Alright Gang...I have done tons of hunting with my .308 Encore and now have killed an elk with a 338-06 JDJ. Living and hunting in Arizona, I am looking for the ultimate long range caliber to shoot out of my Encore. Antelope, Mule Deer, Couse Deer & Javelina will be my primary targets.

My research keeps pointing me to the 6.5 Mini Dreadnaught. ANyone have any experience with this...Velocity? And especially accuracy out to and past 300 yards???

Let me know your thoughts.

I don't have any experience with the 6.5 MD. JD has some pretty impressive MV claims for it.

I would think the 6.5-284 would be just as good if not better.

If you must have a JDJ round the 280JDJ would be a pretty flat shooter, plus it would handle bigger game a bit better.

There is also the 280AI which would be excellent as well.

Regards
Rog

If I were you before I spent any money on another barrel/caliber/chambering I would spend some time shooting at long range with the 338-06 you have. There is a reason that Spec OPs use the 338 caliber for long range work. That being said I have a 338-06 JDJ and a 280 JDJ and other than recoil theres not much difference in trajectory if you use lighter bullets in the 338. You could use a bullet like the Accubond and not destroy too much animal if thats a concern. Hope this helps.

Roger

It seems like you have a couple of good long range calibers. I love the .308 the .338-06 is great too with lighter bullets, but it also depends on what twist your barrel has. I have a .260 Remington in my 15" Encore and 300-400 yds shot are not hard to make with practice. The gun will do its part if you can hold it and do yours.You already have .308 brass you could neck down easy to the .260 Rem. Thats if your looking in the 6.5mm Cal. JMO

Roger,

Like you I was drawn to the 6.5 Mini-D...in my search for one last year, I came across a fluted, Holland-braked 6.5/270JDJ Encore barrel that filled that void and then some! Can't remember the velocities offhand, but should be able to pull those up for you later.

Shooting 129gr SST's over H4831SC - shot 3 deer and 1 hog with it this season breaking it in. Extremely accurate barrel and will definitely do it's part out to 300 and beyond. Terminal performance was excellent from inside 30 to 117...should have gotten the chance to test it on a monster 8-point at 280, but that's another story.

Sorry to derail your thread - I'll e-mail a buddy that recently sold a Mini-D and get feedback from his experience. I know he found it to be accurate, but sold it because of his newfound interest in Ernie-esque XP LOOOOONNNNG range work.

I just loaded some fireform loads for the barrel that SCHunter is talking about this weekend

I'll be forming this brass later in the week and may get a chance to run some real ones over the chrony also. From looking at all the data, it seems that its easier for it to push the 140s than it is the 120s. In the data that I have from JD, the 140s are really close to the 120s in velocity. I talked with JD about the possibility of punching it out to 6.5/270 JDJ. After looking at the data on it, I figure I'll try this one for a while first. I don't know about the real world numbers but on paper, for some reason, they are REALLY close. I would have thought that there would have been a lot of difference in the two since the 270 version holds so much more powder. I can email you both load sheets if you want, shoot me you email. When I get the chrony results, I'll let you know

Hey Thanks!

My e-mail address is 5gannonsaz@cox.net


I will be interested to see what you come up with...You also have my interest in the 6.5/270 now as well. I will have to call JD and ask a few questions.

Thanks again!
Roger

Jeff, what was the name of the guy who made your 260 barrel? I lost the info you gave me!

Handgun Gang...Thanks so much for the feedback! Much to contemplate...I will be making a decision soon!

Alright Roger,

I finally got out and shot the 6.5 MD this afternoon. The 140 partitions over 49 grains of AA4350 were doing 2725-2730 from the 15" barrel. Accuracy at 100 yards was an inch or better from a makeshift rest. Looks like it will be a great deer gun. Recoil is very light. I'll probably back the charge down to 48 grains as one of the 9 shots was a little sticky. 49 was the max that JD had listed so I just checked it while I was there to see how close the data was I had on hand. Hope that helps....GS