Does anyone have experience with 260 REMINGTON?

[86er]

I would like to know if anyone has used this caliber, the favored bullets, performance with 16 1/2" barrel compared to 22"+, and terminal performance on game.

Think Savage 99 ...

[6pt-sika]

I've owned no less then 4 bolt action firearms for the 260 REM and I still own 2 of those !

I got a stainless synthetic Remington Model 7 first . This one has a 20" barrel and I still own it ! When I got this one the cartridge had just hit the market and mine was sent back to the factory before they would let me have it ! Something about needing to check the twist in the barrel !

The following year I purchased a second 260 , this one was a Remington also . And was stainless and synthetic , however it was a 700BDL SS with a detachable magazine . It also had a 24" barrel ! This one shot well just like the Model 7 . But it just wasn't as easy to cart around !

A year or so after that I picked up a Savage 510 Stainless Synthetic "Stryker" . This thing had a 16" barrel I think and was a really good shooter . But like the 700 BDL stainless it has since left me !

The last and surely not least 260 I acquired was a slightly used Remington XP100R . I've had this one about 3 years and have not shot it alot other then to sight it in for deer !

I suppose the other thing I should mention is the fact that I tried just about every 100 grain or heavier bullet in one or both of the rifle's at some point !

[6pt-sika]

I failed to mention earlier . I use the Nosler 125 grain Partition bullet in my little Model 7 and it knocks the proverbial FIRE out of deer around here !

In the two pistols I stuck more with the 120 grain Ballistic Tip and they did pretty well ! In the 700 BDL stainless the Nosler 120 BT shot well and killed all the deer I shot it at well !

[JJ_Miller]

As this is basically a 6.5x55 in a different form it works very well. I have a Ruger in 260 that I bought from a blowhard on the Ruger Forum that kept saying it would not shoot. After I repaired all the damage he had done it, I put factory Remington 140's in it and it shot nice 1.3 to 1.5 inch groups. It was the nut behind the trigger.

Well anyways I used it to take a Black Buck, Oryx and Axis Deer in TX. It worked as well as the most perfect rifle cartrridge ever devised by man.....the 6.5 Swede. It had a 22 inch bbl. I would think with a 100gn bullet it would do well out of a pistol..................................JJ

[O.S.O.K.]

Joe, that rifle that I shot the 4 horn with is a m94 swede sporter 17" barrel in 6.5x55 - 129 grain bullet at 2550. A .260 Rem will push that bullet faster - like 2700 fps from that length barrel - I just keep the loads down in defernce to the rifle's age.

[Old Savage]

Ron Carmichael, who owns The Gun Shop in Lancaster, Ca. and is an avid hunter, his son and grandson and two friends there all switched to the .260 a few years back. They have taken in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 deer and antelope with them with 5 different rifles - Savage and Remington. They all use the same load which Ron settled on after pretty thorough testing - 43 gr of IMR 4350 and a 120 gr bullet. Ron says they use the Barnes TSX or the ballistic tip but that the Sierra and Rem Coreloks also shoot well. Ron also mentioned that this is the load that Ken Waters liked best for his 263 Express. He thinks this is the best deer antelope cartridge available. The deer aren't particularly big and the antelope are similar.

[AJMD429]

No, but I see that DPMS offers their AR-15 platform chambered in that round (and .243, etc...). Sounds interesting.

[CEMENTHEAD]

I got to shoot a Kimber 84 Montana chambered in 260 today. To say I was impressed would be an understatement. The recoil was mild with factory loads (140gr Remington Corelokts) and handloads my friend brought with him ( 125gr Nosler Partitions @ 2850fps). Accuracy was good with the factory stuff 1.75-2.5" @ 200yds. The accuracy was phenomenal with the home brew, .75-1.25" @ 200yds with him shooting. I did a little "worse", 1.25-1.75" @ 200yds. I'm interested to see how these rounds do on game. He leaves later on this season to Texas for hogs and exotics. I wont get rid of my '06 or my 308 just yet but if I was in the market, oh boy, it would be that light, little Kimber for sure! Thanks, Tom

[86er]

Great replies - keep 'em coming! I have my eye on a tang safety Ruger 77 with a 16 1/2" barrel. What does not make sense it that the tang safety was not manufactured after 1989 and the 260 Rem was introduced in 1997. Maybe it's a re-barrel. Either way there is a Model 7 Remington sharing the rack with it for the same price. I wonder what the 16.5" barrel does to the velocity and what if any advantage the 20" Rem could have?

