Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Is a 26 Nosler an all around big game cartridge?

Looking for some valued opinions. I am looking for a semi-custom rifle that can handle all of my lower 48 needs. I currently use a savage 300 win mag with a 5 x 20 Trijicon accu point. I am considering a 26 Nosler. The majority of my shots are under 300 yards, but occasionally the opportunity to 500+ presents itself. I hunt whitetail, muleys, elk and black bear. Would this be effective for all of them? I appreciate your input.

Yes

Sure it will work great but so will your 300 Win Mag, nothing wrong with wanting to change things up. Lots of rounds will work out to 300 yards (and beyond) but the 26 Nosler will shine as you get farther out. There are many 6.5 mm bullets available that will work on all those game animals, ones that come to mind quickly are the 140 gr Partition and Accubond, 130 gr Scirocco (my favorite bullet in the 264 Win Mag) and any of the monolithic 120-130 gr bullets like the Hornady GMX, Barnes TTSX and Nosler E Tip.

I'm a bit of a novice, but would the 26 be too fast for a whitetail at 100 yds? I shoot 168 gr btsp interlocks and it went through a doe so fast the exit wound was barely larger than the entry wound. No blood trail whatsoever, just a few chunks of lung on the grass behind her. She piled up a 150 yds away.

There is no way a bullet can go so fast it doesn't have time to expand, it is one of those myths that just isn't true. The bullet you mention on the deer is it a target bullet? I'm not sure if Hornady makes a 168 gr Interlock, they do make a 165 gr though. If you did use their target bullet that may have been why it didn't perform that great.

Nosler says so

The 28 might be better

To my eye, the 30-06, .270, .280 are excellent all around BG cartridges, and are not as stupidly expensive to shoot or load for.

Brass cost is outrageous.

Using Midway as an example:

26 Nosler brass is $66 per 25 cases. That equals $264 for 100 cases.

30-06 brass is $55 for 100 cases.

26 Nosler brass is roughly 5x as expensive as 30-06 brass. That right there is enough for me.

I am betting your odds of being able to successfully make longer shots are greater (money being equal) if you had the opportunity to practice shooting from field positions 5 times as much.

The 26 Nosler's performance data is impressive, no doubt. That said, The ability/skill of the individual shooter is generally what makes or breaks a clean kill. Having the ability to hone that skill through 5x as much practice makes more sense to me.

A nice 308 and a range finder will do the trick.

I was gonna say the same thing, and throw in the fact that most people will shoot a .270 or .280 more than a magnum, and since bullet placement improves with practice and bullet placement is king, they're better "all-around" hunting cartridges.

The .26 Nosler is a great cartridge. The idea if you purchase a more mundane cartridge you will practice more is ridiculous if you like to shoot. I wore out a .7-300 Weatherby and rebarreled it to a 7-8mm Rem Mag. When that wore out I rebarreled it to a .375-.416 Rem Mag and purchased another rifle and made a short fat seven.

Buy what you want and go play.

Ringman, is this thread all about you, or is that how you see everything?

Most people will shoot a lighter recoiling rifle more than a magnum, and they'll shoot it more effectively. And that's a fact.

I like shooting my 308 Norma Mag just as much as I like shooting my 260.

I'm not all that familar with the 26 Nosler, except to know it's the newest and fastest "factory" 6.5 at this point. I gotta notion, no animal would be able to tell the difference between a good hit with a 26 Nosler or a 264 Win. Both will also be barrel burners. Might toss 6.5x284 and 6.5x55 in there too, if within 400-500 yards. Dead will always be dead, just as a misplaced hit will always be a lot of tracking or lost game.

Like others have said, if 500 yards is a reasonable max, you can do the same thing with the .260, 6.5 CM, 6.5x47, 6.5 Swede, etc. for much less cost/recoil/effort.

Using a 140 partition as a base, at 1000 ft elevation, you're still running 1900fps and 1100 FPE at 500 yards assuming a 2750 starting velocity. You could always use a sleeker bullet if you need to shoot further.

