260 Remington thoughts

[Fire Dog]

Yes, it's a little harder over here to get components. I see there is Peterson over here but it's a similar price to the Palma brass and only available on backorder. Strangely Peterson and Alpha are a fair bit more expensive than Lapua over here.

Pommy Land is a lot closer to Europe than the USA and various European Union taxes and duty may apply…
Lapua can reach the UK by truck, Peterson & Alpha come by boat or air freight adding cost just on the transport side.

 

[X Count]

If your worried about the long throat and mag length then buy a 30-06 mag and seat the bullets out. I could get 130s to the lands with the longer mag.

 

[Tangent]

Pommy Land is a lot closer to Europe than the USA and various European Union taxes and duty may apply…
Lapua can reach the UK by truck, Peterson & Alpha come by boat or air freight adding cost just on the transport side.

Except all our cheapest stuff comes all the way from China

 

[Tangent]

If your worried about the long throat and mag length then buy a 30-06 mag and seat the bullets out. I could get 130s to the lands with the longer mag.

The rifle is a Tac A1 and takes CTR mags or, in my case, a Waters mag that will go to 2.92". Short of a new stock that's as long as I can go, single loading obviously gets around that. I can work with that though as I'm getting it for 2/3 of the price. That said loading my .308 to mag length gets me some very respectable groups, so it may be a non-issue.

 

[Tangent]

Update: after a 6 hour round trip I've picked up the rifle, brand new 260Rem Tikka Tac A1, seems it was just one they'd had in stock for a while did off as a "showroom ex-demo" model. Unfired, boxed with all the accessories. Saving of £800 over a 6.5CM model.

Time to test seating length with the 142SMK. Also picked up a box of Gorilla ammunition with Lapua brass and 130gr Berger hybrid OTM bullets as a control. Hoping I can get a load around 0.5 MOA like my .308 manages.

 

[ELR LVR]

I have heard that, although this is an 8 twist. I was looking for as much BC as I can stabilise as one range I shoot at has very unpredictable winds.

I had great success with 147 ELD-M's and Berger 153.5's
4350 or AA 2700 Powder accomplished very similar accuracy
I needed 1 grain less of 2700 to accomplish the same elevation at 600 yds which was 12.5 MOA
A buddy who had never shot 600 yds before who wanted to get into long range
bought it from me because he was able to make first round hits at 600 with it
He also got a kick out of being able to regularly shooting eggs at 200-300 with it.
He had never shot past 100 yds before that

 

[Tangent]

I had great success with 147 ELD-M's and Berger 153.5's
4350 or AA 2700 Powder accomplished very similar accuracy
I needed 1 grain less of 2700 to accomplish the same elevation at 600 yds which was 12.5 MOA
A buddy who had never shot 600 yds before who wanted to get into long range
bought it from me because he was able to make first round hits at 600 with it

I'm waiting to see what the 144gr Lapua are like, but want try try some of the heavier options. Those 153.5 Bergers look great but may be a bit too heavy/long for factory Tikka?

Hopefully N555 will make a reappearance but N160 and N560 are fairly easy to get hold of.

 

[ELR LVR]

I'm waiting to see what the 144gr Lapua are like, but want try try some of the heavier options. Those 153.5 Bergers look great but may be a bit too heavy/long for factory Tikka?

Hopefully N555 will make a reappearance but N160 and N560 are fairly easy to get hold of.

Your twist should handle it, mine was a 1:8 Kreiger
The 153.5's should not be too long, My OAL was 2.840" to fit into a magazine
My reamer is Spec'd as a short throat for this purpose so I can touch the lands if need be but still fit in a mag
With the fact you want to seat at around 2.900" you should be even better
The 144 Lapuas should be great, Another guy on here shot some killer 700 yds groups with 142 SMK's
So yeah, consider those too
It is the Berger 156 I would be wary of attempting so I have no experience with those scud missiles

 

[ELR LVR]

.260 Rem is an outstanding cartridge. Gets a lot of hate for things that don't really matter much. Like seating the bullet to deep to fit the mag.

Exactly, I was weary of seating the base too deep past the neck shoulder junction, but it was the only choice for me when trying the Berger 153.5
But there is only one direction the pressure can push the bullet...right back out.
It did not effect my accuracy one bit in the 260 I had, and shot placement was very consistent at 600 yds
1/3 MOA....So I used heavy's with no issues
My loads did not go over 41.0 gr of H4350
43.0 was too hot when seated this deep, so guys should take into consideration that pressure will build sooner when the bullet is seated deeper and work up starting low in powder weight initially.

 

[Tangent]

Just measured up where 2.900" puts the base of the bullet. This is mag length. I presume this is high enough to avoid any issues?

 

[ELR LVR]

Just measured up where 2.900" puts the base of the bullet. This is mag length. I presume this is high enough to avoid any issues?

