Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .260rem and .308 for elk

I'm sure a 243 or 375 in the same place would would have had the same end result...

Many guys in my hunting team use Norma Oryx bullets (which are bonded). I have seen many of these 156gr Oryx bullets recovered and every one of them has expanded well, penetrated quite deeply, and lost perhaps 10% of their mass -- and some of these are after hitting big moose leg bones. Same story for the Oryx bullets in .30 cal too.

Overall, I think the performance or these Norma Oryx bullets is very similar to Woodleigh bullets (and, at least here in Sweden, the cost is much less for the Oryx bullets).

Steelhead is right - a 6.5 x 55 (or a .260 Rem) loaded with these 156gr bonded Oryx bullets looks like it should scare a critter to death!

John

All these guns kill elk, but its always best to opt for the larger caliber if you can shoot it..

Mostly agreed... but never better to opt for the larger caliber if you can't shoot it, and of those I've had the pleasure to meet, most who think they can, can't.

Mattman is that a long action .260 in the picture?

Nice elk kill there by the lady there MattMan, tell us about the rifle. Thanks for posting the details/pic.

Thanks for the positive comments, I'll pass them on to the wife too. That would be elk number 5, I think, for her.

The rifle is just a Ruger M77 Hawkeye Compact 260. One of the ones we run, this one happens to be the wife's, and wears a 2-7 Leupold VXII w/ LRD, which she prefers to twirling turrets. I'd not want to be an ungulate of any flavor within 500 yards of her if she had a tag for my tail...

The angle and the way the cow is laying make the rifle look bigger than it is... but it was nearing dark, below 30 and falling, and we had two feet of snow due in the morning, so we didn't dick around much after the shot, we had to get it to a vehicle quick.









In anticipation of the next question, the stock is a factory synthetic from a Hawkeye RL. I cut it down, scaled it to fit and look right, added a 1/2" decelerator, filled in the checkering, and painted it with some stuff I had laying around. Since McMillan fails to take the M77 platform seriously, I said to hell with it and started making my own stuff...

MattMan, I don't care what they say, you are alright in my book!

Great work. Heck, I thought that bbl was longer than a compact. Wow a 260 on elk, to those ranges w/carbine bbl, forget the 6.5BR, I need to scale down to the 6.5G....!

Thanks for the details! BTW, does your wife have a sister? Ha.

Nice stock work...inc. paint. Expect a pink ones for the ladies next time! LOL.

Hey, seriously, enjoy your posts, and Merry Christmas to you and your family!

I thought the moose in Sweden were called "ELG"??? the 6.5X55 is a much sexier biotch than the 260, you can really seat a 140 or 160 way out there, hella cool....

Actually, they are called �lg -- the same species of moose as you find in North America Alces alces

John

Thanks for the good words.

Wife and daughter neither one are much for pink or Barbies... hence the purple. My son said he wants blood red .

I was really all worried about effective range, non-rested shootability, and potential velocity with the 260, esp. with the short tube, it would be too muzzle light, and basically all that other internet gack. After seeing the little gun in the field, it's a non-issue, at least for my wife. She can smack stuff sitting on her foot to about 200/250 and laying across a pack it stretches to 500, even though she doesn't like to shoot that way. She's wanted a compact 260 since they came out in 2000 or so, has been force fed more solutions to avoid the compact than any wife should have to endure, and finally got what she wanted. The short barrel and LOP really are part of the total package, and it works. We bought one for our son when he turned 10, and the glare from my wife the first time we took it out to shoot, told me what I had to do...

140 AB's BC is .509, which can't hang with VLDs and JLKs, but is good enough to hold 2k and 1250 ftlbs to 500 when started at 2625. It holds that to a good bit further from my 264s... lol.

Until recently she was strictly a 264/TSX kinda girl, but I've been fully baptized and converted now...

This past hunt may have very well convinced one of my friends too. And he's a died in the wool Elmer Kieth hit 'em hard with big bullets kind of guy. Seeing is believing.

Merry Christmas everybody.

Good Stuff Mattman!

Matt,

That rig looks perfect. Super job on the improvised stock. I always get a charge out of seeing folks come up with a really good home grown solution. Hmm, I'm thinking I need another 260...

Best Regards

Awesome Matt, you know, a good stock can get a rifle to 'properly balance' whereas perhaps the lam stock on some of the shorty's make one overly heavy, and butt heavy at that...neither desirable on a rifle.

Your Getting top speeds w/140s in that tube, good load/powder choice I am sure. How loud is that rifle I am curious?

