260 rem for long range

[Tarquin]

I have been shooting this "old fashioned" cartridge about 10 years now. I shoot at Bisley and take advantage of the occasional 1100/1200yd days.
But mainly shoot midweek at 900/1000. Rifle is an AI AE3 26inch 1 in 8.5 heavy barrel - one of the last made.
I have been using Lapua brass but recently started converting 308 GGG brass - lots of full length sizing/trimming/deburring.
Tried a lot of bullets but favour lapua`s as you can get 1k boxes. I bought a lot end of last year from a place in Germany who now wont sell into the UK!
I have used N150/N160/N165/RL19 and now moved over to N555. 108/123/136/139/144 Lapuas as well as 130SMK/130NORMA/140NOSLER/123HORNADY and others.
My current combo is 136L and N555.
I have found that the 123/136/139 all shoot pretty similar out to a 1000. Even the 108`s do well on a still day.
Waiting for a 1200 weekend to try out the 136/555 combo.
Any one else using the 260 rem?

 

[Andycx]

Remington 260, bat action, bartlein 24 inch barrel,1 in 8.5 twist, 130 Bergers under 43.7g of H4350 doing 2820ft/s. Only shot out to 1K but, with the help of Strelock Pro, find that pretty straight forward. Plan on trying Vit 555 once the H4350 runs out. Very easy shooting caliber and as accurate as anyone can wish for. The rifle was a present for my 50th, built by Pete Walker who I can't speak more highly of!

 

[Uncle Norm]

I use a .260 for deer but a very different rifle than yours. 20'' barrel, 120 grain bullet and N160.
Beware of the dreaded 'doughnut' when reforming cases , as it may not manifest itself until you try to chamber the round.
If you use the search facility on here, there is lots about reforming and reloading .260 cases.
I did several experiments with re-forming, which are recorded on here.
I think most folk, including me, decided not to continue re-forming cases, for various reasons.

 

[User00040]

It's an already, if not soon to be, dead chambering...

 

[trucraft]

Very capable round, also the improved version.
fallen out of fashion now but 10 years ago it was flavour of the month. Until 6.5 lap and creadmore came along.

 

[75]

I think most folk, including me, decided not to continue re-forming cases, for various reasons.

Are you talking about forming 260 cases from 308?

I've been shooting a 260 for about 10 years with Lapua brass and never had an issue with a donut - didn't even know it was a "thing" with 260. I've got a bunch of cases that are on 7th or 8th firings (F/L resize each time).

 

[antsa]

Lapua make .260 brass. Top quality, exxy but they "last forever". I'm above 12 firings at the moment and I also have four 100-count un-opened boxes in the cupboard. These will see me out

Cheers

 

[Uncle Norm]

Are you talking about forming 260 cases from 308?

I've been shooting a 260 for about 10 years with Lapua brass and never had an issue with a donut - didn't even know it was a "thing" with 260. I've got a bunch of cases that are on 7th or 8th firings (F/L resize each time).

Have a look at this old thread, it tells the story.

Forming .260 from .243 Brass

In anticipation of my new .260 that James (jagerSA) is doing for me, I bought a new set of Redding .260Rem dies. I had sought some advice from one of our members so didn't anticipate any problems with forming some of my Norma .243 cases into .260Rem. I got five .243 cases that had not been...

www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk

 

[jcampbellsmith]

Lapua make .260 brass. Top quality, exxy but they "last forever". I'm above 12 firings at the moment and I also have four 100-count un-opened boxes in the cupboard. These will see me out

Cheers

I'm in a similar position. I got my first 260 Rem in '99. I'm about to commission my fifth one.
Best regards
JCS

 

[Brian243]

I have two .260’s, a T3 .243 re-barreled with a TruFlite barrel over ten years ago and a newer T3x Lite. Both are 22.5” barreled deer / fox rifles. My standard bullets have been the 120 grain Pro Hunter, 129 grain SST and more recently the Nosler 129 grain ABLR. I’m currently in the process of moving over to 120 grain non-lead with RL 16.

I have .260 brass from Lapua, Nosler, Remington and Federal and resized .243 cases from Federal, Hornady and Remington. The .243 cases are resized by a single pass through a .260 Lee full length re-sizing die and feed and function as the standard .260 cases. To be honest I cannot see any difference in accuracy regardless of which cases are used at the distances I shoot, all are moa or less. The furthest I have shot the .260 is just over four hundred metres but more usually it is well under two hundred, I prefer to get as close as possible.

 

[petesv]

Hello i have an old savage 12 .260 rem i only shoot paper have shot out to 1000yds using 123 and 108 lapua scenars both with excellent results the 108 in still conditions but the 108 out to 600yds are a under estimated bullet it is the same size jacket as the 123 but with less lead ,i bought a 6.5 creedmoor thinking it was the dogs but i have now sold it as it was not a leap forward of the .260 rem enough said or i will have to put my tin hat on from this forums experts atb Pete.

 

[Treedave]

I’ve used my 260 DTA SRS on military ranges out to 1200m with some very pleasing results. On a good day with the stars aligned etc the 26” barrell would give me 1/2 moa out to 1000m. This was using N160, 140 amax or 139 scenar in lapua brass. The replacement barrel has yet to prove as good, but load tweaking is far from complete.
It’s a heavy(ish) set up, but it’s a great set up for ambush stalking and handles lead free bullets with ease.

 

[Matt234]

The barrel was shot out on my 85 sako 243 so I had it re barrelled in 260 and resized my remaining 243 brass never had any problems with brass cloverleaf groups no problems Steve Kershaw did the work first class service and quality work as usual!

 

[Dogtra UK]

My .260 throated for 147 Eld-M.