It appears to me there is increasing interest in the .260 Remington. Is anyone else seeing this or is it just me?
Now I am having a micro A-bolt rebarreled to .260 and maybe I'm just paying more attention to the discussion.
Thoughts everyone?

I think that the interest in the 6.5 bore is increasing on a daily basis and the .260 is a dandy cartridge that is easy to load is accurate and works very well. Brass is not a problem, there are quite a few excellent bullets out there in .264 and too many suitable powders to list. You could sub in the 6.5x55 or the 6.5x57 to the above as well.

I am not a gun expert, but when Outdoor Life pushed this rifle at the beginning it seemed to take off and then abruptly died. Then 2 years ago they seemed to be popping up and more often and now it seems many youth and women hunters through my taxidermy shop are using 260s. By what I have seen, I think they are rising in popularity. (of course I am trying to get on the 257 Roberts bus, which seems almost antique

Years ago I had a .264 Mag and I just didn't like the long barrel so it went away.....then I built a 6.5 X 55 and a .260.......and let me tell ya the 6.5 caliber is a very fine hunting round. I'm in for a 6.5-06 now!!!

i have been shooting the rem. .260 for about 4 years now and i really like it. it is very close to the 25-06 in performance with a 120 gr. mine is a ruger M-77 s.s. 2930 shot over croney. the only thing lacking is factory ammo. if factory would step up and make a little bullet choices i think it would grow even more. this is a great round for deer size game.

i've got a couple of 260's and like them. great deer/antelope round plus its a good wind bucker for varmits. I do have one question though - what's this factory ammo thing??

I have been shooting the 260 since 10/97 and am something of a 260 fan. As of 04/24/08, I don't see any meaningful degree of interest in the 260 as a factory production cartridge. However, I think that some of the people who rebarrel their short action rifles are finally realizing out how useful a cartridge the 260 is, if you reload.

I'll believe that the 260 is breathing on its own when Wal-Mart stocks the ammo and a rifle chambered in 260 that is priced under $500. If Marlin has success with their long action XL-7 in 25-06, 270, and 30-06, maybe they'll introduce a short action in 223, 22-250, 243, 260, 7mm-08, 308, and 338 Federal. The XL-7 is a rifle that will retail for $300+/- and could be a vehicle to being the 260 off the vent, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for anything to happen.

Jeff

i was just saying that if factory would load a little more variety it would be even better because most people dont reload. i have been reloading for about 26 years. the .260 is very easy to load for. from 3031 to RL-19 i like to use medium powder like RL-15, varget, 4064 my favorite load is 42 grs RL-15 with 120 sierra, WLR primer

Just in the process of having my Sako rebarreled to .260Rem..

At present, I'd say the 6.5x55mm is a more popular round over here, but there does seem to be increasing interest in the 260Rem and the 6.5x47mm as well..

Regards,

Pete

In a poll taken on the SavageShooters web page asking what new cal. they wanted Savage to make---the .260 was #1.
Here is an interesting article from SHOTGUN NEWS:

www.demigodllc.com/articles/the-case-for 260-remington

quote:

www.demigodllc.com/articles/the-case-for 260-remington

Sorry, but that is a bad link there Burlington...

The 260 rem certainly caught my interest....

Work great on the hogs, turkey and deer I've shot with 120 gr ballistic tips and 130 gr accubonds.

gwb

sako 75 varmint stainless laminate w/ set trigger and kimber montana, both in 260 rem.

Very nice, indeed! I'll get photos of my re-barrel project posted upon completion.

Shooting Times "Long Range Rifles" has 2 articles .260 VS .308 and one on 6.5 - .284 that convinced me to buy the rag.

Link didn't work above--sorry.
Try this link for a good read on the .260

quote:

www.demigodllc.com/articles/the-case-for- 260-remington

The 260 is a very interesting cartridge and fro just hunting I choose it over the other 6.5s, but Zak Smith has also waxed eloquent on the 6.5x47 Lapua and the 6.5 Creedmoor and has me totally perplexed as to which I should choose for a long range precision rifle build... http://www.demigodllc.com/articles/

I currently have three 6.5s....
T3 Tikka Swede..Lam/SS
260 Pac Nor set up on a trued Savage FP action
260 Ackley Imp set up on a s/shot Savage action w/o nut and heavy no taper 26" x 1.230" Pac Nor bbl...
So I'm rather fond of the 6.5s and all of mine are different in many ways & all prove to be very accurate and useful...brass for the 260s is usually Lapua or Hornady Match 308s..the Swede uses Lapau brass...good bullet selection whether LR target/varmint or big game...T3 shown...[URL=http://imageshack.us] [/IMG]

My 260 40xb Remington. Very accurate with 139 Lapuas and IMR-4350. Has to be one of the best deer ctgs available.

quote:

Cliff Lyle: It appears to me there is increasing interest in the .260 Remington. Is anyone else seeing this or is it just me?
Now I am having a micro A-bolt rebarreled to .260 and maybe I'm just paying more attention to the discussion.

