so it was doing what a .280 should do all day long without any fluffing around.......
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I've had a .284 Win for the past few years where it was a reamed out 7mm-08 T3 by Gunworks who did a dam fine job. The barrel was cut back to 16 inches with a DPT suppressor and that rifle simply just shoots. I've always run 150 gr Sierra (#1913) with AR2209 which give me a 2 inch grouping at 300 mtrs with some necked up 6.5/284 brass.
I haven't tried any heavier projectiles as I always wanted to limit myself with this setup to 150's and I've always run AR2209 as I wanted some RE17 but that powder was just hard to obtain, perhaps supply for it now is different but I've also heard mixed reports on that powder being temperature sensitive.
With my loads I've shot heavy bodied Red stags out to 300 mtrs dropping them like a sack of the proverbial and even knocked over a Bull Thar last year out to 420 mtres but I also found the 150's were just a bit too heavy for Fallow where the projectile would pass through an animal not dumping all of that energy into the deer or expanding creating that desired bullet channel so I figured a lighter projectile for Fallow is more desireable. On Sika they were fine, certainly a large exit hole and a blood trail a blind man could follow.
When I initially tested my .284 loads I was getting 2970 fps but I later found I had a dodgy chronograph and later on when I tested with a lab radar I found my loads were going 2570 fps which I consider slow but still deadly!
I've done some other playing around with results as below all tested with a lab radar:
.284 Win, Federal Large Primer, 150 gr Sierra
53 gr RE17 = 2693 fps
54 gr RE17 = 2797 fps
55 gr RE17 = 2871 fps
56 gr RE17 = 2934 fps
53 gr AR2209 = 2570 fps
54 gr AR2209 = 2616 fps
55 gr AR2209 = 2675 fps
Accuracy was not as good as what AR2209 would give me but perhaps with some playing around with seating depth or another projectile in the 150 gr range such as a 150 gr BT the accuracy would improve?
I also considered switching down to a 140 gr projectile and looked on the net and read somewhere of an American hunter who swore by his .284 with a 140 gr partition projectiles that he hunted all of North America's game extensively with so I tried some 140 BT's which I had on hand and the results are as follows:
.284 Win, Federal Large Primer, 140 gr Ballistic Tip
54 gr RE17 = 2812 fps
55 gr RE17 = 2894 fps
56 gr RE17 = 2958 fps
Again accuracy wasn't as good as the my main load but groupings were still around the 1.3 inch from memory.
I've owned a .280 Rem (first in Sako AV action & second in a T3) before and between the two I find the .284 better as it can be run on a shorter barrel where as the .280 Rem needs that longer barrel, the .284 is also a more versatile cartridge in the Tikka actions which is what most people are running them in but that's just my opinion and experience on the two.
If I was to build another .284 I wouldn't go to a 16 inch barrel. My minimum would be 18 inches just so I could have that little bit more speed.
Powders to try have always been AR2209, next is Superformance and the best for speed is RE17
What I plan for the near future is to swap out my 16 inch barrel and putting on a longer 20 inch barrel as we now live here in the South where I'll continue to run 150 Sierras but I'm also keen on a good 140 gr load so I have been pondering the thought of a Berger 140 VLD which I might just have to try.
....at the end of the day though I love the .284, but a mate has sort of made it redundant. He has a load now (Not sure what recipe yet) that is accurate and shoots a 150gn ELD at 2900 out of a 7mm-08. With those figures I'm wondering what's the point of the .284!!.... :)
@Kudu how did those 140s go up close at that speed? Still work alright on reds? Mine is 17” so would be a bit slower.
I loved my 284, definitely a cool calibre as SS says but when I did load development for a mates 18" 708 and got it shooting the 162eldx at 2660 shooting sub moa using less than 40grs of powder it made me wonder why I bothered haha
Will message you as it was a warm load...
160gr TMKs at 2830fps out of my 284.
As I own a 308 already I could never justify a 7-08.
However out of interest both 308 and 284 are similar weight, same recoil pad, same length barrel etc.
The 284 recoils significantly less than the 308.
Although I find myself leaving the the 308 in the safe more often than not these days as the 284 is just such a honey
I'm a 260 lover and thinking of making the jump to the 284 also.
Was wanting to run the 284 on a short action to use Tikka CTR magazines, but running the numbers is appear that the performance of a 162gr vs a 140/147gr will be very similar ballistically with the only advantage to the 284 being more energy down range at the cost of more recoil than the 260.
The 284 seems to really shine ballistically with the 180gr pills, other wise it doesn't seem to stand to far above the 260/Creedmoor range of cartridges (ignoring energy down range).
You will be limited running a .284 on a short action. It will work, but you will not be able to run 180s and 162s will likely need to be seated deep.
.260 is a great cartridge but in a different class to the .284 Win. 162s at well over 2800 fps is well above what a 7-08 or .260 are capable of (without primer popping loads). GWH and Seventenths have a ton of experience with .284 and are getting great velocities with 160 and 180 class projectiles in shortish barrels. I’m running mine at 2740 fps with 162 ELD-X and could go faster but it’s a very accurate and consistent load.
