Posted this on the Small Caliber forum but will also post here since it get more traffic.

My daughter wants to hunt in the Special Youth Hunt next weekend. I have a youth stock I can put on my 260 Rem AI. Also have 100g Partitions and H-4895 on hand. Hodgdon says you can download 4895 with good success. Was thinking of developing a load that develops 2,800 - 2,900 fps with H-4895. My barrel is 22" long.

The Hodgdon manual doesn't list the 100g Partition. They show 38.0g H-4895 and the 95g V-Max getting 3,069 fps. Also, 38.0g with the 107g Sierra achieves 2,950 fps. Both of these are starting loads.

Any one have an idea how many grains of H-4895 it will take to hit 2,850 fps? I'm guessing 36.0g - 36.5g.......what do you think?

I haven't tried 4895 in my .260ai yet, but I would think 37gr would get you close to 2800-2850fps grom your 22"bbl. It's a nice little round. I find recoil non exsistant w/ 100-120gr bullets. A much better choice for your daughter than the .243 IMO. She might even be able to handle the 120gr @ 2700-2800fps, better still. Good luck to her on her first hunt!

H-4895 From 33.7 grains to 40.8 grains
Remington 9-1/2 Primer

frdj338,

You bring up a good point about the 120g bullets. Ran the numbers on a recoil calculator and here is the difference between my accurate (last group 1/4") 120g Nosler BT load and the load I'm proposing above:

Bullet Weight: 100g 120g
Powder Weight: 37g H-4895 45.0g Hunter
Velocity: 2,850 fps 2,825 fps
Recoil Energy: 7.93 ft*lb 11.39 ft*lb
Recoil Velocity: 8.25 fps 9.89 fps

Less than 3.5 ft*lb of energy and 1.14 fps recoil velocity difference between the two loads. The rifle is zeroed for the 120g load from the last time I was doing load development. Not sure it's worth messing with.......especially since the hunt is next weekend.

Anyone think my daughter could tell much difference? Will be using an SPS Youth Stock with R3 recoil pad.

22.5 grains of blue dot will give you the 2800 fps that you are looking for... I will also put it against H 4895 for accuracy any day of the week....

Recoil will also be less with Blue Dot.....

25 grains of SR 4759 will also give you the same results.....

I have found reduced loads of H 4895 to not be all that accurate.... they seem to have one majic grain formula.. say X amount... then X + 1 or X -1 and the groups open right up....

Blue Dot and SR 4759 on the other hand are consistently accurate regardless of powder charge....

Good luck with your Daughters hunt!

cheers
seafire

Hog, the only way to know is let her shoot it. 3.5# may be noticeable to a 10 year old. I notice the recoil diff. between 100gr & 120gr but it's still very little recoil.

Seafire, I actually have SR-4759 on-hand so that is an option.

Thanks for the replies!

If you try a load with the SR 4759 I think you will notice the recoil difference as compared to the H 4895 loads.....

With the 100 or 120 grain bullets, you won't notice much difference in recoil if at all.....At least I didn't....

Wish the young lady well on her first hunt....hope she gets a big'en!

cheers
seafire