First off, I'll ask for some leeway for my ignorance. I'm not very familiar with the 6.5x284 other than it is essentially a wildcat hand load (except for a few manufacturers), one of several that have grown out of the .284 Winchester tree trunk. I recently traded for a model 11 Trophy which is NIB and I don't have a great deal of money in it. Everything else I own is .308 or 7.62x51. I don't want to invest in the loading equipment to hand load for this one rifle and I don't want to spend $3 every time I pull the trigger. Where I live, it is rare to find anywhere to shoot over 200 yards so I don't really have a need for this cartridge from what I have read of its long distance abilities. Can this gun be reasonably changed to .308 or should I just move it and find a .308? I am fairly well equipped and knowledgeable to do the work but would let a smith do any precision machining operations. Thanks for any help.