.260 (6.5mm) Barrel life

Status
Not open for further replies.
N

NELSONs02

Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2008
Messages
340
So I'm eventually going to start reloading .260 Remington.

My questions is, What would be worse on a .260 barrel: Shooting the shorter 120-123 grain bullets @ 3000 fps or shooting the really long 140 + grain bullets @ ~ 2800 fps.

I'm thinking about compromising and using the 139 Lapua @ a slower speed, maybe 2700 fps?

I'm only shooting at 600 yards so both the 120's & 140's will do fine but I feel the 140's might fight the wind better.

Just wanting to get the most out of my rifle.
 
I think you're putting way to much thought into it. Shoot whatever gives you the results you want be it accuracy, downrange performance or whatever.

In the big picture, barrels are a consumable product.

If you shoot enough, you will replace it. It's just part of the game.

If you're only hunting/occasional range practice, I'd venture to say you'll never have problems.
 
You're worrying needlessly. Unless you shoot more than a hundred rounds a week, the barrel will shoot accurately for many years. Use the bullet of your choice, and the ones that group well for you.
High BC bullets usually buck the wind the best.

If you get serious about competing in long range matches, You might want to replace your barrel with one of the premium brands anyway.



NCsmitty
 
What will burn your throat out quicker, are the double-based powders used with the heavy bullets. If you are just going out to 600 yards, I would use something like the 123gr Lapua Scenar with a single-base powder.

Don
 
I am still on my original .260 barrel (a Rock Creek) from 2006. It might be getting close to its end-- I was getting some un-accounted-for misses at the last few matches of this season. I'll bench it soon to figure that out.

Most of its life so far, it has shot 139's @ about 2800 fps using H4350. For the last just over a year, I've shot the 139's at 2900 fps using RL17.

Only three local guys I know who built .260's (including Ackleys) or 6.5x47's in the last 5 years have replaced their barrels: one .260AI with around 3000 through it; one 6.5x47 that had always shot super hot loads (don't remember the round count); and one .260 that shot about 18 months worth of hot loads (139 @ 2980 fps).

If you load to a reasonable level given the power (ie, not more than 2850 with H4350/H4831SC and not more than 2925 fps with RL17), the barrel should last quite a long time, probably 3500-4500 rounds.
 
Zak Smith said:
I am still on my original .260 barrel (a Rock Creek) from 2006. It might be getting close to its end-- I was getting some un-accounted-for misses at the last few matches of this season. I'll bench it soon to figure that out.

Most of its life so far, it has shot 139's @ about 2800 fps using H4350. For the last just over a year, I've shot the 139's at 2900 fps using RL17.

Only three local guys I know who built .260's (including Ackleys) or 6.5x47's in the last 5 years have replaced their barrels: one .260AI with around 3000 through it; one 6.5x47 that had always shot super hot loads (don't remember the round count); and one .260 that shot about 18 months worth of hot loads (139 @ 2980 fps).

If you load to a reasonable level given the power (ie, not more than 2850 with H4350/H4831SC and not more than 2925 fps with RL17), the barrel should last quite a long time, probably 3500-4500 rounds.
Click to expand...
If I can get 3500 rounds of 139's @ 2850 I'd be happy. This is just for my enjoyment, no competition. I'll probably have to really work to shoot that much.

I don't even know if the Remington can keep up with the other 6.5's in the open class anyways...

Thanks for the feedback guys.
 
USSR said:
What will burn your throat out quicker, are the double-based powders used with the heavy bullets. If you are just going out to 600 yards, I would use something like the 123gr Lapua Scenar with a single-base powder.

Don
Click to expand...
The 123 Scenars are impressive. For what I'm doing I will for sure look into that.

Thanks
 
Figuring barrel life is tricky stuff. I have read, from what I consider to be a credible source, that barrel life is based on bore diameter and powder mass. Big bores shooting small amounts of powder will last while small bores using large amounts of powder will wear faster.

Since heavier bullets use less powder, generally, I would think you'd get more life that way.

This article is the source of the information I shared:

http://yarchive.net/gun/barrel/barrel_life.html
 
SGT Sherri Gallagher used a 260 Remington in a Tubb Rifle to win the National Championships and set a new National Record. http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com...uses-260-rem-to-win-national-hp-championship/

I asked some shooting buds the accuracy life of a 260 Rem and they said about 1700 rounds. The article states the barrel has 2000 rounds, which would not be of significance if it was not a high round count barrel.

The sort of accuracy requirements that a hard holder like Ms. Gallagher needs at 600 yards are orders of magnitude higher than what a hunter needs at 300 yards.

