Quote Originally Posted by Dave Hoback View Post
I believe the 284 Winchester was the most highly advanced case ever made. It was released in 1963 and was so far ahead of its time. The shorter, wider case… the negligible body taper… a 35 degree shoulder! These characteristics were unheard of at the time. No wonder it wasn’t more popular. Makes me laugh when I first heard about this “revolutionary” NEW case design that Hornady developed… a shorter case, with no taper and a 30 degree shoulder! (I guess making it 35 would have been TOO obvious!) What’s worse is when I see people regurgitating what they read… about this “not so new” cartridge case design that lends to better accuracy. Uhhhh… this case was made 60 years ago! 60 friggen years! Ain’t nothin’ new no mo folks…
Wild catting has been a huge hobby for me an for a good 40 years or more.
In my younger days, 6.5x55 and Schmidt and Reuben cases were the bulk
of my experimentation. I would buy model 600 Mohawk actions for $50 bucks
and start something new. My most infamous one was to go beyond an Ackley.
I took the Schmidt and Reuben case and blew it out to 45 degrees and necked
it down to .257. Even the .257 Bob could'nt keep up with it. Chucks were turned
inside out at over 300 yards when hit broadside.....Yeah, the 284 is one of those
cases that lends itself for projects. That center case in the pic is my SA284. Its
exactly the same length as the 308, 7-08, and 243 family of cartridges. With it's
35 degree shoulder and being wider, the SA284 simply dwarfs the 7-08. With the
now defunct Emron 4451, I could hit 2830 fps with the 190 gr A-tip topped out,
but acurracy node at 2805.....The ELF started out about 2 years ago. I used ruined
cases from the SA284 project. Just needed to shorten them below the damage. This
cartridge showed promise this past season, so it's getting a complete new set of
clothes.

UPS email shipping alert showed up. My rings and level should be here today or
tomorrow. Chambering is done, along with the shouldering and head spacing.
I'll spin it off so to get to work on the muzzle end. This will be a bit different for
the installation of the Ezell tuner. It's not a simple cut to shoulder and thread.