I have seen both listed and am curious if there is a difference in the brass? Redding list there dies as 6.5x284 only. Thanks for the input. MTG
I attempted alot of research on this just a couple months ago. The currently recognized version was adopted by Norma, so sometimes it will say Norma on the item. Sometimes just 6.5-284, but it's the same thing. My 6.5-284 Lapua brass says 6.5-284 Norma on the box and so do the Redding dies. Some guys may use Winchester 284 brass and actually neck it down, but once it's fired in the newly adopted chamber it becomes 6.5-284 Norma anyway. Near as I've been able to tell or research, there is no appreciable difference in the modern version. I might be mistaken, but I think anymore its all simply 6.5-284. Would be great if someone would post a cartridge diagram of 284 winchester vs the current version, but I haven't seen any such thing.
Thanks Riley! Looks like all the important things are the same or very close, except that the current version would most likely be set up with a much longer throat to accomodate the extra COAL. IMO, some really old rifles chambered in 6.5-284 winchester may not have enough throat to chamber a new 6.5-284 round in it. I don't think we had the 140 VLD's when it began getting wildcatted
SBruce, you are missing the biggest difference. The 284 Winchester has a .284 diameter bullet (it's a 7mm). There is no 6.5x284 Winchester cartridge (official, registered cartridge, that is, that I know of) only the plain old 284 Winchester. The 6.5x284 Norma has a .264 bullet (it's a 6.5mm). They are different size bullets (and the Norma specifies a longer overall length). If you were building a modern .284 Winchester on a bolt action, there would be no reason to set the COAL so short, unless you really wanted to keep it short to fit a short magazine.
I hope you're just being sarcastic, because there's no way to miss that difference I was refering to 6.5-284 Winchester vs. 6.5-284 Norma or current. The 6.5-284 Winchester was a wildcat up till Norma adopted and registered it. That's my understanding anyway.
Im not really building, but rebarreling a LA savage to 284 win and im going to have the throat LONG!! just to give an idea, the 195 grain EOL's boattail/shank junction is going to be above the neck/shoulder junction. OAL will be approx 3.33
The basic difference between the two: The "Winchester" 6.5-284 wildcat version normally has a short throat. The 6.5-284 Norma version is long throated and is a register cartridge with standardized dimensions. Regards.
