6.5-284 for hunting questions.

[GlennGTR1]

Those of you hunting with the 6.5-284 Norma, how long is your usefull barrel life? I have heard competitors shooting out barrels in 700-1000 rounds, but that is competition. What is the barrel life with this round in a hunting rifle? Lets say a hundred rounds a year fired, and only firing one round every 5-10 minutes while sighting in. Also when building a rifle in this caliber is it best to go with a short Rem action?

 

[twmule]

it has been told to me that a gun that is to be used in the same manner as described will last from 1500 to 2200 rounds at least ihope so my no 5 contour fluted krieger arrived last week and itook my reamer to my smith so it should be just a few days . it will help if it is cleaned every 20 to 30 rounds. as far as the action nearly everyone will tell you that a long action is better for this round esp with longer 140 gr bullets hope you have good luck with it

 

[RonAKA]

I think it comes down to how much powder do you plan to burn down the bore. For 48 grains barrel life probably comes out in the range of 1600 accurate rounds.

I would go with the long action so you can seat 140 grain VLD bullets out to the lands.

 

[bozo699]

GlennGTR1,
I think RonAKA is about right,I don't have my barrel calculator here @ work but @ 52.5 gr of h-4831 I think I was looking @ 1200-1400 rounds,but seriously 3 or 4 rounds a year for killing game and 50-100 rounds a year for practice it will last you for 12 years or so $450 barrel job / by 12 years =$37.50 per year, pretty cheap fun!!!
Wayne.

 

[FryeGuy]

not sure about the barrel life issue, others will have more insight into it. As for action length, please don't do a short action. I had one built on a Sako medium (.243win before). I had to seat the bullets much shorter, it didn't hurt accuracy as much as I thought it would, but it did. Seating a bullet 0.150 to 0.185" off lands isn't that great. You could always measure the length of magazine opening on a Rem short, and compare it to the OAL of the cartridge, that will give you a good ideal on how well it will work. I think the oal length on will be around 2.23" for max oal length on rem short.

 

[zcrackshot]

I personally used a Remy 700 long BDL action for my build. The rifle was a 30-06 that I hadn't shot for years. I was told by my smith that if I wanted a long throat and good case capacity that a long action was the only way to go. Also there was no need to modify the feed lips inside of the action for a 6.5-284. As for round count, I have only put 230 rounds down my barrel and the load is hot! I've taken plenty of time to let it cool between shots (shooting my 223 for trigger time) and looking through a borescope it still looks new. Best of luck to you with your 6.5, I love mine!