260 Remington

[jrkappy]

I've just signed up. New passion is a 260 Remington in a Stockaid tactical stock. Dreaming of F class. Would appreciate any data on reloading for the 260 Remington.

 

[Klong]

What twist barrel?

 

[jrkappy]

Barrel twist is 8.5, Douglas barrel on a Savage action

 

[2644ever]

Try Lapua .243 Win brass with CCI BR2 primers, Lapua's molycoated 139 Scenar or Sierra 142 Matchking Moly or Hornady's 140 A-Max moly or Berger's 140 VLD moly, about 48 grains of Reloder 22 and You won't regret it. Be cautious: start at 47 grains and never exceed 48.5 grains. Moly in all cases.

 

[DMAC67]

JrKappy

Great factory action and good choice of twist. The 8.5 vs the 8 twist will gain you a little more velocity. What lenght is the barrel?

If it is a 26" barrel you might want to start with a faster powder than RE 22 like H4350 or H4831. They will get you more velocity and burn cleaner with less barrel wear. There's nothing wrong with RE 22 if you have a longer barrel.

2644ever has some good advice with using the .243 Lapua brass, it's a lot more cost effective than using Rem. brass and cheaper than the Nosler stuff. Here's one thing you need to know is when you expand the brass, use a neck turning mandrel instead of trying to run it in a .260 die with a tapered button. If you do the latter you will have many split necks. I know to many people that have done that and lost a lot of expensive Lapua brass. Each one of those pieces are like little jewels, not to be wasted. I believe if you go with the Lapua brass you will be competative right away and not spend your time chasing your tail.

Best of luck, good shooting, and if you need any more info, there are always lots of us out here willing to help..

Cheers,

Doug

 

[jrkappy]

Thank you one and all. As follows: Tried 4350 and 4831sc with SMK142. Eh! Varget, as of the other day, with 142 SMK and am under half inch. Still, looking for the elusive one hole group. This was from the bench a 100 yards. Lighter bullets do not group as well. The barrel is 26 inches and was fire polished with Tubbs' bullets. I have used 243, necked up, and 208 brass,sized down. Now am using some Remington 260 brass. I've got some Nosler brass to try. I use a Lee collett sizing die on fired cases and full length size new brass with the Lee full length sizer when needed. Then its measure, trim to length, uniform primer pockets, bevel case mouths, etc. After that its turn necks to uniform them. I have used the Lee final "factory crimp" die after seating, and it was with this that I got the described group. The trigger is from Sharpshooter Supply as the action was a Stevens. I have two other Savages, and the accu trigger is so-so. I've played with bullet seating depth, and all the gages I have to measure it with give different reading each time I use them. So far I use 2.80 as overall length. Sometimes I think it's a much luck as science. Again, thanks for the replies.

 

[jrkappy]

PS

I note that locally, East Lansing, Michigan, some goodies available other places require mail order or substitution. Primers are getting to be like gold. Powder choices are getting limited. Gander Mountain is for the birds. I just found Remington factory 26 Rem as 35.00 a box. Mail order kill on hazmat shipping costs. At least I have the combination to the range lock and retirement makes that a good thing.

 

[DMAC67]

Jrkappy

Not to sound too critical but good god don't use a crimping die on precision long range ammo. You are screwing up your neck tension i.e. putting way too much and too inconsistent neck tension on the case and buggering up the neck everytime you resize and reload it. For What ?? Are you planning on throwing your ammo on the ground a couple of times before firing it? Also you might want to look into some good dies like the Redding Type S match dies with the competition seater. It is the gold standard of LR shooting.

As far as mail order houses go, Gander Mountain has about as much stuff applicable to LR precision shooting as your local bridal shop has. I used my catalog to start a fire in my fire place. Try the following:

www.brunoshooters.com
www.grafs.com
www.sinclairintl.com
www.midwayusa.com

I'm sure there are a few more that I may have missed but if the above don't have it, you probably can't get it. I would strongly suggest getting a Sinclair catalog to puruse. For a shooter new to precision handloading it can be educational.

You mentioned playing with your seating depth and "all your gauges giving a different reading" and that so far the overall length is 2.800". Well what you should be doing is measuring the base of the case to the ogive of the bullet you are using. Get a Hornady Lock-N-Load Oal gauge with the .260 modified case. Then get the Sinclair Bullet comparator with the 6.5 insert. Consider this MANDATORY equipment. When you get your measurement then try your load with the seating depth .020" longer than your base to ogive measurement,this is called bullet jam). Then try your load seated .020" less than your base to ogive measurment,this is called bullet jump).If you are using a VLD bullet it will most likely perform best with the bullet jammed. If it is a Sierra Matck King or a bullet with a tangental ogive it will probably work best with .020" jump.

Lastly, you said something about finding factory ammo for $35.00 a box. Life is to short to shoot factory ammo.....

 

[Bosveldklong]

Have you considered the 260 AI?
I am running one with 130gr Berger VLD. 49.0gr of H4831 gets me 3150 fps without ANY signs of pressure. I use Lapua 308 brass and neck them down to 260.
Try beating that!

 

[JDJones]

I shoot a 260 with a slightly tight chamber, using Lapua 243 Barass necked up Federal GM 210M primers, N-165 powder and a 140gr A-max out of a 27.5" barrel and getting awsome accuracy at 2850 ish feet per sec.

Whats the BC of those 130gr Bargers ??

 

[tbeasley]

Like the other fella said about using the comparator, They do generally work, However there not as accurate b/c where your 6.5 insert comes to a dead rest on the bullet,suppose to be the ogive), I bet u 100% that your seating die doesn't contact the bullet in the same exact spot. Therefore you will be alittle off . Honestly I feel there is a easier and cheaper way to get accurate seating depths. Start off seating ur bullets long, then little by little start seating them inwards until the bolt closes. You can go till the bolt closes stiff or till it closes with ease,I would perfer a tad stiff, but back off the powder load). Don't measure your bullets by the base of the brass to the tip of your bullet,99.9% of the time you will have some different numbers pop up. Check measure the base of the bullet to the tip and see what I'm talking about. Lapua's are very close to all being the same, thats what I shoot in my.

Try using some H4831sc with 139 Lapua Scenars
Im using 47gr 4831sc with 139's and getting 1 inch groups at 400yds. Start off at 46 where your barrel might like it a little slower.

 

[jrkappy]

Again, thanks!
The Savage I use is a short action. That can limit the overall length of any load despite chamber size. Can always single load. I've got all the toys for measuring bullet length, Sinclair, Stony Point, comparators, etc. I still tend to get different lengths. Regarding the Lee crimp die; use of that die does create a lot of discussion... good and bad. One of the local gurus dishes all Lee dies except that one. I seat with a micrometer Forster seating die. I wonder if a 260 on a long action would allow a better shot at seating depth. Of course, the chamber length to rifling would also have to be taken into consideration. Thanks again.

 

[jrkappy]

Correction: short action limits magazine length of round. Long action would allow for bullets seated longer in the magazine. The mind sometimes goes one way while the fingers travel a different path. But if it was easy it wouldn't be fun/frustrating.