Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 260 AAR ???

I picked up a set of dies marked "260 AAR".
A bit of research shows this is the "260 All Around Rifle".
Which is the 257 Roberts Ackley Improved, necked up to 6.5mm(.264).
Without any load data or field testing (I couldn't find any) do you guys think it is worth the trouble? I am going to build a 6.5-something, anyway. I already have an action & new blank, but it won't finish up but @ 22". I just haven't decided on whether to go with a .260 Remington (have the reamer) or, to order a reamer for this 'cat.
Tempted to go with the regular .260, but the AAR has a lot of COOL Factor.
What say you?

6.5x55 AI! lol

[quote=Bug]I picked up a set of dies marked "260 AAR"

Go with the 260 AAR.You can do more with it than any 260 Rem will ever do.

Von Gruff.

I'll second sticking with the AAR. Sounds like you're already set up with the proper tools and attitude to make it a go. It's the cool factor that does it for me. A lot of my own rifles are a little out of norm just because I like to do things different than everyone else, and the .260 AAR certainly is different, and cool!

BUG Page 358 of P O Ackley's Handbook for Shooter and Reloader covers the 260 AAR quite well If you want some loads
Email me and I will pass on what Ackley has listed.
Cheers NC

In todays world I don't see much use for wildcatting even though I've done many over the years. Every surviving caliber has an "optimized" cartridge, for the most part, that you can pick and if that isn't enough "whatever" go to the next larger "standard"...you usually don't gain enough wildcatting to bother with now that we have chronographs to reduce the "lying factor".

I don't care much for the "cool" factor...I don't care whether or not you think I'm "cool" or not, so I make my decisions on MY "cool factor"....so I usually go with the economic, reality, availability factor...whichever is the cheapest as far as components, reloadability, utility, usefullness, easily obtained and available, etc. even though I have many old military weapons I have to make components for when I want to shoot them.

A reamer for the 260 AAR is roughly $150 added to the cost of the dies. You have a reamer for the 260 Rem and Lee dies are CHEEP. Brass cost is a wash. Either cartridge would be considered relatively "optimized".

As far as capacity gain is concerned the 260 AAR is roughly 61g H20 and the 260 Rem is roughly 53g...so you do have 8 gr case capacity more...hardly enough to argue over and not enough gain...anywhere...for me to waste any money on it.

You can use 260 Rem loading data starting near the top loads then work up slowly, USING A CHRONOGRAPH. You "might" gain an additional few f/s, but any gain OR loss, depends on many other factors, like barrel length, barrel "tightness" or roughness, how you build your ammo...

As far as which one I would chose...there are more plusses on the side of the 260 Rem than on the side of the 260 AAR, the least of which is you can usually buy 260 Rem ammo at ANY -Mart, ANYTIME.

I can and do build just about any caliber rifle I want, any time I want so...I have a Rem XP-100 action that soon will have a 260 Rem barrel screwed on it. I could pick and choose from hundreds of cartridges and calibers, I have/had at least one rifle in just about every caliber from 17 to 54, been doing this thing for 50 years, have seen and heard ALL the arguments and found them so much BS, smoke and mirrors and every new generation uses the "sameolsh*t" plus all the new ones they think up and think they are something new, but it is interesting to understand the process now that it gets scattered all over the net.

In my reality...if you want something more than the 260 Rem there are just a ton of other 6.5 cases to pick from...the WSW case would put you well into the upper ranges of "cool factor"...I wouldn't even take a second look at the AAR OR the 260 Rem if I wanted "more"...and I wouldn't waste time or money messing around with the AAR even though I had the dies if I wanted "more". Plus there is the 6.5 Norma and the 6.5-06 that are fairly "standards", have lots of reloading data AND a long past history, and the Gibbs and lets not forget the 264 RM.

I could say the same about several other 6.5's...and as was mentioned the 6.5 Swede has been proven over how many years...I have two of them, and a 6.5 BR on a NEF action.

So...........

Simply put... "Just doit". Pick one for whatever reason or for no reason at all, build it and go have fun. Life is too short to waste time asking for someone elses opinion...and you're wasting time not getting on with it.

Enjoy your project.

NFG, I like your taste....in the NEF Feel free to PM me your loads/results and bbl length if you want, thanks.

Half the fun is talking it over and weighing the options.

I've thought many times of doing a build around this exact round. I've been shopping around for the stuff and the only thing that really made me think twice was the cost of dies.

