I read in Hornady's 9th edition that Jim Carmichael was involved in developing the .260 Remington. They should check the historical records. P.O. Ackley attributed the ".263 Express" to Ken Waters in the Handbook for Shooters & Reloaders, Vol. 1, p. 356 (pub. 1962). In Ken Waters' Notebook, p. 364, we read that Mr. Waters developed the cartridge (.308 necked to .264) in the mid-1950s.

When the 260 Rem was announced I bought the December 1997 Handloader with Ken Watters 260 Rem article in it. It is one of the few magazines I have kept over the years and was very helpful in loading my 260 Rem put together as soon as I heard it was coming out. It was and still is a fantastic article, RIP Mr Watters you will be missed.

If success has many fathers and failure is an orphan, I wonder if Mr. Waters would want his name associated with the 260.

I believe so. I'm perplexed as to why it did not have a more eager reception at and shortly after it's introduction. Don't know if a better all round cartridge could be designed for deer hunting at ranges most of us can be effective. It can be loaded with 100gr bullets or 140gr or any in between and kill very well without kicking the snot out of the shooter young or old, big or small. With a little more marketing whoopie from the experts and more realistic views on what it takes to kill a deer by hunters it could have been a barn burner. If more hunters had been able to hunt with, for example, a factory 129 grain Interlock loading from Hornady a much better opinion of the round would have been formed. I too discovered the .260 in December 1997. I bought a Stainless Model 7 along with a factory youth stock for my son that Christmas and he killed his first deer with it the following week. He was 7 years old the day after Christmas. He still loves it.

Fortunately the Creedmore has come along with the support it needs to be successful, meaning hunters can continue to enjoy the advantages of a short action 6.5. But it's no better a hunting round than the .260 for the vast majority of deer hunters. Not to argue the benefits of a sometimes slightly faster twist and better case design because I can't. But then when the bullet lands at 30 or 300 yards the deer can't either.

I bought a Model 7 in 260 the first year they came out and have shot a great number of whitetail with it. Have just used 129gr. Interlocks with total success. Love it.

Actually P. O. Ackley said the cartridge was created by Kenneth L. Waters.

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I've owned at least one firearm chambered for the 260 since I got my first, a Remington Seven SS that I entered into my bound book on 10/14/97, and still have 24 of them.

I think that Remington did an exceptionally poor job of setting the 260 up for success. Poor firearm selection, no 700 ADL or BDL, and only one standard priced factory load, the slow 140 grain load. Any professional marketeer with a working knowledge of hunting medium game in North America would have known that in 1997 American hunters were still judging cartridges by their muzzle velocity and would almost certainly have recommended launching with 100 and 120 grain standard priced factory loads in addition to the 140 grain load. 260 factory loads with a 100 grain bullet at 3,200 fps and a 120 grain bullet at 3,000 fps would likely have helped the 260 gain more traction than the 2,700 fps 140 grain load did.

Or so it seems to me.

I haven't had any experience with the .260 Remington. But my .264 Wm has always been a deer killer! Great bullets can be acquired, and long ranges seem easy, if I do my part!

Remington failed with the 260, like they did with the 6mm, 280, and with the various short magnums. 260 was introduced with 1 in 10 twist, a twist that would not stabilize the 140 grain thumper that they promoted. No target rifles introduced,and no match grade ammo.
It seems to have survived on its own anyway. I have a model 7 ss t hat has used 120, and 129 grain bullets from the start.precision is more than adequate. Long live the 260!

In the Nosler reloading manual guide 8 for the 260 Remington it does mention Jim Carmichael help with the development of the cartridge.

Actually, the 260 has been cataloged with a 1-9" ROT since its introduction in 1997.

See pages 30 and 31 of the 1997 Remington catalog.

The only Remington-built rifles in 260 with a different ROT were the 700 SPS made in the past couple of years with a 1-8" ROT.

wasn't the 100 grain Partition introduced to help the 260 hit the flash to bang times that American hunters wanted?

I have often thought that a Model Seven Stainless 260 handloaded with 100 partitions will be the cat's meow for any and all east coast hunting.

The 100 grain Partition is my "go to" whitetail bullet in the 260, fast and accurate.

Nosler shows a 24" barreled 260 capable of pushing the 100 Partition over 3300 fps... deer lightning for sure.

