Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Is the .260 Rem dead?

I do too.

Jerry

With over 50 rifles in my home and I do not have a .300 wsm.. Damn I must be slipping and none of my rifle loonie hunting buddys seem to be carring one either, will have to drive over to Whittaker guns this week!

L l -

Altho I've never owned the 300 WSM, It's a very decent if not excellent cartridge.

The ONLY reason I've never owned 1 is that I have been set up to load the 300 WM since @ 1978.
Otherwise I'd have 1 or some.

I think you guys are also missing an item that we've all overlooked as to why the 6.5 CM has been more successful than the .260. The Internet. Think about the amount of information available over the Internet today compared to 20 years ago when the .260 was introduced? Anyone that is looking for a new rifle today has information at their fingertips. Marketing therefore has had a profound effect through the 'net.


I still like my .260 and will continue to use it. If I was started out today, I would go the 6.5 CM. Why? The ability to buy factory 6.5 ammo when .260 cannot be found. I reload for the .260 but like the safety net of having availability.

Good point.

Back in the day, it was what the gun writers had to say, what was in the gun mags for us to read.

Today, in this digital age there's a plethora of info, much of which sorta feeds on itself with growing intensity until it's woven into the culture, some of which may be urban myth more than fact.

Not too different from the current political scene with lots of "fake news", and propaganda mixed in with real news until it's hard to discern what's what as public opinion is being "shaped".

Hopefully our shooting world isn't as screwed up as the political scene, but some of those principles do apply, IMO.

And, everyone has to protect his "turf" regarding guns, rounds, loads, etc...

Otherwise, there wouldn't be much to discuss here on the Fire...

DF

260 Rem is probably the best all 6.5 for hunting

I would take a 260 Rem any day over the CM. Just a bunch of Hype because of the "fancy" name!

It might be dead from a marketing stand point....but certainly not from the stand point of those that
shoot it...

Spent a lot of years in the sales end of marketing...

doesn't matter the product, marketing is marketing...

if the 30/06 was introduced today, it would be a dead cartridge with 3 to 4 years...

people would complain its too big for your needs, and the other folks would complain it ain't enough..

Marketing has nothing based on efficiency, practicality or anything else...

it is creating a perceived need, often where one doesn't exist.... by those that have the solution
available for the problem the marketing folks convinced you that you have...

I didn't buy a 260 back in 1998, because it was the latest greatest idea out of the gun rags or the marketing TP.

I bought one, because I loved the 6.5 bore, thinking it was one of the most efficient.
but yet being a 308 necked down, brass availability would be no problem....

and besides, it was a 6.5 mm in an American Case... the 308.. how more red white and blue can ya get?

if the 260 and the 6.5 Creedmoor were both brought to market today.. my pick would be the 260
strictly due to the case it was made available in.. over the Creedmoor.

kinda the same philosophy I've used, spinning a 204 barrel off of an action and spinning on a new barrel
in 20 cal and having it chambered for the 20 Practical...

its a 204 performance, with readily and plentifully available brass...

guys I know who shoot 204 are scrambling for brass.. when it wasn't that long ago
you could get brass all over the place... because the marketing dweebs had enough
people convinced it was the greatest varmint cartridge ever produced....

marketing hype doesn't work real well on me.. I guess after being around it for 30 to 40 years professionally.

that is why I have the 260s, instead of getting rid of them and getting a 6.5 Creedmoor...

and being a handloader.. doesn't matter how much variation in ammo is available....

The CM addresses a few technical points better than does the 260. These were mentioned earlier in the thread. Did you miss them? Did you note them but dismiss them as false? Do you simply not care because you despise marketing, never mind if at least some of the marketing points are accurate?

I think that being passionate about an inanimate object, be it a cartridge, a firearm, an automobile, or anything else is a waste of energy. If you like something and someone else likes something different, why do you care? I do what I want to do and don't care what others do as long as what they do doesn't have a negative impact on me and what they shoot or drive surely doesn't. I currently have 49 firearms that are chambered for 6 different 6.5mm bore cartridges. They are totally redundant, plowing the same ground as John put it, but I don't care, as each one has its own character and in some way has given me pleasure.

