260 questions

[Centerfire01]

Just ordered 100/4ph6050 260 cases cases from mile high. Are these small or large rifle primer?

searched and read some info about 6.5 projectiles and am in between hybrids and elds (140 class)

its a 1/8 twist 26” barrel

looking at using 4350 for powder

Any guidance from those reloading for this caliber is much appreciated!

 

[david8989]

I would develop a load with reloader 16 instead of 4350, which has become a pain in the ass to locate. Also I tested both the hybrids and ELD-M bullets and couldn't see enough of a difference with me on the gun to spend the extra on the hybrids. As for the brass, sorry I can't help ya on that

 

[Steel head]

If your just gonna be shooting 1000 or less look into the 130’s

further I find the 140 and 147’s nice.

My favorite 260 bullets are the 142SMK for easy accuracy at realistic distances.

The 140 Hybrids, always consistent even when shooting beyond realistic distances.
The 147 ELDM for both groups if that’s your thing and results at a mile+

I’m currently looking into the 130’s as well.

R16 is the new go to powder like H4350 was.

In fact I even liked 4451 better than H4350 after burning a jug of it.

 

[Doom]

OP,

To answer your question, Large Rife Primers.

 

[TxWelder35]

I’m still using 4350. Got lucky and found 2 jugs locally for $180 each

not a popular bullet but I’ve had extremely good results with the 136gr Lapua Scenar

 

[Steel head]

also,,,,,,

Never forget!

 

[Steel head]

I’m still using 4350. Got lucky and found 2 jugs locally for $180 each

not a popular bullet but I’ve had extremely good results with the 136gr Lapua Scenar

I’ve always wanted to try the scenar’s
People say they’re easy to load for like the 142’s.

 

[TxWelder35]

I’ve always wanted to try the scenar’s
People say they’re easy to load for like the 142’s.

I’ve managed to score 3k them for 30 cents each. I’m not sure I’d pay full retail for them at 45 cents each.

i will say they have been very consistent

 

[Steel head]

OP

For a cheap plinker bullet the hornandy 140 BTHP is pretty damn decent

I busted my 1000 yard cherry with them.

 

[clcustom1911]

I'm pretty much done testing with the 142 SMK. Awesome bullet and I'm going to be buying a shit ton more.

 

[Steel head]

I'm pretty much done testing with the 142 SMK. Awesome bullet and I'm going to be buying a shit ton more.

It’s easy mode and FGMM 142 ammo hammers in my rifle.
I just wish they were a bit cheaper.

 

[TxWelder35]

OP

For a cheap plinker bullet the hornandy 140 BTHP is pretty damn decent

I busted my 1000 yard cherry with them.

Buddy is trying out the Barnes match burners right now with really good results for similar pricing

 

[TxWelder35]

It’s easy mode and FGMM 142 ammo hammers in my rifle.
I just wish they were a bit cheaper.

Fgmm is very mediocre in mine. It’s 1 moa ammo in my gun. Best factory ammo I tried was the Berger 136 Scenar ammo at 1/2-3/4 moa. Hence what led me to buy a bunch of them. My hand loads are in the .2s at 100 and .5s at distance

 

[hafejd30]

Lapua Brass
CCI BR2/200 primer
42.5 gr H4350
142 SMK .010” off lands

2835 FPS Unsuppressed

Criterion 26” 1/8

300 yard and 600 yard targets below. Longest hits with this setup is 1,792 yds

 

[Steel head]

Fgmm is very mediocre in mine. It’s 1 moa ammo in my gun. Best factory ammo I tried was the Berger 136 Scenar ammo at 1/2-3/4 moa. Hence what led me to buy a bunch of them. My hand loads are in the .2s at 100 and .5s at distance

I’ve shot a handful of 1” 5 shot groups at 300 yards with it.
Far and above what any other load
Including my own do.
My loads do beat it at vertical at distance at least.

 

[Centerfire01]

Hey y’all, great info so far! Thank you. I have not bought any powder for 260 yet. If y’all were me would you stay with 4350 or just Jump to rl16?

 

[Centerfire01]

Lapua Brass
CCI BR2/200 primer
42.5 gr H4350
142 SMK .010” off lands

2835 FPS Unsuppressed

Criterion 26” 1/8

300 yard and 600 yard targets below. Longest hits with this setup is 1,792 yds

View attachment 7233787View attachment 7233788

Awesome load! Thanks for sharing the data!

 

[TxWelder35]

Hey y’all, great info so far! Thank you. I have not bought any powder for 260 yet. If y’all were me would you stay with 4350 or just Jump to rl16?

how important is temperature sensitivity to you? Are you shooting suppressed?

