Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 260 Rem

I'm having trouble finding good info about the 260 Rem. What's it like? Advantages? Disadvantages?<P>I want to find a cartridge with which to develop a long, well-deserved relationship. A cartridge that will do anything I want it to. I've been an ardent supporter and an avid fan of the 270 Win, but everyone has one of those.<P>I'm thinking along the lines of an extremely versatile round for everything from varmints to big deer. Something a little different, but I want to be able to find ammo for it readily.<P>Any thoughts. I don't have to justify it. I just want it...

I also want a 260 real bad.I plan on getting one in the near future.A buddy has a 260 and he loves it.He has killed 7 or 8 deer with his and several coyotes.He does not reload so he uses Remington factory ammo.

I've got a Ruger M77 II in this caliber - it's a joy to shoot and to load for. The only drawback I can see is that Remington seems to have made to same mistake with this caliber that they made with the old Remington 6.5 Magnum: the chamber/throat area is too short, so that the heavier bullets have to be seated deep into the case, taking up precious powder space. At least, that's what my rifle's quirk is. <P>It's a very accurate caliber - there's something about the .308 case that turns out very accurate rounds. The 260 is no exception. <P>Since I got this rifle a few months ago, I'm still in the process of developing loads for it. I've a 95 gr. VMax load that's looking good for varmints, a 129 gr Hornady SP that's promising for deer, and a 140 gr Nosler development that's looking good for bigger game. Most loads give me hunter's accuracy without any precise loading technique adjustment (aka, not fine-tunig the seating, not checking for bullet run-out, etc)or rifle fine-tuning (bought straight from the shop). Most factory ammo shoots this good as well.<P>If you get one, you'll enjoy shooting it. Also, Remington and Federal make ammo for it.

My best friends Dad has a Browning A-Bolt in .260 and it will shoot 120gr Remington Ballistic Tips into about .5"<P>One of my main shooting buddys has a Savage Striker in this chambering that also shoots the same load into .5"<P>Very impressive!!<P>Mike

Both of mine were custom throated, The rifle is a former .243 that was rebored, the carbine a Type 38 Arisaka that was rechambered. I specified the 125 grain Partition for both. That leaves plenty of room for my favoriet the 129 Hornady, and the space lost with the 140s is minimal.<BR>I think the cartridge is idea for my use. There are light bullets for varmint, though I don't use any. The aformentioned 125 and 129 for deer, hogs and blackbear, all of which may be encountered on my hunts. The 120s might be better for deer. There are then the 140s for game weighing more than 400 lbs. and the 160s if you need to defend yourself, or just want more bullet weight.<BR>Ballistically there isn't much difference between it and the 6.5x55 or 6.5x57, but the rifles and ammo are a bit easier to come by, especially for the 6.5x57. I've taken 3 big caribou an 5 meat elk with that last using 140 Partitions, and have only recovered one bullet, on a "Texas" heart shot.

tx hunter,<P> I'm sorry I can't help you, but I also want a .260. I've been looking at a new Kimber 84M in .260. I really don't need it, since I bought a .257 in a Ruger 77 MKII last year. There is just something about the .260 that attracts me though. I guess the one thing that has stopped me from buying one yet, is that I've yet to see any factory ammo for it. I don't reload at the moment, but maybe I'll start soon.<P>Hudge

tx hunter,<BR> while theres nothing wrong with a 260 if you would really like an excellent varmitt ,deer cobo rifle, and want added velocity try either a 25-06 improved, or a 6mm improved.<BR> the 25 will reach 3500 with 100 gr pills and the 6mmwill reach near 3400 with 100 gr pills.

Several companies have factory loads for the 260 now, including two I know of from Remington, one from Federal and another from Speer. I shoot the 140 grain Speers out of my Remington Mountain rifle and love the effect on deer. The round is very similar to the 6.5X55 the Swedes use for Moose so I think it would work well on any deer found in the US or Canada. Try the 260, I think you will love it. TM

The big claims for the .260, are performance on the target range matching that of the .308, but with less recoil; and long range energy matching that of the .270. <BR> It does match the .308 on the target range. If the .308 shooter is using the old 168 gr. MatchKing bullet. But with the new 175 gr. Matchking, the .308 noses it out. Still it has something like 30% less recoil. <BR> The claim that it matches the .270, energy wise, as a long range load just didn't pan out. Factory 140 gr. loads only clock about 2550 fps. And that won't do it. Besides the .270, which clocks 2900-3000 fps. with it's 130 gr. bullet, shoots alot flatter. <BR> Still the .260 is a worthy round. It's a nice compromise between the .243, and the 30-06 class. E

Tex,<BR>.260Rem=6.5X55 in the Euro load.<BR>That means from mouse to moose literally,and accuracy that is inherent to the 6.5 projo.<BR>From the factory,the twist rates favor the 120gr bullets a tad.<BR>For a light,sweet recoiling rifle that will do it all for 90% of use,there isn't anything better than the 6.5 Swede if ya reload,and if ya don't,the .260Rem is where ya are if ya do.<BR>Reloading the .260 just adds more sugar to the pudding.....<BR>Cheers!<BR>E4E

E4E, just got my hands on a BRNO VZ action. I an looking at it thinking this might be a good start for a single shot based on the 300 WSM. What i have in mind is a rather heavy rifle, 10 -12 lbs, 6.5 caliber on the WSM case. Single shot because i am not sure the there is enough space betewwn the rails and the follower could be a bit small in width, and beyond all that I'm a south paw so a bolt gun on the wrong side realy does me little good. You answered the following question once before but I lost your reply when the confuser got confusion and died. <BR>What I would like to know is how well do gain twist barrels work, who makes a good one and do you think it would be worth the effort in this round? Oh yeah I am also thinking of using my Savage 110L as a base for this new rifle in a Choate varmit stock.<BR>decisions decisions decisions.<P>Bullwnkl.

Just so everyone knows here. tx_hunter is not me.........<P>Tex

I agree...which "Tex" do you refer to? texas_hunter, TXLoader, or a couple of other TX/tex/tx handles I've seen around?<P>I've been working some more with my little 260 Rem over the last few weeks...looks like 43.5 gr Benchmark, Fed 210M primer, R-P case tooped with a Hornady 95 gr V-Max (seated to ~0.010" off the rifling) looks to be a verrrrrry nice varmint round. Tested on a hot humid Texas morning with a 15 mph crosswind....got a 0.9" group, with a flier that put the overall grouping at 1.1" becuase I didn't catch the wind right on the first shot. Without the crosswind...could have been much better. We'll see.......<P>TXLoader