Short Barrel 284 Win???

[DazzH]

Hi all, I've just started a 284 project on my bush hunting rifle. At the moment the 243 barrel is a little over 20 inch which I find great for typical New Zealand bush hunting. The move from 6mm to 284Win is simply to have something that differs a bit from the typically chosen cartridges as well as to make use of the wide selection of heavier bullets in 7mm. I've just had the magazine shoulders shifted forward to accomodate the longer case and am about to order the reamer from PT&G. I already have a dedicated long rang setup that is long and heavy!!!, this rifle I want to keep short and light but capable out to about 600 yards. The longest barrel I would consider would be 24" but would prefer around 22ish. Does anyone have any experience with velocities/powders and thier performance out of short barrels with this cartridge?
BTW I will be shooting with 162gr A-Max.
All comments and advice welcome

Darrin

 

[watercam]

Start with the 24" and see how it goes velocity wise. If you have some to spare cut down that barrel. It can be done by hand cheaply and easily. All that said we're talking about about 50 fps difference.

 

[Preacher]

I shoot a .284 Winchester in a XP-100 with a 16 inch barrel on it (as long as the state allows for hunting) and it looses only about 250 fps over my 26 inch rifle..None of the truck loads of deer ever knew the difference inside of 300 yards..... I shoot 140 Accubonds out of it...

 

[SEB-USA]

It will work great, even if you go beyond 300 yards

 

[DazzH]

Preacher, that is a lot shorter than I will be going, but I would be interested in what powder you use or have tried in that length barrel. Here in NZ, ADI and Aliant powders are probably the easiest to get a regular supply of. In my 7WSM I have found RL 17 excellent and was thinking I would try this in the 284.

 

[Preacher]

I use 51.8 grains of old H-4350 in that pistol with Winchester brass, and Federal 210M primers... as soon as that powder is gone I'll go right to RL-17 with no hesitation at all.. My 7mm saums flat out loves that stuff...... it should work out just fine in the .284 especially with the heavier bullets you'll be using..

 

[SEB-USA]

Back in the day I had a 16" center-grip XP 284 Win and I was using the 140 NBT's with H-4831sc.
Had great accuracy and my MV was around 2750.

 

[ronemus]

I have a 20" barrel and easily get 2900+ fps with the 162 A-Max using Reloder-17. I had been using RL-19, but the velocities are better with RL-17 and the loads aren't compressed. This is primarily a target rifle, but could be used for tactical or hunting purposes. I find that the 20" barrel doesn't steady down as well as my other rifles with longer barrels, so the next one will probably be 26". The 20" would be totally adequate for use to 600 yards, but the wobble one is too big at 1000 yards.

 

[DazzH]

Thanks for all the feedback, will continue to ponder the finished length probably right up until the smith needs to part it off, 22 inch is very tempting and has a nice ring to it

Cheers
Darrin.