[dumbhunter]

I was thinking of getting a Tikka in 260 for my first rifle to deer hunt with. Does anyone have any thoughts on this rifle and or round? Am I going to limit my self to a round that is hard to find or only good for deer?

any help would be great. I'm sorry if I keep asking a lot of questions, but I lookes through old threads and didn't find much.

Thanks

[USSR]

dumbhunter,

Great cartridge; seriously hamstrung by lack of quality factory brass.

Don

[knoxx45]

I feel that you would be better served ny a rifle in a more popular caliber. especially if it will be your only rifle. Have you considered a .308? Popular cartridge, lots of premium hunting and target ammo, but also lotsa cheap practice ammo, and being new to shooting, practice is both fun and useful, come think of it, practice is always fun and useful.

Knoxx

[Terrierman]

I don't have a .260 but on paper it looks terrific. Since it is on .308 case, I would guess one could size 7 mm - 08 to .260 pretty easily, maybe a little more effort to start with .308 but I'm sure it could still be done and without all THAT much difficulty. The primary advantage to the .260 is those high S.D hiigh B.C. bullets that are available in that caliber. It's an intriguing round and that's for certain. Lots of people like Tikka rifles. I think they are as ugly as homemade sin, but differences of opinion are what makes the internet go round.

[Drue]

IMHO, the .260 is a fine whitetail round and it is a superior target and silhouette round. It harder to find factory ammo than most other calibers and the choices are limited. If you handload, this is no problem, of course. There is a nice selection of 6.5mm bullets to choose from. Brass is harder to find than most others and the choices in factory brass are limited to Remington. However it is easy to form brass from .308 and 7-08 cases and it is very easy to make cases from .243s, just lube, including the inside of the neck, run it up into a .260 sizer with a tapered expander and out pops a .260 case. Most of my .260 cases say "Lapua .243" on the case head.

Drue

[Pumpkinheaver]

I would buy one if I got a great deal on it. If I was buying new it would be a 7mm08 or .308.

[GooseGestapo]

I've wanted one since the .260 first came out. It'll do anything that a .7mm-08 or .308 will do.

I've got a 7mm-08, and I got it for the purpose of a light-weight mountain rifle with enough "umph" to reliably take elk. I was afraid that my .257 Roberts as fine a rifle as it is, just "might" make me wish I'd had more gun.

Though I've not had a chance to use it on elk in the 2yrs I've had it, a friend used it (the 7mm08) to take a large bodied 6x6 last October with it using some of my handloaded 140gr Nosler partitions.

I can't imagine that a difference of 0.02" will make a huge difference. Just use the 140gr Partitions for anything mule deer or larger and you'll do just fine.

And, Like DRUE above, my "best" brass say's "NORMA .243 !!!" on the headstamp.
However, the Remington, Winchester, and Federal have been fine also.

[rangerruck]

I would think the 25.06 would do nicely, it is like a zippy 260 .

[esheato]

I purchased a .260 last year. Ballistics are quite impressive. 6.5mm bullets have a reputation for above average penetration for their diameter. Using premium 140 grain Barnes bullets it will do anything a 7mm-08 or 308 will do.

I have yet to take any game...and don't know when I will, but I'm not worried in the least about the cartridges performance.

More importantly, match the bullet to the game and put it in the right spot.

Ed

[IV Troop]

The 260 is a fantastic round and quite popular in long range competition. I just had a 700 built up in 260 with a Lilja tube for that purpose (and hunting).

Tikkas are excellent rifles as well. I own three and they are all sub moa by a long shot.

Brass is readily available as well. Norma and Lapua make great brass.

Now all that being said, I am not sure that Tikka makes a gun in 260. They do make one in 6.5 Swede. My dads shoots into the threes (3/10ths inch 3 shot groups) with carefully prepared handloads.

If Tikka makes a 260 now, let me know and I will get out the checkbook. Same for 6mm Rem!

You will be more than likely be pleased with a Tikka in just about any caliber. My 308 heavy barrel has dropped deer out to 598 yards.

[Ol` Joe]

The 260 is a short action 6.5x55. The cartridge runs a little higher in pressure to make the factory ammo a bit fast with same wgt bullets. I`ve two of them and love `em for deer here in Michigan. The 6.5x55 Swede has been around for 100 years and is still a very popular moose cartridge in sweden. Anything the Swede will do the 260 will too.

[Crosshair]

If you want a short action, go with it. Personaly, I love the 6.5x55. The 6.5mm rounds are wonderfull, more omph than a .243, yet smaller people can still shoot it without getting knocked around.

[SRMohawk]

I remember when I first discovered the Remington .260 and how immediately I was filled with excitement over the promise I felt it held for me. I was hunting on a lease in Terrell Country, Texas along with a bunch from San Antonio, one of whom brought a rifle chambered in this particular catridge. The second day out we were strolling along a dry river bed at the bottom of a shallow canyon when he spots this big mulie way up on the canyon's edge looking right down at us. Didn't matter that the deer was almost 250 yards away and that the angle between he and us was probably almost 45 degrees, 'cause the guy just raised his rifle, fired, and the deer fell right into the canyon and came to rest less than a hundred yards from us!

That evening, we went to the other side of the spread we were hunting on so we could shoot another's rifles. I wanted to trade him by the time we started back for camp! Later, I thought I'd have my smith build me an M40A-1 knock-off chambered for this little dandy of a cartridge. In the end, however, I elected to forego doing this for only one reason: It's seriously hamstrung by lack of quality factory brass.

[esheato]

Yes, extreme accuracy is hurt by the lack of quality brass. But extreme accuracy isn't required for hunting, at least not in my book.

As an example, my best three shot group (at 100 yards) was .193"....using standard Remington brass. My average group is under 3/4".

And if you reload, necking up Lapua .243 Winchester is very simple and provides an excellent alternative.

While I would prefer a quality piece of brass to start with, I don't feel handicapped, hunting wise, using Remington components.

Ed

[Crosshair]

Yea, the .260 is an equal to the 6.5x55. But you can buy 6.5x55 brass everywhere, 260 is way too hard to find.

[USSR]

Brass is readily available as well. Norma and Lapua make great brass.

Not in .260, they don't.

Don

[Gewehr98]

I would think the 25.06 would do nicely, it is like a zippy 260 .

No. The .25-06 is a zippy .257 Roberts, and an even zippier .25 Souper (aka .25-308)

The .260 is the legitimized 6.5-08 wildcat, itself an Americanized 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser, with a smaller case capacity but higher operating pressures. If you want even more zip in the realm of high-BC .264 bullets, you go with 6.5x57, 6.5-284, 6.5-06, or .264 Win Mag.

I competed at 1000 yard match once against a Remington 700 rebarreled to 6.5-08, it was configured much like a 700PSS. I was using my 6.5-06, because my own 700PSS is in .308 Winchester and goes subsonic before 1K yards. With the scores he was getting, for a while I considered my rig overkill for the task at hand. ;)

[Clipper]

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool 1/4 bore guy who thinks the .257 Roberts is the finest cartridge in the deer woods, but I came close to buying a .260, but old prejudices won out and I went with a 25WSSM...