i am getting one, and have never used such a short barrel for any s/a cartridge.

what should i expect for dimished velo's, and what are any of you out there using ?

always, wanted a real light short barreled mtn type rifle, and i think this may fit the bill ?

i'm thinking mule deer in the mtn's, possibly elk, and of course antelope. but i don't think it'll make a distance shooter...

It will fit the bill and then some. Lose about 150fps.

What to use it for?

It'd be a bitchin' action to screw a 20" .358 barrel onto!

You might want to check into a 120 or lighter barnes tsx. That will get your velocity up there on par with a 140 from a 22" barrel and your penetration will be adequate.

Quick out the window for dogs.

Buy some earplugs...

With something like that... I've always wanted a Ruger International in 260 with an 18 inch barrel...my load would be 30 grains of RL 7 or H 322 with a 100 or 120 grain Ballistic tip..

or that charge with anything in the 85, 90, 95, 100 grain weights

would be a good varmint- coyote- woods range firearm...

a 260 doesn't have to have high velocity to be a highly effective round... remember a lot of the older 6.5s weren't exactly high velocity rounds..

Pay no attention to the velocity loss from the short barrel. Do pay attention to handiness of said carbine. Do pay attention to what happens to the game you hit with an appropriate hunting bullet. Results will astound you. Look at it in the right light and you'll never be disappointed... Expect too much, and you'll never be satisfied... Good Luck!

I bet it will still run 100gr TTSX at 3000...

I'd be using it to hold,shoulder,carry,admire,caress, then I may take it out and shoot something.

a nice carry dog rifle would be nice.
what's some good loads for a 120 bt ?
had a 260 dbm mtn rifle and just couldn't get it to shoot to my satisfaction, sold off the dies, brass, and bullets, when i rebarreled it to 7-08.
guess i gotta start all over again with getting supplies for it.

and plain ole sights off a 700 are the same on a 7 correct ?
guess if they are, i can put sights back on it, and make it original again.

Same sights. Try bit faster powders than H4350. IMR 4064, H4895, N540....

Here she is 18.5" tube and all. Stock was cut then added the slip-on. Ain't a better small package made. Well...maybe a NULA would do

hey now !
there we go !

now i'm getting first hand info.
what load you usin ?

and nice going, glad to see lil ones out hunting.

Could do a WHOLE lot worse than that!

H414/ H4831/ IMR4350 seem to make it whistle with great accuracy. The little rifle is very light and fun to tote.

Easy sub MOA. One of my favorites fo sho. I bet the 140's would be great elk medicine too

these would be fun to play with i bet

I could get along with 3 Hornady and 4 Nosler bullets for all of my 6.5mm/.264" bore applications and pretty much do:

95 grain VMax, varmints
100 grain BT & Partition, medium game
120 grain BT, medium game and because the shoot so good
129 grain SpirePoint, the all-around 6.5mm/.264" bullet
140 grain Partition, medium game and larger
140 grain AMax, paper

JEff

Looks like imr7828 and '15 are being used

I also just bought an older Seven in .260 with the 18.5" barrel. The standing joke at the gunshop I hang at is the .260 won't kill deer, I aim to prove them wrong. Neat gun anyway.......

Those 120 NBTs launched at a modest 2750 fps drop deer in their tracks and achieve complete pass through. They have for me on the last three consecutive deer.

...................Anything that you would hunt using a 22" or 24" barreled 260, you can also hunt using an 18.5" barreled one. That also would include taking the same long distance shots should that need arise. You wouldn`t do anything differently.

A good average estimate for velocity loss given the same loads, will be in the area of about 20-25 fps per inch; roughly 110 to 137 fps less than a 24" barrel; losing about 4% overall.

Because of good velocity retention from a shorter barrel, the 260 is an excellent shorter barreled round.
Based on alot of chrony testing using the same identical loadings, my 16.5" barreled 300 WSM Frontier carbine retained on average 95.5% to 95.7% of the velocities produced by two 24" 300 WSMs. (A 16.4 to 19.5 fps per inch loss).

Take the same hunting approach as though you were using a 24" barrel. Game won`t know the difference anyway.

alrighty then !
now i need some brass and bullets.

splattermatic,

I have been using my Steyr Scout since '98; it is a .308 Win with 19" barrel. I have shot a lot of animals in Africa with it and 180 gr bullets, none bounced off. Ranges where I hunted there (RSA, Zim, Namibia) there are mostly in the 75 to 175 yard range. I never worried about the muzzle velocity, just bullet placement.

jim

I've got one in the basement with an 18.5" tube. I've been working on it for years, but still haven't quite gotten it finished up yet. Barrel is a Pac-Nor and I have a beautiful mannlicher stock that one of these days I'll get finished up for it. My plan was to load it with 155-160gr. bullet and experience all of the joys of the classic 160 at 2250-2300 fps. Can't imagine it won't be lots of good.

You won't have a bit of trouble proving them wrong!

Any damn thing you want...well for hunting anyway. Take a look at the 'show me your .260 and 6.5' thread. On there someone copied a pic from Huntsman22, I believe, with a nice elk taken with his .260--of course, maybe the elk is faking seeing as Huntsman didn't realize the .260 is waaay 'underpowered' for such endeavors.

