260 REM wont shoot

[farmer44]

Picked up a 260 Rem but it wont shoot for crap. I tried Varget and H4350 went 10,30,60,and 90 thousands off lands with 4 different power charges. 1" groups at best at 100 yards scope is tight anyone with any ideas thanks in advance.

 

[bheadboy]

not knowing the bullet, i would offer the following - if the gun is used check the crown

The two powders are at the opposite ends of the usuable, try some in between in speed, h414, etc
and what ever you do start with medium loads and work up - dont push it.

The bedding, have you done anything or is it "factory" - free float the bbl, skim bed the action, recoil lug, and 1-1/12 inch in front of the lug

get rid of variables of bedding, trim all brass, check oal case length, check to set shoulder back on sizing no more than .003

for grins not knowing the bullets, try Sierra 140match king or Nos 140bt, if they dont shoot little will.

Bob

 

[BoilerUP]

Knowing the bullet weight/type (as well as the rifle/barrel specs) would help...

 

[wapiti25]

What is the twist rate? Is this a used gun? you need to give a lot more info before people can give you pointers as what to look for.

 

[farmer44]

Yea I should have provided more info. Its a custom build xp-100 26" Douglas xx stainless barrel. F class stock. I was using 120 gr. SMK's so I just loaded some 140 gr. Berger VLD's I everything I loaded was less that 1 thousands runout CCI BR2 Primers Lapua brass

 

[farmer44]

1-8 Twist

 

[farmer44]

Yes used 450 rounds out of it and bore looks fine

 

[Alex Wheeler]

We had a lot of 260 and 260 imp. at our club shoot for a while. One thing I remember is they all seemed kind of bullet picky. One guys gun liked smk, the other berger, the other hornady, and so on. The most forgiving bullet was the 140 amax, jumped .015 with rl22.

 

[DOGCAPPER]

Berger 140 match-RL22-Fed primer-Lapua brass...Run a ladder starting 2.0 grains down from max...Bullet 5 thou in lands...If this fails you have the opportunity to correct somebodys problem with a new barrel..LT

 

[farmer44]

Ok I will give if a few more chances with your suggestions and keep you posted thanks for the input

 

[ljhsniper1]

Check Crown,Bedding,Bedding Screws,Scope Base And rings.

 

[farmer44]

Yep already tried that stuff but thanks for the info

 

[Forum Boss]

Try Lapua 123gr Scenars .015-.020 out and .010 into lands (past first 'touch point') with H4350. That load has shot well in multiple 260s we've tried. It's harder to get the 139-142 bullets to shoot as tight in many 260s we've found.

 

[bricktop]

My 260 seems to enjoy the 123 A-Max quite a bit more than the 140 Berger LRBT. Those are the only bullets I tried, though. Bullet/chambering is not very sensitive to jump, have been running about 35 thou off the lands, seems to work about the same up to 10 off though. Using H4350 now, but I had a hankering to try N150 as well. Also patiently waiting for some Lapua Scenar L 136 grain.

 

[Kermit in Va.]

The 1 I load for likes 120 Bt's and 4064.


Kermit

 

[farmer44]

LOL by the time I get the right load it will be time to change barrels.

 

[BoilerUP]

VLDs can be very finicky...

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2009/03/berger-tips-for-loading-vld-bullets/

Seems like many 260s like 42.5gr H4350 and a 139 Scenar/140 BTHP/140 A-Max/142 SMK...though there's often a node one grain (or half-grain) higher.

 

[farmer44]

Not giving up just a bit frustrating. Maybe I will try some RL 15 powder or H-414

 

[GSPV]

Mine shoots the 130 Berger Hunting VLD in nice round 1/4" 3-shot groups (it's a hunting rifle). It was throated for that bullet. 44.7 grains of 4831sc is the powder charge that works. The bullets are jammed pretty firmly. Don't know the exact value, we did the load development on the run right before a deer hunt...

 

[swed6.5]

I tryed a 260 imp. for a while and loved it. zfastmalibu knows alot about these he killed a year away trying to tune 1. Start with the basics make sure its clean and measure your throat erosion from the jump of the what used to be your good load till now, when my barrel went sour it gained 0.060
jump to touch the lands. good luck.