Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Questions for Tikka .260 owners

Considering one of these and had some questions about reloading.

What is the longest OAL the magazine will hold? I assume it's a standard short action length of 2.8" or so?

Given magazine restrictions, can you reach the lands with 100 to about 130 grain bullets and still keep a decent amount of bullet in the case neck? Mostly I'm looking at the 120-123 grain tipped models; the Hornady A-Max in particular is fairly economical but has given me stellar results in other calibers I've used it in.

Thanks for any info you can impart.

Yes... it's 2.8"

No... you cannot reach the lands with most bullets and keep them in the mag.

No... it hasn't mattered a lick in regards to accuracy. All the Tikka .260s I've worked with (about a half dozen of them) shoot EVERYTHING well. Throat geometry is more important than kissing the lands.... even with VLDs. Tikka has pretty long throats in most of their stuff.... but they seem to have the angles figured out.

The 123 Amax jumps as well as any bullet I've ever used. I had one load in a Rem.700 where they were jumping over .15"... and it shot well under MOA to a grand.

You can buy a long mag, shorten bolt stop. Now you have a long action.

As do most of the Euro imported rifles.

Bad thing is leade lengthens over time making that jump even more.

May or may not matter to some.

I appreciate the info. It's not a deal killer by any means, I've had rifles that require a long jump to the lands but still shot great, just wanted to see what others had experienced.

I have one of these, but I am afraid my experience will be of little use to you. I bought the rifle because I found a couple hundred rounds I had loaded previously for a different affair with the 260. I bought a Tikka Superlight from the nice folks at Whittaker guns, in the middle of deer season last year. I mounted a Leupold 3x9 compact in the dreaded factory rings and zeroed it for the ammunition I had previously loaded.

Turns out, the Tikka liked R-19 and the 129 grain Hornady well enough to shoot a handful of three shot groups, comfortably under an inch. Deer season went as expected. I took a couple and my son took one whitetail with it, and there was no muss, no fuss and no drama.

Then in March of this year, I took it to Texas on the annual Campfire Hog Hunt. I used the 130 grain Nosler Accubond to take my hog there, and it worked just as well as the little Hornady.

What I really wanted was a Lightweight hunting rifle chambered for the Creedmoor. I looked up and saw the Tikka in 260 and I'm on the search for a creature that will be able to tell the difference when I shoot it.