6.5 x 284 Norma

[whitetail Junkie]

I'm almost certain that this will be the cartridge chambered in the next Rifle that I buy!!!besides maybe a 204 Ruger??? Decisions\decesions!!!

Does anyone one on the Forum have any experience with this cartridge,or advice about it.

I know that it's a popular long range\Benchrest cartridge.I'll be useing the Rifle for deer hunting,and that does'nt include trying to kill a deer at 1000 yards or nothing extreme like that.I guess the cartridge is some what popular with some sheep hunter's who get it built in light weight, short action rifles.

I know The 6.5 x 284 can come in a short and a long action.I want a long action,so I can seat the bullet high so I can get more powder in the case and that the round will still fit good in the magazine.

any opinions are welcome!!! Thanks,WJ!!!

[catnthehat]

My so has used one for rifle rodeos and stuff for quite a while, he killed his first white tail with it.
The ballistics are identical pretty much tom the 6.5/06.
It is built on a Browning single shot action with a Ron Smith barrel.

Blackman also has a Ruger M77 in 6.5X284 and has shot some long distance deer with his.
These guns are very accurate pieces of gear.
Cat

[whitetail Junkie]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

My so has used one for rifle rodeos and stuff for quite a while, he killed his first white tail with it.
The ballistics are identical pretty much tom the 6.5/06.
It is built on a Browning single shot action with a Ron Smith barrel.

Blackman also has a Ruger M77 in 6.5X284 and has shot some long distance deer with his.
These guns are very accurate pieces of gear.
Cat

Great rifle & picture.I plan on hunting whitetail with the 6.5 x 284 aswell.How far were the deer that Blackman shot with his Ruger M77, 6.5 x 284?

My father actully use to have a nice 6.5-06.it had a Hart S\S Target Barrel and was actully put together by hart Himself,however he sold it to a guy who loved the gun more than my dad ever could.

everytime he saw the guy all he wanted to talk about was my dads 6.5-06,so dad being a nice guy that he is, Sold buddy the gun for what he payed for it.

Word is that Prophet River is getting a new shipment of Cooper Rifles very soon,which include some 6.5 x 284's.If they have one with a 26" Barrel and better than average wood,I'll Probabley take her

[southernman]

Have been talking to Clay (Prophet River) about a 6.506 or 6.5-284, heading that way this week, I too like the 6.5 cal, gess I can blame it on a fantastic 6.5x 55 on a weekend hunt many moons ago.

[whitetail Junkie]

Originally Posted by southernman

Have been talking to Clay (Prophet River) about a 6.506 or 6.5-284, heading that way this week, I too like the 6.5 cal, gess I can blame it on a fantastic 6.5x 55 on a weekend hunt many moons ago.

cool!!! What model of cooper 6.5 x 284 do you plan on getting?

[southernman]

Was looking at the custom or classic, or perhaps the jackson, will handle each and see what feels best, Kind like wood most of the time. Truth beknown wish I could get a 7x57 in a repeater.

[whitetail Junkie]

Originally Posted by southernman

Was looking at the custom or classic, or perhaps the jackson, will handle each and see what feels best, Kind like wood most of the time. Truth beknown wish I could get a 7x57 in a repeater.

Are you going to Loydminster for cooper days? Does cooper chamber a 6.5-06 in a repeater??? i hav'nt seen that on there website.I know that the 6.5 x 284 coopers are repeater's and single shots.I'm not to sure what model to get aswell.A decked out cooper can be one spicy meatball!!! my dad has a 280AI in a cooper classic,I love the gun!!!!

[longshot270]

What or when is cooper days? I am in Lloyd and itching to buy a new gun.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by whitetail Junkie

Great rifle & picture.I plan on hunting whitetail with the 6.5 x 284 aswell.How far were the deer that Blackman shot with his Ruger M77, 6.5 x 284?

Let's just say they it was a good poke and be done with it - one shot and DRT.
Blackman does not make a habit of making snap decisions and lousy shots , BTW.
Cat

[whitetail Junkie]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

Let's just say they it was a good poke and be done with it - one shot and DRT.
Blackman does not make a habit of making snap decisions and lousy shots , BTW.
Cat

I Gottcha!!!!

[whitetail Junkie]

Originally Posted by longshot270

What or when is cooper days? I am in Lloyd and itching to buy a new gun.

I guess that the owner's of cooper or some of the cooper "Big Wigs" will be in Loyd on October 29th and 30th for "Cooper Days".Maybe its for the Grand opening for Prophet River Firearms new store Location??? I'm not 100% sure.Either way go there and Buy a Cooper Rifle!!!! Scratch that itch

[southernman]

I talked to clay after seeing several 6.5-06 coopers listed on his canadian gunnuts page, Can't rember now but he had ordered enough for them to buy a reamer, anyway had several in stock 2 weeks ago.
Am heading into lloyd maybe tommorow afternoon as have to pick up a mountian board for my son, only place in Alberta that had any.
hoping to have time to drop in to prophet river.

