30-284 part deux.... and another?

[Tac-O]

I'm solo with my baby this weekend and she's asleep and I'm bored already, so here's another 30-284 thread... because there's not enough of them!!!!

I've sold my first Tikka action that was blueprinted and unfortunately taken away from being able to use prefits and factory barrels. I have a new SS tikka action on the way to a smith (thanks @North Idaho Hunter ), as well as a factory 308 takeoff barrel and another mullerworks #3 contour blank.

I will have one of the 2, probably the 308 takeoff, chambered in straight 30-284 to continue my shooting fun. One of my goals here is to make sure the chamber works with my dies and bullets I want to shoot. Then after some experience with this barrel without wanting to pull my hair out, I can gain some insight for what I want in a reamer design.

For this chamber, I was planning on the following:
- the smith doesn't have a 30-284 reamer, so he's going to use a 284 win saami reamer (floating pilot) and a 30 cal neck/throat reamer.
- 0.342 neck to provide me with a minimum hunting tolerance no neck turn solution for Peterson 284 brass. My loaded neck diameter is around 0.338, never more than 0.3385.
- 1.5* lead angle - this is somewhat of a guess. When I talked to someone at Manson reamers when inquiring about having one made, they said that a 1.5* angle is a pretty generic angle and shouldn't be very picky on bullet design. Not being picky on bullet design is my goal... I want a jack of all trades and master of none. I don't like the idea of tailoring a chamber to a single bullet or two. Any thoughts here?
- 0.150 freebore - this is also somewhat of a guess. When I had the first barrel throated longer after the initial reaming, I was able to load a 200gr sgk with the boattail/bearing surface junction close to the shoulder/neck juntion on the case with a 0.070 jump. A 175 smk would have slightly less than .300 of the bearing surface in the neck when touching the lands. Over on another forum, it was stated that about 0.177 freebore would work well for 200gr bergers. So, 0.150 for this one is my guess. I'll be loading a few dummies for the smith to figure out what freebore I should actually have. I plan to shoot 175 tmk, 175 smk, 175 scenar L, and 200gr sgk from this gun. So I'll load dummies for those and see what the best freebore is. Any thoughts here?
- Since my die doesn't seem to size the web/head area any more than 0.500, I am going to see if he can hone out the rear portion of the chamber to about 0.502 if the 284win reamer is the regular 0.501 dimension that many of them are. Any thoughts here?


Another wildcat! I love what the 300rsaum has to offer: 70ish gr case capacity, long neck, 30* shoulder. But, you might as well consider it a dead cartridge, it has a magnum size case head, and I just don't like the aesthetics of the really short fat cartridges. In my opinion, there's nothing more beautiful than a sleek 30-06 case. But, I like the utilitarian aspect of the straighter wall cartidges with a sharper shoulder. So, I'm looking for some middle ground. The drawback of the straight 30-284 is the short neck. The 284 win has a slightly short neck compared to an '06 to begin with and it's even shorter when necking up 284 win brass. My peterson brass usually measures 2.150-2.155 after necking up when the factory length is 2.160 and that's .010 short of saami max. With such a sharp shoulder angle, a short neck causes a heavy for caliber bullet to really eat up case capacity when trying to get adequate bearing surface contact in the neck. So the solution is to blow the walls of the 284 win out a bit (shehane). But you still have a short neck. And what about making that a 40* shoulder? Blowing the walls out and making it a sharper shoulder might make the neck of a 284 win case even shorter. So what to do for brass? There's the 6.5 wby rpm brass which is basically an elongated 284 win case.

So, after having the 308win takeoff barrel chambered for straight 30-284, maybe I'll save the mullerworks blank for the next project and it will give me time to work out the details and decide if it's worthwhile.

