6.5mm-06 or the 6.5x284

Have you seen the price of the 6.5-06 brass ? I thought the Lapua stuff was expensive....

If you make your own brass from 30-06 brass, it will be a better fit (if you can get any 30-06 of course).

I do not have my 6.5-284 barrel yet, so I can't give you any feedback, but if Savage is selling factory rifles their popularity must be improving.
 
Seeing as to how Lapua brass is awesome, and that they readily make 6.5-284 brass, I would be more inclined to go in that direction, if it were my gun, and I were heading up the 6.5 class on a standard bolt face.

If I were going 6.5 on a Magnum, I would go with 6.5x257 Wby Imp. like Chase Curtis' new gun. That caliber really has me intrigued.
 
Perhaps it's the cartridge design, or maybe I've just been lucky but the 6.5x284's I own, s Savsge and a Cooper in factory will out shoot any custom or factory hunting rifle I've owned for over 40 years including a 6.5-06. Nothing fancy, 140 Bergers with 57.5 gr of Retumbo, Lapua brass. I'm hooked.
 
My dad has a 6.5-06AI. He uses necked down 30-06 Lapua brass. Pretty much all he shoots is the 140 Berger and out of a 26.5 Lilja tube he is running them right at 3150-3165. It's a semi custom built off of a Howa 1500 LA w/Manners stock, nothing to fancy for sure but that thing shoots as good as anything either one of us own. Even knowing how well his 6.5-06ai shoots, he and I both have agreed that if he had it to do all over again, he would have built a 6.5-284. Even if his wasn't the improved version, he would still have gone 6.5-284 if he was starting from scratch. I don't know if one will really shoot any better than the other because all 3 of these 6.5 versions shoot extremely well. They all shoot very close to one another FPS wise but the 6.5-284 is just soooooo **** easy. If a little extra work and a bit more cost for dies doesn't concern you and what you really want is a 6.5-06, by all means have one built. You certainly won't be disappointed with either the 6.5-06 or 6.5-06AI
 
I've never played with the 06' version but I do love the 6.5x284. When there is equal or near equal potential between a long skinny case and a shorter fatter case, I'll take the shorter fatter version. It is my opinion that they burn a bit more cleanly and efficiently. That said, it's just my opinion. Also, I prefer short actions if at all possible and despite the popularity of it being used on a long action I have found a short action with a Wyatt box mag to be plenty. The standard reasoning behind seating bullets so far out is for case capacity. In all reality, unless you're going to pack retumbo to the hilt, you can't fill the case up with the most popular and proven powders without having a bomb in the chamber. 51-53 grains of 4831SC leaves air in the case as it is. Even with a COAL of 2.990" which is about all the extended box will feed smoothly. H4350 utilizes even less load density. Those 2 powders are widely used in this case for a darn good reason. RL22 is maxed out around 53-54 as well. The other reasoning is donuts in the bottom of the case neck. Guys don't like to seat the boat tail/bearing surface beyond the neck/shoulder junction. A K&M neck turner will remove any donuts. You don't have to turn the neck either if you choose not to. Touching the lands is also popular. A custom barrel can be throated to any dummy round leaving no serious reason to build one on a long action.

Ironically, I'm having one put together on a long action as we speak. It just so happens that the action I have available is a long and it's bedded to my favorite stock. I prefer a short action but am happy to use it on a long one.
 
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