[86er]

Great replies - keep 'em coming! I have my eye on a tang safety Ruger 77 with a 16 1/2" barrel. What does not make sense it that the tang safety was not manufactured after 1989 and the 260 Rem was introduced in 1997. Maybe it's a re-barrel. Either way there is a Model 7 Remington sharing the rack with it for the same price. I wonder what the 16.5" barrel does to the velocity and what if any advantage the 20" Rem could have?

[Old Savage]

I have a model 7 and a few of the 77Rs with the tang. Both can be very accurate but each sometimes needs bedding. My Model 7 is a synthetic SS 7-08.

[PaulB]

I have a 260 in the Browning 1885 Low Wall, one of the cutest guns out there. It has a 24" barrel but is pretty short with that short action. It is also pretty light, so it kicks more than I like (small, hard plastic buttplate).

I haven't done any hunting with it because my hunting rifles get dinged a bit, and when I wasn't looking this gun turned into a $2000 rifle! Too much to get scratched if you ask me. I guess they are pretty rare in this caliber and the price has skyrocketed. So it is now a safe queen. I should either sell it or use it though...

[6pt-sika]

I got to shoot a Kimber 84 Montana chambered in 260 today. To say I was impressed would be an understatement. The recoil was mild with factory loads (140gr Remington Corelokts) and handloads my friend brought with him ( 125gr Nosler Partitions @ 2850fps). Accuracy was good with the factory stuff 1.75-2.5" @ 200yds. The accuracy was phenomenal with the home brew, .75-1.25" @ 200yds with him shooting. I did a little "worse", 1.25-1.75" @ 200yds. I'm interested to see how these rounds do on game. He leaves later on this season to Texas for hogs and exotics. I wont get rid of my '06 or my 308 just yet but if I was in the market, oh boy, it would be that light, little Kimber for sure! Thanks, Tom

I've been handloading the Nosler 125 Partition for my little stainless Model 7 since the third year I had it !

For me the 125 Partition was a better killing bullet then the 120 Ballistic Tip . Although I probably killed 6 or 8 deer with the 120 grainer I have taken twenty seven deer total with a 260 REM .

The 125 Partition in my rifle kept three under a half inch at 100 yards when the gun was comparatively new and before I decided I needed to try every possible deer bullet I could find in it !

By my load book I tried well over 200 different loads in this gun at about 6 shots per load .

[6pt-sika]

I have a 260 in the Browning 1885 Low Wall, one of the cutest guns out there. It has a 24" barrel but is pretty short with that short action. It is also pretty light, so it kicks more than I like (small, hard plastic buttplate).

I haven't done any hunting with it because my hunting rifles get dinged a bit, and when I wasn't looking this gun turned into a $2000 rifle! Too much to get scratched if you ask me. I guess they are pretty rare in this caliber and the price has skyrocketed. So it is now a safe queen. I should either sell it or use it though...

I wanted one of those when they came out and never seemed to have the money when I ran across one !

Now at 2G's I KNOW I'll never have enough to get one !

[6pt-sika]

I have a model 7 and a few of the 77Rs with the tang. Both can be very accurate but each sometimes needs bedding. My Model 7 is a synthetic SS 7-08.

I never bedded my Model 7 SS 260 .

Usually all I ever do is shim them up with aluminum press plate or Hodgdon plastic from the powder cans !

I have about 8 rifles shimmed up at the moment and they all do well !

My reason for this as opposed to actually bedding and floating is in case I decide I want to send them down the road . Around here it's usually easier to get a decent price for a gun that appears to not have been messed with . Therefore I shim , then shoot . If the gun doesn't want to do what I want after a fair trial , I then pull the shims out pop the action back in the stock and send it on it's merry way !

[Old Savage]

6pt - this one my wife helped me bed the M7. It used to be a 1 5/8" gun but now is subinch with many loads including the smallest I have ever shot. The synthetics I have looked at in that model can be quite variable in the stock to metal fit.