Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 6.5x284 or 280AI

Going to be getting a new rifle... narrowed down to 2 calibers the 6.5x284 and the 280AI and looking for pros and cons for each to help me decide... thanks

I have both, about 100 fps difference between the two. 6.5-284 needs a long action to shine. 260AI can get by with a short.


oops- just saw that you said 280 not 260. These are two different animals. 6.5 is a scary accurate long range round. 280 lets you shoot heavier bullets.

You need to look at what your intended use is and if you like fireforming brass.

I have the same question,hope to see lots of opinions.
Mike

If it's a hunting rifle the .280 would be my choice.

My vote is for the 6.5 on a long action for long range targets.
East to shoot, not much kick.

Is this for a hunting rifle? I shoot a 6.5x.284 as a hunting rifle. It is my all round deer rifle, and it is a great hunting cartridge. I'm not fond of recoil, and this rifle suits me perfectly and i wouldn't swap it for the world. But the 6.5x.284 is an annoying 'tweener cartridge. It does need a long action to do it justice, but then you end up with a heap of empty space in the action that annoys me. It is like a short magnum that isn't short enough. This isn't a problem for me, as i shoot a Blaser, so there is no fixed action length - the action length is what ever the length of the cartridge is. But on a conventional turnbolt, it is hard to get to fit anything right. So for a hunting rifle, i'd probably go 280 AI, which fills up a long action nicely, and leaves you an extra round in the mag. Both have superb intrinsic accuracy, but in a hunting rifle, i don't believe cartridge choice makes much difference to accuracy. Alternatively, if you like the idea of a SA, you could go with the original .284 Win - which may well be the best choice in a hunting rifle.

If you can find a really long, short action, the 6.5x.284 might be a better choice - maybe a M70? What are the longest SA?

As an aside, my brother was recently asking me if the sako 75/85 SA could fit a 6.5x.284 - so we could share ammunition. I think the sako allows COL of 3', but i sold mine and can't remember. I think at 3", the 6.5x.284 would start to become an option in a hunting rifle.

280AI all the way.I bought Nosler 280AI brass for it and rocked on.Mine likes 60.5grs Ramshot Hunter and 139gr Hornady spire points.Best of luck on your build.Skeeter

It will probably come down to bullets. Do you want to shoot heavies or is a 140 good enough? The 6.5s common top end is 140gr, with the 7mm you can go at least 180s. Either cartridge will perform great in a long action. You can buy brass in each or make it yourself.
Gee, hope I helped.

I've got a 280AI now and got a 6.5 barrel ordered....grin.....BOTH

As much as I like 6.5s I would go 280AI. I am assuming longrange by the caliber choices. Check out the BCs and I would go 162 Amax for the cheap bullets. The 280AI is right on the heels of 7MM RM.

Not true at all.

You can go to a Wyatts box in a sa and lengthen the cartridge to seat 140 VLDs just fine.

The 6.5 will kill just as effective as the 28 with less recoil.

OLL,

I shoot both 6.5 and .280, but for different purposes. What do you want to do with this rifle?

Nowadays I like the 6.5s for target work and the .280s for hunting, but you can go both ways. I have shot weights up to 6.5/165 gr semi-spitzers and 7/175 gr various shapes.
..jim

Two of my favorite cartridges are .280 anything and 6.5-06. heavier bullets available in .284 cal, but a .264 cal 120 grain pill at over 3200 fps puts a lot of game on the ground fast!

No slime on the 6.5x284, but I'd roll with the '06 version in a hunting rifle. YMMV, but that's my personal preference.

Any way you roll, you won't be disappointed and either of these can generate ridiculously impressive velocities and do it accurately. That said, I'd take bullet construction very seriously.

Thanks everyone... I've decided on the .280 AI. This is going to be my new all around go to hunting rifle up to and including elk.

Well I ended up with a Cooper Excaliber in .280 AI topped off with a VX-3 Long Range 4.5-14x50 with 30mm tube... Now off to the loading bench... thinking some 140gr VLDs and 120 TSX for now...