I have a few questions for shooters of 260 Remington's, 6.5 Panthers, and 6.5-08's.

What type of velocity is acheivable with a 22" barrel with top handloads? I'm interested in all bullet weights, from 85-160 grs.

What type of rifle are you shooting? What type of accuracy are you getting.

What experiences have you had with this cartridge and medium sized game. Please include bullet weight and type.

Any other info or observations about this cartridge would be much appreciatted.

Thanks in advance.

Here are the velocities I get with My SS/lam Ruger Model 77 MK II 22" barrel:

95 grain V-Max - 3,276 fps
100 gr Partition - 3,206 fps
120 gr Solid Base - 2,936 fps (I hoarded 10 boxes before they quit making them)
125 gr Partition - 2,893 fps
129 gr Hornady Spire Point - 2,853 fps
140 gr Nosler Partition - 2,738 fps
140 gr Rem CoreLokt factory ammo - 2,648 fps

Pressures are near the usable limit, but are quite safe with no extractor marks or loose primers. I have gotten up to ten reloads with my test cases so far. Primer pockets are still tight enough to be safe.

My wife uses the 100 grain Partition load on whitetails, and has 3 one shot kills so far. All shots exited, and all deer died quickly. The V-Maxes make for spectacular kills on jackrabbits and crows. Pretty much destroys them.

My rifle shoots the V-maxes into ragged 1/2" or so holes for 3 shots. The 100 grain Partitions and 129 grain Hornadys group 3/4" or so. The other bullets regularly group between 3/4-1.25" for three shots at 100 yards.

It's a much better dual purpose varmint/deer rifle than the .243 IMHO. It shoots much flatter with like weight bullets, and has no velocity problems with bullets up to 129 grains.

I do think that 129 grains is about the practical limit for shooting much over 200 yards with this cartridge. Most factory rifles have a 1 in 9" or 9.5" twist rate, and bullets over 140 grains will have a hard time stabilizing in this slow twist at the low velocities you can push them at. 160 grain Hornady round noses failed to stabilize in my rifle, which has the 1 in 9.5" twist.

Overall, it's a great cartridge with very little recoil. I like it, and so does my wife. She feels a lot more confident using it than her .243 on deer, and the recoil is no problem for her with light bullets. She is 5'5", and weighs 114 pounds.

Cant tell you what a 22 inch barrel will do . My 260 is one of the 18.5's..
95 grn. Hornady SST-- 3150 fps
129 grn Hornady Interlock --- 2800 fps
They both group well and bring things down really well.

1/4" NV,

The velocities you got (other than with the 129 gr Hornady) are all about 200 fps over my velocities. This makes perfect sense, considering you have a 4" longer barrel than I. 50 fps/inch is about what I'd expect to gain in a 6.5 mm bore rifle.

If one were to want to know the velocities from a 24" barrel, splitting the differences between our velocities would be a good estimate.

What I am happiest about is the ability to stabilize the long 140/142 gr bullets. They lose velocity grudgingly and cut through the wind very well.

Although the rifle weighs twelve pounds and I wouldn't consider it a "carry around" hunting type rifle, the extra four inches of barrel seems to be enough to keep the high BC bullets flying straight. I've heard from many others that couldn't stabilize the 140s and up with the velocities they were getting with 18-22" barrels. There seems to be a very thin line and for me it's been above 2700 fps muzzle velocity.

Also, the V-Max performance on varmints has to be seen to believed. Although I've had this rifle for only a short time, I've connected with ground squirrels at 352 and 387 lasered yards. Terminal performance at that range was great. At 200 yards and less it can only be described as spectacular.

I have a Model Seven action laying around. I wonder what it would do with a sporter weight 24" barrel? Enough velocity to keep the 140s stabilzed? Or do I need to go to a 1:7 and possibly lose the use of the lightweight bullets at high velocities?

A few years ago I had a custom 6.5x55 with a 1:7 and had 85gr Sierras blow up 50-60 yards from the muzzle at 150 fps below max. It shot the heavies (140-165grs) well though.

I want it all. 85 grs to 160 grs. Maybe that 24 inch 1:9 will do it?