The 26 Nosler really does not come in to play (in my mind) until you start at 500 yards.

No question that the cartridge would handle your needs.



What about the rifle? A rifle in 26 Nos is likely to have a long barrel; perhaps not the best tool if a lot of your hunting is where a fast handling shorter weapon would be a better fit.

Should be a great all around cartridge. Lost of slugs available.

28 for big game

Yes.

As an "all-around" cartridge.. not so much. JMHO.

Wears out barrels fast, way over powered and expensive to shoot for hunting, heavy clumsy gun.

Lots of better 6.5's of that is your desire, lots of other good hunting calibers listed in this thread, including the one you noted you shoot now.

For what you're doing I'd run the 300 you already have. If you want to downsize a 7/08 would work great for what you're doing too.

Ditto

Ditto again

The idea that recoil and trigger time have no connection is just plain silly. I don't know anyone who pounds out hundreds of rounds at a time behind big 7 and 300 class mags. Of course their idea of trigger time and mine are probably miles apart.

I don't understand all the replies in the negative.

[bleep], it's not complicated. A 6.5x55, 264 Win Mag, 270 Win, are also all capable, as are many others. Use an appropriate bullet for the high velocity and shoot animals in the right place.

I would guess the 140 Partition, 140 Accubond, or some TTSX or other tough bullet, heavy for caliber, would work nicely.

I actually have a 700 SPS 7mm08 in stainless that I never put a scope back on after the trigger recall. Thought about selling it and getting a 260 and using it as my main rifle and setting the 300 win mag aside for elk and bear.

I would scope the 7/08 and go. Put a Timney on it if you want to change triggers.

Hello friend, welcome to the Campfire.

If you want, save your 300 for Elk and Bears. Put a new trigger in your 7-08 There are a few after market triggers that will work just fine.

Re-scope your rifle, practice and you should be golden.

Take care

your all set. I love the 260 Rem, but with a 300 and 700 7-08, you need nothing else. That 7-08 with a good trigger will do 99 out of 100 things needing doing in NA.

Sometimes stuff like that just happens. I shot a buck at 100 yards with a .30-06 and cup and core PSP bullet and it did the same thing, dime sized hole in and out. Zero blood on the ground, found him in a brush pile 20 yards away.

Scopebite, welcome to the fire.

I am of the opinion that the 7mm-08 that you mentioned just may be perfectly suited for 350 ish yds.


Shod

Randy & Shod,
Thanks for the warm welcome. I love the site. A lot of great information/recommendations. And drama. Love it!

I'll add a welcome. The drama can be fun if you let it

You would keep it, buy a .260 anyway, play musical scopes with them a half dozen times, and hunt them both.



Cause you're a whore.

Since you mentioned you have a 7mm-08 like some of the others have said use it and your 300 WM, pretty tough to beat those two for anything in North America and world wide for that matter.

You seem un-thrilled about the Remmy, and curious about 6.5s.

I geeked out on .260 Rem vs. 6.5 Creedmoor for awhile recently. Both are flat shooting - which is faster with a given bullet and powder kinda depends on whose data you're looking at. Both only really make sense if you're hand loading.

The result of my research is that I'd go .260 for hunting. If I didn't already have things closely bracketing it, I'd probably pick up another Tikka in .260. Many regard it as the Goldilocks caliber for white tail; softer recoil and flatter shooting than 7-08, but with a little more thump and longer barrel life than .243. There's a lot more load data out there with a range of hunting rounds for .260 than for CM.

I'd go CM for targets. It was designed to do that job, and it does it with a few key advantages over .260. The load data that's out there is focused on target rounds, more than hunting.

No hands-on experience with either cartridge, but I'm pretty good at sorting out mechanical technologies. Maybe this will help.

OK, so you know me It sounds like good advice for the OP as well

Where else can you get:
1. A warm welcome?
2. Load data?
3. Called a whore?
What a beautiful thing!

yes and the 28 Nosler may even be better. My favorite Big Game Round is the 7x57 with a 160 gr bullet

But Ingwe charged San Juan Hill to capture his first 7x57

I need to shoot mine some.

