Thread: . 284 Winchester

I've had a .284 Win for the past few years where it was a reamed out 7mm-08 T3 by Gunworks who did a dam fine job. The barrel was cut back to 16 inches with a DPT suppressor and that rifle simply just shoots. I've always run 150 gr Sierra (#1913) with AR2209 which give me a 2 inch grouping at 300 mtrs with some necked up 6.5/284 brass.

I haven't tried any heavier projectiles as I always wanted to limit myself with this setup to 150's and I've always run AR2209 as I wanted some RE17 but that powder was just hard to obtain, perhaps supply for it now is different but I've also heard mixed reports on that powder being temperature sensitive.

With my loads I've shot heavy bodied Red stags out to 300 mtrs dropping them like a sack of the proverbial and even knocked over a Bull Thar last year out to 420 mtres but I also found the 150's were just a bit too heavy for Fallow where the projectile would pass through an animal not dumping all of that energy into the deer or expanding creating that desired bullet channel so I figured a lighter projectile for Fallow is more desireable. On Sika they were fine, certainly a large exit hole and a blood trail a blind man could follow.

When I initially tested my .284 loads I was getting 2970 fps but I later found I had a dodgy chronograph and later on when I tested with a lab radar I found my loads were going 2570 fps which I consider slow but still deadly!

I've done some other playing around with results as below all tested with a lab radar:

.284 Win, Federal Large Primer, 150 gr Sierra
53 gr RE17 = 2693 fps
54 gr RE17 = 2797 fps
55 gr RE17 = 2871 fps
56 gr RE17 = 2934 fps

53 gr AR2209 = 2570 fps
54 gr AR2209 = 2616 fps
55 gr AR2209 = 2675 fps

Accuracy was not as good as what AR2209 would give me but perhaps with some playing around with seating depth or another projectile in the 150 gr range such as a 150 gr BT the accuracy would improve?

I also considered switching down to a 140 gr projectile and looked on the net and read somewhere of an American hunter who swore by his .284 with a 140 gr partition projectiles that he hunted all of North America's game extensively with so I tried some 140 BT's which I had on hand and the results are as follows:

.284 Win, Federal Large Primer, 140 gr Ballistic Tip
54 gr RE17 = 2812 fps
55 gr RE17 = 2894 fps
56 gr RE17 = 2958 fps

Again accuracy wasn't as good as the my main load but groupings were still around the 1.3 inch from memory.

I've owned a .280 Rem (first in Sako AV action & second in a T3) before and between the two I find the .284 better as it can be run on a shorter barrel where as the .280 Rem needs that longer barrel, the .284 is also a more versatile cartridge in the Tikka actions which is what most people are running them in but that's just my opinion and experience on the two.

If I was to build another .284 I wouldn't go to a 16 inch barrel. My minimum would be 18 inches just so I could have that little bit more speed.

Powders to try have always been AR2209, next is Superformance and the best for speed is RE17

What I plan for the near future is to swap out my 16 inch barrel and putting on a longer 20 inch barrel as we now live here in the South where I'll continue to run 150 Sierras but I'm also keen on a good 140 gr load so I have been pondering the thought of a Berger 140 VLD which I might just have to try.

....at the end of the day though I love the .284, but a mate has sort of made it redundant. He has a load now (Not sure what recipe yet) that is accurate and shoots a 150gn ELD at 2900 out of a 7mm-08. With those figures I'm wondering what's the point of the .284!!....

Originally Posted by Seventenths

....found I had a dodgy chronograph...

150gr@2900 ft/sec from a 7mm-08 with anything less than a flagpole for a barrel sounds a bit like this.
The 11gr more water capacity in the .284Win has got to count for something.

Originally Posted by Kudu

....at the end of the day though I love the .284, but a mate has sort of made it redundant. He has a load now (Not sure what recipe yet) that is accurate and shoots a 150gn ELD at 2900 out of a 7mm-08. With those figures I'm wondering what's the point of the .284!!....

Because it will do it better! and it’s still cooler haha.

