Maybe just a couple more .260 questions

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Shmackey

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So I've been thinking of making the next barrel for my favorite rifle a .260 Remington instead of a .308 Win.

Thanks largely to Zak's articles, I'm pretty well convinced that I might as well do it, even if it means sitting down for a whole day to reform my .308 brass. That being said, a couple more questions if you don't mind:

1. Does .260 Rem give up anything to .308 Win in terms of inherent "shooting-for-groups" accuracy? As much as I enjoy shooting steel out at 600 yards, I probably shoot at 100-yard paper 20 times more. And when I find myself shooting at paper, I'm always going for that 0.25" group instead of that 0.75" group. Presumably, both cartridges give up something to the 6-mm benchrest-oriented stuff.

2. A friend asked me this the other day, and I had no answer: Why are we always looking at short-action cartridges for long-range shooting? I suppose I shouldn't say I had no answer. I pointed out that the 6.5x284 and a couple of magnum cartridges I know are real barrel-eaters, for one.

Anyway, the first question is likely more important, as I do want to keep the existing action on this rifle. If there's a logical third option in the .260/.308 world that smokes them both for "micro-accuracy," for lack of a better term, I might need to look into that cartridge too. I suspect it makes no difference until you get to the real stubby weird stuff, though. :)
 
Does .260 Rem give up anything to .308 Win in terms of inherent "shooting-for-groups" accuracy?
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No.

2. A friend asked me this the other day, and I had no answer: Why are we always looking at short-action cartridges for long-range shooting?
Click to expand...

Plenty of folks shoot magnums, 30-06, etc...but a good number of folks doing target/practical shooting care only about drift/drop of a cartridge, not necessarily energy on target. With a short action round like the 260, you can achieve ballistics of a 300WM without being beat to death with recoil.
 
While accuracy is not a function of the cartrage itself some cartrages are prone to accurate behavior. Certain design features of the brass effect accuracy and loading versitility; short powder charges seem to slightly reduce fps variation, and longer necks support long high BC bullets better. Some calibers have a wider selection of quality match bullets 7.62, 7mm, 6mm and 6.5mm all come to mind. Has anyone here seen a 22-250, 270 Win, 25-06, or 375 H&H take gold in a 600 or 1000 yd match? Me neither. Now how many 6mm PPCs 6.5-284s, 6.5x55s, and 308s have you seen take 1st?
 
Yes it does make sence on paper, but then sadly the real world kicks in. The 25-06 is a highly overbore cartrage, more so then even hotrods like the 6.5-284. Barrel life goes out the window right out of the gate :(. Secondly there is bullet selection. Quarter bores are almost always a weak 1:10 twist meaning nobody makes exceptionaly long streamlined bullets for them :( Best I have seen thus far is the 115gr VLD with a .479BC I think. Not bad but nowhere near the .612BC of the 140gr 6.5mm.
25-06 makes a GREAT hunting round, it's nasty high speed impact and DRT shock kills are a thing of campfire legand, but as far as a long range match gun I would opt for the 260/6.5Creed/6.5x55/6.5-284 They are just better suited to the task.
 
Shooting for groups the .260 has an edge over .308 I believe. Yes it wont compare to a 6BR or 6PPC or a 30 BR but it does do 0.25 groups at 100m. 0.75 is possible with zero shooting skills.
 
No doubt the 260 has major advantages over the 308. Trajectory with it's 123gr match bullets runs neck and neck with hot loads form a 300 Win MAG!
 
I found 6.5x47 a little easier to load than .260 to find that "0.25 MOA" group load, but I could still find it either way. But the 6.5x47 gave up 100+ fps to the .260, which I didn't want to do for long-range shooting. The .260 hits the best compromise for shootability, cost, and long-range performance in my and many others' opinion. We are looking at short action cartridges for ability to work in the common DBM systems, and also in light of shootability and cost, we don't want or need a long-action cartridge.

.25-06 is a nonstarter due to lack of high BC .25 caliber bullets, but that's been covered many times before.

There is a place for 7mm RM and 7mm WSM, but if .260 is your 1200 yard cartridge, then those 7's are your 1600 yard cartridges.
 
6.5x55 is REMARKABLY easy to load, my first handloads were some 140gr SSTs with RL22, they were sub MOA all day long, that really made me feel like I knew what I was doing LOL.
 
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