Cheers
I had a short action 284 and found it best mag fitted with 150gr sgk or 160gr speer btsp. This was a good place to be for hunting applications but as above, need a long or medium action for mag fitting the longies
I agree that 284 is a step up in performance from the 260, but it appears that squishing it in a short action limits it a reasonable bit.
Whereas the 284 needs bullets seating deep in the case in a short action the 260/creedmoor has ample room to load them out meaning you can run 140gr bullets at much the same velocities as the 284 running 162gr bullets.
The 284 will of course have more energy on target, but the 140gr 6.5mm and 162gr 7mm bullets have very similar BC and produce much the same ballistics.
Fair enough, but in a long action ...............
Sounds good. Best of luck Beetroot.
I see from Gunworks site that they have 2 reamers of different sizes one is a 316 neck the other has a 318 neck . So if you where to rechamber which one would you use and why ? I wonder why no chambers it in a factory rifle ? its darn near a perfect all rounder as far as case size goes ,enough grunt with out being to much .
.318 neck eliminated the donut issue from necking up 6.5x284 I believe. Pretty sure @GWH knows more on the subject
Some related snippets of information on the .284 Winchester
From time to time I see mention of .284 reamers that are supposedly ground to cut chambers specifically for use with necked-up 6.5-.284 brass. Having looked into this I can find no evidence of any dimensional differences between the bodies of the two cases that would require this.
Below are the drawings taken from the QuickLOAD library showing just the metric dimensions for comparison. Other than the change in chamfer angle on the bottom edge of the rim there are no other differences below the necks that can be identified.
Attachment 131596
Here is part of the drawing of the .284 Winchester SAAMI reamer offered by Manson Precision where I have added some of the metric equivalent dimensions. The figures are the same as are given on the JGS drawing for their .284 Win SAAMI reamer also. The dimensions here may be cross-referenced to the case drawing dimensions. If a chamber was machined using this reamer to put the bolt face as indicated, then a standard case as above would have a 0.005” (0.12mm) crush on the necks.
Attachment 131597
Of particular interest is that the freebore and throat in the SAAMI standard chambering are combined into a single continuous taper running at 0.79°. This differs from the more typical 1.5° leade ahead of a cylindrical freebore. The drawing identifies that at this pitch, the diameter narrows to 0.284" at a distance 0.217" (5.51mm) ahead of the end of the neck transition - this being the touch point for the bullet. Also of note is the 1/8" radius on the neck shoulder junction (this might ease any donut issue, if only slightly), and the neck diameter of 0.323" tapering to 0.322", which has previously been identified as quite large, particularly for necked-up Lapua cases that have been turned, often then measuring down at a 0.310-0.312" loaded diameter.
If you think you have a chamber cut to this profile then from measurements on fired cases (and the CoL for just touching) the information above should be sufficient to confirm this. Maybe of interest to some? I imagine this standard profile reamer is the most common among gunsmiths here as the neck dimensions mean it is low risk, and being off-the-shelf from most suppliers may be purchased for the lowest cost.
Below is a reamer design from PTG, described as a 284 Norma Match #46114 that is interesting because of the comment recorded on it. I’ve only reproduced here the detail around the front of the case and the comment, as the body & head are all standard. Dimensions all in inches this time.
Attachment 131598
The shoulder neck radius remains at one-eighth of an inch. The neck tapers slightly - presumably for extraction purposes - down to 0.3185”. This time there is a length of more conventional freebore at the expected 0.2845” diameter. At 1.5°, the leade will narrow from this figure to the 0.284 nominal bullet diameter a further 0.0095” into the throat, which when added to the 0.208” freebore gives almost exactly the same touch point as for the previous SAAMI reamer, supporting the comment that this should be the case. Barrels so chambered will shoot better apparently.
Yes, a larger diameter neck may offer a possible work-around if you are prepared to arrange your sizing gear to partially size the necks. This has often been discussed on here but perhaps is not necessarily an easy concept to grasp, so I've added some diagrams below that might be helpful:
Attachment 131614
Above is the starting situation with a donut present.
One possibility is that the freebore may be sufficiently long to allow the bullet to be seated forward in the neck ahead of any possible interaction with the donut. This assumes that having the bullet seated right out is where you want it for jump/engagement with the rifling.
More commonly though - and this is particularly so for the longer VLD-style bullets - the cartridge-overall-length (CoL) has to be reduced because of the size of the rifle's magazine. Then the bullet has to be seated further down in the neck, perhaps with the boattail pushed down into the powder column. This is where the larger neck clearance may be helpful as shown in the second diagram with the bullet in this position.
Attachment 131615
It works in this way: on firing the neck is blown out to the available neck diameter, and with a larger diameter this will hopefully also be sufficient to expand the donut beyond the diameter of the bullet. By then only sizing back a % of the neck, the bullet may still be held, and the donut is left with the lower part of the neck - un-sized and clear of the bullet shank as shown.