.30/06 to 6.5x284. Opinions?

nomad 68 said:
Going to have one of my 06 bolt actions rebarreled and this is one I am considering. Seems like an excellent candidate for long range deer. Same bolt face and from what I read, it will feed fine. Thoughts? Other suggestions?
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I think it is an excellent choice. In a long action you can seat those long 140 grain 6.5 mm bullets. If you go with a longer case like the 06, you will end up pushing the bullets back into the case and using up powder room with the bullet. This is a popular cartridge now, and you will have no trouble with brass or dies etc..

Another overlooked good cartridge is the straight .284 Winchester in a long action, again to handle the long 7mm bullets. You will probably have to neck up the more popular 6.5x284 brass to feed it though.

Don't cut the barrel short and you will have lots of velocity with either cartridge. My choice for long range deer would be the 6.5x284 though.
 
So will a .270 Winchester feed and work beautifully... or a 25-06. The 284 case can be a pig sometimes with feeding.
 
guntech said:
So will a .270 Winchester feed and work beautifully... or a 25-06. The 284 case can be a pig sometimes with feeding.
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Read this comment carefully. It is very relevant and true. The guides as well as the feed ramp will need to be modified to make the rounds strip out of the mag and feed reliably. I know of more than one such conversion that is operated as a single shot because of this.

The 6.5-06 will take 140 grain bullets seated out to the base of the neck in every configuration of that weight bullet made.

I am not knocking the cartridge of choice but I am urging you to select a better platform or be willing to put in some time and elbow grease to get it functioning reliably. One other thing. Once you have made these changes for the 284 case, they are permanent and the receiver will no longer be suitable for it's original type of cartridge.
 
Thanks very much gentlemen. The first one I thought of was 6.5/06 but since I will likely need to neck up .25/06 brass. Maybe I'm better off going .25/06,? Never owned one but it certainly gets a lot of praise.if I was to go .25/06, what is the optimum barrel length for it?
 
The 6.5/06 will give you room for 0.85" of bullet length out of the case. The 6.5x284 Norma will give you 1.20" out of the case. 140 grain class bullets are now reaching 1.45" long. Do the math... Also consider that the 6.5x284 is a bit of a barrel burner. The 25/06 of course is worse. Bullet choice is much poorer in .25 cal than than the 6.5 mm too.

Guntech is right about feeding issues. The .284 case is a fatter rebated rim case, and that is where it makes up for the powder capacity lost by being shorter. As a result you will likely have to open the feed rails by 0.030" or so. Much easier than tightening them up!
 
nomad 68 said:
Thanks very much gentlemen. The first one I thought of was 6.5/06 but since I will likely need to neck up .25/06 brass. Maybe I'm better off going .25/06,? Never owned one but it certainly gets a lot of praise.if I was to go .25/06, what is the optimum barrel length for it?
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A 24 inch 25-06 will perform very well. No need for a 26 inch unless you make a .257 Wby.
 
I own two 25/06's, one with a 22" barrel and one with a 24" barrel. Great cartridge for deer sized game. If handling or weight isn't a big factor for you then a 26" tube may be the way to go.
 
I own another .30/06 and also a .270. The .280 has always intrigued me because of the amount of bullet choices but the i don't think the barrel maker I have decided on is set up for it.By long range ,I mean capable out to 500 at the max but likely in the 400 area. I consider 500 to be the farthest I would shoot at game and the conditions would have to be favourable.
 
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All of the cartridges mentioned are great cartridges. As for the 6.5 diameter about the only bullets that will be to long for your purposes will be the new VLDs or Monolithics.

My 6.5-06 thrives on 140 grain SSTs over IMR7828SSC.

It's going to be your rifle. If the 6.5/284 is your desire then by all means go for it. You only live once. Just remember, it's going to take a lot of very careful stoning to get the rails and infeed ramp correct. You or your smith can easily screw up a receiver by taking off to much.

One other thing to take into consideration. Your dream rifle is specific to your wants and needs. It is usually very difficult to get anywhere near what you put into a custom rifle out of it.

In the end, you may be better off ordering such a conversion built or ordering such a rifle on a semi custom job from a make such as Cooper Arms whom I believe offers the cartridge in its line up in both short and long actions. Pricey but very pretty and with much better resale value. Mind you any cartridge that is a hand loading proposition will not bring a premium price.
 
bearhunter said:
All of the cartridges mentioned are great cartridges. As for the 6.5 diameter about the only bullets that will be to long for your purposes will be the new VLDs or Monolithics.

