.284 Winchester?

Looking to chamber a short action and wanting a heavier bullet. I think a 284 win would be pretty efficient with a 168 to 175 gr bullet. Thoughts?
You're probably going to need to step up to a Long action to shoot the heavies and the velocity potential is fairly anemic at around 2500-2600fps with 170-180gr bullets.

If you want to stay with a short action you'd probably be better off looking at the 7mm-08.
 
I like my 284W. Would I do it again on short action? Nope. It is just enough to push a 160 Accubond to 600 for hunting. If I want to go further I choose something else. Mine is built on a Stiller action with longer bottom metal(2.98)but still not quite enough clearance if I wanted to go larger than 160gr comfortably. Ideally I should have built it on a long action, but this one's plan is to be handed down to one of the girls so it should be perfect for that.
 
As a longtime shooter of the 284 Win (since 1983) perhaps I can offer some of my experiences.

It is true that 2.8" mag length is problematic for 160 or longer bullets. There are some short actions that are longer than that. A gunsmith can often lengthen the mag box or a wyatt's mag box can be installed.

I currently have a SA Ruger tang safety with a lengthened mag box. My gunsmith did the work himself. Usable space is now 3.050". (IIRC NULA model 20 actions use 3.1")

I had a custom reamer made to my specs. I neck turn the Winchester brass which needs turning as this stuff is not that concentric .315 neck. Now days you can get much better brass. I Supplied a dummy round with the 168 Berger VLD hunting to engage the lands .020" when seated to fit and feed from this magazine.

Using RL-17 this setup yields 2925 fps from a 23 1/2" barrel.
Without changing the seating die a 120 nosler bt and RL-17 is over 3400 fps

I also have a LA Rem 700 with a 28" 1 in 7 twist barrel I recently acquired from a friend who got out of shooting. It shoots 180 Berger match target with H4831 @ 2850 fps. Lots of room for bullet seating. It came with a custom long throated reamer that also requires neck turning, chamber neck .3165".

IMO best powders for a SA 284 with OAL constraints of 2.8" to 3.050" is H4350 or RL-17 with 17 making more velocity. Any bullet longer than 168 won't work that well with those mag constraints.
 
I have an Ultra Light Arms ,284 that Melvin built for me with 28" barrel. It is the Model 20 short action which has a 3.0" magazine, It pushes 154 Hornady Spire points to 3100 fps and 175 sp's to 2850. If using long, very streamlined bullets, you may have trouble with the short neck corresponding to the gripping surface area of the bullets at the loaded lengths you need.
 

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