 

[Centerfire01]

how important is temperature sensitivity to you? Are you shooting suppressed?

Tex,
Stability is not huge to me, I’d certainly like a small ES in all conditions but barrel life and accessibility are more important to me. It will be shot suppressed the majority of the time and the reported carbon fouling is of some concern. Albeit, I have no first hand experience with RL16 and it’s supposed carbon fouling. I’d like to have one profile in my kestrel and something I don’t have to go back to notes to make.

 

[Steel head]

I haven’t noticed any more carbon issues than any other powder I’ve used in my 260.

Accuracy, low ES, good temp stsband easy speed I have found with R16.

I’ve burned through 5+ pounds of it so far and can’t say a bad thing about R16 yet.

 

[lash]

I’ve always wanted to try the scenar’s
People say they’re easy to load for like the 142’s.

They are. I’ve been shooting 136 scenars for about 7 years now. I probably should adapt and go with some 130s, which have a much higher BC, but these just keep on keepin’ on.

 

[lash]

I’ve managed to score 3k them for 30 cents each. I’m not sure I’d pay full retail for them at 45 cents each.

i will say they have been very consistent

That’s the truth. I’ve been using scenars for years and have shot many, many thousands of them. Now, the price has gone too high to be reasonable, especially since there are a number of higher BC offerings for less these days.

 

[Centerfire01]

I haven’t noticed any more carbon issues than any other powder I’ve used in my 260.

Accuracy, low ES, good temp stsband easy speed I have found with R16.

I’ve burned through 5+ pounds of it so far and can’t say a bad thing about R16 yet.

That is precisely why I take most things I read on forums with a grain of salt. Are you shooting suppressed?

 

[Steel head]

That is precisely why I take most things I read on forums with a grain of salt. Are you shooting suppressed?

No

 

[lash]

I haven’t noticed any more carbon issues than any other powder I’ve used in my 260.

Accuracy, low ES, good temp stsband easy speed I have found with R16.

I’ve burned through 5+ pounds of it so far and can’t say a bad thing about R16 yet.

This is good to hear. I haven’t used RL16 yet, mostly because I have a pretty solid supply of H4350. But I’m not against it.

 

[Defender3]

I haven’t noticed any more carbon issues than any other powder I’ve used in my 260.

Accuracy, low ES, good temp stsband easy speed I have found with R16.

I’ve burned through 5+ pounds of it so far and can’t say a bad thing about R16 yet.

I have some RL-16 to try, what is your load? For the 142 SMKs in my 24" Proof (AI AX) I have a node at 42.1grs that produces 2835fps.

I've also been loading the 136s and here on the east coast and on a square range, they're very good out to my max, which is 1,000 for now. I'm going to take them out to a mile as soon as I can.

 

[Steel head]

 

[Centerfire01]

No

Regardless, I think ya might have me sold on the RL16 unless someone chimes in with a can and experience with the powder that says they’ve had issues. Thank you!

 

[Centerfire01]

I have some RL-16 to try, what is your load? For the 142 SMKs in my 24" Proof (AI AX) I have a node at 42.1grs that produces 2835fps.

I've also been loading the 136s and here on the east coast and on a square range, they're very good out to my max, which is 1,000 for now. I'm going to take them out to a mile as soon as I can.

What are you using to generate that chart?

 

[Defender3]

What are you using to generate that chart?

Excel

 

[Centerfire01]

Excel

I didn’t know if there was some fancy new software out there. I like how you store plot your data!

 

[Defender3]

I posted these in another thread, but here they are again. Your mileage may vary and those nodes are in my barrel and may not be the same in yours. You can also see some loads were conservative and there could be a second, higher velocity node. As with any load, work your way up on charges and don't jam the bullets into the lands.

ETA - Virgin Lapua brass @53.3grs of water with F210M primers.

 

[Defender3]

I didn’t know if there was some fancy new software out there. I like how you store plot your data!

It's a simple scatter chart.

 

[TxWelder35]

I haven’t noticed any more carbon issues than any other powder I’ve used in my 260.

Accuracy, low ES, good temp stsband easy speed I have found with R16.

I’ve burned through 5+ pounds of it so far and can’t say a bad thing about R16 yet.

Interesting. I’ve always read that the reloader series were temp sensitive and carbon fouled worse than H4350. Gonna do some research on temp sensitivity. I found this chart on here the other day.

i saw RL16 sitting on the shelf at a local place. Might need to try and work a load up for it.

 

[Centerfire01]

It's a simple scatter chart.

Not a Microsoft wizard, but I’ll find a tutorial somewhere lol!