30 Taco (30-284 shehane witha 40* shoulder and longer neck... 2.180 max case length?) - The goal here is a 70gr case capacity (slightly more than '06 and more efficient design) on a 0.475 bolt face that works well in a medium length action like a tikka, have factory brass available for forming, have a nice long neck for the bullet, and good barrel life. Rechamber those tikka 308win barrels to a super '06 and still have plenty of mag space.
- 6.5 wby rpm brass
- neck up to larger than 30cal?
- strong anneal on shoulders
- run through 30 Tocko FL die?

What's everyone's thoughts on this 30 Taco? Is it worth trying or a waste of time? In the end, the super easy wildcat straight 30-284 might be the best option. Or just get the 30-6.5rpm reamer from PTG because it would be pretty darn close.

 

[Tac-O]

Sitting on a plane, waiting to take off, and bored.

My action, barrel, and 30-284 taco improved reamer is with my new smith I have great confidence in. I'm 100% excited to get it back and start shooting it. I'll be very limited and tight on development time before hunting season begins.

But, no one else in the world will be missing elk with the same cartridge as I in October

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

It sounds like it'll work just fine. A 30-06 would have been a far easier route to follow, but who am I to talk. I'm running a short throated tight necked 7rum that only runs with a 7rem or so with the mild loads I'm running through her.

 

[FEENIX]

Sitting on a plane, waiting to take off, and bored.

My action, barrel, and 30-284 taco improved reamer is with my new smith I have great confidence in. I'm 100% excited to get it back and start shooting it. I'll be very limited and tight on development time before hunting season begins.

But, no one else in the world will be missing elk with the same cartridge as I in October

I hope it works this time. Good luck with your new build/project.

 

[Tac-O]

Thanks! It should be done soon. I think he's just finishing up my dies.

 

[Tac-O]

I picked up my rifle a couple of weeks ago . Everything looks great! Chamber and throat are cut very cleanly. Everything was done the EXACT way we had discussed and agreed on I don't have a picture of the rifle but will post one sometime soon. It's not much to look at having the factory stock, but it does have a great very durable bead blasted finish that matches the action really well.

Here's what I did.

Manson chamber and resize reamer, 30-284 improved (40* shoulder and 0.486 shoulder width). 0.310 neck length and 0.130 freebore set up to have juggs seated 0.020 off and bearing surface 0.050 ahead of the shoulder/neck junction. I should be able to seat 200gr bullets ahead of that junction with 0.020 jump. No turn neck at 0.342 for Lapua and Peterson brass. I had the base and shoulder dimensions on the resizer reamer reduced by 0.001 from standard to help prevent clickers in the event I want to use hot loads. The base to neck/shoulder junction dimension was reduced by 0.004 to setup easy fire forming per Ackley's method.

I used a 30cal resizer die blank and Lee seater die to have the smith cut my dies from.

I broke in the barrel with a few rounds a couple weeks ago with some junker bullets I had and the remainder of a pound of staball. Shoulders look sharp and I think the cases are fully formed based on measurements. Accuracy was promising!

I'll be going to the range today to start working on a load. I'll first find pressure and then load at the bench. This will be a first for me. I estimated where max pressure would be with the Gordon reloading tool.

185 juggernauts ~0.020 off lands
Cci200
H4350 55-57.5gr to find pressure
Peterson brass 1x fired

Left is straight 30-284 brass, right is fire formed 30-284 imp brass

 

[Tac-O]

Here's an update on this fantastic cartridge!

During my pressure testing, I started seeing slight ejector marks at 56.5 grains h4350 and took that up to 58 grains to see if there is much difference. The primers and injector mark looked pretty much the same up to 58. That being the second firing on that brass, it's possible I could go close to that upper end without loosening primer pockets after a few reloads and toughening up the case head, but I very likely won't do that.

I found that the POI was very close to the same between 55 and 56.5, so I decided to load 10 of 55.5 and see how it did.

Very good. 10 shots in 3/4" at 100, only pausing long enough to keep barrel from getting too hot to handle comfortably. I didn't get any velocity data on this session due to not being able to set up my Chrono at the range.

