Realistic reasons to hate on the .260?

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horsey300 said:
OK guys, first, I'm good with the creed, but this is not a vs thread. I am set up to run the 6.5 already, but I stumbled upon a .260 for 400 before fees and that's hard to walk away from. Savage short actions give me a Lil more room for the cartridge and I can always rebarrel later if it doesn't work out. Most common bullets I'd run would be 100-123s, 140 (accubonds, elds maybe and ablr) and just for giggles the 160 rn. Not for anything competitive, just the furry stuff. Is there any number of good valid reasons NOT to get into a .260? Factory ammo is a non issue as I handload.
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I've found great accuracy from Magnum burn rate down to 223/308 powders.
I'm definitely a fan.
But, why get a 260 when you have it's slightly smaller brother? Just tooling up to reload for it will tack another hundred on the cost.
 
I started with the Tikka 260 CTR. It was so accurate it was almost boring to reload. My first 1000 yard rifle. I’ve got the same in the 6.5 cm and I do like it but the 260 all the way for me. I don’t think I’ve used 260 brass more than a handful of times. Bought 243 brass and easy enough to resize. BR2 primers under a steady dose of H414 and it’s shot one hole groups to clover leafs. I did find that my Tikka 260 doesn’t care for much bullet wise under 130 grain. The best groups I ever got out of it was not match bullets but 130 grain accubonds. My Tikka hunting rifle 6.5 T3x with smaller barrel has a bunch of accubonds loaded now with H4350 and Reloader 17. So far I’m having a hard time staying moa much less sub moa with the pencil barrel.
 
horsey300 said:
Ohhhhh.....too true......if you're hinting at something p.m. me! !!!
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I saw this sell recently in .260 Remington, definitely uncommon.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/851170676

I have full stock 20" barrel bolt action carbines in .243 Winchester, .270 Winchester, 7X57mm Mauser, 7X64mm Brenneke, and .30-06 Springfield so I passed this over. TBH I'm not sure I'll go to the end of 2020 without finding a new home for the 7X57mm carbine.
 
Not hate, but I never saw a reason to own a .260. IMO - as much as I hate to admit it - the 6.5 CM is a better design. The .260 had a shortcoming (literally) that had to be addressed by the 6.5 CM design. To say otherwise is just being intellectually dishonest IMO.

I'm not really a 6.5 fan though. If I want light and fast then I'm going 6 mm and if I want versatile, I'm going 7mm. It's as simple as that.
 
My Tikka hunting rifle 6.5 T3x with smaller barrel has a bunch of accubonds loaded now with H4350 and Reloader 17. So far I’m having a hard time staying moa much less sub moa with the pencil barrel.
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I wouldn't worry about group size in a hunting rifle if the first two bullets are close out of a cold barrel. I want to know where that first bullet is going.
 
Newtosavage said:
Not hate, but I never saw a reason to own a .260. IMO - as much as I hate to admit it - the 6.5 CM is a better design. The .260 had a shortcoming (literally) that had to be addressed by the 6.5 CM design. To say otherwise is just being intellectually dishonest IMO.

I'm not really a 6.5 fan though. If I want light and fast then I'm going 6 mm and if I want versatile, I'm going 7mm. It's as simple as that.
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Admittedly, my heart lies with the .260ai, 6.5 leopard train with the Norma close behind. Realistically, between a fast twist .243/6creed, 7 stw, and .480 revolver, I can't think of anything I can't cover (yes shotguns too). However with all my friends/family members that I hunt with a 123 sst launching above 2800 (b.c. in the 5's already) clear up to 140s for elk+(flame suit on now) with recoil still at .243 class levels it seems that one can have light and fast+ versatile+low recoil....do .264s answer every question? No, but they check a lot of boxes, like how the Grendel improved the x39 performance of yesteryear.
Captcurt said:
I wouldn't worry about group size in a hunting rifle if the first two bullets are close out of a cold barrel. I want to know where that first bullet is going.
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I don't disagree but don't agree either. 1 moa vs 3 moa cold bore with 5 rounds (cool down time between shots) with a hunting rifle is the difference between a 500 yd shooter vs a 300 yd shooter. I won't rag or bust on anyone too hard, but an accumulative group shows higher odds of EVERY shot being in the kill zone. In the middle of an alfalfa circle with no cover and every eye of the herd on you means you are taking longer shots and you BETTER know where it will land. Again, on average we don't need high precision, but when it REALLY counts, we do.
 
