I am looking for some ideas for loading the 6.5-284. I have tried a couple and they seem to be halfway decent but was wondering if any of you had some favorite pet loads that I might try. I have loaded some using 140 grain bullet, Win brass, 54.0 grains of H4831 and Win primers. Ideas would be appriciated. I plan on using the 140 grain Sierra bullet and Win brass.

54 grains of H4831 is a pretty high overload, Hodgon list 49.5 as max. I personally used 140grn Sierra MKs and 48grns of 4831, sure it wasn't the fastest load, but it was the most accurate.

Thanks DanD. I know it is a little hot but my sponser wants velocity so that is what I have to provide. Norma ammo runs a 140 grain Sierra at 3000 fps. We have 2000 rounds of the Norma and I have to load another 2000 for a prairie dog shoot in June. So I am going to try a few other loads and see what I can come up with. I appriciate the input.

Before anyone else offers advice, maybe they would like to know WHICH 6.5-284 you are loading!

Is it the 6.5-284 Wincehster or the 6.5-284 Norma...

They are different!

Okay ricciardelli, please enlighten me what the difference is. That is some need to know information and I am glad you brought it to my attention. I have seen reloading information from both. Steve's Reloading had information on both the cases. Is the case capacity different? I am loading for the 6.5-284 Winchester. I have taken the 284 brass and necked it down and I am trying to get some velocity out of the round. I have tried 55 grn H4831 and it enlarged the flash hole. So I backed it off to 54 grn and that seemed to be okay.

I guess I'll ask a dumb question by asking how you can order dies and come up with starting loads when you don't even know what chamber you're dealing with?

While I'm at it, I'm not sure what you mean by "sponsor", but if you told your sponsor that you had a load that would give 5,000 fps but you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with it, would he be happy?

Now, the facts: the Norma chambering has a greater case capacity, some 2-6 grains more in the 140-gr. bullets, depending on powder.

The Norma case is .004 longer base-shoulder and .001 longer base-neck length.

Also, the newer "6.5-284 Norma" case dimensions have been standardized, whereas the dimensions of the 'wildcat' 6.5-284 may vary.

You might want to check the Nosler #5 for Norma, Hornady #5 for the "Win". I'm pretty sure that there are loads on this page - do a "Search" for 6.5-284.

Sorry to open this post so harsh, but not knowing what chamber you're reloading can get you seriously hurt in a hurry.

Good luck.

Sponsor meaning the person that pays for my prairie dog trip. I load the ammo, my former employer and I build the guns and we take everything to ranch were we shoot and the sponsor fly�s into meet us and pays for everything. Room, board, guns, ammo veering. No my sponsor is not that stupid to ask for 5,000 fps but he doesn't want something that moves like a thrown rock. Velocity and accuracy is what I am trying to achieve. All well within reason.

As far as the case dimensions they are pretty much the same. Well within go and no-go which is generally .007. Were in this case, the Norma case has a greater capacity according to Steve�s Reloading Page. I see where I will have to sort through the brass pile after the shoot so I can remove the Norma from the Winchester so I don't have an ooops.

If the cases vary as much as you say they do, then a 6.5-284 Norma case should not chamber in a rifle which was a head spaced off of a 284 win headspace gage. It was tight on GO and it still chambered the Norma factory ammo.

Save your sarcasm for somebody else, people are out here to learn not listen to other people's B.S.

i'm right behind you Deaddog. i'll be your wingman anytime!!!

SSCOYOTE
Aint it fun? im with ya! some of these guys really crack me the hell right up.

I have been using 140 gr SST's and 49.0 R22 with good success at 500+ yards on paper.

6.5x284 Norma


6.5x284 Winchester

Attention Please: I am loading for the 6.5-284 Winchester.

Thanks for the reloading information DanD and Voldamort.

Well that for the support guys. I realize that I don't know everything there is to know about every load. That is why I am posting my question here in this forum. That is the beauty of the internet, be able to get input from others. As far as the sponsor thing, if people were a little nicer to others they might have one of there own too.

I see the difference in case dimensions but talking it over with my former employer, he said that it won't make any difference other than the different case capacities. Norma standardized the caliber, but it still falls under the same caliber. If you go to Clymer Reamers and Dave Manson they both list one caliber which is the same. Not a different reamer for both the Norma and Winchester. As far as the Headspace gauges, they are the same too; there isn't a different head space gage for Norma and Winchester. So some people might want to do there homework before they criticize. Reloading dies, same thing. When you fire form the case it is going to expand to your chamber anyway and set the shoulder forward to adjust for the head space.

