I just recieved a free gun from a friend and he had 50 rounds of this 6mm-284 in .95 grain. I have already purchased the projectiles however I was going to see if there is anyone in the Waco tx area or on the forum that could guide me in the right direction.

I need dies, and brass, powder and primers, and direction on how to load. I have several friends that constantly reload .223 and other really common rounds but when it comes to sizing the neck they are in question.

Let me know if any one has any common mistakes or tips to do or avoid to when reloading for this wild cat round.

Also would be looking for some one just to load this for me, of course for a price. I would like to load 200 rounds.

Thanks eric

It could be as simple as necking down 6.5-284 brass to 6mm (.243"). You could get a Redding Type S neck bushing with the correct size bushing, and that would work. The next thing is to know about the rifles' chamber. If the chamber neck was cut to a certain size, you may need to neck turn your brass so that it fits properly. Find out if the chamber was anything special. After that, do some load development. But first, you will need to read up on reloading and understanding the processes. I would read the beginning of most relaoding manuals about how. I wouldn't recommend starting to learn on wildcat round, as long as you don't have any chambering or sizing issues.

+1

You might be wise to get a chamber cast and have everything measured. Not only will this help you determine if you need to do things like neck turn, but it’ll also give you other things like your freebore/leade, etc. Those items will be important when it comes time to decide what bullet you want to use and how to use them. 6mm/284 is common enough in the target shooting circles that Redding will likely have the dies in stock as long as the shoulder angle was maintained and isn’t weird. They’ll be considered custom, so they’re not going to be cheap, but you have to pay to play. I’d probably pick up the aforementioned Type-S die set which will have a bushing style neck die, a body die, and a seater. Then, based on neck dimensions, chamber dimensions etc. you’ll have to order the appropriate bushing. Depending on the size of the through hole on the standard 6.5/284 die set, you might be able to use a standard set and just change out the button on the stem and go with a smaller bushing. Redding is usually helpful about such things and could answer those questions.

All of this might sound complicated, but in reality it’s not that bad.

http://www.ch4d.com/catalog/dies/caliber-list&query=284

ch4d has dies listed for $80.00

http://www.reloadersnest.com/frontpage.asp?CaliberID=103

The 6mm/284 is ballistically a .240 Weatherby Magnum, so your ultimate results should be similar. As the others have indicated, you have no idea how (non)standard your chamber may be, so be very conservative when you start loading and use a chronograph as a sanity check on the process.

Is 284 Winchester brass ok, or should I look for a better quality.

Man that must have some serious point blank range.

That's a cool handloaders cartridge hard on the throat but x2 on the short action twin of the 240 wby slight advantage to the 6-284 and also twin to the 6-06. If you wanna trade her I'd be very interested I'm a huge 6mm nut. But get a chamber cast or a good set of calipers and measure the case neck after you shoot a round thats a start. Also check to see how it was throated. If you need more info I had a 6-284 once and can give you some info on it and loading info.

You will not be able to successfully neck down .284 Winchester brass to 6mm-284 in a single step. The best way to go is to find some 6.5-284 brass...you can neck that one down in one step. I found this out the hard way. The heck of it is, the info is out there on the net. I just didn't bother to look because of a faulty assumption.

You CAN neck down .284 Win brass to 6mm-284 but it takes a special die set. It's cheaper to seek out 6.5-284 brass to start with.

Once you have brass that you can resize and chamber in the rifle, you can try this to find out something vitally important: take a sized case, prime it, and charge it with about half a book charge of powder, but DO NOT seat a bullet. Take your rifle outside (I live kinda in the country, so I was able to do this in my own backyard) and, holding the muzzle straight up in the air, chamber the round being careful not to spill any powder. Keep the muzzle pointed up so the powder stays in the case, and pointing in a safe direction fire the bulletless round. Extract the case and see if the bullet you plan to use will easily fall right into the case neck. If it will not, then you probably have a rifle with a tight-necked chamber and you will have to turn your case necks.

Maybe no one has fully enlightened you on the 6mm-284, but I'll tell you right up front this is not a rifle you'll want to take to the range and shoot itty-bitty groups every weekend. The throats in rifles chambered in this cartridge tend to burn out relatively quickly. Some say they're good for 1000 round or so before they need rebarreling. Just something to keep in mind.

The up side is the 6-284 is a hot dog. It will outperform the .243 Winchester and 6mm Remington easily. With heavier bullets (and 95 grains is just fine) they'll shoot pretty darned flat. An accurate rifle in 6-284 is a laser beam!

I have a couple 6-284s and they are no harder to load for than 223, 243, or any other round. Buy 6.5-284 brass and a standard set of 6-284 redding dies. Just remember its considered a wildcat load and the headstamp on the brass will not be correct. I shoot 70gr Noslers out of mine and they are deadly!
If you have any questions or need help PM me and I'll give you my #.


Oh and if you don't try and run them at 4000fps the barrel life will last a long time. My first ever 6-284 has probably 2600-3000 rounds down the tube and will still shoot lights out.

Depending on the twist, you might also be able to run some of the big 6mm target bullets in it like the 115 gr. DTAC's or Bergers, or the 105 gr. Hybrids and do some long range work. Just something to think about.

Honestly If a friend gave it to you he/she would be my first point of contact for info on it. What dies does he use etc.?

I appreciate the help and will get some pm help later. I know it's going to be a challenge but I think that's what I like a about it. I don't shoot much so I feel that i have plenty of time left to find the right dies and casings. I will defiantly look to find the 6.5-284 first and hope to get enough to reload for 2 generations. I would sell or trade the gun but I just like it, the trigger is really smooth and it shoots tight groups.

Thanks

I like the Norma brass over the Hornady brass. just my opinion

Norma Brass is good, but I prefer so is Nosler or Laupa. Hornady and Remington are next on the list when looking for brass IMO