[lclund1946]

I have just had the opportunity to test a Savage 111 LR Hunter in 6.5 NORMA. The opportunity arose as I was doing the load workup and testing of my Custom Rem 700 LR Hunter in my 6.5 EXTREME Wildcat with 26" Kreiger 5R barrel. The Savage 111 LR Hunter actually has a 24" barrel with a 2" radial brake that you can run either activated or deactivated by turning a sleeve that covers the holes.

The first thing I did was clean the barrel, adjust the AccuTrigger to minimum 1 1/2 lbs pull and torque the 3 receiver bolts on the AccuStock to the specified 45"lbs. I then did 3 shots/shoot and clean with a mid range Nosler book load with their 140 Nosler Partition and Nosler brass. I checked the brass and found the primers very flat and flowing around the firing pin hole about 0.003" and that the web had expanded 0.0006". I FL sized the brass, bumping the shoulder 0.001", and found that it had stretched about 0.09" and primers seated considerably softer. I concluded that this load was much to hot and advised the owner to get some Lapua Brass.

Berger supplied the owner with their load information for the 140 VLD. They showed the best maximum load as 57.6 grains Retumbo giving 2770fps, in a 26"barrel with a 3.219" COAL in Lapua brass, primed with CCI BR4 primer.
I loaded 3 and found that the 140VLD jammed 0.010" into the lands at 3.219". Surprisingly this load chronied at 2958fps with an ES of 30.18 and SD at 15.09 and grouped 0.44" at 100 yards. The primers were very flat and flowed around the firing pin and the web streched 0.0003" indicating that this was a very good but max load. I decided to try jumping the 140 VLD 0.030" and working up to a full case of 59 grains Retumbo. Retumbo at 58 grains gave a MV of 2958 while the ES jumped to 56.5 with a 21.74 SD and 0.0003" web stretch. I didn't get a chrony reading at 58.5 grains but the web stretched 0.0004". At 59 grains MV was 3023 with ES 25.74 and SD 13.6 and the web stretched 0.0005". The groups were not worth mentioning and I came to the conclusion that the case life would be a major consideration when handloading at these velocities.

At the range the Savage 6.5 Norma did well out to 500 meters with the Jammed 57.6 grain load but when buddy tried to extract an unfired round the bullet stuck in the lands and he wound up with the case and powder everywhere. This was partly due to the Redding dies that left only 0.001' neck tension but probably more due to the fact that there was only 0.158" of the bullet bearing on the neck. I pushed the bullets in so they are jumping 0.010" and am hoping that the accuracy won't suffer.

If this rifle is to be used for LR hunting I would suggest trying Nosler 140 Accubonds or Berger TTX. I didn't get an opportunity to try these. Another option that I am hoping to try is the new Hornady 120 GMX with RL17. I have a load that may put this bullet over 3300fps, in this rifle, without any pressure problems. With the high for weight BC of .480 this combination would make a nice LR sheep gun.

One other caution is that I have had to re-torque the AccuStock twice since initial torquing. Hopefully it will hold there.

By comparison the 6.5 EXTREME seats the 140 Berger VLD 0.010" into the lands at 3.035"COAL and the bearing surface of the bullet starts at the neck/shoulder junction and extends 0.165" to the case mouth. It holds 62 grains of Retumbo to the bullet but prefers 60.0 grains which gives 3010 fps with an ES of 8.94 and SD of 4.5 and a 0.42", 3 shot, group at 100 yards. I can go to 60.4 grains without getting any web stretch and it will shoot a similar group into the same spot on the target. At 60.5 grains I get a pressure spike that boosts the velocity to 3070, ES to 38.04, SD to 19.28, web stretch 0.0001" and a 0.6" group. Pushing it up to 61.4 grains of Retumbo at 3100fps the web stretches .0003" and the group joins the 60 grain group forming a 6 shot group of 0.53".

At the range the 140 VLD with my 60 grain load held 1/2MOA to 400 Meters, with .75" vertical, in spite of a 5 kph cross wind. At 500 Meters the 60.0 grain load and the 60.4 grain held 6 shots into 0.95 MOA with 2 fliers due to the wind included.

I decided not to push the 6.5 EXTREME any further as case life would be compromised. This is about 150fps faster than the Savage 6.5 Norma with the same amount of case stretch. Even considering the 2" barrel difference I still feel that I have the 6.5 beat by a good margin. As well the I can fire 50 rounds through the Kreiger barrel with only a trace of copper fouling while the savage barrel accumulates a lot of blue.

I have sold this rifle but hope to get more feedback from the new owner as he stretches it to 1000 yards.

Originally Posted by lclund1946

By comparison the 6.5 EXTREME seats the 140 Berger VLD 0.010" into the lands at 3.035"COAL and the bearing surface of the bullet starts at the neck/shoulder junction and extends 0.165" to the case mouth. It holds 62 grains of Retumbo to the bullet but prefers 60.0 grains which gives 3010 fps with an ES of 8.94 and SD of 4.5 and a 0.42", 3 shot, group at 100 yards. I can go to 60.4 grains without getting any web stretch and it will shoot a similar group into the same spot on the target. At 60.5 grains I get a pressure spike that boosts the velocity to 3070, ES to 38.04, SD to 19.28, web stretch 0.0001" and a 0.6" group. Pushing it up to 61.4 grains of Retumbo at 3100fps the web stretches .0003" and the group joins the 60 grain group forming a 6 shot group of 0.53".

