As a kid I lived for guns. Shooting, cleaning, reading about them, it didn't matter. I distinctly remember reading about a father / son team hunting together, they shot at the same animal with a 6.5-06 and a 6.5 Redding. The author said he couldn't tell the difference between the two. Well I wanted a 6.5 Redding! I got a .30-30 and followed it with an '06.

Here we are years later, various 6.5's based on the .308W case. So where is the .260 Remington any different from the 6.5 Redding, or the BenchRest, ect.? In actual practice the 6.5-08 Imp would be a bit more cartridge. Why didn't they adopt the 6.5-.284 instead? Nate

I always viewed the 260 Rem as a 6.5 Redding with a 20 deg shoulder. As for the 6.5RemBR that is just a 6.5 Redding with about .5" taken out of the middle.

Thanks. I hadn't been able to find a drawing of the Redding, might have missed it in the lists though.

I will probably build a 6.5 something on a .243W when I come up with one. Just curious. Nate

Added: Can you fire .260 Rems in a 6.5 Redding?

Well I assumed the 6.5 Redding and 6.5 Redding SA were the same. If they are Steve has a copy of it.
http://stevespages.com/page8.htm

While it looks close on a 260 headspacing in a 6.5 Redding I haven't drawn it up. In addition since the 6.5 is a wildcat a lot would depend on the exact reamer used and the gunsmith using it.

Since the 243 is a 308 case the 6.5-243 is a 260Rem. Or do you have something else in mind?

Wasn't the 260Rem originally Jim Carmichel's 6.5Panther?

BigNate, if you build a 6.5-243 that what a 260remington is

From 243Win through 260Rem, 7mm-08, 308win and 358Win all have the same 20degree shoulder, same .454width at the shoulder, 1.560" from case head
to shoulder.

Given a choice between a 6.5/308/243 wildcat and a 260rem
I'll take a standard 260rem chambering.

Though if doing so floats your boat you can always have the barrel marked as a 6.5Panther, 6.5-243, 6.5-08 etc
then you canform your own brass and nobody but you will know it isn't a wildcat.

AllanD

There is a bit of a story behind the .260 Rem. As noted there have been several wildcats on the .308 Win or 7.62X51 cartridge.

I always used the .263 Express mentioned in Ackley's Handbook as the nominal first one.

Jumping up to more recent times, both Remington and A-Square developed commercial rounds and submitted them to SAAMI. A-Square named their cartridge the 6.5-08 A-Square, and submitted their proposal months before Remington. The SAAMI toads held off on designation until Remington submitted their proposal, which was named .260 Remington and became the standard.

Obviously some SAAMI members are more equal then others.

jim

I was thinking mostly of a 6.5 Imp of one flavor or another. The steeper shoulder angle, slight capacity increase,ect. Not much of a gain I know but we gun nuts...er I mean "Enthusiasts" split hairs regularily.

Truly though even the 6.5 BR, Grendel, 6.5 Vais, ect have all crossed my mind.

In fact after reading through some of the Vais articles I would be tempted to go with theirs and scrap the Rem SA idea if a medium length would be easier. My sons are coming up quickly and a light recoiling, deer capable round has to be in the works soon. If I didn't have such a soft spot for the Quarterbore's, the 6.5 makes a lot of sense. The .257 Durham Jet or DGR is a likely candidate as well.

If it weren't for the royalties on the Grendel I'd give it more weight.

I'm rambling but with the WSM lawsuit, I was contemplating how much has been copied from wildcatting to production with no credit given.

The 6.5 Redding has just stuck in my head as one of the overlooked jewels that "should" have taken off! Nate

P.S. Thanks Ramrod340

As much as I like things 'SIMPLE' and a basic 308 necked to 6.5 can be simple, I do believe the cartridge would have been far better, read easier to make accurate, with a longer neck-the 260 rem with say the neck length of the 6.5x55 swede.

As to the 'redding' version, factories want rifles to function flawlessly, and sharp shoulders sometimes creates 'issues' so,,,,,,the 260 as is, feeds fine, but I do think the neck length being increased would have been a worthwhile 'improvement' as if I wanted/needed more capacity/power I would jump to a 338/06, more bullet, and gas behind it.

Nothing against the redding ctg performance though.

quote:

Originally posted by BigNate:
I'm rambling but with the WSM lawsuit, I was contemplating how much has been copied from wildcatting to production with no credit given.

I think historically Wildcatters were flattered when a factory "domesticated" one of their creations, rather than feeling ripped off
from compensation.

There are relatively few that have wildcatted for profit, fewer still that did so with any lasting success.

AllanD

I think [?] the 260 Rems roots can be traced back further than Jim Carmichel. I built a 263 Express in Hawaii back in 1972. It was then Mr Ken Waters baby. I have a paper her somewhere that shows the date of a correspondence between Carmichel and Jim Cuthber of JGS about reamers for the 6.5/308 back in 1997 or so. I`ll try and find it. I`ll keep on thanking Mr. Waters for the 6.5/08

Aloha, Mark

Bnate, if you want a ai version, get the .260AI or 6.5x.308AI. I have a .260ai & like it a lot. It's realistically only giving you 50-75fps but if you are rebarreling anyway, why not.

quote:

Originally posted by fredj338:
Bnate, if you want a ai version, get the .260AI or 6.5x.308AI. I have a .260ai & like it a lot. It's realistically only giving you 50-75fps but if you are rebarreling anyway, why not.

If I were going to live with the aggrevation
of a wildcat again probably first on my list would be a short throated 6.5-06 with a slow twist optimised for 100gr and 125gr Partitions.

AllanD