.260rem what's it like

Milligan

Well-Known Member
I intend getting a dedicated stalking rifle after having lugged by Varmint barrelled .308 T3 + high mag scope and mod round the Scottish Hills for a week.

My thoughts are drifting toward something a little less common, namely the .260 rem (otherwise known as the 6.5-08), and I was wondering what peoples experiences of them were.

I gather the 6.5mm bullets have a high bc so are good at longer ranges but what are they like at sensible deer ranges?

Ideally I'd be using something in the 120gr-140gr range. :)
 
Milligan

I don't know if you have heard of him but Callum Ferguson from Precision Rifle Services built a rifle for a friend of mine, who asked his opinion on what calibre to go for. As an all round stalking calibre Callum recommended the .260rem

Have a look at his website and the choice of reamers he has for building rifles. He must hold the calibre in high regard.

Should have added that it accounted for a lot of Sika, some shot by me and I loved the rifle!
 
I have a .308 and a .260 rem . I have not used the .308 for stalking since i started using the .260 . I'm not saying the .260 is better than the 308 as a caliber as they both put deer on the deck,
But i just like the .260 with 129 gr bullets mines a light short rifle and the .308 is a big heavy rifle to lug about.
 
Milligan

I don't know if you have heard of him but Callum Ferguson from Precision Rifle Services built a rifle for a friend of mine, who asked his opinion on what calibre to go for. As an all round stalking calibre Callum recommended the .260rem

Have a look at his website and the choice of reamers he has for building rifles. He must hold the calibre in high regard.

Should have added that it accounted for a lot of Sika, some shot by me and I loved the rifle!

Good to know, I got interested when I saw a .260rem custom rifle at Anglo Custom. So far research is positive with Chuck Hawkes and lots of the US sites giving it praise.
The decision will be to buy new or buy a donor rifle and get a new barrel cut for it. Don't think I can justify the cost of a full custom... :oops:
 
Good to know, I got interested when I saw a .260rem custom rifle at Anglo Custom. So far research is positive with Chuck Hawkes and lots of the US sites giving it praise.
The decision will be to buy new or buy a donor rifle and get a new barrel cut for it. Don't think I can justify the cost of a full custom... :oops:

If you are thinking about the semi-custom route drop me a pm and I will give you contact details for a friend of mine who builds custom rifles. His work is exemplary. Far cheaper than some. He is on this site as Dennisgrm if you want to contact him yourself. he will at least give you an idea of prices but as you mention a donor Remington or Sako action regardless of the condition is the way to go.
 
Milligan

My 260 started out as an old 308 I picked up on Guntrader. PM me a number if you want some more background.

Rgds JCS
 
or you could go 6.5x55 for a little more capacity and class, or 6.5-06 for even more...


Or a 7x08 or 9mm or .338 why not try a .50 !!

Why has a 6.5 x 55 got more class than a .260 ? please explain , Is it because it is older ?
 
or you could go 6.5x55 for a little more capacity and class, or 6.5-06 for even more...

Whay would you want to add an additional 4 grains of powder to a bigger case in order to get the same FPS ??. I have a swede and im running 50 grains of powder behind the 129gn bullet. A mate runs the 260 with the same bullet and he is loading 45.5gns of the same poweder. His fps is 100 more than mine.

Its a no brainer 6.5x55 long action big case 260rem short action short case and higher FPS ;)
 
Or a 7x08 or 9mm or .338 why not try a .50 !!

Why has a 6.5 x 55 got more class than a .260 ? please explain , Is it because it is older ?
well he was wanting a 6.5, so I was listing options. It's classier because it's older, has Mauser heritage (not auto feed like the 308 based 260) and its sexier tapered case!!
Whay would you want to add an additional 4 grains of powder to a bigger case in order to get the same FPS ??. I have a swede and im running 50 grains of powder behind the 129gn bullet. A mate runs the 260 with the same bullet and he is loading 45.5gns of the same poweder. His fps is 100 more than mine.

Its a no brainer 6.5x55 long action big case 260rem short action short case and higher FPS ;)
Well can't speak for individual rifles - the barrel surfaces will have different coefficients of fiction, twist rtaes might differ and length may well to. But, given all these and other variables are equal with a 24" barrel at 60k psi behind 129gr SST- from Quickload:
6.5x55:
Optimum powder 52.6 Norma MRP, vel 3061fps

260:
Optimum powder 43.5 Hodgdon H4350, vel 2933fps

6.5-06
Optimum powder 66 Norma MRP 2, vel 3162fps

Obviously the other two use a lot more powder, but they DO give more energy for a given barrel weight and pressure... Not sure about MRP either, bet it's expensive.