I loved my 284, definitely a cool calibre as SS says but when I did load development for a mates 18" 708 and got it shooting the 162eldx at 2660 shooting sub moa using less than 40grs of powder it made me wonder why I bothered haha

Originally Posted by superdiver

I loved my 284, definitely a cool calibre as SS says but when I did load development for a mates 18" 708 and got it shooting the 162eldx at 2660 shooting sub moa using less than 40grs of powder it made me wonder why I bothered haha

What powder John?

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

Will message you as it was a warm load...

160gr TMKs at 2830fps out of my 284.

As I own a 308 already I could never justify a 7-08.

However out of interest both 308 and 284 are similar weight, same recoil pad, same length barrel etc.

The 284 recoils significantly less than the 308.

Although I find myself leaving the the 308 in the safe more often than not these days as the 284 is just such a honey

Originally Posted by Rock river arms hunter

160gr TMKs at 2830fps out of my 284.

As I own a 308 already I could never justify a 7-08.

However out of interest both 308 and 284 are similar weight, same recoil pad, same length barrel etc.

The 284 recoils significantly less than the 308.

Although I find myself leaving the the 308 in the safe more often than not these days as the 284 is just such a honey

+1 had 160tmks doing 2810, regret selling my 284 and wont be without one for long. My favourite caliber closely followed by the almighty 260

Originally Posted by cameronjackwhite

+1 had 160tmks doing 2810, regret selling my 284 and wont be without one for long. My favourite caliber closely followed by the almighty 260

I'm shooting stupidly small groups at 600 yards with that laser...162 eldm at 2800...recoil so gentle I watch every round arrive on target...perfect really

Originally Posted by cameronjackwhite

+1 had 160tmks doing 2810, regret selling my 284 and wont be without one for long. My favourite caliber closely followed by the almighty 260

I'm a 260 lover and thinking of making the jump to the 284 also.
Was wanting to run the 284 on a short action to use Tikka CTR magazines, but running the numbers is appear that the performance of a 162gr vs a 140/147gr will be very similar ballistically with the only advantage to the 284 being more energy down range at the cost of more recoil than the 260.

The 284 seems to really shine ballistically with the 180gr pills, other wise it doesn't seem to stand to far above the 260/Creedmoor range of cartridges (ignoring energy down range).

You will be limited running a .284 on a short action. It will work, but you will not be able to run 180s and 162s will likely need to be seated deep.

.260 is a great cartridge but in a different class to the .284 Win. 162s at well over 2800 fps is well above what a 7-08 or .260 are capable of (without primer popping loads). GWH and Seventenths have a ton of experience with .284 and are getting great velocities with 160 and 180 class projectiles in shortish barrels. I’m running mine at 2740 fps with 162 ELD-X and could go faster but it’s a very accurate and consistent load.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Spitfire

You will be limited running a .284 on a short action. It will work, but you will not be able to run 180s and 162s will likely need to be seated deep.

.260 is a great cartridge but in a different class to the .284 Win. 162s at well over 2800 fps is well above what a 7-08 or .260 are capable of (without primer popping loads). GWH and Seventenths have a ton of experience with .284 and are getting great velocities with 160 and 180 class projectiles in shortish barrels. I’m running mine at 2740 fps with 162 ELD-X and could go faster but it’s a very accurate and consistent load.

Cheers

I agree that 284 is a step up in performance from the 260, but it appears that squishing it in a short action limits it a reasonable bit.
Whereas the 284 needs bullets seating deep in the case in a short action the 260/creedmoor has ample room to load them out meaning you can run 140gr bullets at much the same velocities as the 284 running 162gr bullets.

The 284 will of course have more energy on target, but the 140gr 6.5mm and 162gr 7mm bullets have very similar BC and produce much the same ballistics.

Fair enough, but in a long action ...............

I had a short action 284 and found it best mag fitted with 150gr sgk or 160gr speer btsp. This was a good place to be for hunting applications but as above, need a long or medium action for mag fitting the longies