Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting 6.5-284... Long Range medium game... your thoughts?

Nicely done Scenar! What you gonna drag around for bruins this spring?

Dober

Probably the old reliable GAP .308 per usual....155's. Maybe the .260....maybe the .308 for Montana and the .260 for Wyoming. Tough decisions!....grin!

Glad I got out of the hills a bit early tonight, major league White coming down right now! Loading a bunch of 22/250's cause it's that time of year...grin

Dober

I'll be showing up your way on the 13th.....prime time..

lets get together and have a cold one...

Absolutely!

Dober

Well, me too, I'm assuming I'll keep getting better every year 'til I'm 89.

I've had/have them from 18" to 31".

I think 26" is a good compromise......

Nice shooting scenar (oxymoron), have you used those 123's on game much? If so, how'd they perform if you don't mind me asking?

Edited to add, scratch "oxymoron" from the post above, what I meant to say was "redundant." Brain fart, LOL.

Scenar, did you happen to chrono those? Just curious as to how fast they are going.

aalf, Can you tell me an estimated amount of gain from 24" to 26"? The gain I saw from 22" to 24" wasn't that great for me to make a big deal about. But I am thinking adding another two might be a sizable difference.

MCH,
Just a thought. From barrel to barrel you are going to have some differences, and where you find accuracy at will not always the speed either.
I typically guesstimate 30-40 fps per inch

xphunter that is why I did not change barrel lenght from the two I have already. I get very good results from both the 22" and 24". I am not sure if I want to mess with starting over. I am not looking for every fps I can get, as I can get more out of what I have now. I was just wondering what the idea lenght is for the 6.5X284 in general. In the rifles I have seen at the range and in the fields it has been 22" that I have seen the most of. Not sure why that is.

18" Broughton ave was 2740

31" Broughton ave was 3060

Same load in each, so as close to apples to apples as I can/will do.

Just running the numbers, no scientic facts or shooting facts that breaks down to a total of 320fps gain. If you divide that over the barrel lengths in 1" incrimints that is 24.61 fps per inch. If that is truly the case I don't see a need to change the lenght on my current barrel when having it rebarreled. Thanks for the info guys.

This is a great all-around cartridge, but excels at long range stuff. I have a 25" barrel and a buddy that has built over 40 of them told me that this is the ideal 'compromise' length. He opined that if you go shorter than this, might as well have a 260 or 260AI.

I really like 130 Normas and Bergers in mine. I like the 108s out of the 260 but don't see a need in the 6.5-284.

Dennis,
As of the last 12 months or so I have also become a fan of the 130 Berger in the 6.5-284 and in the 6.5 WSM.

+1

This length is really good for this cartridge as it eeks out quite a bit of FPS and is still reasonable to carry. The 6.5x.284 I've killed game with has a 25" barrel, and I wouldn't change a thing. It isn't something I'd want to lug around the high mountains or the thick timber, but for an open-country sharpshooter it's about perfect.

That's just another cartridge and to me there is a lot of overlap. Not that we cannot have a favorite and make it work.

Since I feel that way about most cartridges in that class I look to the rifle first. So I ask what rifle would you chamber your new 'build' in?

The 284 itself would do about the same and I can't see a rifle chambered for that around?

Heck, the Montana I just got in 7mm WSM will do as much or more and it weighs less than an old Featherweight.

To each his own.

Their is certainly nothing wrong with the original 284- especially with the plethora of great 7mm target bullets that have come on the market in the past couple of years. I have played quite a bit with the 7WSM and I prefer the 6.5-284 over it. The recoil from the 7mm shooting 180s is substantially greater. I also don't care for the little short necks on the 7WSM. A 7x300 WSM is a better all-around design. Too bad the bean counters at W-W were worried about someone chambering a 7WSM in a 300 and causing problems (I don't think it would cause much of a problem) but they were and made the shoulder to head length greater.

Awesome brass and nearly unlimited load data on the 6.5-284. Not so much on the 7WSM.

I chambered mine in a long action custom action with a Mickey Rem Hunter pattern stock (quite beefy). It is not a typical "sheep rife". I have a 260 Remington that is- didn't want to duplicate it.

I built my first 6.5X284 when I was still living full time in SE Alaska. I wanted a skiff gun that was fast and handy, with a shorter barrel for hiking thru thick brush and devils club. So I went with a M-70 action, 22" SS barrel, in a McMillan HTG stock. It was built for shooting anything from coyote to sheep but the main intent was Sitka Blacktail and Wolves. It has never let me down and I have to say it maybe my favorite rifle.

The second build was designed for hunting the Western US. I went this time with a Rem 700 action, 24" ss Barrel, and a McMillan edge stock. I have used it on Mule Deer, Whitetail, Prong Horn,and pigs.