Does the 6.5-06 have a big advantage over the 260 or is it just a way to wear out a barrel quicker without much difference in performance.

It depends on what you mean by big difference. The 6.5-06 enjoys about 100-200 fps difference like the 7-08/280 Rem, 308/30-06, 358Win/35 Whelen (with 250 grain bullets), etc. For me, action length would dictate which round I went with. Lou

I am about to start a .260.
The 6.5,06 is of corse a little faster.
Both are good rounds of certainly. The advantage of the long round is most usfull for extreem long ranges and heavier bullets.
I am choosing the 260 beacuse I have the perfect action to build it on. It likly (although not guarenteed) to be extreemly accurate.
It has plenty of power to kill the game I plan to hunt with it out to any range I really should be shooting said game, and it will make a lighter fast handeling rifle...tj3006

If I was going SA, I would go 260 or 260ai. If I were going std. or long action I would go 6.5x284.

the 6.5-06 is a decededly better round with the heavy bullets.......with the lighter ones the 260 Rem keeps up fairly well.

If the goal is larger game such as some of the African plains game or elk or moose the 6.5-06 is a better choice......but the target may not be able to tell.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
the 6.5-06 is a decededly better round with the heavy bullets.......with the lighter ones the 260 Rem keeps up fairly well.

If the goal is larger game such as some of the African plains game or elk or moose the 6.5-06 is a better choice......but the target may not be able to tell.

roger

The swede's and Norwegian's routinely shoot moose with the 6.5X55 tossing 156gr bullets and they have no problems. The 260 is basically a short action version of the venerable swede. To answer your question, i would go with the 260 and save a long action for a 280 or 30-06 or even another favorite- the 35 Whelen

Before I ever had a serious interest in bolt action rifles I had a desire for a 25-06. I have never owned one, I have shot a couple & I still like the caliber. Since I have gotten more serious about bolt actions & learned more about them, the 6.5-06 seems like it would be a better cartridge. I have been looking through some loading manuals & their results don't seem to show a big performance difference between the 6.5-06 & the 260Rem. I know that what is published in loading manuals are the results that they get with that particular rifle on that that particular day, with those particular componets & my results may not be the same. I thought that I would pose this question to see what the general opinion was between the two.
Thanks for the replies.

for what they're best used on (deer sized game), they 260 doesn't give up much to the larger 6.5-06

with the right powder and a 22" tube, a 260 Rem is able to push a 120 grain bullet to 2900-2950 fps. That shoots flat enough and packs enough energy to a quarter mile, plenty far to be shooting deer IMO!

A 260 can also shoot a 100 grain partition to 3350 fps, and the long action 25/06 is touted as a great flat shooting cartridge shooting a 100 grain Partition at 3300 fps...

The 260 can do this with 43.5 grains of IMR 4064 powder, yet the 25/06 needs 10 to 12 more grains of 4831 or 4350 powder...

I like the .260 Rem. I used 129gr Hornady SPs over a health dose of H4831SC this past season to harvest 2 deer. No fuss, no muss, 2 shots, 2 deer DRT.

If you are still spinning your wheels,
Let me through another round into the tredmill.
When i went out to my smith, He wanted my action to complete a project.
He ponted out that my project would take 2 or 3 years and cost 1300.00 to 1800.00.
He gave me a trade in value that apealed to me, so I started looking at the customs on the wall.
I ended up making a deal on very prety custom 98 in 6.5X257 roberts.Dies and a 1x5 bausch & laumb included.
Its an interesting round. Sort of halfway between the .260 and 6.5,06.
By the way there is nothing wrong with the 25,06 either.
Th 6.5 will shoot heavyer bullets so its better for game bigger than deer, but the 25,06
will do um dead just fine.
...tj3006

I am shooting a 120 Grain Sierra SP, out of my 24" 6.5-06, @ 3200fps. That should give you a little info with which to make your decision.

Jerry