284 Shehane doesn’t hang with 7-300’s, let alone the other supermagnums we’re talking about here. It’s really only in the class of the straight up 7 Rem mag, and only if you’re pushing it EXTREMELY hard. I cut my first 284 Shehane 8 or 9 yrs ago at the advisement of Boyd Allen, as I was looking for something with better barrel life than the 6.5-284 I was rebarreling for the 2nd time in a single season.
As for
@ExAgoradzo ’s question - what’s the cost to benefit ratio: nobody shoots ELR to save money. Period. The extra powder cost isn’t terribly significant, and really, there isn’t a huge difference in dies, bullets, barrels, or brass, not compared to the overall cost of the game in general.
But here is the reality we face: I am go the range, and going to throw over a dollar per shot down range today to develop my ELR skills (or at least try to do so). If I can spend a couple pennies more to increase my hit percentage, I will, because most often, misses don’t tell us nearly as much about our shot under the conditions we fired as a hit would. An unseen miss is a complete loss of that investment. A near miss, which hits the target at 1500yrds gives me feedback to learn. A tiny bullet which doesn’t give much splash, which goes unseen, is as bad as a miss. A light impact which doesn’t elicit much target response in mirage is as bad as a miss. So in a game where accomplishments at every 50-100yrd increment take a sizable improvement in gear or skill, making your gear more forgiving is a real advantage.
Sure, it might be like tuning a stockcar to run 2MPH faster than the field, or engineering a triathlon bike to weigh a half pound lighter, but that’s the game. Man and gear have to be at the top of their game.
Does the average Joe with his ONE rifle, who has never fired a shot past 200yrds benefit from a 7 Practical over a 7 Rem mag? Nope. Does a guy like David Tubbs benefit from running a 33XC instead of a 338LM? Yup.