At the range the 140 VLD with my 60 grain load held 1/2MOA to 400 Meters, with .75" vertical, in spite of a 5 kph cross wind. At 500 Meters the 60.0 grain load and the 60.4 grain held 6 shots into 0.95 MOA with 2 fliers due to the wind included.

I decided not to push the 6.5 EXTREME any further as case life would be compromised. This is about 150fps faster than the Savage 6.5 Norma with the same amount of case stretch. Even considering the 2" barrel difference I still feel that I have the 6.5 beat by a good margin. As well the I can fire 50 rounds through the Kreiger barrel with only a trace of copper fouling while the savage barrel accumulates a lot of blue.

I have sold this rifle but hope to get more feedback from the new owner as he stretches it to 1000 yards.

Correct me if I am wrong, you were getting 3100fps with a 26" barrel.

I have the 6.5-06... just don't like the look..

Hopefully we will have more time to use it. On the bright side, like the 6.5x284 or the 6.5-06 you can get some good brass from Lapua.

I am also hearing good things and have seen some good things with Hornady brass. I wonder who is making their brass (one or many different suppliers)?

[lclund1946]

Originally Posted by Precisionshooter

Correct me if I am wrong, you were getting 3100fps with a 26" barrel.

I didn't get a reading on the chrony at 61.4 grains of Retumbo so 3100 is a rounded off estimate. I did get a reading 3082 at 61.0 grains and according to my 500 -600 meter bullet drop my chrony is running slow. At 600 Meters I was over 6" higher than my chrony and computer were telling me.

Best part was that my 100 yard group was 0.53" at 3100fps or only slightly larger than my best load and shot to the same point of impact at 100 yards. Remember this is a Long Range Hunting Rifle and shot from the bi-pod.

[S.C.W.]

I have a beautiful little cooper in 6.5 x .284 LOVE IT!!! I can't see how anyone would be disspointed with one. I have found it shoots some incredible groups wit 142 gr. SMKs. I also used it for hunting WT last year. thumped my best one to date at 340yds. using a 140gr. nosler accubond.
Clay will hook you up and you will love it!!

good luck!

[whitetail Junkie]

Originally Posted by S.C.W.

I have a beautiful little cooper in 6.5 x .284 LOVE IT!!! I can't see how anyone would be disspointed with one. I have found it shoots some incredible groups wit 142 gr. SMKs. I also used it for hunting WT last year. thumped my best one to date at 340yds. using a 140gr. nosler accubond.
Clay will hook you up and you will love it!!

good luck!

I forgot that you were running the 6.5 x 284 in a cooper. A Model 22 Is what you have,I remember that.I dont have a .264 cal in the war chest so either a 6.5 x 284 or even a 6.5-06 is a Must.

[Deer Hunter]

Here's mine. Rem 700 long action on a McMillan stock, Gallard 1-9" 24" barrel assembled by Prairie Gun Works, NXS 2.5-10, shooting Hornady brass IMR 4350 and 120 TTSX at 3150fps or 130 Berger at 3000fps. Nice low recoil round but likes to stick cases in my dies... I'd like a Cooper but not a fan of the single shot story there. Not sure I wouldnt just buy a factory chambered 260 Rem and be done with it though... so similar that I wouldnt know the difference.

[whitetail Junkie]

Originally Posted by Deer Hunter

Here's mine. Rem 700 long action on a McMillan stock, Gallard 1-9" 24" barrel assembled by Prairie Gun Works, NXS 2.5-10, shooting Hornady brass IMR 4350 and 120 TTSX at 3150fps or 130 Berger at 3000fps. Nice low recoil round but likes to stick cases in my dies... I'd like a Cooper but not a fan of the single shot story there. Not sure I wouldnt just buy a factory chambered 260 Rem and be done with it though... so similar that I wouldnt know the difference.

Now thats a Really great set up you got there,A beauty custom gun for Sure!!! That thing must be deadly on paper!!!

I'm not a Fan of the Cooper single shot Rifles aswell,However the First Cooper repeater rifles chambered in the 6.5 x 284 & 6.5-06 will be arriving in canada sometime in October!!!!

[Deer Hunter]

Originally Posted by whitetail Junkie

Now thats a Really great set up you got there,A beauty custom gun for Sure!!! That thing must be deadly on paper!!!

I'm not a Fan of the Cooper single shot Rifles aswell,However the First Cooper repeater rifles chambered in the 6.5 x 284 & 6.5-06 will be arriving in canada sometime in October!!!!

Did you custom order these Cooper repeaters or are they going to have some in stock? Sounds like you already know what your buying!

[whitetail Junkie]

Originally Posted by Deer Hunter

Did you custom order these Cooper repeaters or are they going to have some in stock? Sounds like you already know what your buying!

They are going to have them in stock at prophet river.however it's still going to have to be just right for me to buy,I want a 26' Barrel and the wood has to be decent.Yes I am Picky