Bud's who were using these thing as an XTC cartridge were using lighter loads at 300 yards to extend barrel life. This round has such good ballistics that you don't need full power all the time.

I have pulled for Michelle Gallagher and pulled next to Sherri. The Gallagher girls are wonderful people and amazing shots.

Congrats to Sherri!
 
I checked with the other guys. At 2200 rounds of a 139 @ 2980 fps, it was flinging weird shots from time to time.

That is super hot for a .260, and less life than the guy shooting .260AI with 142's at 2950.

With a more mild load like 2800-2900 fps, I think 3500+ is doable. Like I said, I'm still on my first barrel.
 
A little off subject here but I was told that Savage is going to start offering rifles in .260 Remington again.

They have the "Long Range Hunter" in 6.5x284 right now so it seems like they're really catching the 6.5 bug.
 
SlamFire1 said:
SGT Sherri Gallagher used a 260 Remington in a Tubb Rifle to win the National Championships and set a new National Record. http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com...uses-260-rem-to-win-national-hp-championship/

I asked some shooting buds the accuracy life of a 260 Rem and they said about 1700 rounds. The article states the barrel has 2000 rounds, which would not be of significance if it was not a high round count barrel.

The sort of accuracy requirements that a hard holder like Ms. Gallagher needs at 600 yards are orders of magnitude higher than what a hunter needs at 300 yards.

Bud's who were using these thing as an XTC cartridge were using lighter loads at 300 yards to extend barrel life. This round has such good ballistics that you don't need full power all the time.

I have pulled for Michelle Gallagher and pulled next to Sherri. The Gallagher girls are wonderful people and amazing shots.

Congrats to Sherri!
Click to expand...
That's funny, I had actually read this article before making the thread. I've pretty much soaked up everything the interweb has to offer on the .260 and 6.5mm's in general.

It seems like the light loads that Sherri used really aided in barrel life....... I wish I could afford a T2k.
 
In my limited knowledge with the .260 the sweet spot for it seems to be north of 2750 fps. That being said I got more than 10 reloads per case from RP brass, and I swapped my barrel right around 2400. I still have it, because the last time I shot it, it would still consistently hold sub-MoA but not sub 0.5 MoA.

I used 40.4 grain of N 540 under a 139 Scenar with groups averaging about .4 inches at 100 meters. YMMW, and I worked that load up very slowly.
 
afy, what velocity did that 540 load give you? what barrel length?
 
Sorry to bring this old thread back to life but I guess Lapua is making .260 brass now? You guys probably know this already but I just looked at their website under the "New Products" tab.

That's kinda neat
 
Just for the record: The young lady who won the High Power Championship at Camp Perry in 2010, and set a new national record for the course, was using a .260 and her ammo was loaded in Remington brass.
 
I know many people who are shooting .260 Remington. About half of them use Remington brass and have no problem with it. A fraction of the others have tried the Remington brass and switched becasue of consistency or quality issues. The rest of the non-Rem half avoided it from the start based on its reputation.
 
Zak,

What load did you settle on for the 260 & 139gr Scenar? One of your articles mentions 40.7 and the other say's just over 41 grains of H4350.

So far i've only worked with the 142 match kings and I'm having a hard time finding info for the 139 Lapuas.
 
Taliv: No idea about velocity. No chrono. My guess is about 28xx fps. Barrel is a 28 inch 1:8 Lothar Walther on a Savage 110.

Am currently using a 6 BR barrel which is almost boringly averaging 0.3 inch groups at 100 meters. That is when I do not act like an idiot and try and 'will' my groups rather than paying attention to how I am shooting.
 
36.5 grains of varget with 123 smks, 123 a maxs, and 130 grain accubonds. 36 grains of varget for the 140s and 142s out of my remington 700 vls. produces great accuracy, good velocity. Nosler custom brass is what I use. works really well.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

A
  • Locked
Ammunition for the .260's Test on Saturday
Replies
3
Views
496
Afy
A
Unicorn_Prince
  • Locked
260 Rem 140 gr GMX Load Data?
Replies
20
Views
2K
Unicorn_Prince
Unicorn_Prince
O
  • Locked
Compare/Contrast .260 Rem with 6.5x55
Replies
5
Views
826
Ogre
O
Bayourambler
  • Locked
Bullet weight suggestions for short barrels
Replies
19
Views
2K
Varminterror
Varminterror
Legionnaire
  • Locked
.260 Ackley Hunting Bullet Recommendation
Replies
13
Views
770
Mykey
M
Back
Top