6.5/284 NORMA

Yes. Check out several of the threads and Mel's discussion of it in his Sniper bullet discussions. To briefly summarize, its one hot round, fits in a short action, uses a .308 sized bolt face, has better ballistics than a 300 Win. Mag at distances near and over 1,000 yards (stays supersonic out to or near 1,500 yards). Main fault is short barrel life, and now that Black Hills stopped making ammunition for it last year, the only source for factory ammo is Norma.

YEP I called them Black Hills about a drop ship porogram (which they do not do) and was told they stopped making the 6.5x284 match grade ammunition last year - not enough interest to continue it.

Check out my writeup here

http://www.snipercentral.com/65x284.htm

I noticed blackhills quit production... which is a shame. If/when the SC2 rolls around, factory loaded ammo will be mandetory for this caliber. I will work with Hunting Shack to load this for our purposes. They are willing to do small demand ammo. I may actually have to stock it (500 rounds at a time or so). But that might be okay if price/performance is good.

The load I'm thinking of would be the lapua 139 or sierra 142 at about 2800 fps, tuned down from blackhills to preserve barrel life.

MEL

You should also consider the 6.5/06 wildcat (necked down 30-06 cases to handle the 6.5 bullett), which is virtually identical in performance, but needs a standard instead of short action.

Mel

Have you investigated the use of cryo treatment as far as extending useful barrel life in a accuracy-based rifle like a sniper weapon. I know it is a hotly disputed issue. I do not believe there is any real evidence of enhanced accuracy, but if it enhances the barrel life of a 6.5x284 even if only by 500 rounds (33%; and you are smart enough to keep you velocity down below 2,900 fps), I suspect it might be cost effective use of $50-75.

lapua, hornady and Norma make brass fro the 6.5/285

Apparently the .260 rem is respectable also.

Yes, I am very fond of the .260 also, and I think I could acheive the ballistics I want with a 123gr lapua bullet in .260 (or even a 107 sierra). But I wanted the extra flexibility that the 6.5x284 offered.

MEL

The .260's good, yes, but that's kinda like comparing the .30-06 to the .300 mag.

heh, yes, exactly.

I like the .260 because its based on a good cartridge (.308), uses an exception bullet (.264) and is very mild to shoot. And to top it off, you can buy 100 brass for $25, where as the 6.5x284 brass is about $60. (norma, lapua and hornady, all are expensive).

MEL

I have been doing a bit of research on the 6.5/284Norma and it seems if you want to take advantage of the 140g SMK and Amax's you really have to seat them out. Which makes them too long to use in a Rem M700 short action (unless you want a single shot). This sort of takes the shine off the 6.5/284 as I was hoping to get all the preformance in a SA.

Mulga

Mulga - I'm not sure I agree with your assessment on the Rem. 700 Short action. Prone and F-Class shooters are using this chambering and need to be able to load from a magazine, whether it be internal or drop, to shoot in some of these matches. However, it was explained to me that the critcal element is the length of the magazine well and magazine. Check it out and I'm certain that you'll find discussions about stretching the wells to accomodate longer rounds (not only for 6.5x284s, but also for .308 and other rounds).

You can use 6.5/284norma with 142g SMK's in a Rem 700 SA and cycle them from the magazine (even a modified mag) if you dont seat them out. By not seating them out to thier optimimum length you reduce the case capacity, and you apparently only get .260 rem performance. Also 142g SMK's seated to the optimum length, cant be extracted through the ejection port when loaded. The bolt needs to be removed to do so. Thats why a long action is realy the only option.



Mulga

Mulga

Sierra 142MK (similar in shape ot the Berger 140 and Carterucio 141, now wer're talking a different bullet weight, length, and shape from the 140 MK. One is a secant ogive and the other a tanget ogive. The 140 is shorter and has a blunter nose. From what I've seen, its used by folks who load from standard magazines, or who cannot stabalize the 142 with a 9 inch twist.

I'll tell you what when I get mine back from the smith I'll report on my internal mag length dimension, the max length ammo that I can cycle through her, including still loaded ammo, and as compared with the 2.800 inches "standard" length for the 6.5x284.

I am looking to buy a new .308 caliber rifle but a friend of mine said I should get a rifle in 6.5x284 caliber. Is the 6.5x284 caliber superior to the .308 caliber? My new rifle will be used to shoot deer and take long shots(600 plus yards) on prairie dogs. I have access to reloading equipment so if I had to I can load my own ammo.

Appreciate your opinions.

6.5*284 will probably kick about the same but has a much higher ballistic coefficient and is a better long range round
at 1000y the 142 gr Black Hills Matchking is superior to the Fedral Gold Medal 190 gr .300 Win mag load... flatter shooting and drifting much less in the wind.. not to mention about the same energy... only drawback is i hear the 6.5*284 is a barrel burner (the .300 Win mag is too) but a .308's barrel will last longer... hopefully someoen can provide techinical details
also much much much more ammo is available for the .308 from surplus to premium hunting loads to match ammo from several manufacturers while im not aware of many manufacturers of 6.5*284 Norma only the black hills match load mentioned on this site
i have a .308 and im happy with it... hope to use it for hutning and target shooting out to maybe 1000y

Unless Lapua or Norma is currently loading for the 6.5x284, I do not believe any one is making factory ammo for it. Black Hills pulled out over a year ago, and The Hunting Shack has not yet decided if they are going to step in and do so (at least that waws the response I got when I asked about 4 monthsw ago).

I have a 6.5x284 with a .294 neck and spent 5 hours doing that yesterday - yeah that IS exciting for a Saturday. If you dont want to load your own ammo, the 6.5x284 is definitely NOT for you. There is one guy in Florida who will work hard to help you find a match load, but he is expensive and the load development process will essentially eat up your first barrel.

Jeffvn:

Norma still factory loads, but only hunting ammunition.

5 hours spent on that? My last couple of days were definitely more fun then *Grins*

5 hours and I'm not done yet - less than half of the cases have been turned. I'm hoping that this will pay off with inhanced consistency on release tension and increased accuracy.

If not ..... I don't want to look that particular beast in the face yet. Good news is you only need to turn them once and you can reload them at least several times each.

Jeffvn:

Good luck with it though.