I had went out once or twice since then to shoot with the same results. This load will do 0.75 MOA very consistently, and that is with me having major eye problems in my shooting eye right now. I've also been shooting these in groups of 10, somewhat quickly, just keeping the barrel from getting too hot. If I were shooting 3 shot groups, letting it cool, etc then it'd be a 1/2moa gun for sure

Finally went out today to shoot farther and figure out my velocity. On my Chrono, it averaged somewhere around 2810-2815 for 10 shots, but the sun was not in a great position and it's just a Caldwell Chrono so I always take those numbers with a grain of salt.

Below is fouler on left, then 9 to same group. It could have been better. I had the sun low in the sky directly in my scope and as I'd mentioned I've got some eye issues. The 300 group top left is a previous range visit.

I set up a target at 300 to see if my velocity might be close. I used the shooter app and just used the BC for the juggernaut that is listed in there from Litz research. I put in 2812. There was a bit of a right to left breeze there. Maybe 3-5mph. The 300 group is the 5 on the right. Looked good enough to try farther. Set it up at 590 and shot the 5 on the left. Groups are a touch low, so I'm guessing I'm closer to 2800fps. I was also having a hard time keeping steady shooting off my backpack without having an actual rear bag. I used a rock with my hand on top of it for the rear.

So, 4th reload (I think) on Peterson 284 brass. Primer pockets feel the same as new. Cci200, 55.5gr h4350, berger 185 juggernauts about 0.020 off lands. 2800fps. Excellent accuracy. Gun is a Tikka action, mullerworks #3 10tw 23" (shank reduced to match Tikka factory contour somewhat close), factory Tikka stock, swfa 3-9.

I'm impressed with the velocity and accuracy considering the charge weight. I was shooting 180gr speers out of a factory .30-06 Tikka at 2850 with 58.5gr of the same powder. 175 smks we're in the same ballpark on that gun.

This gun is a winner. I'm glad I did a redo on this project and had my own 30-284 reamer made.

 

[R. Cram]

I also got lured into the 30-284 thought, I shoot Highpower and use a ruger precision rifle in 260 to do that. Since using that rifle for 5 years I got used to it and really appreciate Ruger's design it is very good. So I bought another ruger and stuck a 6.5x284 reamer in the factory barrel and used it to hunt. One day last year I took both ruger rifles to a 600 yd match and my 260 ruger was only 50 fps slower than the 6.5x284 at the 600 yd line according to the electronic target, I would guess due to the factory barrel being 24 inches and my 260 almost 28 inches. Last year I killed a very big mule deer with the 6.5x284 rifle about 200yds away with 140 sierra game king and shot him in the neck near the shoulder, he went down very hard like a sledge hammer wacked him then I walked up to him and he got up and tryed to leave but couldn't really make his body work right so I shot him again but I really don't like seeing them struggle hurt like that which is why I choose the neck it usually works very well, at any rate we couldn't find a hole in that deer anywhere from that first bullet and we process the meat ourselves and looked hard for that bullet and all we found was some very small pieces of jacket so I guess it blew up on the hide. So I decided to change the rifle to 30-284 to use it for elk also and got a reamer from PTG and put it in a Xcaliber barrel and managed to get about 27 inches of barrel after the machining. I started trying to find a load with my oal limited to the magazine, I think it was 2.960 and was not having any luck getting below 1 moa for 5 shots, I had fluted the barrel so there was a question mark, but finally after just neck sizing the brass it started to shoot very well, 1/2 to 5/8 moa 5 shot groups, very strange. I measured the brass and near the shoulder the full length die reduced the diameter .007 which I think is a bit too much near the base only .001 to .002. so neck sizing is what we do for this rifle. I took it to a practice match last week and the hunting loads stayed in the 10 or x ring for 12 shots then the loads with 190 sierra mk's shot 9 x's an one 10 for 10 shots, very nice so I am very happy now but early on trying to make it shoot I thought I had made a mistake with this set up

