Am concidering buying a .260 and was wondering what kind of accuracy people have been getting with them. I am not real familiar with this caliber but would be interested in things like velocity and yardage ranges for hunting purposes. thanks

All of the cartridges based on the .308 are accurate but the smaller the bullet, other things being equal, the better the chance that that particular rifle will be accurate.

The .260 case is used for medium to long range target shooting. The twist rate is faster to use the very long bullets that they use but that does not concern a hunter.

But you get less with a small bore. Not only is the .260 Rem likley to die out soon just like the other marketing cartridges but consider that it has very little power compared to the superb .308 Winchester.

Here are the energies calculated from the maximum velocities from the Nosler #5 handbook.

.243 Win. 100 gr 2194 foot pounds energy
.260 Rem. 140 gr 2489 " " "
708 Rem. 160 gr 2745 " " "
.308 Win. 180 gr 2952 " " "
.358 Win. 225 gr 3192 " " "

So you can see that your short changed with the small bores unless the game is small. Then it's OK and the .243 is a good varmint cartridge.

[This message has been edited by Don Martin29 (edited 05-16-2002).]

Don, you are so quick to kill the 260 based on energy figures. If that were the case, the 243, 257 Bob, and many others would have been gone years ago. Thake a look at the energy figures for those same bullets/cartridges out at 300 yards. Now the 260 puts the others to shame.

Whether the 260 will be around in 5 years is still up in the air. The fact is, right now it's a good deer class cartridge. Very similar in performance to a 6.5x55 (need I say more) but able to fit in a modern short action. Accuracy with any commercial rifle is a crap shoot, but there is nothing "in-accurate" about the 260.
Just my 2 cents. John

Like JP said, calculate energies at 300 yards, and you'll have a different picture.

When was the last time you shot a deer at five feet?

I have a .260, and like it very much. I bought it for my wife so she could have a low recoiling and effective deer cartridge. It is a far better deer cartridge than the .243 at ranges over 200 yards, and still recoil is extremely low.

If you reload, who cares about how popular it is? I don't see the .35 Whelen fans around here complaining about the lack of popularity of their cartridge. Brass for the .260 will always be available simply by necking down .308 cases.

Unless you think the .308 will soon go away because the .30-06 gives you higher muzzle energies...

To answer your original question, there is no reason a 260 would be less accurate than any of the other 308 family members. I have two of them, and one is extremely accurate, and the other is less so, but, certainly acceptable for a sporter weight rifle.

The 260's performance is just about identical to the 6.5x55, and several hundred thousand Swedish (or Norwegian, or one of those funny shaped countries over there)moose haven't felt IT was underpowered in any way.

R-WEST

The .260 Rem shooting the 140 Nosler Partition has 1618 FPE at 300 yards.

The .308 Win shooting the 180 Nosler Partition has 1891 FPE at 300 yards.

If a .308 Win or 30/06 had been purchased in the first place the question would not have to be asked!

At 300 yards, a 225 grain bullet fired from a .338 Win Mag has about 900 more FPE than the 180 grain bullet from the .308 Win.

So, what's your point? Do you recommend that a person get the largesst caliber rifle available to hunt whitetails and elk? Are you saying that the 1,600+ FPE of the 140 grain bullet at 300 yards isn't enough to kill one of these animals?

I don't understand your point, other than to illustrate the obvious, that a larger caliber cartridge can carry more energy out the chute, and further downrange, in some cases.

Do you think the .260 Rem is inadequate for North American big game, or what?

I built one on an intermediate length mauser action, and really like it. Shoots MOA with factory ammo, mild recoil. In fact, I like it so well I'm considering another...

Excellent choice as long as you are willing to reload. Factory Remington ammunition is a bit hard to find and limited selection. Even if you reload, the choice on properly headstamped brass is limited to Remington. If you buy one, in ten years it could be a pink elephant if Remington decides to quit listing the caliber.

Bruce- Remington is not the only producer of 260 brass- Both Federal and Speer are both marketing ammunition in this fine caliber.

CAL

Quite a few of local shooting fraternity have custom built 260's that they use for coyote hunting with 87 gr. Sierra, and they use them to shoot medium range stell plates between 500 and 800 yards using the 120 gr. MK and long range steel plates out 1200 yds using the 142 grain MK. Very accurate and beats the 308 at long range. The 260 will do at 1150 to 1200 yards what the 308 Win will do at 950 to 1000 yards. We shoot long range from back yard nearly every Sunday afternoon it it is fit to shoot. I have shot a 308 for more years than I care to remember and will not give up on the 308 but I am having a 260 built to shoot the longer ranges (past 800) with. After a year of watching them perform I am convinced it is one great cartridge.
JMHO.

Shoot Safe, Shoot Straight......RiverRat

I have Left Hand 260 built on a Rem 700 and absolutely love it. My bbl is 25" long and it pushes 120 Nosler Ballistic tips at 3000fps-extremely accurate and flat shooting. It kills whitetails just like a 25/06 I used to own without all the muzzle blast. A definite step up in power from the 243 with very little extra recoil.

I don't care if it does become obsolete. I suspect I'll be shooting whitetails with my 260 as long as I'm able.

I absolutely love the 260. I have a custom Sako in 260 that I use for about 75% of all my hunting (coyotes, deer, pig, and the like). I believe that it possesses all the quintessential qualities one looks for in a hunting rifle for game smaller than elk, i.e., light recoil, great penetration, good bullet selection (85-160+ gr), fits in short action rifles, shoots flat and hits plenty hard. Nevertheless, with the right bullets and shot placement it would probably work fine on the bigger stuff.

Being a long time fan of the 6.5x55 and short action rifles, I have found the 260 to be the perfect cartridge for hunting in my "Finnish fairyland."

[This message has been edited by DOCTOR LOU (edited 05-19-2002).]

[This message has been edited by DOCTOR LOU (edited 05-19-2002).]