My 6.5-06 thrives on 140 grain SSTs over IMR7828SSC.

It's going to be your rifle. If the 6.5/284 is your desire then by all means go for it. You only live once. Just remember, it's going to take a lot of very careful stoning to get the rails and infeed ramp correct. You or your smith can easily screw up a receiver by taking off to much.

One other thing to take into consideration. Your dream rifle is specific to your wants and needs. It is usually very difficult to get anywhere near what you put into a custom rifle out of it.

In the end, you may be better off ordering such a conversion built or ordering such a rifle on a semi custom job from a make such as Cooper Arms whom I believe offers the cartridge in its line up in both short and long actions. Pricey but very pretty and with much better resale value. Mind you any cartridge that is a hand loading proposition will not bring a premium price.
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yeah, after talking with the barrel maker about the barrel life, I think 6.5x284 has too short of barrel life for this project.
 
nomad 68 said:
yeah, after talking with the barrel maker about the barrel life, I think 6.5x284 has too short of barrel life for this project.
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Barrel life is very subjective, because the end of life point is very subjective. However when you compare life using the same consistent method, the relative life of each cartridge does have some significance. I have used this calculator in Excel to calculate life of various options. Here are the results for some of the cartridges being discussed. Powder assumed was H1000 except for the 284 Win where I used H4831, and the 06 with H4350.

Cartridge - Est. Life

25-06 - 1080
6.5x284 - 1640
270 Win - 1670
284 Win - 1410
30-06 - 2180

If you want to find tune these, then download the Excel spreadsheet and change the variables. I standardized on a shot rate of 42 (seconds between shots). It has a big influence. Powder does too. If you could find a powder with less heat for the 284 and 30-06 they would probably improve some. H1000 is one, but appears to be a bit slow for those cartridges, and Hodgdon does not list loads for it.

In any case I would not eliminate the 6.5x284 based on barrel life.
 
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Ron AKA said:
Barrel life is very subjective, because the end of life point is very subjective. However when you compare life using the same consistent method, the relative life of each cartridge does have some significance. I have used this calculator in Excel to calculate life of various options. Here are the results for some of the cartridges being discussed. Powder assumed was H1000 except for the 284 Win where I used H4831, and the 06 with H4350.

Cartridge - Est. Life

25-06 - 1080
6.5x284 - 1640
270 Win - 1670
284 Win - 1410
30-06 - 1570

If you want to find tune these, then download the Excel spreadsheet and change the variables. I standardized on a shot rate of 42 (seconds between shots). It has a big influence. Powder does too. If you could find a powder with less heat for the 284 and 30-06 they would probably improve some. H1000 is one, but appears to be a bit slow for those cartridges, and Hodgdon does not list loads for it.

In any case I would not eliminate the 6.5x284 based on barrel life.
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A 30-06 done in 1500 rounds??? I must be incorrectly interpreting your calculations.
 
hookedonblacktail said:
A 30-06 done in 1500 rounds??? I must be incorrectly interpreting your calculations.
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End of life of a barrel is very subjective, as I said. If your experience shows you are happy with a 30-06 accuracy at 3000 rounds down the tube, then that is fine. But, when you are comparing it to the other cartridge choices, be sure to double their life estimate too. It is all relative.
 
hookedonblacktail said:
A 30-06 done in 1500 rounds??? I must be incorrectly interpreting your calculations.
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Assuming all variables were "equal" in that, I find the results off also... a 270win is considerably more overbore than the parent cartridge and the round count should reflect that. The least overbore on that list is 30-06. Only 1500 rounds? Do aluminum barrels really exist? ;)
 
New Camper said:
Assuming all variables were "equal" in that, I find the results off also... a 270win is considerably more overbore than the parent cartridge and the round count should reflect that. The least overbore on that list is 30-06. Only 1500 rounds? Do aluminum barrels really exist? ;)
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That was the second thing that I don't understand, how a 270 outlives a 30-06.
 
New Camper said:
Assuming all variables were "equal" in that, I find the results off also... a 270win is considerably more overbore than the parent cartridge and the round count should reflect that. The least overbore on that list is 30-06. Only 1500 rounds? Do aluminum barrels really exist? ;)
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You are correct. I think I missed updating the bore size in the calculator for the 30-06. 2180 rounds is what I get now with H4350 powder.
 
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