Ive got a 98 mauser at the smith now being rebarreled to the 260 rem for a deer rifle. Whats your favorite load for accuracy? I plan on using Nosler 120 BT and Hornady 129 spit. Thanks for the help in advance.:::MV

I'm using 45 grains of RL15 under the Nosler 100 grain BT and 51 grains of RL19 under the 120 grain Barnes X. The 100 grain load will do an honest 3200 and the 120 grain load will do 3100.

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AlleninAlaska

Allen, 3,100 fps with 120's in a 260? What's your barrel length? That's impressive! In AK, what are you using the little 260 for? I've got a bit of an "itch" for one of these as well, and am trying to justify it!

BA

[This message has been edited by Brad (edited 04-15-2002).]

24". Caribou with the 120's. Would probably work just as well on black bear, but haven't tried it on them yet.

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AlleninAlaska

I'm currently finalizing a load for the Hornady 129gr SP that worked like a champ last deer season:

Hornady 129 gr, Interlock SP
Brass: any
47.9 gr RL 19
Federal 210M primer
OAL 2.740"

The deer shot with this load went all of 25 yds before dropping, likely because she was so startled by the rifle blast @ 20 yds she didn't have time to register that she's dead of a blown out heart shot.

This load seems to perform well, regardless of case used (R-P 260 Rem cases, necked up .243 Winchester, R-P, or Federal cases, or necked down 7mm-08/.308 cases of the same brands). All loads loads of this recipe have put 3-5 shots into ~.75-.90" at 100 yds,, if I do my part. The rifle is a Ruger Modell 77 Mk II, 22" barrel.

The usual disclaimer of starting 5-10% lower and working up applies, as well as adjusting the cartridge OAL to suit your rifle.

I'm in the process of working up a 120 gr load.

Hope this helps

[This message has been edited by TXLoader (edited 04-16-2002).]

TXLoader,

Did you get complete penetration on that doe? Large exit wound?

Thanks,
BigIron

I`m useing a load similar to TXloaders`
129 Hornady
47.5 R19
Rem 9 1/2 primer
Rem cases
OAL 2.785
vel is just over 2700fps from my 24' M700.
I`ve taken two doe (120 lbs +/-)with this load at ~60/70 yds and both dropped within a few feet of being hit. The bullet passed through on both, one hit the offside shoulder, the other just ribs.
I`ve used the 140 gr Hornady on deer in my 6.5x55 and the 129 seems to perform the same in my limited experiance. Good penatration and quick kills highly accurate.

BigIron,

It was a frontal shot (only view the doe would give me). Entrance wound in the center of the chest; wound channel angled slightly up, tracking right across the heart, left lung, upperlobe of the liver, and exited out the abdomen in front of the left rear leg. Never could find the bullet.

Had the angle been a little straighter, I've no doubt that 129 gr load would have either given complete penetration through the deer, or stopped just short of it, bullet being recovered deep in the bowels.

The doe was ~120-150 lbs, fairly big for a Texas 2 yr old doe. She ran a 50 yd circular track before dropping ~ 25 yds away from where she took the bullet.

For a first field test, that load did impress me, as did terminal performance of the Hornady.

TXLoader

My favored load with the 120 grain Nosler BT in a 26" Rem 700 VLS:

46 grains H4350, Rem .260 brass & Fed 210; seating depth 2.795"

Vel. from the 26" barrel: 2975 fps

Same load, with only seating depth varied to 2.850, clocked 2693 fps from a custom 14" XP-100

The load is compressed and max, so approach with all due caution.