New .284 barrel.. what to do..

[18Echo]

I decided to pull the trigger on a CarbonSix barrel with their Black Friday / Christmas sale. It's in .284, 1-8 twist, and will have a finish length at 28 inches.

I'm not going to build it into a dedicated rifle, just as another barrel for one of my already made guns. I have a Deviant with Lapua boltface, and a Surgeon 1086 with magnum bolt face.

I'm already building a dedicated 7mm RM hunting rifle (PROOF barrel at 26"), so that caliber is out. I was thinking something like 7-300 Norma Mag, or possibly 28 Nosler, but the 28 seems to be very close to the 7mmRM ballistics, so I'm not sure the juice is worth the squeeze.

what are some other calibers I should think of with those actions? BTW they are both mag fed, so I'm stuck at 3.600 COAL basically, and I would like to shoot in the 180gr and up bullet weights.

 

[jda2631]

What would you use the rifle for? I assume hunting, and long range since it's a 28"? Since you are limited to 3.600", the 28 Nosler would be a better option IMO, it has as a shorter case than 7-300 Norma so you can load the big heavies out further. You should see a pretty large improvement in velocity from 7mm RM to 28 Nosler. Should be able to push 180's to around 3200 FPS, (3140 with the 195's and RE33 is pretty common, but at 3.700"+ COAL). Either option is gonna be expensive to shoot, 300 Norma brass is going to be a little cheaper and easier to find though.

 

[DDoug]

What would you use the rifle for? I assume hunting, and long range since it's a 28"? Since you are limited to 3.600", the 28 Nosler would be a better option IMO, it has as a shorter case than 7-300 Norma so you can load the big heavies out further. You should see a pretty large improvement in velocity from 7mm RM to 28 Nosler. Should be able to push 180's to around 3200 FPS, (3140 with the 195's and RE33 is pretty common, but at 3.700"+ COAL). Either option is gonna be expensive to shoot, 300 Norma brass is going to be a little cheaper and easier to find though.

I believe the 7x300 Norma would have the shorter case but I could be wrong.

 

[jda2631]

I'm not real familiar with the 300 Norma, I googled it and the dimensions I found were longer than 28 Nosler. I'd go with whichever has the shorter case since you are limited to 3.600". The cartridges should have very similar performance.

 

[DDoug]

I'm not real familiar with the 300 Norma, I googled it and the dimensions I found were longer than 28 Nosler. I'd go with whichever has the shorter case since you are limited to 3.600". The cartridges should have very similar performance.

The 7x 300 Norma would be close to 102 grain h2o vs the 28 Nosler that would be about the 94 grain h2o. I believe the Norma would have the edge in the speed deptment with the heavy bullets like the 195 but would require the Lapua bolt face. West Texas ordinance has a 7x300 Norma Improved that looks pretty sweet. They have dies available as well.

 

[hlee]

7mm RUM...