Ive spent the last 20 years shooting heavier match and long distance rifles. I can’t remember the last time I owned a barrel lighter than medium Palma on a scoped rifle. So I can’t remember the last time I had a cold bore shot that went somewhere different than warm bores. (Not counting a certain semi auto with reflex suppressor)
Makes me think I should go grab a skinny rifle and see if they do have a cold bore. I’m curious
 
I’d have to disagree on the hunting rifle to be only so accurate. I don’t expect 5-10 round clover leafs but 3 at a minimum. Cold barrel of course. The 260 got some bad reputation for the 9 twist it originally came in. In my own experience I get more velocity from the 260. Not a great lot but enough to matter. For hunting I’ll never push more than 350-400 yards. To be ethical I also want to be accurate. No benches in the woods.
 
horsey300 said:
I don't disagree but don't agree either. 1 moa vs 3 moa cold bore with 5 rounds (cool down time between shots) with a hunting rifle is the difference between a 500 yd shooter vs a 300 yd shooter. I won't rag or bust on anyone too hard, but an accumulative group shows higher odds of EVERY shot being in the kill zone. In the middle of an alfalfa circle with no cover and every eye of the herd on you means you are taking longer shots and you BETTER know where it will land. Again, on average we don't need high precision, but when it REALLY counts, we do.
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I concur, because I won't keep a rifle that won't shoot MOA or less, but I still want to know where that first shot is going out of a clean, ice cold barrel.
 
cowboy77 said:
I’d have to disagree on the hunting rifle to be only so accurate. I don’t expect 5-10 round clover leafs but 3 at a minimum. Cold barrel of course. The 260 got some bad reputation for the 9 twist it originally came in. In my own experience I get more velocity from the 260. Not a great lot but enough to matter. For hunting I’ll never push more than 350-400 yards. To be ethical I also want to be accurate. No benches in the woods.
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Ground makes a pretty good bench :D

taliv said:
to be perfectly honest, out of all the cartridges available today, i still think a 260AI is pretty friggin awesome, with 2 changes since the years I competed with it:
- needs more oal, which you have
- needs small primer pockets, which are available now
i've thought for a few years about building another. being able to launch 140g hybrids over 3000 fps is pretty impressive for a short action with 40something grains of powder instead of the recoil that comes with 60something grains of powder
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Id appreciate the .260 and .260AI more if i didnt already have a 6.5-284...Taliv makes a good point tho. To get 3k plus from my 24" with 140/147s, I have to run over 60gr of Retumbo, and load to 3.150
 
taliv said:
Ive spent the last 20 years shooting heavier match and long distance rifles. I can’t remember the last time I owned a barrel lighter than medium Palma on a scoped rifle. So I can’t remember the last time I had a cold bore shot that went somewhere different than warm bores. (Not counting a certain semi auto with reflex suppressor)
Makes me think I should go grab a skinny rifle and see if they do have a cold bore. I’m curious
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Mine all stay within the average group, except for my H&R223. It consistently shoots the first shot 2" high at 100.
I think this was more of a thing when machining wasn't as good.
 