The answer's a little bit of both, I think. There is definitely more interest in the 6.5s in general and the 260 R in particular, but it's all among those of us who see a difference between the 6.5x55 and the 260 R. Yes, there's a difference, but a person who wasn't interested in splitting hairs would never notice it in the first place.

I think, in addition to the recognition the 260's getting for it's own usefulness, it's also benefiting from the long-term recognition by many that we've been over-gunned for quite some time, and the 6.5-whatever will allow more and better practice that allows us to make better holes in the critters we hunt. There just isn't enough difference in killing capability between the 6.5 and a magnum to pay me to experience the no-longer-fun muzzle blast and recoil difference.

For the last five or 10 years we've read how the 6.5 "kills all out of proportion to it's size." Maybe that's always been the wrong take - the 6.5 kills just fine, and the 30-cal whatever doesn't do much more than that. It's holes that kill, not energy, diameter, or weight, and I like the holes the 6.5 makes just fine.

quote:

The answer's a little bit of both, I think. There is definitely more interest in the 6.5s in general and the 260 R in particular, but it's all among those of us who see a difference between the 6.5x55 and the 260 R. Yes, there's a difference, but a person who wasn't interested in splitting hairs would never notice it in the first place.

I think, in addition to the recognition the 260's getting for it's own usefulness, it's also benefiting from the long-term recognition by many that we've been over-gunned for quite some time, and the 6.5-whatever will allow more and better practice that allows us to make better holes in the critters we hunt. There just isn't enough difference in killing capability between the 6.5 and a magnum to pay me to experience the no-longer-fun muzzle blast and recoil difference.

For the last five or 10 years we've read how the 6.5 "kills all out of proportion to it's size." Maybe that's always been the wrong take - the 6.5 kills just fine, and the 30-cal whatever doesn't do much more than that. It's holes that kill, not energy, diameter, or weight, and I like the holes the 6.5 makes just fine.

I could not agree more. I have been saying this for several years. I think the whole magnum/ new caliber craze is more of a marketing thing to find ways to sell more firearms and the other supplies to go with.

Geronimo

30378, are you using the Scenars on Deer? Would you mind telling us how they work, what velocity you are getting, etc?

I've owned four .260s, and am now down to just one, a Remington M7 (MS), the custom shop clone of the original M1903 Mannlicher-Schoenauer. Each .260 did well, took deer, etc.., but the remaining custom shop piece is the cat's meow for me. It hold's under an inch at 100 yards with 140 grain FACTORY loads that slap down our Texas deer with one kersplat. In my opinion, the .260 Remington is the ultimate modern deer cartridge. Now, having said that, you have to remember that the .260 is a ballistic clone of the 108 year old 6.5x54mmm Mannlicher-Schoenauer round, and you can add eight more years to that if you include the rimmed military version of the same cartridge. If that's not enough voting for the medium power 6.5mms, add in the 114 year old 6.5x55mm and the equally ancient 6.5x57mm. I hunt with all four 6.5s and love their performance, then I would not mind owning another 6.5-06 either. Now there's a cartridge for Remington to legitimize too!
LLS

quote:

Originally posted by joe25/06:
30378, are you using the Scenars on Deer? Would you mind telling us how they work, what velocity you are getting, etc?

I do not use the Scenars for hunting. My hunting load is 40.5gr of Varget with 120 Nosler BTs.

I've been saying for years that unless you already have a 6.5x55 along with dies and a supply of brass that if you are looking into getting a cartridge in that class (as opposed to a 6.5-06 or 264win) that getting a 260 makes a whole bunch more sense for north american shooters.

Why?
1)260 brass is generally more available and usually cheaper.
Yes, there is US made 6.5x55 brass but it's made wrong.

2)The difference in the cartridge can be summed up with a numeral: 160, that the weight in grains of the bullet that the 260 generally won't shoot well, but interestingly nobody who has a 6.5x55 really shoots all that much...

3)The shorter throat that makes the 160's in the 260 problematic also makes the 260Rem a FAR better shooter of the LIGHTER bullets that the 6.5x55 just doesn't shoot all that well.

