Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Reduced loads for a 260 for hunting.......

Been playing with a new 260 lately with 123 Amax in a 24" tube.

I started at 38 grains of both Varget and R-15.

Varget gave me 2785.

R-15 gave me 2725.

Accuracy didn't show up till 40 grains with either.....

6 year old thread, but still valid.....

I've had good luck with IMR 4895 in 308 with good accuracy, but dropping all the way down to 60% seems too low. Within reason 4895 seems ok.

I use cast data, and estimate charge weight to keep pressure above 40k on the low end. That seems more reasonable to me to get a complete burn and recoil is very soft at that level. Closer to 80%. 60% may be safe but I think it's better to use a faster powder as suggested.

For consistency, you want enough powder in the case so the primer can find it.

I know guys that use a case full of 4831 behind cast bullets to keep velocity low enough to prevent leading. Pressure and recoil is low and ignition is not an issue.

Read about reduced loads Hogdon reload center. You can take the max load of H 4895 x .60% to use as a starting load. You can the velocity for that max loadx60% and be very close. I load 243 and 270's for grandkids. I would be great for 260's also. I would use a 140 ballistic tip. Granddaughter has punched holes through some nice deer plus pigs with her 243, before she took 6.5 Creedmoor away from me. That means I will have to buy another one. The first is a Savage Hunter Predator. Thinking about a Vanguard in 6.5. Shoot em up!

Or just load the 223 with 55 TTSX under a max load and bang-flop your way into no recoil nirvana.

I use the TTSX 62 grainers in my AR. Rips pigs end to end. Broke both shoulders of a 200lb male at 225 yds. Went all the way through. I expect it would kill a 125lb deer easy.

Bringing an old thread back up. Today I shot some loads taken from Seafire's data. I used SR 4759 and 100 grain Sierra HP's.
I used his recommendation of 20 grains to 25 grains. All loads were very mild in my grandsons Ruger M77 Compact.
The report was sharp out of that short 16.5 inch barrel though. Velocities over my Magnatech Chrony were as follows.
20 Grains = 2023 fps
21 Grains = 2094 fps
22 Grains = 2175 fps
23 Grains = 2243 fps
24 Grains = 2312 fps
25 Grains = 2373 fps
None of the loads showed signs of over pressure in my Nosler brass.
I plan to load up 5 with the 25 grain load and see what kind of group I get at 100 yards,

for my daughter's M70 FW 6.5x55mm swede we started out with NBT 100gr & trailboss, as a transition from 223 69gr she had been shooting.

Her rifle didn't seem to like 100gr Partitions that I wanted to use, so we stayed with the NBT 100gr with mild Varget for her 1st deer.

(I was lucky that GunLooney88 had been working through this with his daughter's swede, so his insight helped me sort it out pretty quickly)

Seafire,
In the past when I've tried reduced H4895 accuracy was good but there was a lot of smoke and boom, and I expected recoil to be less.

For H4198 are you using the same 60% formula for reduced loads?

I just realized this is an ancient thread.........sheesh.

Old or not, there are some good insights in this thread.

I think I got my info for my nephew's load from this thread 5 years ago. Settled at 29.5gr of IMR4198 under a 100gr Hornady SP. He killed several with that load before I moved him up to a full power 120gr load last year.

No I am not using the 60% rule with 4198, but it certainly is fine to do so...

At distances I usually hunt at.... which are what I refer to as 30/30 ranges... or sometimes 300 Savage ranges...

that is Muzzle Velocity of between 2200 fps, to 2400 fps... even with a spitzer bullet with your sights adjusted for deer at 3.5 inches at 100 yds, it will be dead on at 200 and will be 3.5 inches low at about 240 yds...which can be made an effective 250 to 300 yd load for deer....

and since 90% of most game is taken at 100 yds or less... and 95% is taken at 200 yds or less.... that pretty much fills most of my personal needs along with a lot of other folks....less recoil, makes hitting your target, and especially more pin point more than more recoil.....

some folks it doesn't matter... but those folks shoot a lot and know how to handle it... but they are in the minority...

I rarely need truly reduced loads for my 308 rifles, but for the reasons you've mentioned I mostly shoot somewhat reduced loads in them. With 165/168 grain bullets I often mimic LC Match ammo at 2550 fps or thereabouts.

Sierra 120gr PH in front of 46.5 grs of H4350. This isn't a reduced load but my daughter has been shooting it since age 12 with no problems with recoil. She's now 20 and still shoots the same load with excellent results on deer.

I’ve used 21.0 grains of BlueDot (gasp!) under a 100-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip for years in my 26” M700 VLS. Accuracy aggs around 1 moa and velocity is 2512 fps. Recoil is never high in the big M700, but is much less than factory level loads. That bullet kills well at that speed, excellent penetration and expansion in medium deer. 19.0 grains is more accurate, but is a bit slow for my hunting ranges.







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I load 24gr of H4895 with a 100gr BT for 2000fps and 32gr of H4895 with a 100gr PT for 2600fps in the .260 Rem I set up for my daughters.

Shot the 25 grain load today to sight in and check group size.
I ended up with a 6 shot group 1 1/4 inches inside to inside at 100 yards.
I think this little Ruger M77 Compact will do the grandsons well.

Thanks Seafire, good to know!

Well put me in the blue dot fan camp.

Getting a very consistent 2243fps avg. out of an 18.5” barrel rem model 7 with 100gr BTs over 19.1 gr. Going to load up a bunch and take a doe or two with it this year before letting my son shoot it next season. Thanks!

Some great info here

Good info indeed. Should also apply to the 6.5CM with its similar case capacity. Have had good luck with Trailboss and Blue-Dot for the really light loads. An upper-end Blue-Dot load can be a fine killer at reasonable ranges. Then the 4198 loads are another notch higher in performance, as well as the lower-charge 4895 loads.