6.5-284 Hunting Rifle

[KSTiger]

Welp it's official! I'm having my Tikka T3X 6.5 Creedmoor rebarreled to a 6.5-284 this offseason. I'm pretty excited. Looking for something that shoots flatter and more point and shoot out to 300-350. This will be an open country deer and antelope rifle. Looking for suggestions of favorite bullets and powders folks are using for this cartridge. I will be looking for a longer mag and bolt stop as well for this rifle. Any help on accurate loads/bullets/powders would be appreciated in these tough times of sourcing components. As always, I will start low and work my way up. Thanks.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Check the varmint hunter forums. Long range varmint hunters have been loading up for this for decades.

 

[WeiserBucks]

If you can find it, 56-57 grains of Retumbo, 140 VLD, CCI BR2 and Lapua brass is the universal easy button in a 26" 6.5x284.

 

[KSTiger]

What kind of velocity could be expected in that setup?

 

[WeiserBucks]

What kind of velocity could be expected in that setup?

2950 +/-

 

[Flyjunky]

Welp it's official! I'm having my Tikka T3X 6.5 Creedmoor rebarreled to a 6.5-284 this offseason. I'm pretty excited. Looking for something that shoots flatter and more point and shoot out to 300-350. This will be an open country deer and antelope rifle. Looking for suggestions of favorite bullets and powders folks are using for this cartridge. I will be looking for a longer mag and bolt stop as well for this rifle. Any help on accurate loads/bullets/powders would be appreciated in these tough times or sourcing components. As always, I will start low and work my way up. Thanks.

If you go over to LRO precision reloading page many of us have put our most accurate/performance load data on that page in the 6.5-284 "sticky". You'll see the most used powders are rl26 and n565, and some are using retumbo and h1000....you'll get the best velocity with the first two.

My new build will be sporting a 27" HCA barrel and have .215 freebore to push the 156 Berger as fast/accurate as I can. I'm thinking it will be somewhere around 3070fps with 55.7gr of Rl26 based on past experience.

I'd look at the 140/156 Berger, 143 eldx, 130/140 accubond, or the 124 Hammer. All of those are proven bullets and for the distance you want to shoot the accubond or hammer might be the better all around bullets. If you plan on stretching the distance than the Berger or Hornady might be better.

 

[LBennington]

Currently I’m loading 140 elite hunters with h4831sc for my wife’s gun. Running about 2945 out of a 25” barrel. I’ve shot the 143 eldx also but have had better “performance”on game with the 140s. She kills deer, elk, and antelope with it about every year.

 

[KSTiger]

What twist barrels are folks running for the bullet weights/type they are using?

 

[B23]

Get an 8tw barrel and you'll be able to shoot all of the different bullet weights. The vast majority of just about all 6.5's wear an 8tw tube.

 

[Flyjunky]

mine will be a 7.75

 

[wind gypsy]

For your application I'd look at ordering 130 JLKs. They will be flatter than the common 140s for your point and shoot application and give up next to nothing to berger 140s in BC.

They have a very short bearing surface so if you build with a lot of freebore they would be jumping a fair ways or have very little bearing surface in the case neck, which isn't always a deal breaker. RL26, RL16, RL23 would be a good place to start. H4831 should work too with a little less velocity.

Edit: 8 twist is a safe bet.

 

[KSTiger]

My gunsmith has a 7.5 twist in stock and ready to go. An 8 twist would have a 6 month lead time.

Im not familiar with the potential impacts of “over twisting” or “over stabilizing” a bullet. Is there any reason I should stay away from the 7.5 twist if I want to shoot 130-140 class bullets?

 

[WeiserBucks]

My gunsmith has a 7.5 twist in stock and ready to go. An 8 twist would have a 6 month lead time.

Im not familiar with the potential impacts of “over twisting” or “over stabilizing” a bullet. Is there any reason I should stay away from the 7.5 twist if I want to shoot 130-140 class bullets?

7.5 will be fine for most bullets. It's been well documented that Hornady ELDM's don't like to be over twisted but just about anything else will be fine.

 

[B23]

Even with a 7.5tw you should be well under 300,000 bullet RPM so if it's a barrel from a reputable company it should be fine.

 

[KSTiger]

Its a 7.5 twist bartlein barrel...3b contour I believe.

 

[WeiserBucks]

Its a 7.5 twist bartlein barrel...3b contour I believe.

Do it.

 

[Mike D Texas]

I don’t know a lot about Tikkas but from what I do know they are very limited in overall length of the cartridges. If that’s true, you will be a bit handicapped in getting full potential from the cartridge.

Mine is built on a 700 long action and with 140 Bergers my OAL is 3.160 and that puts the bullet in the ideal position in the case with the bearing surface sitting at the neck/shoulder junction.

Using RL25 powder with a 26” barrel I have settled on a load at 3072fps. I’ve run it over 3100 but it wasn’t as accurate so I backed it down.

My barrel is an 8 twist and I wish it was 7.5 or 7 twist. I have a Proof carbon barrel in 7 twist just waiting for my current barrel to be shot out.


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[WeiserBucks]

Plenty of room in a LA Tikka magazine for a 6.5x284, gravy.

 

[KSTiger]

I don’t know a lot about Tikkas but from what I do know they are very limited in overall length of the cartridges. If that’s true, you will be a bit handicapped in getting full potential from the cartridge.

Mine is built on a 700 long action and with 140 Bergers my OAL is 3.160 and that puts the bullet in the ideal position in the case with the bearing surface sitting at the neck/shoulder junction.

Using RL25 powder with a 26” barrel I have settled on a load at 3072fps. I’ve run it over 3100 but it wasn’t as accurate so I backed it down.

My barrel is an 8 twist and I wish it was 7.5 or 7 twist. I have a Proof carbon barrel in 7 twist just waiting for my current barrel to be shot out.


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Thanks for info. Yeah tikka actions are actually all long actions. They just change the bolt stop and magazine for short action cartridges. So I’m just getting a long action mag and bolt stop and I’m good to go.

Why do you wish you went 7.5 or 7?

 

[Go West Old Man]

Good info. Don’t want to get too sidetracked here, but are y’all using regular full length dies or match grade dies to produce your favored accurate hunting loads? I guess I’m hoping that there’s somewhat of a consensus that regular 6.5-284 full length dies are just fine. Thanks.