I have a 257 AI and LOVE it.

There are many who pooh-pooh the wildcat idea these days, but cool factor is something that adds more appeal for some than others. When considered on a purely practical level I'd agree that there is no reason for wildcatting, but if I were all about practical I'd only have a couple of rifles... 22 lr and 30'06!

Here is what I would do, personally.... if it is a Mauser action that'll handle an '06-length case go w/ the 6.5-280AI, but if it is a "mid length" x57 action, go w/ the 260 AAR.

I love it... only a REAL loony would buy a rifle cuz they have dies for it...

That reminds me... passport has some 340 dies that I need .

If you want to split hairs it could be called a 6.5x57 AI.
I think Norma, RWS and maybe others load for the 6.5x57 and then it would be a simple fire form job. Your reamer should be good for the seater die then only a sizer die would be needed.

Ackley has a good comparison between 6.5's but it is hard to equate with modern powders and the loads were primer poppers then backed down 1-2 grains so pressure is any ones guess.

The AAR, 256 Newton, 6.5 Swede and .260 Rem. are ideal in bore and case size for most deer hunting.

Enjoy the project.

I think the AAR sounds really cool. But so do the 6.5x55, the .260 and especially the 6.5x.284. I've used the Norma round a few times and seen it in action a few more. It is simply awesome!

You're right EFW...talking and cogitating about wildcats is most of the fun...In todays world the knowledge and components are much cheaper and easier to come by than in the "olden days". Anyone can have their own "Named" cartridge for the price of a reamer, although you might have a hard time trying to fit it into some of the more popular calibers...Hahahahahah.

65BR...I don't post reloading data or pass it on anymore...just way to dangerous. I/you never know who is getting the information, the level of "expertise", or even IF it is a good guy or not. I haven't decided on barrel length yet, probably in the 18-22" range, a light weight stock and 4-12x??? scope. Primary use will be for shooting squirrels off my ATV at longer ranges than my short barreled 17's or 20 cals are good for. Maybe the odd deer just to see how it works.

Once ANY information is posted on the "WORLD wide web" it is there FOREVER, for ANYONE to use for ANY purpose. I'm just about to stop even posting my few observations because it could, in some perverse way, come back to bite me.

Tejano...Yeah...that one's been around for a day or to...I've played with 6mm, 25 and 338 and 35 cals using the 303 Brit, 308(358) and 57AI platforms, but not the 6.5 version. When I was doing it the emphasis was on going BIGGER rather than developing a short action cartridge. I know(knew) of 7-08, 338 x 308 (Federal) and several other very good SA action wildcats that are showing up now, pre 60's.

Way back before I knew anything much, I drooled over the 404 Jeffery in P.O. Acklys books and though it would make an excellent smaller caliber wildcat. Being young, no money and still playing with my "thuty-thuty", I couldn't get anyone to take me serious. Reamers were expensive and had to be ground by the Master tool makers...barrels were equally expensive, even Douglas barrels. The gunsmiths I haunted charged $500 to $1000 for a finished rifle...a vast sum for a high school bum making $28.75 a week bucking hay and mucking stalls during the summer.

How times have changed. I can whip out a bugholer in 2 days for about the same $500 if I have the receiver, barrel, stock and reamer in hand, including working up a good load. Amazing...I marvel everytime I think about it.

Luck on your quest.

I have a 6.5 TCU, .260, and 6.5-'06, and had a 6.5X55; all the 6.5s are fun. I have been thinking about a 6.5 RCM, or a 6.5 Rem if Ruger doesn't cooperate. I could always try a 6.5-.284 too, depending on the rifle.

jim

I just remembered a REALLY cool article on a rifle chambered in this cartridge in Precision Shooting. I'd be more than happy to scan and email you a copy if you'd like me to. Just PM me your email address and I'll look up that back issue and send it over...

I think that the 260 in a short action or a 6.5-06 in a long action would cover the 6.5mm bore needs of most people who shoot the majority of their game within 400+/- yards.

After having done a few 6.5-284s and having thought long and hard about doing a 6.5 WSM, I have decided that (for me) the 260's 51mm/2.045" is a better fit in a short action with bullets over 130+/- grains then those cartridges with longer case lengths. The 6.5-284 and 6.5x55 will work in a short action with lighter bullets, but I think that they are more useful with a Wyatt's magazine box installed.

Jeff