6.5-08

"By the end of the 1980’s, a small number of competitive shooters were enjoying the benefits of the 6.5-08 wildcat loaded with the 139 grain Lapua Scenar projectile. By the mid 1990’s, the wildcat had become well known in competition circles...In 1996, Arthur B Alphin, director of A-Square Cartridges (USA) applied to have the 6.5-08 wildcat standardized by SAAMI as the 6.5-08 A-Square. A-Square was a member of SAAMI (Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute) but for unknown reasons, the processing of Alphin’s application was very slow. In 1997, Remington (also a SAAMI member) made a similar application to standardize the 6.5-08 as the .260 Remington. Shortly thereafter, the Remington design was accepted and the cartridge dimensions standardized."

http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/.260+Remington.html

Single simple reason the 260 never took off is the 7MM08 in a hunting rifle does everything better.When the 260 came out there was not the bullet selection you have now verses what was available for 7MM.

Plus the 7mm/08 had a 17 year head start.

Longbarrel: I wish I had gotten on the 260 Remington bandwagon even sooner than I did!
What a wonderfully accurate and versatile cartridge.
My Remington 700 VLS (Varmint, laminated stock) with 26" heavy barrel is just great fun to shoot (accurate, flat shooting and low recoil) and to Hunt with.
To date I have used it successfully on Mule Deer, Antelope, Whitetailed Deer, Coyotes and Rock Chucks.
I hope to harvest a Wolf with it here soon.
Long live the 260 Remington (who knows what the cretins at Big Green have in mind for it!).
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Yeah, there was one time I had a old doe looking at me bout 50 yards off. She needed killin but I's afraid a gunshot would run off any buck might be followin. I figgered nothin to loose and held up one of my 7mm/08 catridges butt first for her to see. An she fell over DEAD. That 7m oh ate stamp skeered her plumb to death. Somethin a .260 would never have done. No doubt.

Had always used an '06 class cartridge for whitetail until I bought my wife a 260. Saw how well it worked and have turned into a true believer.

That's a goodun.

+ With a 17 yr head start, why should many 708ers switch ?

I remember the early articles on the 260 were not impressive.

Jerry

Like many other wildcats attributed to multiple designers, I'm sure a dozen different people messed with 6.5/308 the first year the 308 case was available.
I loved Mr. Waters and Mr. Acklely, but iI doubt you could conclusively say Mr Waters was first with the 260.
Does anyone really believe Hodgdon was the first to do a 22-250?

Carmichael worked with Herb Reilly of Jonesborough, TN when he claimed to be the one who made it happen as a factory load. I never met Jim Carmichael but Herb was an excellent gunsmith who did some great work for me. Sadly, he passed a couple of years ago. Good man.

Who knows who first necked up/down the case? Some guy in his basement...

Ken Waters, though, was the first to write about it (AFAIK) and handloaders read it and repeated it. That should get some credit as development.

If Carmichael was the guy who got it factorialized, then good on him for getting us factory brass!

I bought a Remington Model Seven (SS) in 260 and love the handling; unfortunately, it is not too accurate. Last November, I purchased a Remington 700 SPS and am mighty pleased. The 260 Remington is just too good to die!

It's not that far behind a .25/06 100 grain load either, and would be good for western hunting too ....

The 6.5 Creedmoor is a great killer. The 260 is too!

I thought that was flat stupid from day one. If you are going to copy the ballistics of the 6.5x55 then copy what made it great. That would be it's 1-7.78 twist barrel.


Now they have it in 1-8 with the new 700 SPS. Same story as the 244, too little too late. You really only get one shot at the brass ring in the gun world, screw that up and you might as well hang it up.


I had a buddy that bought one when they first came out. We loaded up some 155 grain matchking's They didn't fly sideways at 100 yards but they did print oblong holes. Probably would have been sideways out farther.

It shot 120 grain matchkings well.

It was invented by George Herter just after he perfected double based gun powder.

Except for the current run of 1-8" ROT 700 SPS, all of the other Remington-built 260s were cataloged with 1-9" ROT barrels.

Remington has gotten the .260 right, finally, with the SPS. 24" barrel, 1:8, short enough throat, 6.6 lb without scope (catalog erroneously says 7.25 lb.). Now, if they could just get their sandblaster to keep away from the bolt face!