As for the long/short action - 6.5x55 is actually intermediate action. Obscure maybe but a lot of rifles models are all one length anyway and just blocked off for short cartridges. Longer cartridges typically feed better too. But also - do those few mm really make a practical difference? They certainly don't for me - my 243 is in a standard mauser and I've cycled short actions, I really can't see what the fuss is about
 
Harry, I just lurv the one about the co efficients of fiction, gave a laugh that one!:D
well it's a variable, no matter how small the difference is right? I mean if you took two idenitical rifles and fired 500 rounds over a chrony with each, they wouldn't give identical mean velocities each would they. So ONE of the differences could be the surface of the barrel (yeah there would be heaps of others like bore size and chamber dimensions). So given two different rifles - makes, barrel steel types etc. the barrel surfaces might contribute.
 
well he was wanting a 6.5, so I was listing options. It's classier because it's older, has Mauser heritage (not auto feed like the 308 based 260) and its sexier tapered case!!

Well can't speak for individual rifles - the barrel surfaces will have different coefficients of fiction, twist rtaes might differ and length may well to. But, given all these and other variables are equal with a 24" barrel at 60k psi behind 129gr SST- from Quickload:
6.5x55:
Optimum powder 52.6 Norma MRP, vel 3061fps

260:
Optimum powder 43.5 Hodgdon H4350, vel 2933fps

6.5-06
Optimum powder 66 Norma MRP 2, vel 3162fps

Obviously the other two use a lot more powder, but they DO give more energy for a given barrel weight and pressure... Not sure about MRP either, bet it's expensive.

As for the long/short action - 6.5x55 is actually intermediate action. Obscure maybe but a lot of rifles models are all one length anyway and just blocked off for short cartridges. Longer cartridges typically feed better too. But also - do those few mm really make a practical difference? They certainly don't for me - my 243 is in a standard mauser and I've cycled short actions, I really can't see what the fuss is about


Sorry Harry i must be missinformed !
I thought the 6.5x55 was developed for the Krag and a swedish rifle closely resembleing the mauser 97 . But was Not developed for the Mauser so has not got a mauser heritage ?
As or auto fed, It was used for a machine gun befor 1900 by norway and has been used by sweden in BAR's and Bren guns .
By the way .308 is also the farther of .243 [which you like] which is the little brother of the .260 ;)
 
Sorry Harry i must be missinformed !
I thought the 6.5x55 was developed for the Krag and a swedish rifle closely resembleing the mauser 97 . But was Not developed for the Mauser so has not got a mauser heritage ?
As or auto fed, It was used for a machine gun befor 1900 by norway and has been used by sweden in BAR's and Bren guns .
By the way .308 is also the farther of .243 [which you like] which is the little brother of the .260 ;)
Ok I think you've outdone me there - my level of research is not on par with yours! I just like playing devils advocate sometimes ;)
Although - I don't like the 243. Purely because of my (irrational I admit) prejudice about straight sided short cartridges based on 308. Don't start me on WSMs and the like... It's just I settled for that due to upsetting circumstances with permissions early on and needing to 'please' my FEO. As soon as is realistic that barrel is coming off and being replaced by a long tapered chambering:stir:
 
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Sorry Harry i must be missinformed !
I thought the 6.5x55 was developed for the Krag and a swedish rifle closely resembleing the Mauser 97 . But was Not developed for the Mauser so has not got a Mauser heritage ?
As or auto fed, It was used for a machine gun befor 1900 by norway and has been used by Sweden in BAR's and Bren guns .
By the way .308 is also the farther of .243 [which you like] which is the little brother of the .260 ;)

The 6.5x55 was designed for the Swedish Mauser model 1894, the model 97 is a modern rifle, The problem with the .308 case is it is designed to operate in a short action with a overall length of 2.80" when it is necked down to 7mm and 6.5mm the long heavy bullets are seated to far into the case taking up powder space limiting the velocity you can get, it is perfect as a .30 calibre but a compromise as anything else,
Where the 6.5x55 the 7x57 and the 8x57 were designed to shoot long bullets from the start and the actions are the correct lenght and a good Mauser action
will feed empty cases from the magazine try that with a modern short action, My 6.5x55 is a Sako 75 I can seat 139/140 gr spitzers out to the rifling and still
fit the magazine try that with a 260/7mm08 and the 6.5x55 is operating at lower pressure it can be loaded to higher pressure with modern actions and brass
but there is really no point it will kill anything in the UK with the correct bullet,
Robert.
 
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