bullet for short range in 6.5X284 Norma

[buck5611]

I will receive my new Savage 12 Bench Rest target in 6.5X284 next week. My first use for it will be medium to long range shooting for fun with one of my friend who is a good match shooter. But for occasionnal shooting, I will shoot from 50 to 300 yards. I read on a review of a F class Savage in the same caliber, that the guy get groups from .2 to .4 in. at 100 yards with the Sierra Match king 142gr. Others suggest that boat tail will not stabilize before 300 yards. As I will also occasionnaly take this gun for deer hunting, I wonder if I could get good accuracy with the 140 gr VLD or the 140 gr. Gameking at less than 300 yards. does anyone have experience with this caliber? Any input will be appreciated before I order my bullets. Thanks. Buck5611

 

[woolecox]

I will receive my new Savage 12 Bench Rest target in 6.5X284 next week. My first use for it will be medium to long range shooting for fun with one of my friend who is a good match shooter. But for occasionnal shooting, I will shoot from 50 to 300 yards. I read on a review of a F class Savage in the same caliber, that the guy get groups from .2 to .4 in. at 100 yards with the Sierra Match king 142gr. Others suggest that boat tail will not stabilize before 300 yards. As I will also occasionnaly take this gun for deer hunting, I wonder if I could get good accuracy with the 140 gr VLD or the 140 gr. Gameking at less than 300 yards. does anyone have experience with this caliber? Any input will be appreciated before I order my bullets. Thanks. Buck5611

I don't have any experience with that particular cartridge but I have tons of experience with those bullets. They are both excellent. I have only owned one gun in my life that shot a "hunting" bullet better than Gameking. It's is a hard hunting bullet to beat. Then along came the Berger VLD hunting bullets. These things shoot like match bullets but are excellent for hunting. They do require some load tuning. I now shoot VLD's in my 3 main hunting and varmintting rigs exclusively. Last week I posted an 11 shot string into .9" at 200 yards out of my 308 with 168 VLD's. 2779 fps average. That's pretty good for 3 consecutive shots but 11? I'm pleased.

- 7mm Rem Mag by Shilen
- 308 Win by Tactical Precsion
- 243 AI by Lester Bruno

All receive a steady diet of VLD's and all shoot under .5 MOA or better. These things have been devastating on hogs, whitetails, and yotes. Have not taken anything larger. Yet. There are a lot of good bullets out there. These work for me.

 

[BlackKnight755]

I don't know what to say as far as the rifle you have chosen (don't know anything about them) but the cartridge I know... I shoot my 6.5x284 from 100 to 1000 using the same load with great results. I load 49.5 grns of VV N160 under the Berger 140 VLD's using a CCI BR2 primer and Lapua brass and run them out of a 32 inch 8 twist barrel at 2960 fps. I am able to shoot less than 1/2 MOA out to the listed distance. (less than 5 inches at 1000 yds) I dont have any experience with the GK's but the Bergers do a great job for me. Deer size animals are DRT.

Good luck with your new rifle.

 

[squirrelduster]

Just put a McGowen barrel on my 6.5x284 savage and use the Berger 140's.
It is amazingly accurate. Make little cloverleaf holes at 100 and we had fun one day shooting clay pigeons at 1026 yards.
The clay pigeon shooting was amazing, every two or three shots we would hit one. Light wind to make it interesting but man was it cool.
I shoot H4831sc with the 140 Berger. I haven't bothered to try anything else?

 

[WildRose]

I will receive my new Savage 12 Bench Rest target in 6.5X284 next week. My first use for it will be medium to long range shooting for fun with one of my friend who is a good match shooter. But for occasionnal shooting, I will shoot from 50 to 300 yards. I read on a review of a F class Savage in the same caliber, that the guy get groups from .2 to .4 in. at 100 yards with the Sierra Match king 142gr. Others suggest that boat tail will not stabilize before 300 yards. As I will also occasionnaly take this gun for deer hunting, I wonder if I could get good accuracy with the 140 gr VLD or the 140 gr. Gameking at less than 300 yards. does anyone have experience with this caliber? Any input will be appreciated before I order my bullets. Thanks. Buck5611

A good BT will certainly stabilize before 300yds.

I'm not much of a fan of the Sierra's though for a long list of reasons.

Hornady Interlock and interbond.

Swift Sciroccos. The swifts are grouping about .5 for me at 100, and even a 20rnd group fired in under 2 minutes grouped under 1.5" (about .6 MOA) for me at 250yds through my AR 260.

The Nosler hunting ballistic tip is a good choice as well.

I'm thinking in terms of hunting bullets here vs match bullets.

 

[MuleHunter]

If you are looking for paper punching out to 300yds i would give the 123-130gr bullets with H4350 a try. Stupid accurate. The 123 Lapua Scenar's might be a good choice as they are a very consistent bullet and would get great velocity and accuracy to 300yds where the wind isn't as much of a factor as it is at 600-1,000yds.

I used the 142 SMK's and the 140 Bergers in LR matches. Both did very well even at 300yds. H4350 was a little low on velocity but gave the best accuracy out of anything i tested and i would suspect would be a good choice for the 123 Scenars or 130 Berger/JLK bullets. H4831sc gave the best balance of accuracy/veloctiy for the 142's. Hope that helps, happy shooting!

 

[Nimrod]

My Savage 110 6.5-.284 had a Broughton 5C 8 twist barrel on it and was very accurate with the Berger 140 grain VLD the 142 grain SMK and the 140 Game King, the 140 grain Nosler partition was right in there too. Any of these bullets would shoot very well at 100 and 200 yards. The fellow that has been shooting it lately says the 130 grain Accubond is the best of the bunch. Some folks seem to have trouble finding good loads but I never had a problem, my favorite powders were Reloader 22, IMR 4350 and H4831sc.

I wouldn't worry too much about close range accuracy!

Bob