STOMP442

I use the gunslik foaming bore cleaner and I let it sit overnight before I patch it out. Give it time to work and I bet you get a lot of copper out.

Works really well in most everything I have tried it in. The 250 savage loves this stuff. It gives me an extra 60 fps with the Berger 115s with lower pressure.

They are very good rifles for what they are. A cheap light weight hunting rifle. I have one in 22-250 that will shoot half inch groups all day.

Ramshot hunter has worked well for me in the short mags.

Congrats a cool buck! How bout some details on that 99?

Bedding never hurts.

Going to the reloading bench saves the most.

As stated before when used in normal hunting applications you will be hard pressed to wear any of those out in your lifetime. Keep them clean and don't fire long strings when you practice and everything will be fine.

The silver cases are no harder than the normal ones to size. The only problem with them is if they ever start to chip you end up with little silver flakes everywhere.

Try some H4350, R17, ramshot hunter or Retumbo as other powder choices. If your not showing signs of pressure where your at you could always increase carefully in half grain increments and watch closely for pressure signs.

What is your barrel length? 2700 seems a little slow for that bullet and powder charge. Might need to switch powders to gain a little more consistency or adjust seating depth by .005 increments and shoot for group at 200 to see if it will tighten up.

I still don't think its the tip. Berger Bullets are renowned for their match grade quality. I run bergers almost exclusively and noticed the tips you are describing with no noticeable effect on accuracy even at long ranges. I'm thinking inconsistent powder burn or case volumes with the brass. Won't notice it much at 100 yards but shows up more when distance increases. What caliber, powder and brass are you using? What kind of rifle and has it been bedded and floated?

Its weird that they shoot so well at 100 but not at 200. That's opposite of everything I have experienced with bergers as they normally don't shoot well at 100 and much better at 200 after they settle down. I would do all my load development at 200 yards and go from there. I would also suggest getting a bullet comparator to measure overall length from the ogive rather than tip. This is a much more uniform way of measuring and your problem maybe something as simple as inconsistent seating depth between bullets if measured from the tip.

I have tried magpro a number of times with the same results. Never could find the accuracy with it. H4831 has worked well as well as ramshot hunter. The last couple short mags I have worked on loved ramshot hunter, a 300 with 168s and a 270 with 140s.

6.5-06 ackley will outrun the 284 quite handily. A 140 at 3100 is easily done. The standard 6.5-06 and the 6.5-284 have the same case capacities and are ballistic twins.

Any of the 6.5 mentioned above would be great choices. Any of the more popular quarter bores would be good as well.

Maybe its because I reload but my mini will hold a one inch group all day at 100 and it's an older model. I have both an AR and the mini and I got to say I like the ergonomics of the mini much more.

I had really bad volume consistency with the ones I tried and the same primer issues as well. Buy the good stuff and be done with it.

I was also going to suggest the 6.5-06, or even better the Improved version. I just built a 6.5-06 for a friend of mine and the thing shoots lights out. Berger 140 at 2980 fps into 1/2" groups at 200 yards. After doing his I wished the I had went this route instead of the 6.5-284. The two cartridges have almost identical case capacities and load data can be interchanged between the two. The best advantage of the 6.5-06 is you can find brass anywhere by simply sizing 25-06,270 or 30-06 into the 6.5. Need to watch your neck tension as you will need to turn the necks when going down from 30-06 especially. Going from 25 to 6.5 is the easiest way. The major downfall for me on the 6.5-284 is the brass cost, for high quality lapua you will pay a dollar a piece. It can be found cheaper but the Hornady stuff is crap compared to the Lapua or Norma Brass.

Correct. They are the button rifled division of Krieger excellent barrels at a great price by far the most accurate barrels I own. I run savages so my rebarrels are cheap and easy. No paying smiths for me.

I agree that is not much practice. I fear however that most hunters do not spend the time needed at the range regardless of caliber. That being said I spend at least one day a week at the range practicing with various rifles. I tend to look at things in the long run and consider barrel change as scheduled maintenance as 300 bucks for a new barrel is not all that costly considering what it costs to feed them these days. What type of barrel are you running on the 6.5? We are running almost identical loads and I have right around 400 rounds down mine with no noticeable accuracy loss or throat erosion. I used mine to take my deer this year but generally use it in match duty firing 15 shot strings. I am using a criterion barrel.

1000 yards on elk has been done before and quite successfully. Is there better options yes but not without going outside the limits of the original post. The 6.5 gives him everything he is asking for without the added need or cost of getting a muzzle break installed. Not to mention all the added cost of powder usage with the big magnums. Again in typical hunting scenarios the barrel life of the 6.5-284 should last the hunter his lifetime as he is not behind the firing line shooting 20 shot strings in a short amount of time. It would take 50 years firing 20 shots a year to reach 1000 rounds down the tube. At a slow rate of fire the barrel will last much longer than 1000 rounds. Most match shooters are achieving longer barrel life than that with barrels being under much more stress.

You do realize that at 2600 fps the b.c. on that 208 is probly even lower than that since the b.c was calculated at 2800 fps. Probly not by much but lower none the less. Both calibers can and will get it done.

2700 is a little slow for the 260 as well. I used an avg velocity for a 24" barrel since we are discussing hunting rifles. 2800+ is easily attainable in the 260 depending on barrel length and using reloader 17 as well so its a moot point.

I am using Berger bullets and the Berger ballistics program. 210 Berger with a b.c of 631 and a velocity of 2450 and the Berger 140 with a b.c. of 612. At a velocity of 2700. Hornady has a slightly higher published b.c for their 208 and a lower published b.c. for their 140. This is where the discrepancy lies. For the record though there was some independent studies done by Brian litz and the air force academy testing published b.c.s vs actual measured b.c.s by them. Hornady 30 Cal amaxs had an average overestimate of 3% and the actual measured b.c of the 6.5 140 was actually an even 600 under estimated by 2%. The study can be found in issue #81 of the varmint hunter magazine. When running the amaxs through shooting solution on my phone since I am at work I come up with 3.3" less windage for the 260 and a 68.6" trajectory advantage using the same velocity numbers as above. The 308 will have a 177 pound energy advantage at 1000 yards. Most people shooting the 308 will run 150-175 grain bullets in which case the 260 will walk all over it in every category especially at longer ranges. Barrel life of a cartridge used for hunting purposes should not even be an issue as you will never burn out a barrel of either caliber in an average hunting career. If we were talking bench rest shooting barrel wear might become a concern.