.30/06 to 6.5x284. Opinions?
- Thread starter nomad 68
- Start date
I have never been great fan of cartridges on the 284 case although I have made some fairly nice ones. I like the 6.5/06, the 256 Newton, the 6.5x55, or the 6.5x57. All of these will work well in any 30/06 action. With a good range finder and sufficient practise, any cartridge which pushes a decently-shaped bullet to 2600+, at the muzzle, will make a decent 450 yard (or more) rifle. The practise is, by far, the most important part of the equation.
I've had a 6.5x284 and IMO it shines in the short action. In a long action I would take the 6.5-06 everytime just for the slickness of the action in feeding. There is no need for those really long low BC bullets that don't perform well on game in a hunting rifle. For a target rifle it is a different matter.
The 6.5x284 Norma is a CIP approved cartridge with a 82 mm (3.228") COAL. That requires a long action. The long bullets have a high BC which ensures high remaining energy at a distant point of impact, which in turn makes for excellent hunting effectiveness.
Mine was not a 6.5x284 norma. It was a 6.5 x284Win which was a wildcat for over 20 yrs before Norma. It excelled with the 140 gr Partition which probably is one of the ultimate hunting bullets. 130 accubonds work well. The 140s left the muzzle at 3000fps and I never lost a case due to enlarged primer pockets. As I said before in a long action I would pick the 6.5-06 which has virtually identical case capacity to the 284 case and the 6.5 RM case depending on the manufacturer of the brass. My info is based on 37 yrs with this cartridge not on what I have read.
The problem with the 284 Win, 6.5 RM, and 260 Remington, is that they stuffed them into a short action to save 1/2" length off the gun length, and quite often put short barrels on them. The 6.5x284 Win wildcat often suffered from the same problem, although that was a builder's choice. I'm building a 6.5 RM on a long action Remington 700 and fully understand the limitations of a short action, and what the numbers are when you want to shoot the long 140 grain 6.5 bullets. I believe it is why those cartridges essentially have died. Action too short, barrels too short. The 6.5x55 SE solves some of these problems with a shorter slightly fatter case. It is 0.329" shorter than a 30-06 but uses a long action. You have more room for bullet length. The old Swede has survived but these short action cartridges have not. And if you go with a 6.5-06 you will be fighting COAL again. If you can address the slightly larger bolt face issue on the Swede at 0.480" vs the standard 0.473", it is a good option too. Better than the 6.5-06, in my opinion. Probably not quite as good as the 6.5x284 Norma though with minor mods to the feed rails. The 6.5 RM is ballistically a good choice too on a long action, but it needs the magnum bolt, and brass availability is a problem.
The devil is in the detail.