I say you have a beautiful and functional rifle. Go use it on any and everything.

Oh BTW, how does she shoot across those "Danner sandbags'?

Biathalonman,

That sounds like way too nice of project to be taking that long, That would be an absolutely beautiful, trim stalking rifle. Get to it, man! I'm sure we'd all love to see pics!

+1

I would use it for a concealed carry weapon.

Then when a doped up, toothless crack addicted pulls a razor on me I could put a 140 grain TTSX into his or her head.

Great Job and a nice picture.

I trust the little man is trained to wear his ear protection.

To the OP -

sorry for the detour. A .260 m7 with a 18.5" barrel is good for only one thing -

a good wrap and packaging job and send it here...

MojoHand, it's been moving along a little quicker as of late. Just too busy working and raising a little one...

Too short for me. Thank goodness this is a country where we have choices. I chose a longer barrel for my 7 for reduced noise and better balance.

stumpy

while this 'un has a .5mm larger bore, it's my 'backcountry belly gun' and has logged a lot of miles with me

My Rem 600 6mm (Model 7's older brother) sounds like a 300 Win Mag with a muzzle break, especially under the tin roof at the range

If you shoot prone in dry weather you might start a grass fire too!

I think you will LOVE that short .260. I wouldn't worry too much about lower velosity from the 18 1/2" barrel as the .260 has plenty of range to take any shot at 300 yards or less (if you "regularly" shoot game at more than 300 yards, you probably need to work on your hunting technique more than worry about a short barrel).

I killed a LOT of deer with an Swedish 1894 carbine in 6.5x55mm (the balistic twin to the .260), before I foolishly traded it for something else (didn't realize at the time that the 1894's would become so "collectable"). With it's 17 3/4" barrel, it was a joy to carry in the woods.

I shot mostly 156 grain Norma loads (which were just right for the thickets of East texas) and later loaded 140 grain Hornady spitzers.......never wanted or needed anything else or wished for more velosity.

To me, a short barrel half-stock rifle just looks "funny" and I much prefer a Mannlicher style stock (probably why I loved that Swedish carbine with it's full length stock), but as far as performance and "carry" it will make no difference.

My wife shoots one for deer. The factory 140 Sierra Game King load from Federal does a great job @ around 2550 fps MV. It is nice enough that I have to "borrow" it once in a while.

I luv that pic Toad!

Dober

We REALLY like to use the .260 for chilli

I had one and dumped it. I tried to love it and it shot great but the azz heavy balance was just too much for me to overlook.

AS long as you shoot the Hornady 129gr SP out of Pete's gun, it will kill deer just fine. I've shot deer from 20' to nearly 250yds with my 18.5" barreled 260 and deer do nothing but die. One shot, one kill.

I have the Seven 18.5" in 260. It has killed plenty of deer, but it isn't as flat as a 243 or whack 'em as hard as an -06. It does carry nicely however, especially if you hollow out the buttstock.

I have had very poor results with the factory 140 grain CoreLokts (don't open wide and don't penetrate well). Everything else has worked fine.

shoot it, shoot it more, shoot it more often

7-08 is where its at...........

Thank me later.........

It's a perfect gun for shooting the field mice that run across your sleeping bag at night.

.............Must have BIG field mice in Missouri then!

a btt, to ask for an efficient load for 120 bt's outta the short barrel.
was thinking of starting with varget, but ?

any suggestions ?

............Given the same cartridge, you load for a short barrel the same as you would for the longer one.

Like any rifle, your rifle will pick its choice of best powders.

i can see that.
this is the shortest barreled rifle i have owned so i had to ask.

when the dies get here, i was gonna load, a fast, medium, and slow powder, all other things being equal cept the powders and see what the groups told me.

I have owned many model 7's from 308, 7mm-08, 260 and 243. Two were stainless sythetics and others were blue older 18.5" wood guns. I provided a little TLC on some( adjust trigger to 2.5 lbs, glass in the recoil lug, some a complete glass job as needed) all were MOA rifles.

Here in South Carolina I do most of my hunting in a protable tree stand. From a tree climbing stand 30' in the air, these rifles are priceless. Just great handling and just as quick aquisition of target.

Favorite pet load of the 260 remington on two earlier wood model 7's:

46 grs Hoddon 4350
WLR primers
120 gr Nosler Ballistic tip
OAL 2.790
Av velocity 2785 (18.5")
Remington brass ( all same lot)

Group average .361"

Again that little bit of TLC comes into play. (no Metal work)

With that load, every well placed shot has taken even the largest bucks, largest 185 lbs. My favorite shot is a high front shoulder. Lights are out before he hits the ground. Double lung shots have resulted in short distance tracks with plenty of blood.

So to sum up. Any short barrel gun is priceless in a portable climbing tree stand. Remington has always been a relatively easy rifle to tune even for the non pro. And finally shot placement is by far the greatest factor in a sucessful harvest.

i got the rifle all gussied up now.
took the tasco scope off and put a simmons 2-7 on, took the syn. stock off, and replaced it with a laminated one, which btw, the barrel is floated in this stock, so no bedding yet.
i also, dug out some remington iron sights, and put them back on.
looks kinda cool now.