6.5-284

dakor

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North Dakota
A friend of mine and I were talking today about what he wants out of a rifle. My friend tells me he wants a cal that will be accurate have mild recoil and not shoot a lot of powder. He then says he wants to be able to shoot deer out to 800 yards and Elk out to 600 yards. I mentioned the 30/06 and 308 but he said no thanks. I said I guess my next choice would be a 6.5-284. He then said that he had done some reading on it and was very Interested in it. What do you guys think?
 
I think the 6.5 would definately have enough punch for the game animals that you mentioned. Given his criteria, the 6.5 fits the bill pretty well. Personally, I am fully confident with mine. One question is, what kind of gun is your friend looking for. Are these 600 -800 yard shots going to be routine in matter, or just the hypothetical max? Plus, what is a lot of powder/recoil. This quesion sort of ties in with the "what kind of gun" does he want. Objectively, the 6.5 does not burn a terrible amount of powder less than some of the short mags. Heck, my 7 Rem eats 61 or 2 grains of powder, compared to my 6.5 which takes 50 grains. Granted, a 20% increase in powder is significant, but if your plopping down the money to build a 6.5-284, it should'nt be too burdening. Now on recoil (and this ties into range), if one were to build a heavy enough rig, then a magnum wouldn't kick all that bad, and it would definately have the legs for an 800 yard shot(plus added stability etc). So, before getting set on the cartridge, I would tell your friend to evalute a little more on how he is going to use this rifle. 800 yard shots are a good start, but is this going to be 800 yards after hiking 6 miles, or from a rest close to the road? I would weigh those factors just as heavily as I would the cartridge. That being said, I like my 6.5.
 
Well as for the recoil I have a 6mm-284 and he loves shooting that but for Elk it is a little small. So I figured recoil wise a 6.5-284 would be close to my 6mm-284. As for the range I would say most of his shots would be 500 yards or less.
 
Well I just got off the phone with my buddy he said he is going with a 6.5-284. Now I have another question what twist do you need in this cal? He will be shooting bullets in the 120 to 150 grain range.
 
dakor
For that weight range he'd probably be best suited with an 8 twist. Could shoot the lighter bullets with less twist but for the 140s and up 1:8 fits the bill.
Chris
 
I can only give you my experience with my gun in terms of recoil. The gun weighs 14 pounds, and is an absolute ***** cat and I shoot max or near max loads with 140 grain bullets. That said, this is with a heavy varmint contour barrel and hv mcmillan stock. I would imagine in a lighter gun, say 7-8 pounds, recoil would be in between the 260 and 270. Recoil would be a little heavier, but not at all uncomfortable.

In terms of range, I think he will have more than enough gun. Deer will be in real trouble, as will Elk with good bullet placement. In terms of twist, I would recommend a 1 in 8. That will give him the best twist for the heavy bullets (140s), which will be perfectly at home for the LR sport.
 
An 8-twist Broughton 5-C, oops you said twist not brand /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Rimfire that is pretty funny because my buddy wants me to pick the barrel out for him and that is what it is going to be. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Do you have one? If so what kind of velocity are you getting with it? He wants a 28inch finish and I told him a 5 1/2 Varmit Sporter would be the way to go. Thanks for the input guys.
 
Yes 28" 7.75 heavy varmint SMK 142's at 3010 fps
140 A-Max like 2900 fps
H-4831
 
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