.284win vs .280. Any advantage?

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I'm kind of a 7mm fan. I own a 7mmWSM, a couple .280's and a 7mm-08. I've wanted a .284win for a while and fantasized about building a light mountain rifle so chambered. What I read again and again is that you need to build that cartridge on a long action to seat the bullets out far enough. So if you're building it on a long action anyway, then why not just go with a .280? What's even the point of a .284win if you don't have it in a short action?
Any thoughts or did I just answer my own question?
 
.284 = short action

If you want to seat super long bullets way out, a long action is required... but here is the thing... you don't need to seat super long bullets way out. Bullets in the 120 - 140 grain range with good BC's, seated to the MAX COL for your action are going to work nicely. The .284 is a nice cartridge, just use it as intended and don't try to get too much out of it... if you own and shoot a 7mm WSM, you already understand this concept. All the talk of doing the .284 in a long action comes from people pushing the cartridge toward 7 RM performance... I don't get that thinking, if you want a 7 RM, just build a 7 RM.
 
I own pretty much what you are looking to build. It's a slabbed M700 short action, with a #1 Shilen tube set in a Brown Precision Pound'r stock, Talley lightweights and a Leupold 2.5-8X36. It weighs in at 6lb 11oz. I had a Wyatt extended box magazine added to give me a little more room to play with but it really wasn't necessary. 2900ish with 140 grain pills and really accurate. Love the rifle.
 
If you want a light weight mountain rifle the 284win on a short action will work nicely with 120 - 150 grain bullets. You don't need bullets any heavier for the mountain game. Go with what you fantasized. If you decide to go this route, don't go any shorter than a 22" barrel. cheers
 
One good advantage to the 280 is most rifles will hold 5 rounds compared to the 284's 3 rounds....but probably doesn't make much difference for most hunting situations. :)
 
I too am a fan of the 7mm, and have a custom lh 7MM STW, a custom lh 280 Rem, a Winchester Model 88 being rebarrelled to 7mm-08 as we speak, and a Model 88 in 284 Win.
Hands down, the 280 Rem is my favourite cartridge, while my favourite hunting rifle for open country is my lh custom Sako AV in 7MM STW.
That being said, I looked for over 20 years to find a 284 Win, and finally found a very nice Model 88.
Haven't played with it very much yet, but am showing promise with the 140 gr A-Frame and will do just fine on the deer, bear, moose, elk and caribou!
Any real advantage over the 280? Not really, but a very interesting cartridge that has always been on my bucket list. Perhaps an edge in efficiency with the shorter, fatter powder column. So far, accuracy is not as good as in my 280 (or past 280's). But I have not yet tried AccuBonds (my favourite hunting bullet, and the easily the most consistently accurate bullet I have tried in all of my rifles, and excellent on-game performance) in the 284.
3 vs 5 rounds in the magazine = similar argument between the 7mm Rem Mag and 280AI. If in big bear country, nice to have the extra capacity. For other hunting, one and done should be the goal, but life does not always meet our goals and the extra rounds in any repeating rifle just adds a sense of security.

If you want to shoot longer, heavier bullets (ABLR's, Bergers, ELD_X or M's, etc.), I would load those in one of your 280's where it will be able to capture any gains you are looking for.
In the 284, stick with the 140 to 160 bullets of normal design (Nosler, Sierra, Hornady, Swift A-Frames, etc.)
In a short action for a mountain rifle, as much as I love the Remington 700, it has the shortest magazine box, so would recommend an action by another manufacturer if looking to seat bullets out a little further. For example, Winchester's short action magazine box is longer. Also like the Sako.
A friend built a 284 on a long action, but rarely uses the full length of the magazine well for his handloads. Without a block in the magazine well, the shells can rattle back and forth under recoil and batter bullet tips.
The advice above for a min barrel length of 22" is good. 24" will get you more of the cartridge's potential.
 
a m700 SA with a Wyatt mag box allowing a 3" loaded length makes the most sense, which chambered in 6.5PRC or 7saum. Forget the 284 it's for Savage 99 and Win88 levers, shooting 150gr Power Points
 
I have a 284 built on a Rem 700 LA, it was built primarily as a target rifle though and not a mountain hunting rifle. It certainly does allow for longer overall length of loaded rounds and with 180 grain Lapua Scenars I get 2900 fps with a mild/moderate load and easy 0.2 moa. I think for a short action mountain build the 7WSM is where it is at, or maybe the Sherman SS designs would be of interest too. I just recently picked up a T3 in 6.5 CM and it is impressing me so far, it is bone stock the way it came outta the box and factory ammo is shooting around 0.5-0.7 at 300 metres, too bad they don't chamber that in the 7WSM.
 
If you get the extended Wyatt box get their follower as well. I built a 7-08 using their box and had a devil of a time getting it to feed until I got their follower then all was well.
 
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