I liked Ole Elmer, and had a 338/06 and loved it, killed very well, but with today's bullets, it's getting more difficult to justify NEEDING a bullet larger than 6.5 and 7mm for me.....

FWIW, Seafire on the forum uses a few Rugers in 22", he throated out his 260 bbls to better handle heavies. Not that yours needs any improvement. Perhaps he wanted to best seat 156-160s.

BTW, I bought a beaucoup of 130 ABs....so they will have to do for me, but w/.488 I am content, they flight very straight and kill very well also. I am LOVING that bullet. To me the ABs in a 260, 6.5x55, and 7/08 are a great all around game getter!

Back to your rifle, hard to beat the reliability in a Ruger, design and build quality and they twist them 1 in 8 as you likely know. The 9s work fine w/130s but the 140 ABs likely NEED faster, esp. at moderate speeds. Did your rifle have a bead blast from the factory? Good stock work btw, really did well. Guess you have to start getting a red one done for the son! Color would go w/the season - Christmas.

Have a Merry one.

My old man started out hunting elk with a 6.5x55 which he got well seasoned from my grandfather. Both of them killed a pile of elk with it including my dads biggest a 380 class 8x8. My cousin now hunts with that rifle and has taken 2 bulls with in the last 2 years. This years bull was a hair over 500 yards.

My dad 'up graded' to a 308 about half way through his career and proceeeded to create yet another pile of elk... Both rifles wear 3x scopes, and I've seen him lay elk over at some pretty incredible ranges with that puny little rifle.

6.5

Amen on the balance. That compact balances, at 6 1/4 maybe 6 1/2, all up, right under the groove for the extractor clip on the bolt. My wife says it feels "right".

Haven't noticed more loud or blast from behind, but from off to the side you notice it...

Powder is Ramshot Hunter, 0.8 over Nosler #6, but moly'd up. Fed 210 GMs in RP hulls. Book velocity is a little over 2800, which is smokin' for a 260. Haven't found any H4350 to try, and likely will stop looking. My son insists on IMR4350 cause he likes the way it smells. Can't argue with that. LOL.

I can see where a guy could want to cut some throat out, if'n he wanted to shoot the Oryx or Woodleigh. Doubt I'll go there for now. The Ruger throat/magbox constraints seem to match the 140s well.

I almost pulled the trigger on the 130s, right before the 140s came available. If I had a 9 twist I'd certainly try a box of 140s or bum a few before I went whole hog on ordering for sure. If you even need a couple hit me up. If I had a lifetime supply of 130s, I'd likely be happy and search no further. The accubonds certainly seem to combine the best qualities of the partition and ballistic tips very nicely. I never could like those smashed noses in the mag, and hence never really hunted with them...

Ruger won me over long ago, can't say why... just liked them the first time I picked one up. Everything just seems to make sense... and they flat take care of business if something isn't right.

Can't figure why big green introduced a round like the 260, factory loads 140s, then ties it's ankles together with a 9 twist and launches an ad campaign pitting it directly against the 270WCF... ?? They could have touted the short action, resulting light weight, low recoil, penetration of 6.5s, and retained energy at long range.

The Hawkeye version of the compacts come blasted or matte blued, same as the standard hawkeyes. If you have blasting capabilities, cheap aluminum oxide from Harbor Freight matches it pretty close, just a hair coarser. Here's a 22" tube mark II with said treatment. I left the screws, striker, trigger, and bolt body shiny. I've never been one to shy away from doing things myself, or fabbing or making what I need or want, a skill I think is lost on much of today's society, but I digress in an already hijacked thread...

Mattman-very nicely done on the lil .260! I need one like that put together for my wife.

Dober

Give RL19 and VVN560 a try with 140's Mattman. They smell like..... Napalm I never had a problem getting 140 NPTs, Speer HCs, Hornady ILs, or 142 SMKs over 2700+ in a 22" tube with either one. Also, in all the 260's and barrels I've tried, both powders seem to "come together" towards the top end, both on the chrono and groups. Nosler 6 has data for both powders.

Right now, I'm still getting a load together for New Guy with 100 Bts and H4350. Next I'm going to jump right on the 140 bandwagon, I've got about 100 140 ABs to try out. If they go under 1" and 2700 plus, I'm done

Thanks for the posts!

Thanks Matt, your 22" looks like a B&C Medalist? Nice looking rifle as well. That a CDS Scope? My have to try some R- hunter sometime. Merry Christmas.