Making 260 Rem from 7.62x51

[top_prop]

Howdy,

I'm new to the forum and did some searches which were helpful, but I've got a few questions.

My situation is I wanted to get a rifle the wife would shoot so I was talking to my Dad about getting a .243. He decided to givie me a Ruger M77 MKII he bought years ago and never shot. Its in .260 Remington. From doing a few googles I understand it has a 1:9 twist barrel, but won't have the rifle in my hands until he comes to visit over the new year.

I used to shoot garands and M1A's/M14's many moons ago. So I've got thousands of pieces LC brass for both of them. I've been squishing LC 30-06 to .280 Rem and fire forming from there without any trouble or neck wall thickness issues. My other rifle is a .308 so that has been easy. I have an old rock chucker, a forester case trimer with outside neck turner, but no pilots for 6.5mm. Nor do I own any 6.5 bullets.

So the questions are:

Buy .260 remington brass or make it from the LC 7.62 match brass I've got?

If I make .260 Rem from my 7.62 LC what should I buy to do it (besides a FL resize die and bullet seating die)? What steps would you take?

My .280 does a great job with 160gr S Game Kings (usually touching or ragged hole at 100... POI has yet to change in 5 seasons), so If I want to shoot heavy bullets I'll use that... I'm thinking deer, pigs, and occasional coyote's will be on the receiving end of this .260... Hopefully I'll make a trip out west and see about taking some prong horn with it was well. if you were going to use one bullet for all these out to say 500-600 yds what would it be?

 

[jr600yd]

You can make 260's out of your 7.62 brass. The question is how much time and effort do you want to put into it? Me, I'd just go buy some 260 brass and work up a load. Unlike the 7.62 stuff you'll find the 260 likes slower powders like 4350 or 4831sc. For hunting you'll do well with the 120-130gr bullets. Since you have a 1/9 twist your rifle might not stabilize the heavier 140-160gr bullets. Most match rifles have a 1/8 or 1/8.5 twist for the 139-142gr bullets. Since you have a 308 I'd try what ever powder yo have for them in the 260. 4895, 4064, Varget they will all work.

Good shooting, Jim

 

[boogershooter]

These folks on here helped me with a similiar question a while back. I ended up with Win.7-08 brass, imperial lubed. Ran it right through my .260 full length die. No problems! Have fun.

 

[KaiserNorton]

Just for clarity : Ruger uses a 1:8 twist in the 260. Does your rifle have the Boat paddle stock? Mine does it's best with Re 19 and the various 120 gr bullets.

I've only used factory Remington brass, as until this year I had no other .308 based cartridges - so I can't tell you which way to approach the brass issue. Nosler and Norma now make 260 brass, so there are other options. And obviously, if you run the LC brass, all the Surplus brass warnings will apply.

Good luck - the 260 is a fantastic cartridge........perfect beginner's cartridge IMHO. You could try 100 gr bullets to keep recoil in check for the wife, too. Nosler has their 100gr BT and Partitions, Barnes has their new 100gr TTSX (which I hope to try soon).

Kaiser Norton

 

[top_prop]

Thanks for clarifying the twist rate. Its not my rifle... yet. I've yet to lay eyes on it. I understand its a stainless all weather rifle that came with what I'd call a skeletonized black synthetic ruger stock (just like my other two rugers). My dad said he swapped it for a laminate stock though.

Hoping to get bullets and the supplies I need in the mail soon. I guess I'll just get some 120 and 130 gr 'accubonds' and the berger hunting bullets and see what the rifle likes.

I just prepped 150 pcs of once fired 308 brass (flashole debur, tumbeled a bit to make them shiny, deprimed and cleaned the primer pocket. I'm debating buying a 7mm 08 trim die for the first knock down or just using a .260 trim die before I stick them in a FL sizing die. Looking for feed back from folks who've done it to find out if they had any pit falls and how they got around them

I have imperial die sizing wax and dry neck lube. I imagine I'll just use the wax on these (outside and inside the neck) unless I hear different from others....

 

[HTSmith]

I love my 260's both for hunting and shooting targets. Personally I think the case is too small for 140 Gr bullets--works best between 120 and 130 Gr. I use 123 Gr for target and 130 Gr for hunting. You'll probably be fine squeezing the 308 cases down for a factory chamber. I always use a 7/08 sizer first, but can't say its absolutely necessary.

 

[pjparker]

top_prop

You will be fine necking down your mil brass. Same process as .280 from .30-06, but I like to use the 7-08 as an intermediate step. Take the expander button out of the 7-08 FL die. Don't know if it is entirely necessary to have thils intermediate step or not, but it makes me feel better. Many have stated that they take them down in one step without problems.

Pay attention to neck thickness. I have found thru trial and error and a little experimentation, neck turning BEFORE necking down brings the correct neck thickness up into the new .260 shoulder and mitigates the formation of the dreaded "donut" at the base of the neck. You'll probably scrap a couple of cases in the process, but it beats buying all new when you already have suitable parent cases.

You will really need to verify your twist rate to get lnto the right bullet weight range, but most sporting, hunting style bullets wont be needing a fast twist like the long, slender VLD match bullets.


I shoot F Class Open with my .260 out to 1000 yds with 130 Berger and Normas and 140 Bergers, to good effect.

I think you'll like the .260

Paul

 

[pwdrbrn]

just started playing w/260 and have formed all my brass from 7.62-51 fed. cases. only thing so that i can tell is they are short of std. case length after fireforming. maybe they'll stretch after more firing. neck dia. on these cases ends up same, loaded or fired. like neck turned to custom chamber. only neck down .003 to get proper tension. imperial sizing die wax and once thru f.l. die does it. using pre accu trigger savage le version basically stock, just sss trigger added. haven't tried all powders, but 123 sie. seems to shoot better than 120 sie., maybe 140's will be better yet as it is 8 tw.. have fun, tom.

 

[KenO]

I shoot prone 1000 and 600 yard competition with the .260. There are a lot of ways to go with the brass, the easiest is the Rem .260. A very close second and my favorite is the Winchester 7mm '08, which is a quick run through the die, and is the cheapest way to go. I use 142 SMKs with 4831sc for 1000 yards and VV150 for 600 yards.

I run them about 2850 fps, which gives up about 100 fps to the 6.5X284, with almost twice the barrel life.

 

[ThunderBolt09]

ok guys just thought id jump in and ask a question real quick. i can take 7mm-08 brass and run it through a FL 260 rem. resizer die and it comes out like a 260 rem.??

 

[louielouie]

ok guys just thought id jump in and ask a question real quick. i can take 7mm-08 brass and run it through a FL 260 rem. resizer die and it comes out like a 260 rem.??

Absolutely! I prefer Winchester 7mm-08 over 243 brass - no dougnuts to worry about, the neck doesn't shorten as much as 308 would, plus $43 @ 100 is easy to handle.

 

[ThunderBolt09]

so will the 7mm-08 brass fit my 308 boltface? and i will most likely be converting over from a 308 win. so will the 7mm-08 rounds fit in my internal magazine?

 

[2644ever]

Yes it will. Because 7-08 stands for the factory version of the 7mm-.308 wildcat and at first glance, caught off guard, you would hardly tell a 7-08 from a .308 win...

 

[ThunderBolt09]

oh ok, thanks for the info guys.

 

[dozer]

An 8 twist 6.5 is asking for the 140s, for hunting and at the range.

 

[Mark S in NM]

Just to clarify please, no matter what you use to form 260, 243, 7mm-08 or 308 all must then be fire formed to get SAMMI shoulder to base of neck correct?