horsey300 said:
OK guys, first, I'm good with the creed, but this is not a vs thread. I am set up to run the 6.5 already, but I stumbled upon a .260 for 400 before fees and that's hard to walk away from. Savage short actions give me a Lil more room for the cartridge and I can always rebarrel later if it doesn't work out. Most common bullets I'd run would be 100-123s, 140 (accubonds, elds maybe and ablr) and just for giggles the 160 rn. Not for anything competitive, just the furry stuff. Is there any number of good valid reasons NOT to get into a .260? Factory ammo is a non issue as I handload.
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Just for furry stuff, depending on how much furry, I would handload some 129 gr-130 gr. @ max safe velocity. Then just slog around with it and a good set of sticks.
 
mshootnit said:
Just for furry stuff, depending on how much furry, I would handload some 129 gr-130 gr. @ max safe velocity. Then just slog around with it and a good set of sticks.
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The 123 Amax gives 30-30 like kills with a lot longer range. Minimal meat (edit: meat, not near) damage, a food blood trail and dead deer.
 
Newtosavage said:
Funny you mention the two because I ditched the Grendel to go back to the 7.62x39. Why? Because it kills better IME.
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Bfh_auto said:
The 123 Amax gives 30-30 like kills with a lot longer range. Minimal meat (edit: meat, not near) damage, a food blood trail and dead deer.
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That's been about my experience with the 123s at 2450 as well. I don't care to track so the last couple deer I popped with the 6.5AR I just put a couple rounds into each.

The only deer I've seen taken with the x39, were shot by my buddy with an sks and 124 get soft points. All took at least 100yds of tracking, or a second round.

I'm loading the 123s considerably hotter than 2450 in my 527, so we'll see how they do.
 
LoonWulf said:
That's been about my experience with the 123s at 2450 as well. I don't care to track so the last couple deer I popped with the 6.5AR I just put a couple rounds into each.

The only deer I've seen taken with the x39, were shot by my buddy with an sks and 124 get soft points. All took at least 100yds of tracking, or a second round.

I'm loading the 123s considerably hotter than 2450 in my 527, so we'll see how they do.
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I should have said the .264 AMAX. We load it somewhere around 2900 fps. It definitely isn't a light switch. I've never used the .311 123 gr.
 
Bfh_auto said:
I should have said the .264 AMAX. We load it somewhere around 2900 fps. It definitely isn't a light switch. I've never used the .311 123 gr.
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Interesting, I haven't driven them nearly that fast.
I thought you were using them slower for some reason, probably because I just assumed they would expand and kill quicker as speed increased. I've usually switched to the 140-147s as velocity starts to get that high.
It's good to know they don't blow up too bad close to 3k, I'll have to try some of them in my faster 6.5s
 
taliv said:
to be perfectly honest, out of all the cartridges available today, i still think a 260AI is pretty friggin awesome, with 2 changes since the years I competed with it:
- needs more oal, which you have
- needs small primer pockets, which are available now
i've thought for a few years about building another. being able to launch 140g hybrids over 3000 fps is pretty impressive for a short action with 40something grains of powder instead of the recoil that comes with 60something grains of powder
Click to expand...

mshootnit said:
Just for furry stuff, depending on how much furry, I would handload some 129 gr-130 gr. @ max safe velocity. Then just slog around with it and a good set of sticks.
Click to expand...

LoonWulf said:
That's been about my experience with the 123s at 2450 as well. I don't care to track so the last couple deer I popped with the 6.5AR I just put a couple rounds into each.

The only deer I've seen taken with the x39, were shot by my buddy with an sks and 124 get soft points. All took at least 100yds of tracking, or a second round.

I'm loading the 123s considerably hotter than 2450 in my 527, so we'll see how they do.
Click to expand...
Gents.......I may be a lost cause......an ai launching a 156 berger may not be something i can walk away from.......i was not aware of the 156 until a few minutes ago.....now i may be doomed (and sleeping on the couch for an undetermined amount of time). I'm using HodgDon data for the 153 and 160 and then guesstimating but I'm thinking I could stay north of 2800......if y'all never hear from me again I thank my fellow noble enablers and contact the redheaded woman with the evil glare for purchase of any of my shooting assets ;).
 
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