As for the "growing popularity" of the 260Rem?
It's a cartridge that's only a decade or so old, and the things that stay with up historically have taken longer than that to catch on... Hell, the 30WCF (aka "30-30") wasn't an instant success either.

AD

Geedubya the Sako looks to shoot a bit better than the Kimber. What works best in your Kimber? Do both shoot 140's fair? There is I believe a growing interest in reasonable rounds like the .260 Rem. Perhaps the days of rip snort whacking of 75 pound deer with 300 RUM's is petering out.

Whilst not a popular cartridge here in New Zealand it has received some positive reviews in the shooting press. Most of fellows I've met who have a 260 are older ones who appreciate the good killing ability with it's moderate recoil in lighter rifles.
It strikes me that the main drawback to the 260 becoming more popular in NZ is the price of factory 260 ammunition which is about 50% more expensive than that for the 7mm-08.
Does any one think the 260 is better than the 7mm-08? I can't decide.

oldun,

As I see it the 260rem has one thing going for it that the 7mm-08 lacks.... the 125gr Nosler partition.

Ok, two things... Nosler also makes a 100gr partition for the 6.5, and it was, according to Nosler, designed specifically for the 260rem.

If Nosler made a light partition, 110-120gr for the 7mm things would be different.

with that 100gr partition the 260Rem IS a 25-06 class cartridge for speedgoats and such...

Though to be honest if Nosler introduced a 110-120gr partition for the 7mm I still wouldn't buy a 7mm-08. I would buy their bullets and see how fast I could drive them from my heavy barreled 7mmMag.

AD

Allan,
I have a 260 but don't have a 7mm-08 and guess what? I have some Nosler 125 grain 6.5 partitions too.
The 260 is a very good cartridge, but so too is the 7mm-08.

I have both 7-08's and a .260. For killing 100# WV WT's they both work very well. But then, a lot of folks around here use .243's so that tells you how easy they are to kill.
I've killed exactly two deer with a .260. One at @ 50 yards and the second at 250 yards. Neither moved out of their shadow. I was using a handloaded 140gr Rem core lokt bullet fwiw.
I think it's a case of if you have a 7-08, I wouldn't sell it to buy a .260 but if you're just starting out, a .260 certainly deserves your consideration. Especially if you handload.

Well as this positive info has led me back to my 260 Rem in a Tikka Varmint, I should get out and continue to shoot this rifle, right after I find what my 204 and 22-250 like the best. FS

If the .264/6.5mm 125g Nosler Partition is the best argument for .264/6.5mm, I'd have to say the 120g Nosler Ballistic Tip is the best argument for the 7mm-08.

Far from being a varmint bullet, the .284 120g BT actually has a thicker jacket than other caliber and weight Ballistic Tips, and is good for 3,000 fps impact. For deer, it's all I need, and there's also a 120g Barnes TSX when I need more penetration.

I'm trying to decide between the two right now - 260 Rem and 7mm-08 for my next project. Very small difference to worry about...

i have shot the 7-08 for about 8 years, my sister has had one for 18 years. we really like them. i seen a 15 year old young man kill a bull elk at 100+ yards with a 7-08 on the OUT DOOR CHANNEL. i bought a .260 about 4 years ago that is about all i take deer hunting now, and the 120 sierra is a great bullet for deer size game

quote:

Originally posted by oldun:
Whilst not a popular cartridge here in New Zealand it has received some positive reviews in the shooting press. Most of fellows I've met who have a 260 are older ones who appreciate the good killing ability with it's moderate recoil in lighter rifles.
It strikes me that the main drawback to the 260 becoming more popular in NZ is the price of factory 260 ammunition which is about 50% more expensive than that for the 7mm-08.
Does any one think the 260 is better than the 7mm-08? I can't decide.

Yes indeed the 7/08 is better.....by 1/2 mm...!!! Ha.

Brass price, likely the biggest difference once you find the load your gun and twist bbl likes.....

Interesting on the brass cost issue as I thought Hornady would make some decent priced brass....

Well checked yesterday at Midway.....SO, LOOKS like order of increasing costs is:

260 Remington brand brass 37.99 per 100
Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor 32.49 per 50
Nosler 260 46.99 per 50 count
Norma 260 92.99 per 50 count
6.5x47 Lapua 95.99 per 100
FYI, Lapua 6.5x55 is 63.99 per 100 ....less than Creedmoor brass

SO, looks like Hornady is winner with Creedmoor brass if you want something better than Remington brand 260 brass and using a short action.

