I'm a huge fan of the 6.5x284, it is funny John has also built me 3 6.5x284's all were built on Long Actions and all were shooters. All had 8 twist barrels and I shot 140 grain VLD's out of them, two of the three liked H4350, and the other liked RL22. Unfortunately, for whatever reason I sold all three of them (not so smart), but on the bright side I did pick up another 6.5 barrel recently and I'm putting together parts to build one.

My friend has a Short Action built by Christensen Arms it too is a shooter, although he can only shoot it as a single shot rifle because the bullet is set out so far. He shoots 130 grain VLD's with RL22. It was at one time a personal rifle from one of the owners at Christensen Arms. Then was given to a guide out of UT who used it for his customers to shoot mulies out to long distances. I guess not everyone who pay's 5k for a mule deer hunt has a capable long range rifle...My friend was such a person, after the guide gave him the rifle to shoot he hit a mule deer at 700 yards across a canyon. Needless to say he paid big bucks to get the rifle off the guide and now has it. Since then he has taken a couple elk and deer with it. All with 1 shot, pretty impressive with a 130 grain bullet!