Guys,
I'm trying to come up with a very accurate medium to long range whitetail rifle. I've narrowed the catridge selection to two, the 6.5-284, or the 25-284. What are your thoughts between the two. My only other consideration was to neck a 375 H&H down to 284. doeas anyone have any experience with these?
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Youth, Enthusiasm, and Athletic Abilty are absolutely no match for Old Age and Treachery!
No offense Swampman, but there are a zillion medium to long range calibers out there without going exotic. The key is long range and by that, I take it to mean over 300 yards. In that case the 7MM family from 7x57 to 7mag all come into play as well as the '06 and 308. You start shooting over 300 yards, and the bigger calibers are the only way to go IMHO. Necking a 375 h&h down to 7mm would be fine, but what are you really gaining???200fps?? Take a good look at the 7mmSTW loads...All that powder and shoulder misery for very little gain. Regards, Rick.
I would opt for the 6.5-284 due to bullets with higher SD and BC. There is also a good selection of 6.5 cal. hunting bullets, and match grade bullets. Good luck.
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PROUD HUNTERS KILL THEIR GAME THEY DON'T HARVRST THEM!!
Swamp, what is your def. of medium to long range. Most guys on here think long range is over 300 yards, other guys on different boards say long range is 1000 yards. Medium being 500 yards also. I also was tossing around the same ideas you are. The 6.5-284 has been popular recent with a lot of the 1k BR shooters. I went with the 25-284 because I wanted to use it on varmints as well as big bodied mule deer. I had it designed to shoot the 110 Accubonds on deer to medium (500) range. I hope that helps some.
swampman, ever hear of a 257 ALLEN MAG? its a specialty cartridge but boy is it flat shooting, its a 338 RUM blown out and necked down, but formed brass is available. It was developed by a guy named Kirby Allen. if ya want info let me know, I almost went with it but I decided to go with the 7mm ultracat, if I would have known then what I know now it would have been different.
RR
elkhntr04,
I am looking for a hyper accurate cartridge with a flat trajectory and good deer sized killing power from 300-600 yards. I was also researching what the 1000 yd guys seem to be using and it keeps coming up 6.5-284 but looking at ballistics and some test groupings, the 25-284 is more consistent.
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Youth, Enthusiasm, and Athletic Abilty are absolutely no match for Old Age and Treachery!
Swampman, that is why I chose the the 25-284. It did everything I needed.
Ridgerunner, funny you should mention Kirby, he is the one building my 25-284, and he suggested the 25-284 over the 6.5-284. Since swampman is not wanting to shoot long range (1000 yards) I think the 25-284 would be better than the big 257AM.
Imho, the 6.5-284 has better SD&BC then the 25 cal bullets. The 6.5-284 is a sleeper of a cartridge and is a fine one at that. Thel local 600-1000 yds shooters use this one as there pick! You won,t be sorry,just take care when reloading it. vangunsmith
Some of the calibers that really shine on the long range target shooting may not have a lot of thump left for big game at very long range. My personal rule is 2,000 fps impact velocity. Below that, bullets are generally able to make a wound channel only the size of their frontal diameter - which is what muzzleloaders and pistol calibers do. With that in mind, I would opt for the 25-284. But, as others have said, there are a lot of other calibers that can really carry the mail at distances beyond 500 yards if necessary. The .257 STW would be worth looking at . . . .
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A man has got to know his limitations . . . . .
6.5/284 or 25-284