As to ballistics, you decide, but my bet is for the accuracy guru, the new 6.5's will edge out the standard 260 all else equal. If the accuracy difference is needed....more likely a 'want' for discriminating shooters.

I plan on using 243 Lapua brass, if I can get it to work. That's pretty reasonable, if it works okay.

for .260 full length resize .243 and 38gns varget under a 129gn SST.

I thought I'd try expanding the 243 neck slightly and seating a boat-tail 264 bullet; it would be simple, if it works...

I've probably fired around 12K rounds of 260 ammo in the past 10.5 years, with 95% of it made from Winchester/Olin 243 brass and the other 5% a mix of Remington 260 brass and Norma 243 brass. My usual routine is to load 100 rounds for each hunting rifle, using new brass that is trimmed, de-burred, and segregated by weight. Those cases are only used in a single firearm until they are worn out, usually after 8 to 12 uses.

I think that there are many accuracy variable to consider before the cost of cases comes to the top of the list. I think that with all other variable being equal, the difference in case design and case capacity is unlikely to make a meaningful difference in performance for 99.5% of the people who might shoot those different cartridges; 260, 6.5 Creedmore, 6.5x51, etc.

Jeff

I recently purchased Remington's Model 700 Classic CDL SF Limited and love the rifle. Remington also has a Model 700 out besides just the Model 7 this year.

I suspect all the hype of the short fat mags took away from the early success of the 260 Rem, but now there are more ammo and bullet choices for non reloaders. Personally, I load for mine and my oldest boy's 260 Rem.

I still say the best way to describe the 260 Rem is that it truely is what the 243 should have been, a true dual purpose rifle for both varmints and big game.

Jimmy P,

Does the Sako shoot better than the Kimber. I would hope so, it cost half again as much. However, in truth I don't really know. Seriously, I have never taken the time to wring out both rifles for accuracy. Although I use reloading manuals, a chronograph and several powders,load densities, and bullets when developing a load, I am basically a hunter rather than a bench rester or target shooter. When considering purchasing a 260 rem., I happened on an article by a guy who was looking for 3,000 fps out of a 260 using 120 gr bullets. He was loading IMR 4320 and getting good results. I used his load and never looked back. The group that accompanies the Kimber rifle was shot off a wooden bench over sandbags while dodging mosquitos the size of dragonflies at our place in east texas. The rifle weighs approx six pounds,has a wispy barrell, and has a 2.5 x 8 variable scope mounted on it. Hardly a setup for wringing out accuracy. One inch groups are suitable for the type of hunting I do with this gun.
In the case of the sako, I used the load I had used for the Kimber. I zeroed the scope and I shot this three shot group. I was at the shooting range shooting off a rest on a concrete bench under favorable conditions. The rifle has a heavy barrell, weighs close to 8 lbs and has a set trigger that breaks around 9 ounces. Was it a fluke, I don't know. I was heading to the lease the next day and figured that was good enough.
I have not shot any 140 grain bullets through either rifle. I like 140's for my 7mm rifles. I have only shot 120 gr ballistic tips through the Kimber and 120 gr ballistic tip and 130 gr accubonds through the Sako.
As to magnumitis, I suffer from that affliction, but I had the other rifles chambered for 308 based cartridges but no 6.5's.
To date I have shot hogs, turkey and deer with these guns and so far everything I have shot have been DRT.
GWB

I have a friend who bought a .260 Rem Model 700 Mountain Rifle back in 2000. I have used the gun a good bit killing a couple of deer with it. I developed a love affair with that rifle to his amusement, since he thought I would never find one like it for a price that I would pay.

Well up comes one identical to his, dark wood and matte blued barrel, on Gunbroker that was bought in 1998. When I saw the photo, I immediately hit the BuyNow button and it was mine. The gun is like new. Fired two Remington 120 gr.factory loads with it today that hit 1/2 inch apart. I can't wait to get started reloading for the thing. I planned to use 129 gr. Hornady SP for deer out to maybe 200 yds. The Hornady Tech guy recommended slower powders than I would have thought. H-4831 was his first choice. I mentioned faster powders and he said the longer bullets in 6.5 cal. do better with the slower powders. I have IMR-4831 and several other slightly faster powders such as RL-19 and Win -760 on down to Varget, 4064 and IMR-4895. The last 3 shoot very well in my Tikka 7-08 with 120 - 130 gr. bullets. I am looking for accuracy more than velocity.

Do others use the slower powders in the .260? Merg