I actually have been influenced by gun writers when I was younger. I was positively influenced by the late great Skeeter Skelton with regard to the S&W Model 27 and the .44 Special. I was positively influenced by the late great Jack O'Connor with regard to the 257 Roberts and 7x57. I was positively influenced by the late Larry Kollar with regard to the Savage 1920 and .250-3000. I was negatively influenced by a well known writer who is still active, as I felt that he had a tendency to write about things that he hadn't researched very well, not often, but often enough, and by doing so he put incorrect information into the public domain that many people will take at face value and perpetuate the spread of erroneous information because it was written by a "name" gun writer. I felt strongly enough to write to him once and I received a nice letter in return that when distilled down amounted to "Who cares what the public thinks." and "Only a hand full of collectors will ever recognize the points that you've raised and they will ignore what I've written, so should you.". Now I ignore his work and have never felt the loss.

The internet is a great tool, but there is probably as much wrong information to be found on it as there is correct information, the challenge is to sort truth from the rest.

While I've declared myself to be a 260 fan via my handle here and my email address, I'm not going to attempt to influence anyone by arguing its merits or defending its faults, 'cause I don't care what other people do. My favorite long action 6.5mm bore cartridge is the 256 Newton, but it is a PITA to make cases for, so why would anyone want to start down that road when easier options abound? Today, the 6.5 Creedmoor is indisputably superior to the 260 in two areas, better factory ammo and the shorter case design allows for the use of longer, high BC VLD bullets in a short action. If you loaded both cartridges with typical hunting bullets in the 85 to 130 grain range, I doubt that there is any meaningful difference between the two, assuming that all other variable factors are equal. O'Connor wrote about such things nearly 50 years ago and what he wrote then would be equally accurate today just by changing the names of the objects being discussed. Or so it seems to me.

The 6.5 cm has had a distinct marketing advantage over the .260 for sure. Upon deciding to switch to 6.5, after burning out a 6mm Remington, the .260 was a no-brainer for me. I have infinite access to Hornady match .308 brass. I went with a Criterion barrel for the re-barrel and will never buy any other brand. My .260 has shot well with every single load that I put through it.

I recently loaded some 147 ELD-M and had zero trouble. It crunched a little powder, but so what. It shot them into 1/2 moa, at 2724 fps. I shoot 129 Hornadys at 3010 fps, also into 1/2 moa. If I had not had the brass, I would have probably bought a Creed, but I have seen zero advantage over the .260.

You cannot go wrong with either, but I like my .260. It has become my favorite rifle.

Don't try to intervene when a Chevy man is arguing with a Ford man...

And, for sure, don't bring up Dodge; they'll both jump on you...

DF

I hope it's not dead, I've got three of them! I have a custom long range "tactical" rig that was throated for 140 high BC bullets, a Kimber Montana and a Remington Faux-Ti in a shortened stock which will be my daughter's deer rifle in a couple years.

If I was starting from scratch I would probably start with the Creed but I'm no going to sell my .260's to switch over.

What are your best loads, 147 ELD and 129 Horn?

DF

The 260 Rem sure isn't dead at this house and I have no desire or need to get rid of it for a 6.5 Creedmoor. The Creedmoor might become more popular but I don't think the 260 will disappear anytime soon. I also will mention that Hornady is offering a couple of different 260 Rem loads this year so it must be far from dead.

I have been shooting and hunting with a 6.5 x 55 since 1989 when I bought my first one. Now I have a Sako Hunter so chambered for over 20 years now, never found it lacking in accuracy or the ability to put game on the ground! The gun market is a very fickle place, some cartridges succeed and others fail. In the end, a 270 or 30-06 is going to work just fine on the game we shoot these days, but there is no fun in that! As I get older and I am getting up there age wise, It has dawned on me that most don't care one way or another on such things. We do because we are an odd bunch, after all, I have never seen a gun or a cartridge yet that I didn't like. Of course, if I had any sense at all, I would have just kept hunting with the 30-30 I bought in 1971 and saved a ton of money over the years. It's a sickness I tell you a sickness.

YES, it is....but I'm better now.


Jerry

I'll shoot you a PM.