 

[Calvin45]

I'll admit the .284 case is cool to me and if this made you happy then it's worth it! For me the 30 cal wouldn't be my direction off that case….with the short stout bullets in this bore diameter I've often thought that a .35/284 would be viable and using 220-250 grain more blunt bullets have no trouble fitting in a true short action on a standard .473 bolt. Thatd be a level of thumping power most non magnum short actions couldn't dream of and in a lighter tidier rifle than any short mag, and still shoot realistically flat for ordinary hunting in a way none of the big thumping compact 45 caliber cartridges (socom, bushmaster, 45-70, etc) even come close to.

Out of a bolt gun…or an AR10…or best of all, I know the savage 99 was made in both .284 win and .358 Winchester…I know it'd be a pain probably and maybe not advisable at all but I've long had the thought that a modified savage 99 With the short 20 inch carbine version barrel chambered in .35-284 would be so freaking awesome!

 

[Tac-O]

Absolutely. I would like a larger caliber 284 as well.

This cartridge was also due to my want if being able to shoot longer 30 cal bullets out of my Tikka in a 30-06, or just a 30-06 sized case because I like that cartridge.

This barrel is now about 325 rounds in and my load of 55.5gr h4350 and 185 juggs has sped up to 2840 fps. About 10 or so loads on my Peterson brass and they're still going strong with tight pockets!

Some more 600 yard practice. These were fired quickly as I could, practicing follow up shots cycling the bolt as quickly. With my lowly unfancy swfa 3-9

 

[300 PRC CUSTOM SAKO]

I'm solo with my baby this weekend and she's asleep and I'm bored already, so here's another 30-284 thread... because there's not enough of them!!!!

I've sold my first Tikka action that was blueprinted and unfortunately taken away from being able to use prefits and factory barrels. I have a new SS tikka action on the way to a smith (thanks @North Idaho Hunter ), as well as a factory 308 takeoff barrel and another mullerworks #3 contour blank.

I will have one of the 2, probably the 308 takeoff, chambered in straight 30-284 to continue my shooting fun. One of my goals here is to make sure the chamber works with my dies and bullets I want to shoot. Then after some experience with this barrel without wanting to pull my hair out, I can gain some insight for what I want in a reamer design.

For this chamber, I was planning on the following:
- the smith doesn't have a 30-284 reamer, so he's going to use a 284 win saami reamer (floating pilot) and a 30 cal neck/throat reamer.
- 0.342 neck to provide me with a minimum hunting tolerance no neck turn solution for Peterson 284 brass. My loaded neck diameter is around 0.338, never more than 0.3385.
- 1.5* lead angle - this is somewhat of a guess. When I talked to someone at Manson reamers when inquiring about having one made, they said that a 1.5* angle is a pretty generic angle and shouldn't be very picky on bullet design. Not being picky on bullet design is my goal... I want a jack of all trades and master of none. I don't like the idea of tailoring a chamber to a single bullet or two. Any thoughts here?
- 0.150 freebore - this is also somewhat of a guess. When I had the first barrel throated longer after the initial reaming, I was able to load a 200gr sgk with the boattail/bearing surface junction close to the shoulder/neck juntion on the case with a 0.070 jump. A 175 smk would have slightly less than .300 of the bearing surface in the neck when touching the lands. Over on another forum, it was stated that about 0.177 freebore would work well for 200gr bergers. So, 0.150 for this one is my guess. I'll be loading a few dummies for the smith to figure out what freebore I should actually have. I plan to shoot 175 tmk, 175 smk, 175 scenar L, and 200gr sgk from this gun. So I'll load dummies for those and see what the best freebore is. Any thoughts here?
- Since my die doesn't seem to size the web/head area any more than 0.500, I am going to see if he can hone out the rear portion of the chamber to about 0.502 if the 284win reamer is the regular 0.501 dimension that many of them are. Any thoughts here?


