Why do 6.5/284 shooters seat thier bullets above the shoulder? As long as I watch out for doughnut issues, can't I seat the 139/147 gr bullets deeper than the shoulder? I'm obviously missing out on something here.
Target cartridges, bullet seating in neck?
- Thread starter Bigfoot
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As long as you don`t turn your necks there should be no "donut" issues.
I seat 129gr SSTs about even with the neck in mine. This is simply because this is the point my rifle shows best accuracy at. The heavier Hornady bullets would of course be seated deeper in the case, as would others if the land/ogive relation is similar. (I`m sure Sierras would) I should add I`m useing this rifle for hunting not target shooting and the chamber is a 6.5x284 Norma, not 6.5x284 Winchester, very similar but there is a slight difference.
Some I believe, seat shallower trying to squeeze every last speck of powder space from a case. This is with hopes of gaining higher velocity. I don`t personally believe you gain enought to matter with this cartridge or in most cases others by doing this. The extra 50fps you may gain isn`t enough to really matter for 99% of the shooters needs.
I seat 129gr SSTs about even with the neck in mine. This is simply because this is the point my rifle shows best accuracy at. The heavier Hornady bullets would of course be seated deeper in the case, as would others if the land/ogive relation is similar. (I`m sure Sierras would) I should add I`m useing this rifle for hunting not target shooting and the chamber is a 6.5x284 Norma, not 6.5x284 Winchester, very similar but there is a slight difference.
Some I believe, seat shallower trying to squeeze every last speck of powder space from a case. This is with hopes of gaining higher velocity. I don`t personally believe you gain enought to matter with this cartridge or in most cases others by doing this. The extra 50fps you may gain isn`t enough to really matter for 99% of the shooters needs.
Bigfoot,
You can indeed seat your bullets so that the bullet base is in the shoulder area. Donuts should not be a problem unless you are necking up/down brass. In my 6.5x55 F Class rifle I am seating the boattail part of the bullet in the shoulder area of the brass without issues. An advantage of this is that it allows you gradually increase your cartridge OAL to "chase" your throat as it lengthens.
Don
You can indeed seat your bullets so that the bullet base is in the shoulder area. Donuts should not be a problem unless you are necking up/down brass. In my 6.5x55 F Class rifle I am seating the boattail part of the bullet in the shoulder area of the brass without issues. An advantage of this is that it allows you gradually increase your cartridge OAL to "chase" your throat as it lengthens.
Don
A goodly number of handloaders like the bullet close to or into the lands by a few thou for accuracy...
Tom
Tom
Thanks all, I've been wondering about this for a couple of years and I finally had to go ahead and show my ignorance and just ask. I'd heard two things about the 6.5/284 for LR target shooting and they seemed to contradict each other.
1 It really needs a long action, in fact shooters with short actions single load and if they need to eject a live round they remove the bolt to do it, not for me since this won't be a target only gun.
2 It has more powder capacity than's really needed in order to get the 140s into the 2900-3000 range, heck my software says it should do this with a 2.8" OAL and a 26" barrel easily.
So after reading all I that could find I put 2 and 2 together and figured that seating in the neck was important for accuracy. Like the cursed donut monster or possibly something else. Otherwise shooters with short actions could compete and let the base of the bullet take up some of that empty space.
I'll supply my barrel maker with some loaded rounds to insure that he gets the lead to the lands correct for my 2.965" or shorter OAL.
I've got two choices here, a 6.5/284 with 2.9-2.965 OAL, and the 6.5WSSM with the thick brass problems that it has. The 284 case seems like it has better brass and fewer problems, IF it'll do all that I want from my S/A Savages magazine. Anybody out there on THR shoot 140s from a short action?
Edit: I might have found the problem with a shorter OAL, look at the ogive lengths in this photo that I got from 6mmBR.com. These 140gr bullets are all 2.3" or longer so the minimum exposures all look to be over an inch. :banghead:
Looks like it's the 6.5WSSM for me then.
I'd heard two things about the 6.5/284 for LR target shooting and they seemed to contradict each other. 1 It really needs a long action, in fact shooters with short actions single load and if they need to eject a live round they remove the bolt to do it, not for me since this won't be a target only gun.
2 It has more powder capacity than's really needed in order to get the 140s into the 2900-3000 range, heck my software says it should do this with a 2.8" OAL and a 26" barrel easily.
So after reading all I that could find I put 2 and 2 together and figured that seating in the neck was important for accuracy. Like the cursed donut monster or possibly something else. Otherwise shooters with short actions could compete and let the base of the bullet take up some of that empty space.
I'll supply my barrel maker with some loaded rounds to insure that he gets the lead to the lands correct for my 2.965" or shorter OAL.
I've got two choices here, a 6.5/284 with 2.9-2.965 OAL, and the 6.5WSSM with the thick brass problems that it has. The 284 case seems like it has better brass and fewer problems, IF it'll do all that I want from my S/A Savages magazine. Anybody out there on THR shoot 140s from a short action?
Edit: I might have found the problem with a shorter OAL, look at the ogive lengths in this photo that I got from 6mmBR.com. These 140gr bullets are all 2.3" or longer so the minimum exposures all look to be over an inch. :banghead:
Looks like it's the 6.5WSSM for me then.
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Two seperate issues here. You should, as mentioned, load to an OAL that puts your bullet's ogive near the leade. In my case, this occurs with my boattail below the neck. If you don't have a Stoney Point OAL Guage, get one along with a comparator to determine the cartridge base to ogive length of your chamber.
Don
Apparently some of the 140 gr target bullets like Clinch River have a pressure ring that requires them to be seated in the neck.
Bigfoot,
Don't know about the Clinch River bullets. Most of the F Class shooters shoot Sierra's or Lapua's.
Don
Don't know about the Clinch River bullets. Most of the F Class shooters shoot Sierra's or Lapua's.
Don
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