6.5-284 and action choice questions

[Lane Puckett]

Can folks school me on 6.5-284 and choice of actions?

I have a desire to built up a gun in that caliber. It will be a mid weight walking deer rifle. I'll go the 28-30 inch barrel just in a smaller diameter contour than the varmint/target one.

Not interested in going the Savage route, they are fine and shoot good, I have two in different calibers.

I like my Remingtons.

So my plan was to sell a youth Ruger M77 270 I have no need for and take those funds to pick up a Remmy action. Then go from there. Time is not a factor.

Turns out I probably won't get more than about $250 out of the Ruger. It isn't in bad shape just the market for a used youth Ruger 270 is in the $300 range.

So tell me.......is it a real bad idea to just rebarrel the Ruger and get a trigger into it, toss a slip on pad spacer or new stock and see how it shoots????

Bad idea.......or fun project just zero resale compared to a Remington Action if I get bored in a few years with it.

Thanks,
Lane

 

[Kevin Cram]

I would build off of a Remington before I would a Ruger M77. Nothing against the Ruger but the action is investment cast and not fully machined. Plus the re-sale if you ever do would be less. Either that or build on a custom action.

PM sent also

 

[Michael Eichele]

These are harsh opinions. Take them with a grain of salt.

1st I would sell the ruger. Go with the Rem 700.

Then I would try and talk you out of the 6.5x284. VERY short barrel life. Accurate as he!! though. A 260 Rem (6.5) or 7mm08 or even the 308, while none are as "sexy" as the 6.5x284, are in my humble opinion are much more practical for a walking deer rifle. All incredibly accurate, effective with much better barrel life. You can actually go to the range in the off season and enjoy your toy and learn how to use it without worring about how many shots there are down the pipe.

For a walking deer rifle, why the 28-30" tube?? While they are sexy, a 28-30 inch barrel in the contour you are thinking of will be as ridged as a wet spagetti noodle. This will make it a wee bit harder to tune loads and worsen the effects of the cold bore shot. The extra barrel length isnt needed, espescially on a hunting rifle. You are only talking a few FPS gain here. The accuracy and temperment will be affected way more than the 120 FPS (best case scenario) will help you. Now if you were talking 300-338 Magnums set up for ultra long range, that would be a different. You would get a bit more velociy than that and would need it for the extra umph way downtown.

Also MOST shooters that opt to go with this caliber opt to use the long action so they can seat the very long 6.5 bullets way out for better case capacity. Not really neccesary for a walking deer rifle either.

 

[Nimrod]

When I built my 6.5-284 I used a Ruger action but mine is a #1. I can seat those wickedly long Berger 140's out as far as I want to. While the #1 is not noted for fine accuracy mine shoots pretty good. I went with a Broughton 5c 8 twist barrel in a fairly heavy contour trying to get all the accuracy I could from the #1 action. The bench rest shooters are getting 800 - 1000 accurate rounds out of a good barrel before setting it back so I figure that load development will take 200 -250 rounds and I'm still good at least 600 rounds. That is quite a bit of deer hunting! The 6.5-.284 does tend to build up a carbon ring in the throat area and it needs to be scrubbed out every once in a while or it will cause problems.

My goal was a 500 yard deer/antelope rifle and I got exactly what I was after. If I were doing it over again I would go the same route. If you are building a bolt gun I would use a long action for sure, my hunting loads will not even come close to fitting in a short action magazine.

That's my story!

Bob

 

[Lank]

I might suggest talking to JB at Accuflite Arms in PA. I have seen some of the rifles he has put together and in my humble opinion, they are very fine. He has some quality thought on barrels for this caliber as well, he personally hunts with one.
I have one in the Cooper, but if I were to do it again, I believe I would pick up an old Rem721 action and build it off of that. Just my .02

 

[roninflag]

i used a remingtonlong action because my gunsmith would not work on anything else. tikka was a consideration . only need a long action if you want a repeater.

 

[Lane Puckett]

Meichele and others.

Thanks for the notes and comments. I think you pretty much hit it on the head.

I've been trying to talk myself out of the 260 due to many factors but one is brass.

Your comments around tuning for a load with the longer thin barrel makes 260 brass issues pale in comparison.

So now off with the Ruger and onto a Remmy action.

Thanks to all that helped out.

Lane

 

[outofayr]

Lane:

PM Sent.

Brian