Another wildcat! I love what the 300rsaum has to offer: 70ish gr case capacity, long neck, 30* shoulder. But, you might as well consider it a dead cartridge, it has a magnum size case head, and I just don't like the aesthetics of the really short fat cartridges. In my opinion, there's nothing more beautiful than a sleek 30-06 case. But, I like the utilitarian aspect of the straighter wall cartidges with a sharper shoulder. So, I'm looking for some middle ground. The drawback of the straight 30-284 is the short neck. The 284 win has a slightly short neck compared to an '06 to begin with and it's even shorter when necking up 284 win brass. My peterson brass usually measures 2.150-2.155 after necking up when the factory length is 2.160 and that's .010 short of saami max. With such a sharp shoulder angle, a short neck causes a heavy for caliber bullet to really eat up case capacity when trying to get adequate bearing surface contact in the neck. So the solution is to blow the walls of the 284 win out a bit (shehane). But you still have a short neck. And what about making that a 40* shoulder? Blowing the walls out and making it a sharper shoulder might make the neck of a 284 win case even shorter. So what to do for brass? There's the 6.5 wby rpm brass which is basically an elongated 284 win case.

So, after having the 308win takeoff barrel chambered for straight 30-284, maybe I'll save the mullerworks blank for the next project and it will give me time to work out the details and decide if it's worthwhile.

30 Taco (30-284 shehane witha 40* shoulder and longer neck... 2.180 max case length?) - The goal here is a 70gr case capacity (slightly more than '06 and more efficient design) on a 0.475 bolt face that works well in a medium length action like a tikka, have factory brass available for forming, have a nice long neck for the bullet, and good barrel life. Rechamber those tikka 308win barrels to a super '06 and still have plenty of mag space.
- 6.5 wby rpm brass
- neck up to larger than 30cal?
- strong anneal on shoulders
- run through 30 Tocko FL die?

What's everyone's thoughts on this 30 Taco? Is it worth trying or a waste of time? In the end, the super easy wildcat straight 30-284 might be the best option. Or just get the 30-6.5rpm reamer from PTG because it would be pretty darn close.

The difference between 35 and a 40 degree shoulder is insignificant. Go with regular shoulder and use same head space gauge. As far as using 6.5WbyRPM brass --- what I have--- New--- needs to be annealed just to do a regular sizing-- it splits and cracks very easily. IDK if it could be reworked. 4D reamers probably has rentals. I got a custom PTG reamer made. I am going to have a take off Swede barrel rebored to .308 and then do a 30-.284 Shehane using 7.5X55 Swiss cases....so no related rim.

 

[300 PRC CUSTOM SAKO]

I'm solo with my baby this weekend and she's asleep and I'm bored already, so here's another 30-284 thread... because there's not enough of them!!!!

I've sold my first Tikka action that was blueprinted and unfortunately taken away from being able to use prefits and factory barrels. I have a new SS tikka action on the way to a smith (thanks @North Idaho Hunter ), as well as a factory 308 takeoff barrel and another mullerworks #3 contour blank.

I will have one of the 2, probably the 308 takeoff, chambered in straight 30-284 to continue my shooting fun. One of my goals here is to make sure the chamber works with my dies and bullets I want to shoot. Then after some experience with this barrel without wanting to pull my hair out, I can gain some insight for what I want in a reamer design.

