STOMP442

I vote scope as well because I wouldn't trust that Vortex as far as I could throw it. If you are going to spend the money on glass I wouldn't waste it on a Vortex.

Looks pretty sweet and a lot of features for a really good price point.

41-43gr of one of the 4350s is generally where they like it. What model of rifle did you end up with?

Hornady Unique is also a good one. $1.99 / Tub and they last years. I do a ton of reloading and I have been using a tub for three years now and it's only half gone. Great stuff.

Since you are going with the 6.5-284 I would really look into the slower burning powders like H1000 & Retumbo to get the most out of the cartridge and push the 140 class bullets to the 2950+ mark. The slower burning powders will also aid in barrel life but as long as you don't shoot long strings of fire all the time the barrel should last a good long while.

How would you use them for that? Just curious. Easy. Just cut and file to fit your stock. First I drill out the screw holes in the stock with a 3/8" drill then place the arrow in the hole flush against the bottom metal or what have you and mark the arrow where it needs to be cut off. Cut the arrow with a small pipe cutter and file to fit flush with the bottom of the action inlet. I then remove material around the arrow shaft and cut groves for the bedding material and glass bed the piece of arrow in place with the action for a perfect snug fit every time. With pillars installed you can never overtighten the action screws or compress the stock material. Works like a champ.

I called my Credit card company Friday evening and they told me I had a pending charge from Game and Fish but it never posted to my account until this morning. Its possible if people did get hit today they may not know until the next or following business day unless they call and ask. Since mine was hit Friday afternoon I had to wait the weekend until it finally showed on the account. Just trying to give you guys hope.

How much you want for a few? They work great as pillars for bedding rifles.

For the most energy possible shoot the heaviest grain bullet your gun likes. The 168 or 180s should work fine though.

If you wanted to stick with a Berger they have just recently released a new 130gr Hybrid tactical bullet specifically designed for feeding and shooting from an AR. http://www.bergerbullets.com/new-65-130gr-ar-hybrid-otm-tactical/

If it shot better with the 130's why not try the 140's. Since the barrel seems to be picky I would start with a 140 or 142 Sierra Match King with a nice tangent ogive to avoid the sometimes finicky Berger seating depths and magazine constraints. If the bullets in the green box don't shoot then you got a problem somewhere for sure.

May think about the creedmoor out of the AR platform as that is what it was designed for. Ballistically identical to the 260 but able to fit the magazines better.

No need to break the bank these work amazingly well and pack up nice. These have never left me wanting for more power and the optical clarity is amazing. They can be found online for around $1300 of you look around. http://www.steiner-optics.com/binoculars/military/m2080-military-20x80

I was never a fan of the powder throwers too. I used the spoon that came with the die until I saved enough coin for the RCBS Charge Master. Now I will never go back to anything but the charge master, it makes things much easier and saves a lot of time. They are a pretty penny but worth every cent especially when you do as much reloading as I do.

Nope did it all on my lathe out back. It was given to me by a good friend of mine who i used to work with. Its an old Atlas 12 that need a few parts and some tlc but gets the job done.

I recently did a conversion myself and went from .308 to .260 Remington. I purchased a Shilen 28" #5 8 twist blank from midway for $175 and did the threading and chambering myself. 26" finished length and shoots like a dream. Here is a group I shot after the last time I cleaned it.

you can build a really nice Savage rifle for right around $700 or buy the long range hunter close to that as well. I personally like the custom route because I then get a match grade barrel and a nicer stock for the same money. Savage actions now days can be found for around $260-$350 depending on if you buy used or new. A quality match grade barrel can be purchased from a number of sources from $240-$350 depending on wat you want and a nice boyds stock can be had for $100. Even if you went with the highest costs you're only looking at $800 for a pretty nice setup. That's pretty cheap for a custom rig and can get cheaper if you look hard enough for a used action and parts. The one thing I recommend if going this route is decide on caliber and contour of the barrel. If you are wanting a standard sporter weight barrel or a magnum contour you will more than likely need to custom order it and its a minimum 3-4 month wait from most manufacturers and that could possibly impact your hunt this year. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Really!? It really doesn't take that kind of money to be successful and repeatable to 1000 yards. First and foremost important thing is practice. Spend the time behind the gun and get to know it and how it shoots under different conditions and you are more than half way there. Second a nice scope is a must im not talking $1500-$2500 optics I'm talking $700 Leupold will be more than enough to be repeatable and reliable. 3rd forget about factory ammo. To be successful in long range shooting and hunting you need the best and most consistent you can be and factory ammo does not provide that in most cases. Find a friend or someone to help you reload and develop a load for your rifle. As far as factory rifles go Savages are very hard to beat for out of the box accuracy and can be upgraded and customized on the cheap and easy. As far as factory calibers are concerned a nice .270 or 7mm mag should do the trick.

What's ur load on the 260ai or what's speeds u getting if u don't mind me asking. My current setup is a Savage action with 26" Mcgowan Varmint barrel 8 twist that is pushing 140 Berger VLDs at 2940 fps with 42.0gr of H4350. I have built a few of these over the years for others and they all run somewhere between 2920-2960fps using 42-44gr of H4350. For comparison sake my 6.5-284 was also a 26" criterion barrel and my best accuracy load was 48.0gr of H4831 and a 140 Amax at 2840fps. My next best load at the high end was with 56gr of Retumbo at 2960 fps with a Berger VLD. I stuck with the low node load and shot that rifle for years and had well over 1000 rounds down the pipe and still holding 1/2" groups at 200 yards before I sold the barrel.

Nice goat. Those kind of numbers is why I got out of the 6.5-284 business. To achieve those numbers in the 6.5-284 you need ~57gr or so of Retumbo or H1000.

Seems like I read somewhere that they lost their government contracts, perhaps that has a lot to do with going under.

Lance you made a good choice on the 6.5SLR. The 6.5-284 is a great cartridge but probably one of my least favorites in 6.5, not because there is anything wrong with it but because I have found there are others out there that can do the same thing without using as much powder. I used to have a 6.5-284 and I thought it was great until I built my first .260 Ackley. Coach welcome to the 6.5 club. You have witnessed the pleasure first hand of shooting one and soon you will begin to wonder why you ever shot anything else.

Some pretty bad business management to run a company in the dirt in todays gun buying climate.

Large magnum calibers use long heavy bullets, its just part of the game. If you want to seat the bullets at the lands you will need to forget about ever fitting a magazine and if you want to use the rifle as a repeater you need to forget about touching the lands. Develop your load to fit what ever style of shooting you want to do. Chances are you will be able to find a load at mag length no problem but you will sacrifice a little bit of powder capacity and velocity to do it. But when you are shooting a 300 grain bullet nothing you hit with it will ever know that it was loaded 100fps shy of what the cartridge is fully capable of.

Beautiful Buck Scotty!