Best bullet wt. for a 260 Rem

[justonemorear]

I'm new to reloading and here.
I recently got an Encore w/ a custom 260 Rem EA Brown 26' 1-8. Never shot this caliber before. I also got ammo and bullets in the 139-140gr as part of the trade. Is this the best for that barrel? Cannot much data for that wt. nor many choices for bullets and if so the best bullet. I see there are a few out there that shoot the 260. I already have a mix of powders if these will work -
Varget
H4350
H4831SC
I7828SSC
Thanks for any input.

 

[Spanners]

Nice caliber.. esp as a hunting rifle.

140s are heavy for 260..
High 120s, 130 is what I call,and shoot) as normal for caliber.

 

[Raptor]

I am on my 4th barrel for 260s and I agree the 130 to 120s are the ideal bullets for the 260s. I love the 123 lapuas in my rifles.

 

[HTSmith]

I have a couple of 260's and like the other posters I've settled on the 120 Grain bullets for hunting. But I've also had very good luck for pure accuracy with 142 Gr. Sierra's. I use a medium charge of H4831 with necked up Lapua 243 brass and a federal match primer. Any of your powders should be compatible. Give those heavy one's a try.

 

[SooStan]

With my 1x8 using 139 and 140 Berger with H4350, it use to shoot 1/4 minute up to 300 yds. and 1/2 minute at 600 pretty consistent. The 123 did not group as well but I did not do a lot of load development. 3000+ rds. now its time for a re barrel.

 

[justonemorear]

If this will help I looking to shoot up to 600yd max at small to medium size game, I believe that is my limit with my scope,Nikon 6-18 Buckmaster w/BDC)
Also most of the brass I have is 243 that I will resize, good or bad?
I also see a lot of talk about barrel wear. Is the 260 too hot and causes premature wear?

 

[Raptor]

I found a good bullet for hunting is the Noz or Hornady 100 to 120s. They shot very well out of my rifles. The heavier 140 hunting bullets were not as accuate for me but the match bullets in the 140 to 142s shot very well in mine too.

Shooting matches you should be able to get at least 3000rds out of a barrel. If you just hunt with it an do light shooting it will last you a very long time. Getting your barrel hot then keep shooting is what kills the barrels

 

[HPMike800]

H4350 is the go to powder for this cartridge. For the 140gr pills you have a load with H4350, fed 210's, 140gr bullets moving at 2780-2825fps should be a good load.

Mike

 

[SooStan]

What Mike said fits my experence too. I don't think the 260 is hard on barrels. Better then a 6.5x284 and 243 but not as good as a 308. Also your definition of acceptable accuracy is a factor. I shoot f-class and club level long range claybirds, I don't hunt with mine, I could but don't. too heavy

 

[justonemorear]

I was hunting w/ an '06 for years but figured the 260 could be my new field gun then I'd shorten the '06 to 16-18' range and load w/ 220+ gr SP or HP and make it a brush gun.

 

[skeetlee]

I disagree with the statement that H4350 is the go to powder for a 260rem. I have owned two different 260's and now a 6.5CM and in all three cases H414 and varget were superior to the H4350. Perfect bullet for the 260rem is a 123gr sierra and lapua. Lee

 

[wnroscoe]

In my .260 I'm running 43.5 grains of H4350 with the 130 Berger VLD's and CCIBR2's, 2879fps. Five shot .324' at 100, less than .5moa at 400 yards. It needs a hair more neck tension though. I tried Varget and blew a primer at 43.0 grains. The velocity was much better with Varget, high 2,900's to 3,050 but the accuracy wasn't. After building and testing this rifle and building several 6.5x47L's I can say this, I feel that the best bullet for the two calibers is the 123 Scenar. One of the 6.5x47L's shoots them at 2,920fps and is a drill.

 

[alf]

Well hell then, I'll agree with everyone.......

My VLS prefers H-4350 with 142 Sierra's and my Rock barrel prefers H-414 with either 100 or 120 Noslers. So there.

 

[Dgd6mm]

140 amax with h1000 out to 600 yards out of an old mauser I built with a bold trigger,very accurate.

 

[Raptor]

Guys,
Just a tip for you guys using the H414. I used to use it in my 243imp and it was deadly and I loved it but it is very temp sensitive and carbon fouls.

I had to have my barrel lapped to get it out. The barrel looked like it was plated with something. I could not get it out with solvents and scurbbing compounds. It just polished it!!!

 

[rcw3]

Guys,
Just a tip for you guys using the H414. I used to use it in my 243imp and it was deadly and I loved it but it is very temp sensitive and carbon fouls.

I had to have my barrel lapped to get it out. The barrel looked like it was plated with something. I could not get it out with solvents and scurbbing compounds. It just polished it!!!

Dittos to the powder fouling issue with H414. The last time I test fired something with H414, the carbon residue on the neck of the cases was so tough and hard that no amount of tumbling in media would take it off and it was even hard to get off by hand with steel wool - it leaves behind the hardest crusty carbon residue of any powder I have ever worked with. The bore of the rifle had the same thing and needed JB abrasive paste to get rid of it. I burned up the H414 powder I had left out in a gravel parking area for a display for the kids on 4th of July a couple years ago and was glad to see it gone.

Robert Whitley

 

[Bowhunter]

I'm new to reloading and here.
I recently got an Encore w/ a custom 260 Rem EA Brown 26' 1-8. Never shot this caliber before. I also got ammo and bullets in the 139-140gr as part of the trade. Is this the best for that barrel? Cannot much data for that wt. nor many choices for bullets and if so the best bullet. I see there are a few out there that shoot the 260. I already have a mix of powders if these will work -
Varget
H4350
H4831SC
I7828SSC
Thanks for any input.

I'm also new to reloading. My .260 has a 1 in 10 barrel twist. Tried some nosler accubond lr 142 gr. Gun doesn't like them. Can any one tell me what I should reload for the 1in10 twist. Shoots 140 gr factory corloks awsome.

 

[Bill Norris]

I'm also new to reloading. My .260 has a 1 in 10 barrel twist. Tried some nosler accubond lr 142 gr. Gun doesn't like them. Can any one tell me what I should reload for the 1in10 twist. Shoots 140 gr factory corloks awsome.

Yea that 1 - 10 Twist just won't stabilize the longer heavier bullets. The core-loks are probably shorter than the Berger or Sierra longer and heavier weights as the length is more important than actual weight. The 120 to 130 gr. weight class should work well with your twist rate. This is a great read from the bulletin a couple of days ago.

https://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2023/07/optimal-barrel-twist-rate-factors-to-consider/

 

[dfrosch]

14 years and 3 months. Has to be a record.

 

[603Country]

In my 260, with a 20” barrel, I shoot 100 gr Nosler BTs over IMR4064 and 120 gr Nosler BTs over R17. Hogs, deer, and coyotes are what I hunt. Normally I’ll hunt with the 120’s, but a for couple of years I had the gun sighted in with the 100’s, so I hunted with that. I really could not tell if the 120’s were better on the hogs. Never got exits with either bullet, but the hogs died, as did the deer. The different weight bullets seemed to be equally effective.

If I never find Nosler bullets again, I’ll switch to something, but I don’t yet know what. Somebody call Nosler…