Thread: Projectile choice 284

Originally Posted by AMac

Hi Grandpamac

Please post on your progress with the 7mm Saum as i am sure you will generate some good info that those of us loading for the 7 Saum will find interesting!

Cheers

AMac

Will do. I am just starting after letting the rifle sit in the safe for some time so results will not be immediate. The rifle also has a 1 in 9.25 or 9.5 inch twist so am tending to projectiles up to 150 grains although I do have some 162 AMAX to try as well.
Regards Grandpamac.

Cheers for the replies team,

Definitely some food for thought. Mag length is no issue. I think I have talked myself into sticking with 140 bergers and 160 tmks. But I would like to give speers a go too.

I’ve been using the .284 for the past few years where the first barrel was 16 inches for north island bush hunting. I used 150 gr Sierras SP’s and they worked a dream

When we headed south I swapped barrels putting on a 20 inch barrel for longer shots. The only projectile I’ve run so far has been 140 gr ballistic tips and they’ve been used on reds, fallow, tahr, chamois all the way out to 535 mtrs killing well.

No animals required a follow up shot but after using the 140 gr projectiles I couldn’t see myself going up to a heavier projectile.

A few years back I read of an American hunter who used the .284 exclusively hunting all North American game for many decades and his chosen projectile was the 140 gr Nosler Partition and he swore by them

I have also used the 284 for 20+ years. Most of the time I was pushing 139grn Hornady spire points. These worked perfectly in the BSA and I shot them flat and hard and just sighted in 2-3inch high and with no rangefinder was good to 300yrds - a long way in my experience. I was going to change this rifle to 150 Ballistic Tips as they have a short boat tail and as previously mentioned the neck is short and I like to seat them long (same reason I used a flat base Hornady) close to the rifling. More recently I have a scope with elevation dial on a Tikka 284 and with a rangefinder I moved to the more slippery 162 ELDX. They also work perfectly and I’m happy shooting a bit further with the technology.

To be honest with NZ game I’d just use anything that is accurate as all bullets seem to work fine. Ballistic Tips seem easy to get to shoot well and seem a good place to start as they are easier to get these days

Good luck - great calibre