, so most rifles pretty much stuck to the max OAL of the .284, which was designed for "short action magazines," like the one in the Model 88 Winchester lever rifle--which is where the .284 first appeared. This is 2.800 inches.

The Norma version has a standard factory OAL of 3.228 inches. This provides a little more powder room, but more importantly more flexibility in bullet seating.

There can be a difference in the chamber diameters at the .200 datum line. There were reamer variations prior to standardization.

Hardly.

It was a very popular 1000 BR cartridge before Tubbs' time. Hundreds used it concurrent as well.

I've been shooting it in competition and for hunting more than 30 years.
If anything, Shehane did more to Mahe it mainstrean

Did someone win more matches than Tubbs???
I did not say he created it.

It was excellent reports of his use that encouraged me to go with the 6.5x284

Anyhow, it is an outstanding cartridge.

I've been shooting the 6.5-.284 for close to 30 years now. It's a fine cartridge all the way around. The newer Norma version is definitely the way to go. You are able to seat bullets out further and utilize case capacity for powder. Seems to shoot best for me below maximum loads. The reputation as a "barrel burner" in my opinion is a little over hyped. I think in a competition setting where a person is shooting long strings with no cooldown, it's probably more of a issue. I will say however that I think there is opportunity for carbon fouling just forward of the throat area. It's not uncommon to periodically need to do some serious cleaning, that area in particular. I've personally had 3 rifles chambered "back in the day" that utilized the shorter OAL cartridge length. My newest rifle has the Norma configuration chamber. I like it much better. Can seat the bullets way out there and gain some speed via more powder. Mentioned above was brass selection. My older rifles all utilized old Winchester Western .284 brass that was fire formed, trimmed, id and od neck turned (necessary because of a "tight neck" chamber reamer), primer pockets uniformed. New brass made by Lapua and Peterson seems to have tighter primer pockets and works very well. I've got Lapua brass that's been fired 15 times and still has tight primer pockets. Overall, I think it's a fine cartridge that will do most anything you can ask of it with todays high quality projectiles. Happy shootin'....

To be correct, there is a 6.5-.284 Winchester and a 6.5-.284 Norma. The Norma version is what was standardized and SAAMI accepted. It is not a “6.5x284”.

The Norma version is throated to shine in a long action. It’s hard to get performance with it stuffed in a short action.

I’ve got some old ammunition picked up from auction dated 1971 in 6.5-284 Winchester. I’ve kept them as a curiosity.

I did burn out a 6.5-284 Norma barrel back around ‘04 or ‘05. It was a varmint/target rifle, but I did take it out hunting. I killed two deer around 600 yards with it overlooking large bean fields. Also managed another buck around 330 yards. I didn’t have to do any tracking with a deer shot with that rifle. I also managed to shoot several P-Dogs over 1,000 yards with it.

These days it is outperformed with the 6.5 PRC and the PRC having a thicker case head preserves primer pockets a bit later. I found the PRC was slightly easier to tune. Just as the 6.5-.284 Norma gave way to straight .284 or variants, the 6.5 PRC is being necked to 7mm to take advantage of longer barrel life and higher BC bullets.

I've burned out 4 or 5 barrels. I had one only last 600 rounds of competetive accuracy. I blamed it on R17. Right now I'm using mostly R26 so well see how long this barrel lasts

As a target cartridge, it is every bit as good as a 6.5x55. As a hunting cartridge, it is every bit as good as a 256 Newton. There you have it. GD