Thread: 6.5-284

I can tell you now you can distory a 6.5-284 barrel faster than 1000 rounds. If its a mans only hunting rifle 800 rounds goes quick. You also need to tune the load as the throat wears. I still think 6.5-284 is not a good round in a short barrel, it just dosent seem to make the speeds it should.

Goes without saying really. There are way too many factors that can effect barrel life. However if you dont get them hot by firing fast strings with whatever load, you will increase your chances of it maintaining its accuracy longer. No?
800 rnds would have taken me almost 10 years too get thru on deer when I was meat shooting. Thats a lot of animals if it is your main deer/thar/chamoose rig.
My 6.5-06 had 500+ thru it and it ran all sorts before I settled on N560. The seating depth changed by from new by 4 thou. Its a cal that would be as bad on barrels as any 6.5 imo.
Maybe it went so well because of HBN, dunno. Its accuracy only seemed to improve by 500rds.
Never had a 6.5-284 but find it sort of strange with almost 10grns more capacity than my .260AI you couldnt shoot 2900ish comfortably with a decent pill/powder combo with a 23-24" tube.

You were meat shooting and fired less than 80 rounds a year? The 6.5-284 will run a 140 out at 2900 from a 24" barrel no problem, it just seems to need the longer barrel to achieve the 3050 or so that it is capable of, it only seems to match a 260 in the shorter barrels.

For me, even though I go through a lot of rifles I want a reasonable barrel life because by the time I have finished playing with them from new they will have fired 200 or so rounds.

Umm, yeah? 80-85 rds average, maybe the odd yr I fired a few more. I wasnt meat shooting when it was piss easy (60's-70's) and apart from a brief stint full-time I did it part-time too suppliment my Defence force income then my awesome line pilots wage and of course because I loved it every second of it.

As I said, I never had a 6.5-284 so wouldnt know what they are or are not capable of. I have a .260 AI that easily gets 3000 with a 130 so I would have thought a 6.5-284 would have been better with similar barrel length. I guess not.

So if barrel life wasnt an issue.. ie on a hunting rifle, what would be 'the' 6.5 calibre to choose? 6.5 wsm?

Obviously a 6.5-408 Cheytac Imp would be the go to.

The last lot loaded and fired on sunday worked out pretty much as hoped, with the top loads averaging 2869 for 56.5 of 2217, and 2870 for 50 of 2209. The groups slowly getting tighter as the speed is increasing, so that's a good sign. No pressure signs at all, which is also a good sign

Will now sneak up on the 2900 wanted, watching for the magic group to appear !

Still using the 140 Amax, so will stick with them until the load is sorted then give the Bergers and Barnes a go as suggested.

Wahooo, fun city !

im using 49.5gr r17.burger 140vld.groups good.3020fps avge

I've got the speeds up around the 2900 I was after, but having trouble getting consistently good groups. I'm getting horizontal and vertical groups from the same loads, with the odd good group thrown in. It's at 50.5 of 2209, 140 amax, and I'm varying the oal .005 at a time seeing if it will come right.
Tight bolt lift is a frustration at the moment, most are tight, with a few that aren't, so I'm beginning to suspect some of the brass ? Primers don't show flattening at all.
The first loads I made with the Lapua brass that came with it had to be put through the body die before they would chamber.
The bolt is generally tight to close at the last few degrees of down with all rounds, so I've checked headspace as much as I can with .0035" paper, and the bolt will start down but only just. Anything thicker and you can't get it to start down even.
Does anyone out there have a definitive figure for headspace ?
I don't have any specific measuring tools for it, ideas ? ?

I would start with a new batch of brass Red and then see how ya go. Compare it to the stuff you have used as well. If the shoulder is bearing on the chamber it can be causing eratic groups. If you want too persist I would trim them to length then bump the shoulder till they chamber easily and then bump them another thou after that.
Personally I would try new brass and go from there.

Forgot to ask if you have checked for any case head expansion?

Originally Posted by R93

I would start with a new batch of brass Red and then see how ya go. Compare it to the stuff you have used as well. If the shoulder is bearing on the chamber it can be causing eratic groups. If you want too persist I would trim them to length then bump the shoulder till they chamber easily and then bump them another thou after that.
Personally I would try new brass and go from there.

If I chances a rifle that is just going to be 'reloaded for like all them are then I also head space it on the brass that they are going to use an make it firm, seams to work for me so far?

I would say the brass has had fair bit of a life see, the lapua brass I have used is hard as hell an shows no signs till way up there. Lapua 6.5 284 is hard to get to at moment

sent from my Samsung s3 using tapatalk 2

Yes, new brass is on it's way, it'll be Norma but I'm happy as it is working well in my 6.5's and 338

Well, I finally got to take the action out for a closer look at what's what (hadn't done it before as the owner wanted to shoot with it before xmas), and pretty sure that it's the fact that it is free floated right up to the recoil lug that is the problem Conventional wisdom is that it should be bedded to about 2" forward of the lug.
So guess that's the next step in the saga, along with starting with new brass, so it's watch this space !

I only bed in front of the recoil lug if it has a parallel Knox for inch or 2, if it tapers straight from the recoil lug I don't bother as the heat of multiple shots will throw it out with uneven pressure. . . . . . . Personal thoughts anyway.