Ingwe helped Paul Mauser make the 7x57 in 1891-1892.

26 Schnoz would work anywhere. So would a 30-06.

A common misconception; he was already retired by then. His best work was on smoothbores.

Squirrel hunting with shotguns undercover

No, I meant smoothbore muskets. By the time rifling was invented, ingwe was retired.

Would pimp up the 7/08.... Semi custom with a nice stock and a good trigger. Shoot the wad on glass if needed.... THEN when that isn't even enough I would dabble in the Nosler barn. By then they may even step to the edge with a 338 and a 25....

W

He is old

"Is a 26 Nosler an all around big game cartridge?"

It depends on what you are looking for in an "all-around" cartridge. As Mackay_Sagebrush pointed out, brass is very expensive compared to more mundane cartridges that will also do the job of 'all-around' cartridge. Factory ammo runs $66 to $71 at midwayusa.

For your stated needs of 500+ yards (and assuming if you meant 600+ or more you would have stated as much), there are a lot of cartridges that will work at much less expense and with a lot less recoil. Cartridges like the .270 Win, .280 Rem, 7mm Rem Mag, .30-06 and .300WM come immediately to mind.

The Pope is Catholic.

Glad you fixt it

You're welcome.

If Tom looks at this we will have even more turds to smoke in hell.

Yup.Hopefully they'll be a little more "firm" the last ones were "mushy."

He's too old. he'll never notice.

So far you're right but Rommel could see it and tell him.

Yep, he's obviously the brains of that outfit.

What?

Who?

Where?

I'm an old fart who has " played" with a lot of whiz bang stuff from back in the day. I have owned and used for a season most of the magnums bracketed from .257 Wby through the .300s H&H, Win, and Wby. Most everything in between was toyed with. I have owned bigger, but never hunted them.

Having set the frame of reference, I no longer own a magnum of any dimension. Although not all, I have four .30-30s, three .30-06s, two .270s, one each .243, .25-06, and .308.

The older I get ( bumping 78) the more impressed I am with the .308. Mine is a Browning Safari pencil barrel from the sixties built on a small ring Mauser action, padded an inch too short, and free floated rather crudely as with a camp ax. I bought it for a song, intending to build a .280 on it (yes, the action is long enough). Curiosity got me and I decided to shoot it. Cheapest Federal 150 grain bullets. First group was about 1/2". Let it cool. Next group was maybe 5/8". One more later was under 1/2". I went back to the LGS and bought about a dozen more boxes of the same lot-all they had. It wears a 4x Zeiss that is bumping 25 years old. The short stock works for me with heavy winter garb and works for my lovely daughters as well.

The longest two game shots I have ever made was with that .308. I'm ashamed to tell the distance, but both required a hold way off hair. Funny thing, but the third longest deer shot was with a .243.

For most hunting deer sized game, the .30-30 is enough gun. For those in doubt, the ..270 to .30-06 class rifles are proven world wide. The delightful ..308 is my grab and go bolt gun choice.

Now back on topic. If you must have a 26 Nosler and you can afford it, that is the wife and kids do not go hungry, DO IT ! I bet it is fun. I know my .264 Win was fun to play with and it killed them dead. Do not be surprised that as you age, recoil and muzzle blast may become obnoxious to you, but that will come later. I never lost money on but one gun. I overpaid for a German .300 Wby once upon a time and lost about $50 when I unloaded it. I suppose it was worth the cost as I learned a lot about the great cartridge. It was just more of a good thing than I needed.

Enjoy your journey,

Jack

When?

Where?

I give up, the old turd will never notice.

Never give up....


But this borders on elder abuse...

Oh, and I almost forgot...

Pooper? Is that even a word?

I mean, a word that anyone under 80 would use?

Finally and it was...... Oh well

Yeah, disappointing response from el poobah.

I would say he's losing it, but I think that happened long ago......