Well, as I mentioned I personally had no issues doing so
You may hear or even feel the bullet start to crunch/compress powder as it seats with H4350
but isn't a concern with a slower big kernel powder like 4350 if the charge weight is correct.
Just start your load workup carefully, (Start Low) and watch for pressure signs as you go up
such as ejector marks and flattened primers and primer cratering
Once you get near max load ....1 grain over will put you into the danger zone

 

[Tangent]

Well, as I mentioned I personally had no issues doing so
Just start your load workup carefully, (Start Low) and watch for pressure signs as you go up
such as ejector marks and flattened primers and primer cratering
You may hear or even feel the bullet crunching/compressing powder as it seats with H4350
Once you get near max load ....1 grain over will put you into the danger zone

Good advice. My Lyman manual shows a max of 41.5gr N550 (have some to use up) with the 142gr SMK at 2.800" OAL so I think 40.0gr at 2.900" should be a safe starting point. Looking at powder availability here I'll probably move to N160 once the barrel has got up to speed.

 

[ELR LVR]

Good advice. My Lyman manual shows a max of 41.5gr N550 (have some to use up) with the 142gr SMK at 2.800" OAL so I think 40.0gr at 2.900" should be a safe starting point. Looking at powder availability here I'll probably move to N160 once the barrel has got up to speed.

I believe I started my load workup at 37.0 grns and went up 0.5 grns at a time
1 bullet for each as opposed to 3 or 5 shots for each progressively heavier load
I got to my load quicker using less components
37
37.5
38
38.5
etc until I noticed pressure signs by reading the case
Then backed off about 1 grain
Then started testing actual groups with 3 shots and fine honed it in from there

 

[Tangent]

Thanks. I'll start some load development once I get to 100-150 rounds. Interesting to load midrange and monitor the velocities until they level off.

The rifle is all set up now, trigger spring installed, very nice now, the bolt holding the trigger to the receiver didn't want to move though! Bore sighted, gave it a clean with some Bore Tech Eliminator, removed the brake, I shoot suppressed. Just waiting for my Sinclair carbide 0.262" mandrel to arrive now.

 

[Tangent]

I managed to get out today and do some testing:
N550, 142gr SMK 2.900" COAL, Rem 9.5 primer, Lapua 260 brass
39.6 | 2605, 2577
40.0 | 2616, 2600
40.4 | 2631, 2652
40.8 | 2686, 2688
41.2 | 2710, 2693

Brand new 24" Tikka barrel. Only two shots at each weight to check for pressure. Looks like a few shiny marks from the extractor (?) at the top couple of loads. Shot off a less than ideal bench!

 

[Bc'z]

I managed to get out today and do some testing:
N550, 142gr SMK 2.900" COAL, Rem 9.5 primer, Lapua 260 brass
39.6 | 2605, 2577
40.0 | 2616, 2600
40.4 | 2631, 2652
40.8 | 2686, 2688
41.2 | 2710, 2693

Brand new 24" Tikka barrel. Only two shots at each weight to check for pressure. Looks like a few shiny marks from the extractor (?) at the top couple of loads. Shot off a less than ideal bench!

Looks like you're on a node in upper charge but ejector marks concern me.
How did the brass look at 40.8gr?
I like to load on back/ lower side of node anyway.

 

[ELR LVR]

Yeah I see Ejector marks
Try again around 40.0 grns and see if you get marks,
That load didn't look bad

 

[Tangent]

Looks like you're on a node in upper charge but ejector marks concern me.
How did the brass look at 40.8gr?
I like to load on back/ lower side of node anyway.

Similar but fainter. I think @ELR LVR may have a point and try the 40.0gr load and see how that goes. Looks promising and easier on the brass. It may speed up over the next 100-150 rounds anyway. I'm impressed how easy (touch wood) 260 seems to be to get a decent load. I just happened to have a tub of N550 doing nothing. I'd like to try N555 but it's nowhere to be found here, N160 is much more available.

 

[ELR LVR]

Similar but fainter. I think @ELR LVR may have a point and try the 40.0gr load and see how that goes. Looks promising and easier on the brass. It may speed up over the next 100-150 rounds anyway. I'm impressed how easy (touch wood) 260 seems to be to get a decent load. I just happened to have a tub of N550 doing nothing. I'd like to try N555 but it's nowhere to be found here, N160 is much more available.

Sounds like the powder you are using is very similar to AA-2700 then
Dont know if that helps any say for instance cross referencing

 

[Bc'z]

Sounds like the powder you are using is very similar to AA-2700 then
Dont know if that helps any say for instance cross referencing

A2700 is my powder for 123 scenars.
Good stuff 2950 for velocity, I have a 15 shot 100 yard group that speaks volumes to its accuracy especially knowing it was shot from a Ruger American.