260 vs. 308

[Webound]

I hate contaminating your 6br discussions with talk of my old .308, but I'm trying to get smaller, lighter, faster. Now, aside from the obvious advantages of flatter trajectory, and less felt recoil, and the potential of less wind drift; what are the real advantages of the 260. The more I play around at 1000 yards with my 308 tactical rig the more I realize that the 308 is not a 1000 yard cartridge. My requirements are for a caliber that will fit into a Accuracy International short action magazine, require a 24" barrel, and hold a significant advantage over the 308 out to 1000. If there isn't an advantage then I would stay with the 308 because of the available load data, and good Lapua brass.

 

[Forum Boss]

My .260 had a 24" barrel. My favorite load was the 123gr Lapua Scenar, about 43.5gr H4350 powder, Fed Primers. This was very accurate and drove the bullet at about 2950 fps. Some guys need up to 1 grain more powder for the same Vs with their barrels. Since you have the case capacity, I'd probably use a Danzac bullet and try to get it to 3000. The faster I shot that bullet the better it grouped.

I could only get about 2825 fps with the 140-gr class bullets. The 123 shot tighter groups and was the ballistic equal of the heavier bullets since it starts out much faster.

For less recoil, you should look at the 6XC with the 115gr bullet. Or a .243 AI.

We'll be doing a story in the next few weeks about the .260AI. Terry Cross will be sharing his load data.