I have looked at reloading information from Steve�s Reloading Pages. There is also reloading information for the 6.5-284 Winchester on this website. That is what I am using. One of the curious thing that reloading manuals do is reduce the load for liability reasons. They generally reduce it by 10 percent to save there own asses. I am using the information off of this page and have not had any problems. Except for when I cranked it up to 55 Grn of H4831. I am using a 1-8 twist Pac-Nor barrel which could account for the high pressure. The information on this page states they used a 1-9 twist.

So lets see what kind of responses I will receive from this post.

Thanks for the pictures ricciardelli.

Here is a partial listing from our benevalent benefactors test with a 25" 9twist you can find the rest at:
http://www.accuratereloading.com/65284win.html
last # is group size in inches....

Please note that he moly coated these projectiles
SIERRA 140 MATCH KING
51.0 H 4831
2766
0.201


52.5
2858
0.090

54.0
2967
0.149

55.5
3029
0.400

Thanks Dave Jenkins

This is the information that I have been using. Primers look good and no enlarged flash holes after 5 rounds. 54 gr. of H4831 shoots half inch groups at a 100 yards. I want to try and trim it down a little.

I tested loads of H4831 on the 140SMK up to 56.5 grains, velocity was great, but as we all know velocity does not equal accuracy. I simply tinkered around with loads until I found the one that had the best accuracy and also had a lower velocity spread, for my gun that happened to be 48grns of H4831. I suggest you start loading at 46 grains and make a batch of 5 rounds at .5 grain intervals until you reach your goal.

Thanks DanD. What twist rate are you using for this caliber?

1in8

Deaddog: "They generally reduce it by 10 percent to save there own asses."

This is a bit of a rash statement, if it leads newbies like me to think we can go 10% over the manuals and stay in safe zone.... I do not doubt that some manuals are more conservative then others,but 10%? we will be blowing guns up here..

The bottom line: start at 10 % down and work up every rifle and load combination as different. That does not mean go 10% over.

anyways, this is definitely the best forum to askt he questions before experimenting too far afield...

Good luck with your project and wear good safety glasses, cause at 10% over max loads you will need them some day.

Sorry for the statement Jameister. I am not saying that going over max load is okay. People who reload should use the reloading manual max load to be safe when reloading there own ammo. But there is a liability powder companies must follow to save there self from people blowing there guns up. Lots of people have been disfigured or killed from excessive loads. Sorry again for the statement.

I agree shooting glasses and ear plugs are a must when shooting any firearm.

Thanks DanD for the twist rate.

Deaddog, I use the 6.5-284 Norma with 49gr. H4350 and CCI BR2 primers to give me 2977 fpswith the Hornady 140 gr. A-Max. Did I understand that you had 2000 rounds loaded for your rifle and that you were pushing them around 3000fps.? If so, you might be in for a let down before you get them shot up. By that statement I mean to say the 6.5-284 is noted for fairly short barrel life. If the barrel is allowed to heat up much ,the throat will eroude fairly fast causing the seating distance from the lands to change ,thus causing accuracy to suffer.I've seen a few get washed out in as little as 800 rounds.By the way,mine has 1x8 twist.

Yeh I know that there is short barrel life. And I don't plan on shooting 2000 round through just my rifle. I am loading for multiple rifles. I have a 6-284 and so far the barrel is holding up pretty good. The main rifles that we will be shooting are watercooled. My sponser came up with the plans and after about 1 year of redesigning it and making modifications to it we finally had the finished product. Water is transported to the muzzle of the barrel through a small tub and the water flows over the entire barrel keeping the barrel at a constant 50 to 60 degree range. The water enters and exits through hoses that attachs to the bottom with small couplings. The rifle is based on a Hall action. So mostly this is the rifle that will be shooting the bulk of the ammo. We have 3 of these rifles in 6-284 and have shot 3000 to 5000 rounds out of each one. I looked at the barrel with a bore scope and it was pretty supprising that it didn't erode the barrel more than it did. We just got finished replacing the barrels on all 3 rifles. If it gets washed out then we will just replace the barrels on them.

I will scan a picture of the rifle so you can see that I am not full of shit.

Lets see if I can add this picture without screwing it up. Haven't done this tried this yet.

It worked. This is a picture of one of the 223 watercooled rifles used during our praire dog shoot.