I have a XP-100R in 260 Rem. I have loaded some rounds with IMR-3031,but at 38 grs. the max I get is 2650 fps with a 120 gr. Nosler BT. I've gone as much as 40 grs. with no change. There is no sign of pressure yet. I'm needing advice or loading data for a faster burning powder. I'm thinking about IMR4198 or H322. Does anyone have any advise or loading data to give me? I'm trying to reach 2800+ fps. as long as the pressure is not to high.

Thanks,
Todd tdcooper1@msn.com

I would be very surprised if you could get 2800 fps from a 260 in the XP. While I don't have one a friend of mine used my range and chronograph to develop loads in his 260 Savage Striker. With the 120 gr. Sierra Pro Hunter he had the best luck with IMR 3031 velocity around 2600 fps. With the 140 gr. Sierra GameKing he tried the various 4350's and got no accuracy or speed. He called Sierra and they said in a XP or a Striker use IMR 4064 with the 140 GameKing. He did and it shot very well at 2300 fps. I believe that is about all the velocity one can expect from a short barrel bolt pistol.

I have a custom built 260 hunting rifle with a 24" barrel. Assuming your barrel is 14" on your XP 2600 fps with the 120 gr. and 2300 fps with a 140 would be about right. I get 3020 fps with the 120's and 2740 fps with the 140's from my 24" Krieger. That would be almost exactly 40 fps per inch of barrel. Makes sense to me.

Hope this has helped some.

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

I had a 15" Encore for awhile and IMR4350 gave good accuracy and 2600 FPS with a 120 gr bullet.

I have been doing a lot of research and load testing the last week on my new .260 XP100R.
I found that my pistol does not like IMR4350 for some reason w/120grn Speer Hot Cores.
Best load so far :
39.5grn IMR4895- 120 grn Speer Hot Core, Fed 210 primer and OAL - 2.785. I shot a 3/4" group yesterday at 100yd. Avg Velocity- 2532fps w/35fps deviation. This load is 1" high at 100yd and 4" low at 200 yd. I may try to bump this load a little and see if I can flatten the trajectory a little.
I got only 2510 from Rem. Factory 120grn Accutips.

I just talked with a guy that shoots very long range with his XP100 in .260.
He loads Hodgen 414, 44.5 grns, 120 grn Nosler Ballistic Tip, Fed 210 primers. He said he is getting 2704 avg. This load is somewhat hot so you should start at maybe 43 and work up. This is the best performance on an XP barrel so far that I have found. I will be shooting this load next week to see if it will perform better than the IMR 4895.
I leaving in the morning for a whitetail hunt and will report on the performance if I get lucky.

I answered in the SSP forum but will do so here as well:

Faster powders are definitely not the answer. The loads that do best in a rifle-length barrel will be the top performers in your 15" tube as well.

The highest velocity in the 6.5x308 I had came from H4350. 46 grains of this propellant along with the 120 grain Nosler BT gave 2693 fps (@ 15'); the load was max. The barrel length on my pistol, by the way, was 14". Re-15 was the fastest powder that gave me the blend of accuracy and velocity I require, but it was nearly 100 fps slower than the H4350 load.

Also, 2800 fps from your 15" barrel may not be realistic and would be pushing the envelope well into the red zone. And besides that, a 6.5mm, 120 BT at 24-2500 fps is all the power one really needs for harvesting whitetail or mule deer out to at least 250 yards (none ever complained about insufficient energy from any of my medium-capacity 6.5mm cartridges). And, the trajectory benefit you get from an extra 100-200 fps is minimal at best when normal hunting conditions are considered. Familiarize yourself with the trajectory through off-season shooting, and that bit of additional drop will be meaningless when it comes time to take that big buck.