For this chamber, I was planning on the following:
- the smith doesn't have a 30-284 reamer, so he's going to use a 284 win saami reamer (floating pilot) and a 30 cal neck/throat reamer.
- 0.342 neck to provide me with a minimum hunting tolerance no neck turn solution for Peterson 284 brass. My loaded neck diameter is around 0.338, never more than 0.3385.
- 1.5* lead angle - this is somewhat of a guess. When I talked to someone at Manson reamers when inquiring about having one made, they said that a 1.5* angle is a pretty generic angle and shouldn't be very picky on bullet design. Not being picky on bullet design is my goal... I want a jack of all trades and master of none. I don't like the idea of tailoring a chamber to a single bullet or two. Any thoughts here?
- 0.150 freebore - this is also somewhat of a guess. When I had the first barrel throated longer after the initial reaming, I was able to load a 200gr sgk with the boattail/bearing surface junction close to the shoulder/neck juntion on the case with a 0.070 jump. A 175 smk would have slightly less than .300 of the bearing surface in the neck when touching the lands. Over on another forum, it was stated that about 0.177 freebore would work well for 200gr bergers. So, 0.150 for this one is my guess. I'll be loading a few dummies for the smith to figure out what freebore I should actually have. I plan to shoot 175 tmk, 175 smk, 175 scenar L, and 200gr sgk from this gun. So I'll load dummies for those and see what the best freebore is. Any thoughts here?
- Since my die doesn't seem to size the web/head area any more than 0.500, I am going to see if he can hone out the rear portion of the chamber to about 0.502 if the 284win reamer is the regular 0.501 dimension that many of them are. Any thoughts here?


Another wildcat! I love what the 300rsaum has to offer: 70ish gr case capacity, long neck, 30* shoulder. But, you might as well consider it a dead cartridge, it has a magnum size case head, and I just don't like the aesthetics of the really short fat cartridges. In my opinion, there's nothing more beautiful than a sleek 30-06 case. But, I like the utilitarian aspect of the straighter wall cartidges with a sharper shoulder. So, I'm looking for some middle ground. The drawback of the straight 30-284 is the short neck. The 284 win has a slightly short neck compared to an '06 to begin with and it's even shorter when necking up 284 win brass. My peterson brass usually measures 2.150-2.155 after necking up when the factory length is 2.160 and that's .010 short of saami max. With such a sharp shoulder angle, a short neck causes a heavy for caliber bullet to really eat up case capacity when trying to get adequate bearing surface contact in the neck. So the solution is to blow the walls of the 284 win out a bit (shehane). But you still have a short neck. And what about making that a 40* shoulder? Blowing the walls out and making it a sharper shoulder might make the neck of a 284 win case even shorter. So what to do for brass? There's the 6.5 wby rpm brass which is basically an elongated 284 win case.

So, after having the 308win takeoff barrel chambered for straight 30-284, maybe I'll save the mullerworks blank for the next project and it will give me time to work out the details and decide if it's worthwhile.

30 Taco (30-284 shehane witha 40* shoulder and longer neck... 2.180 max case length?) - The goal here is a 70gr case capacity (slightly more than '06 and more efficient design) on a 0.475 bolt face that works well in a medium length action like a tikka, have factory brass available for forming, have a nice long neck for the bullet, and good barrel life. Rechamber those tikka 308win barrels to a super '06 and still have plenty of mag space.
- 6.5 wby rpm brass
- neck up to larger than 30cal?
- strong anneal on shoulders
- run through 30 Tocko FL die?

What's everyone's thoughts on this 30 Taco? Is it worth trying or a waste of time? In the end, the super easy wildcat straight 30-284 might be the best option. Or just get the 30-6.5rpm reamer from PTG because it would be pretty darn close.

The shehane with a 40 is an ACKLEY. This is an insignificant change from standard 35.... BUT now you need a wildcat new go gauge, $$$ instead of regular..... So difference is neck length...for me I don't think that it is of any benefit except in one's own mind.

 

[436]

I think the .30-284 Win which is a great cartridge, I've shot a few over my many years and found nothing wrong with it. With that said, once I built my first custom LA F-Class tactical in .300 RSAUM there was no going back, the .300 RSAUM is an amazingly accurate cartridge I'm surprised it doesn't get more love. With bullets in the 175gr to 190gr range, it can get it done at 1k and better. Cheers