Thread: 284 Powder and Bullet advice

Originally Posted by GWH

With re26 did you ladder up higher than 58gr?

Reason i ask is at 58gr you may not be going high enough to get into that node.

Im running 57-57.5gr with 180gr eldms for 2850 fps from 22"

No. I think RL26 has some potential but I have a couple issues with my 284. First the stock is not good to shoot from my bench setup so is frustrating to shoot, plus the rifle has terrible mirage with the suppressor. I’m having good result with N160 so for now I will run with this and fiddle later on. The whole thing has been a pain in the ass. I’ve near shot a pound of powder down the tube without a good result only to find the one thing I discounted was the problem. Swarovski Z6

Originally Posted by kiwijames

No. I think RL26 has some potential but I have a couple issues with my 284. First the stock is not good to shoot from my bench setup so is frustrating to shoot, plus the rifle has terrible mirage with the suppressor. I’m having good result with N160 so for now I will run with this and fiddle later on. The whole thing has been a pain in the ass. I’ve near shot a pound of powder down the tube without a good result only to find the one thing I discounted was the problem. Swarovski Z6

Bugger

I’ve finally got my 284 shooting, 50.8gn 2209 160tmk, Norma brass neck turned as had some pressure issues. Only doing 2660fps out of a 20in, but shoots 1/4moa. The tmks do the damage 100m out to 680m so far. R17 wasn’t as accurate.

Originally Posted by Tirau

I’ve finally got my 284 shooting, 50.8gn 2209 160tmk, Norma brass neck turned as had some pressure issues. Only doing 2660fps out of a 20in, but shoots 1/4moa. The tmks do the damage 100m out to 680m so far. R17 wasn’t as accurate.

If you want a bit more velocity, try H414 or IMR7828SSC or RE26

Originally Posted by GWH

If you want a bit more velocity, try H414 or IMR7828SSC or RE26

I’ve got some r26 on hand, I’ll take accuracy over speed tho. How much 26 are you guys stuffing in the case to get up around 2750fps? 20in barrel, 3.064 OAL 160tmk if anyone’s got quickload. Norma brass seems soft and pressure signs early.

Originally Posted by Tirau

I’ve got some r26 on hand, I’ll take accuracy over speed tho. How much 26 are you guys stuffing in the case to get up around 2750fps? 20in barrel, 3.064 OAL 160tmk if anyone’s got quickload. Norma brass seems soft and pressure signs early.

56g RL26 gave me 2750 in Petersen brass with 160TMK. 58g gave another 100fps. Neither loads gave good accuracy in my 20" 284Win. RL16 gave better accuracy with 54g @ 2825fps.

Originally Posted by Tirau

I’ve got some r26 on hand, I’ll take accuracy over speed tho. How much 26 are you guys stuffing in the case to get up around 2750fps? 20in barrel, 3.064 OAL 160tmk if anyone’s got quickload. Norma brass seems soft and pressure signs early.

Ive just run the 160 TMK at 3.064" COAL with a 20" barrel thru QL. At 56gr of RE26 pressure is right down at 49804 psi (max is 63817 psi for 284 win). This gives 2,723 fps and the case is only 96.9% full.

At 59gr its 2% overfull (so in theroy slightly compressed, which shouldnt cause a problem) the pressure is 60,302, so under the max of 63k and velocity is estimated at 2,888 fps.

I have been running 56gr behind a 180gr eldm in my 284 win but at a longer COAL of 3.257"

Numbers from QL are obviously only theoreticle eh, some rifles depending on the chamber or even action may not be able to run the loads that QL says are ok. Im going thru this currently with a mates 7mm SAUM - It cannot run powder charges anywhere near what i can in mine.

Start low and work up. The 56gr re26 and 160 TMK load does appear to be very light thou.

Originally Posted by GWH

Ive just run the 160 TMK at 3.064" COAL with a 20" barrel thru QL. At 56gr of RE26 pressure is right down at 49804 psi (max is 63817 psi for 284 win). This gives 2,723 fps and the case is only 96.9% full.

At 59gr its 2% overfull (so in theroy slightly compressed, which shouldnt cause a problem) the pressure is 60,302, so under the max of 63k and velocity is estimated at 2,888 fps.

I have been running 56gr behind a 180gr eldm in my 284 win but at a longer COAL of 3.257"

Numbers from QL are obviously only theoreticle eh, some rifles depending on the chamber or even action may not be able to run the loads that QL says are ok. Im going thru this currently with a mates 7mm SAUM - It cannot run powder charges anywhere near what i can in mine.

Start low and work up. The 56gr re26 and 160 TMK load does appear to be very light thou.

Sounds like the issues I’ve had with mine, 51gr of 2209 and ejector marks, sticky bolt at 52.5. Using Winchester bass the pockets were looser than a k road Hooker at 2 firings, Peterson brass may be harder.

Originally Posted by Tirau

Sounds like the issues I’ve had with mine, 51gr of 2209 and ejector marks, sticky bolt at 52.5. Using Winchester bass the pockets were looser than a k road Hooker at 2 firings, Peterson brass may be harder.

How much neck clearance do you have? What is the diameter of the neck in the chamber?

I’ve got 6 thou clearance now, chamber is 318. Neck turned Norma brass to 14 thou so I’ve eliminated a tight neck.

Tried AR2209 and Re16 with 120 ballistic tips and 120 ttsx's recently. 20" barrel.

120nbt/ar2209/winchester brass/cci250/2.975" (brass simply sized, chamfered, deburred, and loaded)
54.3 2918
54.6 2887
54.9 2917
55.2 2929
55.5 2915
55.8 2983
56.1 3003
56.4 3061
56.7 no reading
57.0 3049, no pressure signs
57.5 3082, 3085, 3096, 3060, 3111 shotgun pattern

120ttsx/ar2209/winchester brass/cci250/3.000" (brass prep same as above)
53.9 2833
54.2 2854
54.5 2895
54.8 2932
55.1 2960
55.4 2951
55.7 2955
56.0 2991
56.3 3022
56.6 3018 no pressure
56.9 3072, 3051, 3046, 3022 great looking group, shame about the ES

120nbt/re16/winchester brass/cci250/3.000" (brass annealed, sized, trimmed, chamfered, deburred, flash holes deburred, the works...)
54.8 no reading
55.1 no reading
55.4 3078
55.7 3109
56.0 3106
56.3 3108
56.6 3133
56.9 3173
57.2 3183
57.5 3216 no pressure signs, exceeded 3100ft/s goal, shots 3-8 clustered in 0.5" group, 5rds loaded at 56.0 to confirm (result tbc)

Good information thanks Pommy. Similar to my results with the 139s. RE16 has velocity advantage for the same Load in grs as 2209 but not significant. I have some 120bts for my 7mm08 and might give them a go in the 284 at about 57grs RE16 to see how they shoot. Thanks for sharing. I also have some 140bts that I’m going to try instead of the Hornadys with a better BC (0.48 vs 0.39) at 56grs RE16 and should be about 3050fps in my rifle.

I think the velocity gap between Re16 and 2209 grows bigger with lighter bullets. I didn't see much difference with 160's but with 120's it was apparent.