Medium Size Caliber for LR shooting

JonnyRossco

JonnyRossco

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Good day,

Looking for some experience and opinions regarding medium size calibers? I have many different bench and hunting guns, but I've been thinking about lighter recoiling caliber that will still reach out to 6-700 yards with the steam to possibly take a deer. I'm leaning towards the 6.5-284 or something along those lines. I have a pierce long action I wouldn't mind using which may be a factor too...

Let's hear what you ladies and gentlemen think...?

Jon
 
6.5x55. Or the AI version.
I'll be building one of these for my brother hopefully in the spring.
I am currently gathering parts to build myself a 7X57AI in the new year.
Basically these rifles are to fill a similar gap. I have an edge and a 243. Hoping these will fill the gap in the middle. Good target gun. Very capable hunting calibers.
 
I like the 6.5-284 for long action. I like the 6.5x47L better, but I think you would want a short action. If I was only going to shoot one carteidge it would be 6.5x47.
 
Pretty much any of the 6 to 7mm cartridges fit the bill as "medium". 6BR to 7-08. If you want to hunt with it, that knocks most of the 6mm's out of contention.
Do you reload?
For a long action, 6.5x55 or 6.5x284 are both excellent suggestions. The swede will give you longer barrel life.
 
Alpheus said:
Pretty much any of the 6 to 7mm cartridges fit the bill as "medium". 6BR to 7-08. If you want to hunt with it, that knocks most of the 6mm's out of contention.
Do you reload?
For a long action, 6.5x55 or 6.5x284 are both excellent suggestions. The swede will give you longer barrel life.
Click to expand...

I do reload and I'll be doing the build myself. I really like the idea of the 6.5-284, but I'm still totally open minded.
 
With a long action, you could go for a 284 or 280 Rem (30-06 necked down) if you want a nice 7mm. Pretty much the upper limit for a "medium".
 
Alpheus said:
With a long action, you could go for a 284 or 280 Rem (30-06 necked down) if you want a nice 7mm. Pretty much the upper limit for a "medium".
Click to expand...

280 Rem is an interesting caliber, but you are right, it is at the upper limit of medium and maybe pushing just a little past.

If I had a short action handy, I would probably just be done with it and build a 6.5X47, but I have a brand new Pierce Titanium long action that I should probably consider using before I pick another one up. I was originaly going to build a 7-300 WSM, but I reconsidered after a day at the range with a bunch of fellas shooting Dasher's, 6BR's, 6.5x47's, and 6.5-284's. Zero recoil, cool barrels, and cheap loads really caught my attention!
 
I have a .284 win in a pierce long action repeater and love it. I dont shoot in competitions, only steel. Very consistent out to 1450 yds. Easy on powder and mild recoil.
 
The 6.5-284 sounds like it's exactly what you want. It can be loaded down to shoot like a 6.5x47. I think 48grs of h4350 and a 140 Berger was about 2890fps and the 6.5x47 with 39.5 grs was around 2800 fps.
 
I would definitely stay away from the 6.5x47L for this.
As a hunting gun the relatively short barrel life of the 6.5-284 will not be an issue, especialy if (as suggested above) you don't run hot loads
 
BadAsMo said:
I would definitely stay away from the 6.5x47L for this.
As a hunting gun the relatively short barrel life of the 6.5-284 will not be an issue, especialy if (as suggested above) you don't run hot loads
Click to expand...

I have decided to go with the 6.5-284. This rifle I will shoot off the bench some as well as use it for semi LR deer hunting. I dont plan on loading to max velocity so I think I should be able to obtain reasonable barrel life. I know one fella at the range I shoot at regularly has 1500+ down the pipe and still shoots sub 1/2 MOA. I do however know that they are barrel burners and I'm now considering building it as a switch barrel...

Anyway, I'm rambling on now...

Thank you all for your opinions and advice!

Jon
 
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