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Old December 25, 2010, 07:28 PM   #1
supercrossbmx69
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6.5x284 or 6.5 rem. mag?

i am interested in a new custom long range rifle but dont know which cartridge to go with? i am going to be using 140 gr burgers and its going to be for 1000 yrds+. help please and merry christmas!
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Old December 25, 2010, 08:58 PM   #2
Doyle
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My buddy shoots .260AI and he got a bunch of those 140 burgers. He has had a problem with them having inconsistent length.
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Old December 25, 2010, 09:00 PM   #3
GeauxTide
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Get a 6.5-06 and have it throated for 140 Bergers. Ballistically, the 6.5-06 and 6.5-284 are twins; however, the difference in brass is ridiculous. I use '06 brass.
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Old December 25, 2010, 10:12 PM   #4
supercrossbmx69
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is there any difference in barrel life with the 6.5-06?
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Old December 25, 2010, 11:03 PM   #5
taylorce1
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.260 Rem, .243 Win, 6.5 Creedmore, and 6.5X284 would be pretty much the order I'd look for long range rifles. The .260 is my top choice becuase brass can be easily made out of any .308 based cartridge with out a lot of work. For the .243 a few things have to happen first I would need at least a 1:8 twist barrel preferably the 1:7 so I can run 115 grain VLD or DTAC bullets. It will hang with the 6.5's at long range if you can run these bullets.

The creedmore looks like a good round, just a little less case capacity than the .260. It can be made as well from .308 brass just a litttle more work. The 6.5X284 will have the largest case capacity and is the hot rod of the bunch but you can't argue with this cartridges long range performance. The 6.4-06 is pretty close to the 285 cartridge just easier to make from available brass.
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Old December 26, 2010, 12:10 PM   #6
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One major consideration for me between the two is that Lapua makes 6.5-284 brass. I don't know who makes 6.5 RemMag, but Lapua definitely does not. For 1000+ yard shooting I'd insist on Lapua brass for consistency.

Another plus in my mind for the 6.5-284 is that it doesn't have a belt, I dislike belted cartridges.

If you don't reload neither may matter to you(I assume you do as you're having it throated for Bergers), but in that case the 6.5-284 wins again as there are match loadings available for it, whereas the Magnum is limited in factory offerings.

ETA: there is much evidence to support the inherent accuracy of the 6.5-284, never seen a 6.5RemMag match rifle.
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Old December 26, 2010, 12:44 PM   #7
edward k
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My 6.5rem mag in a 673 guide gun has so far outshot my custom heavy barrel 6.5x284. It is also faster. That being said all guns are different and it depends on your use. Have fun. ED K
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Old December 26, 2010, 02:30 PM   #8
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6.5 is a wonderful bore size...

However, not all the 6.5mm cartridges are without their drawbacks.

The standard is , of course, the Swede. 6.5x55mm. Great round. Outstanding performance and light recoil, compared to virtually everything else. And it does it at 45K psi!

Never well loved by the American shooting public, compared to our beloved .30 cals, there have been only a few 6.5mm rounds, until recently. And the recent ones have been created with the intent of working through an AR type platform. Which is fine, if thats what you are after.

Remember the 6.5mm is a small bore size, and when you are talking about the powder capacity of a .30-06 (6.5-06, 6.5-284, 6.5 Rem Mag) these rounds are essentially overbore. Modern steels and modern powders can go a long way to reducing the effect, but cannot eliminate the fact that when you are pouring that much powder down that small a hole, barrel erosion is a more significant fact of life than it is with many other cartridges.

The .260 Rem, (and the new AR class 6.5s) are intended to deliver Swede performance from a short action (or autoloading) rifle. They do this by running higher pressures than the old Swede. Likewise the 6.5-06 and 6.5-284 also run higher pressures than the Swede, and performance shows it. The 6.5-284 got its following not from what it is, (which is a compromise), but from what it lets us do. And that is top capacity and performance from a short action rifle.

The 6.5mm Rem Mag is also a good performer, but is seldom thought of in that light, due to it being found almost exclusively in short action carbines. Both Remington and Ruger have made limited runs of their rifles in 6.5 Mag, but these are rare, and short barrel carbines (Models 600/660, 673, & model 7) are the only guns normally found in 6.5mag.
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there is much evidence to support the inherent accuracy of the 6.5-284, never seen a 6.5RemMag match rifle.
The reason you don't see 6.5 Mag match rifles is that there is no point. Besides the fact that match rifles are not limited to short actions and magazine lengths, the belted case adds complexity in the reloading process. While it is not a big deal to compensate for the belted case issues, if one can avoid the whole thing to start with, why not?

I am a firm believer in the "inherent accuracy" of cartridges, but NOT in the way so many other people are. They seem to think that a cartridge that is described as "inherently accurate" means that a rifle in that cartridge will be more accurate than a rifle in another cartridge that is not "inherently accurate". And that is simply not the case. ANY given rifle could be capable of outshooting any other given rifle, there are simply too many individual variables to make blanket statements ring true. Now, when you look at hundreds or thousands of rifles, then, you can see an "inherently accuracte" cartridge having a statistical effect, but on an individual rifle vs rifle basis, it doesn't.

If you are looking for long range shooting, and barrel life isn't your top consideration, you might consider some of the bigger 6.5s, factory and wildcat.

The .264 Win Mag is a lot of powder for its small bullet, but delivers downrange performance beyond what you can get from smaller cases. There is, of course, a price for that, though.

Also, consider this, back in the 1970s, there were a group of benchresters shooting 1,00yd matches winning them with a wildcat 6.5mm based on the .300 Weatherby case!
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Old December 26, 2010, 09:42 PM   #9
GeauxTide
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If you're concerned about barrel life, go with the 260. It's not over bore like the 6.5-06. Mine is for hunting, so I'm not worried about barrel life. I had it built to see if I could approach the 264WM with 140s. You might give a look at Zak Smith's site, demigodllc.com. He has an excellent article on the latest 6.5 LR target calibers.
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Old December 27, 2010, 02:31 AM   #10
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my next rifle is going to be a 6.5x55. i already have a M96 and i figure i can reload for both, but i can load them a little bit hotter for a modern action.

the brass and bullets are out there already and so is factory ammo. it's a very accurate round and the recoil is surprisingly light. plus, the swede won't eat your barrels as fast as a 6.5-06, 6.5-284 or 6.5 rem mag.
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