Savage f/class 6.5x284 freebore

[mattt]

Bought new Savage f/class 6.5x284 and not having alot of luck getting it shooting. With smk 142 or berger 140 grain hybrid to get bullets to touch lands there is no bearing serface in the case . I either have jump to much or not have much bullet in case.Does any one else have one of these and could you let me know what is your length to lands is with these 2 bullets. SMK is 3.220 to lands and berger is 3.270 to lands. Thanks for any help

 

[mattt]

No savage f/class shooters out there with any help?

 

[wyoming .260]

My brother had a 116 v something that you could not reach the lands with 140 bergers. His had a chamber that looked like it was cut with a dull wood boring bit. He had it shortened a thread or so and rechambered with a usable Oal. Shot much better, and the smoother chamber was an asset to brass life.

 

[mattt]

Thanks for the reply.

 

[coreydelong]

I started with a Savage F-Class 6.5x284 last year. Since October I went to a custom build.

My problem was the same as yours.... 142g SMK's were so far out it was not worth trying to hit the lands. I loaded them at 2.950" just for good bearing surface since I really wasn't going to get that close to the lands anyways. I was new to F-Class and the thing still shot 197's at 600yds with a crappy 20x piece of glass.

The one thing you will eventually dump the rifle for is the chamber size.... mine was 0.300". With a loaded round of 0.293" you are really killing the case neck. You really have to work the neck back down to reload in two steps.... 0.296" and 0.292". It is a pain and you will get tired of it, or go broke buying new brass.

If you really like the rifle I would just rebarrel it. It would be ~$500- $600 to get one custom chambered, but well worth it in the long run. Bruno's will get rid of the barrel nut if you want. I was going that route, but just went with a custom build on a Panda action. I would use a 0.188" freebore that seems to fit the SMK's well. I got my reamer from PTG. Ask for Hoover's spec 6.5x284 reamer.

 

[mattt]

Thanks Corey .If yours was same chamber as mine I wont wasnt anymore time on it. I have 3 other savage target rifles and this was first one that didnt perform out of the box.

 

[Billch]

mattt,

You may want to try a Berger 140 gr. LR instead of the Hyb. That should get you an additional .050 or .060 into the neck. What about the 142 MK, have you given those a try?

B

 

[barnesuser28]

Send Marshal Ambrose from Matrix ballistics an email asking for a sample of his 160 grain 6.5s, they are very new and he is doing R&D right now, they have about .644 bearing surface. I have the same rifle as you and had the same problem of reaching the lands, with this bullet i have about half the neck length holding onto the bullet touching the lands. The 160 matrix have a BC of about .720.

 

[Rockymountainway6.5]

Dont have any idea what these guys are talking about looks like perfect bearing surface to me .3.20" with 140 gr Hornday A MAX just touches the land in my Savage.

 

[memilanuk]

I had two 6.5-284 barrels for my 12 F-Class... both had super long throats. I was using B140VLDs at the time, and ended up jumping 0.110".

Take a look at the procedure described here:

http://www.bergerbullets.com/vld-making-shoot/