6.5-284: Anyone built one?

Just wondering if anyone on this forum as gone through the process of building (or having built) a 6.5-284 on somewhat of a budget.

The guys on most of the benchrest forums have some nice rifles that they've dropped $5,000 on. I'm trying to stay around $800 in addition to the donor rifle and glass.

I believe you will be getting into more money than your project is realy worth. Now that the 260 remington is available you would gain little by using the 6.5/284. As a matter of fact the original .284 was noted for being a very finicky cartridge that often would exhibit wild pressure jumps when handloading for it.

The .284 cartridge also has never been noted for being as reliable a feeder as say the 308 family of cartridges. The straight sides of the .284 make feeding somewhat of a challenge for gunsmiths that modify rifles to take this caliber.

Another problem is shorter barrel life. The more overbore you go the quicker the barrel gets cooked and shot out.

Using a cartidge like the Remington .260 weapon will give you more reliable feeding, better barrel life, cheaper ammo and is probably even the more accurate cartridge although there are those that would debate this point.

My favorite of course is the 6.5x55 which was considered the most accurate military cartridge of all time. Even Remington for years and years used to chamber their 40x rifle for this cartridge and it won many a rifle match. Brass in this caliber is also a bit easier to find than .284 brass.

Cratz2 didn't ask for alternative chamberings to the 6.5-284 wildcat. He asked if folks online here at THR had any experience building a 6.5-284 on a budget. Not a .260 Remington, not a 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser, not a 6.5x57 Mauser, not a 6.5x54 Mannlicher-Schonauer, not a 6.5-06, nor a 6.5-300 Weatherby magnum. Cratz2 has mentioned online before his desire for a 6.5-284 rifle, and has stated his reasons. And his reasons more closely tie in with his choice of chambering than the .260 Remington. Namely, to the tune of several hundred fps, especially out there at 1000 yards, using 140gr bullets and heavier. The .260 Remington, aka 6.5-08, just doesn't have what it takes. And that's the same reason I built a 6.5-06, a very close ballistic cousin to the 6.5-284. The 6.5-06 or 6.5-284 barrel doesn't burn out any faster than the even-more-overbore .25-06, if you want to think about that little tidbit for a second. :rolleyes:

Cratz2, the USMC has been playing with the 6.5-284 in the past several years. Some say their interest, in addition to the benchresters, has been the driving force in Norma and Lapua making new factory brass for that chambering. Regardless, it's a heck of a cartridge, that still shows strongly in benchrest and long-range competitions. It's also earned quite a reputation as a good, long range cartridge for deer-sized game. I saw more than a couple in a sporter-weight rifle being used to hunt antelope way out there, with those wonderful Sierra GameKings.

Give us a bit more to go on, I'm assuming you'd like to use a Remington 700 action. I can't tell you to use a premium Krieger barrel like I did on my 6.5-06, because you'll end up overbudget. But maybe a Douglas barrel, or even a rechambered long .260 Remington barrel, or an E.R. Shaw barrel would keep you in the black budget-wise. Just remember what bullet weight you want to work with, and keep that in mind when you select the barrel, so you can match the twist rate.

Cratz2-

My coach has one that he built for 1000 yard Palma shooting. His is on a Nesika Bay though. But I'm sure he'll be able to offer suggestions so I'll ask him at practice on Monday.

If you are building it out of a rifle with a standard boltface the costs would not be too bad. Basically just a new tube and some magazine feed lip mods. If you used a 30-06 I bet it will feed without any feed lip mods.

There is a very valid reason for the 6-5-284. It works where others do not work as well. Even Boots Obermeyer is shooting one, and he can build ANYTHING he wants.

Well, I'm at the early stages of planning. I have a Winchester that would work as a donor rifle - has a HS stock and very good trigger. So I was thinking the rebarrel would be the only thing involved. Or I could pick up an 700ADL and just use action and go from there. Even just using the rifle as a single shot would work fine for me. I would think that as long as the rifle had a properly fitted barrel and everything was to spec, I should be pretty good to go. Looks like buying a Shilen and having them install the barrel, lap it, lapping the lugs and squaring the action would run right around $600.

I'd appreciate that Mr Flory, if you have time.

By the way BHP9, thanks for the recommendations. I already have several of those calibers. I figure if I going to build a dedicated long distance rifle, I might as well go for the current reigning champ (50 BMG excluded, of course) instead of an off the shelf 260 which, while it serves it purpose quite well, still will have shortcomings that will show themselves at longer distances. As I stated, I haven't ruled out a single shot setup which would negate any reliability issues. And while both are excellent and versatile cartridges, the 6.5-284 will most assuredly out shoot any 260 or 6.5x55 at long distances. Almost every single time. ;)