6.5-284 reloading

I have a 6.5-284 being built.
Rt now I have 142 nosler ab lr
Serria 130 thk

The powder I have
H4350 h4831sc h1000 n560

It's mainly going to be a hunting rifle

I've look at some recent data on the forum
Really nothing recent!

I'm not set on any bullets or powder that's just what I have

Try the 139Gr Hammers with H4350

A lot of guys (including myself) shoot the 140 Berger HVLD with Retumbo.

I have a good 140 load with H4831 but velocity is lower than the Retumbo load.

My experience with 142LRABs....
tough to get the accuracy the other bullets produce easily....
If I were jumping into the 65284 realm right now..I go the Hammer bullets direction.....especially if its just a hunting rifle.....
Extra speed and no lead....and dead animals.....

i use h1000 and the 156gr bergers with mine
really consistent velocities and great accuracy
If i were to do the load development again i would probably go with n565 and 140gr bergers

I burned out my barrel on mine with Hybrid 100V. I think my chamber was a little off. It seen pressure earlier than most rifles. It is/was a savage 116 stainless flutted model from Cabela's. I ran 49.5 of HV100 at 3.110 to 3.113 COL. As for Retumbo I kept testing 57 to 57.5 grains. 4831 I have some loaded data at 49 grains but I said in my notes it was slower than the 100V. My final load for the 142ABLR was 57 grains of Retumbo at the same 3.110. My best load was the 140VLD with the 49.5 100V. This gun with the 100V ran around 2880ish and with the retumbo it ran 2930ish. Group was always bigger with the ABLR. Right around 0.8 to 0.9. With the 140VLD they were about 0.5 to 0.6 MOA. The gun went south right around 4500 rounds. I think the last 200 rounds or so I was trying RL 26 and 156grn VLD's running it hard. I probably put more 140VLD on rock at 800 to 1200 yard than any bullet I've ever shot in my life. I found it to be the easy button after getting the 140 worked up in it. I recently pulled the barrel off of it and thought about doing a 280 ackley improved with the action but the 6.5X284Norma is such a great round. I could see my hits without the gun being braked. Sorry to say I never killed an animal with it though. About 1 year after buying this gun I bought a 300 RUM. That was my dedicated hunter but the sendero is a little heavy to pack but makes a good stable platform. Anyways I have one more note I found 4831 and it was 52.5 grains and it stated heavy ejector swipes but grouped good. Also all loads were on Lapua brass and Fed gold metal 210 match primers trimmed to length. I did not have a annealing machine back then but just used a socket and drill about every 3 firing. It's funny talking about this makes me really miss shooting this rifle. Much fun and easy shooter and loading with the 100V. It also may have been, Its not broken so don't fix it when shooting 1/2 MOA. It was good enough to hit MOA or 1.2MOA at 1000. I used to shoot a 12 and 15 inch plate a lot that I had setup when I was living in UT. I left then setup for a couple of years on some BLM land that no one new about them being there. I also shot a lot of rocks in this same area cause you could see your impacts.

I looked at my load data. 58 grains Retumbo with 140 Berger HVLD at 2998 fps out of a 24"

53.1 grains H4831 140 SMK at 2919 fps

Work up to those. I was about a half grain below max in my rifle for both loads.

Prairie Sasquatch said:

I looked at my load data. 58 grains Retumbo with 140 Berger HVLD at 2998 fps out of a 24"

53.1 grains H4831 140 SMK at 2919 fps

Work up to those. I was about a half grain below max in my rifle for both loads.

Click to expand...

What kind of groups did you get?

Supposed to get the rifle this weekend!

I ran my Custom Savage with a 130 Accubond on 51.4 grains of H4831sc. It was a bit slow at 2970 but it shot so well, I got over it. Mine seemed to hit pressure quick, so the 51.4 was a back off from 52.3, where it also shot well. I have moved on from that rifle but it was a cool cartridge.

52 to 53 gr of h4831sc with 140 class bullets and you should be in the zone. Find any of the threads with Greyfox in them he is the reigning authority on this site for this cartridge. 2850 to 2950 fps is where my three rifle like to run . Lapua brass for sure.

Eric H said:

What kind of groups did you get?

Click to expand...

First one is Retumbo load development. From 57.3 gr to 58.5 (this is on another target). I ended up going up and down in .1 gr increments from 57.9 grains and 58 shot one ragged hole for three shots so I called it good. The 4831 target is 5 shots.

I've shot the Retumbo load to 980 yds and my best is a 3.5" 3 shot group on a dead calm day. The load and rifle are more capable than I am. I'm seating .005 off with both loads.

I didn't see H4350 mentioned.
Anyone else ever try it?