 

[Centerfire01]

Y’all are awesome, thanks for the amount of guidance and info in this thread thus far. ?

 

[ShtrRdy]

I use H4350 behind a Berger 140 gr Hybrid in my .260 Rem.

 

[Defender3]

Not a Microsoft wizard, but I’ll find a tutorial somewhere lol!

Okay, welcome to being anal. Here's a dropbox link for the Excel Workbook with individual sheets for the differing scatter charts. It's titled Master and you should save that file as is. Once you do, open the file and rename it to whatever you like for your testing and data and save it with that new name. That way you have a working file for your data and if you screw that up, you still have the original master file as a fall back. Hit the link and then "Open," which shows a drop down with a "download" button. Please let me know if you can't download and edit this file.

If you don't know Excel, it's really not hard at all. You don't do anything to the chart, it self populates based off the data you enter on the left. All you need to worry about is cell B1 with the name of the powder and bullet, which can be highlighted and changed in the cell, or two rows above where the name also appears. You do the same with cells A2 through A15, just rename them to the charge weight you used, and the LR is a reference to which LabRadar file the velocity data resides. Just rinse and repeat for velocity data in cells B2 - B13. Use the chart to analyze velocities and determine your velocity node.

Dropbox Link

Since you're new to reloading, you may also want to tweak the jump to the lands so you combine the node charge with the optimal jump (using BTO, not COAL). There are plenty of explanations of all of this on the forum.

[/anal off]

 

[lash]

Okay, welcome to being anal. Here's a dropbox link for the Excel Workbook with individual sheets for the differing scatter charts. It's titled Master and you should save that file as is. Once you do, open the file and rename it to whatever you like for your testing and data. That way you have a working file for your data and if you screw that up, you still have the original master file as a fall back. Hit the link and then "Open," which shows a drop down with a "download" button. Please let me know if you can't download and edit this file.

If you don't know Excel, it's really not hard at all. You don't do anything to the chart, it self populates based off the data you enter on the left. All you need to worry about is cell B1 with the name of the powder and bullet, which can be highlighted and changed in the cell, or two rows above where the name also appears. You do the same with cells A2 through A15, just rename them to the charge weight you used, and the LR is a reference to which LabRadar file the velocity data resides. Just rinse and repeat for velocity data in cells B2 - B13. Use the chart to analyze velocities and determine your velocity node.

Dropbox Link

Since you're new to reloading, you may also want to tweak the jump to the lands so you combine the node charge with the optimal jump (using BTO, not COAL). There are plenty of explanations of all of this on the forum.

[/anal off]

Good work, lol. I can make all these myself, but since you did the work already, I’ll just use yours. Thanks.

 

[Steel head]

Interesting. I’ve always read that the reloader series were temp sensitive and carbon fouled worse than H4350. Gonna do some research on temp sensitivity. I found this chart on here the other day.

i saw RL16 sitting on the shelf at a local place. Might need to try and work a load up for it.

View attachment 7233959

That was certainly kinda the case but R16 and R23 were conjured up to get more in line with current demands.

 

[Downtown]

Thanks, Defender3. That's a great thing. Man, I love this site.

 

[briang7511]

some things you may find out down the road with bullet choices. The 260 is a longer oal cartridge so bullets like 140-147 gr will be longer and may have issues with jump and fitting in your mag (look into mags with out front plate inside like accurate). Since you have a 26in tube you can take advantage of some slower powders. H4831sc (hodgdon extreme powder so temp insensitive) will perform very well and found much easier than 4350. rl16 was just coming out and i never tried it in any of my 260s. im sure it will work very well. I used alot of the lapua 139-123 gr bullets and they are great bullets that wont have issues fitting into your mag. So my favorite 2 loads with the 260 were h4831sc with a 139 lapua 26in tube 2830fps, and a shorter 23in tube i used varget and 123 lapua @ 3000fps which worked very well in match use.

 

[Centerfire01]

Okay, welcome to being anal. Here's a dropbox link for the Excel Workbook with individual sheets for the differing scatter charts. It's titled Master and you should save that file as is. Once you do, open the file and rename it to whatever you like for your testing and data and save it with that new name. That way you have a working file for your data and if you screw that up, you still have the original master file as a fall back. Hit the link and then "Open," which shows a drop down with a "download" button. Please let me know if you can't download and edit this file.

If you don't know Excel, it's really not hard at all. You don't do anything to the chart, it self populates based off the data you enter on the left. All you need to worry about is cell B1 with the name of the powder and bullet, which can be highlighted and changed in the cell, or two rows above where the name also appears. You do the same with cells A2 through A15, just rename them to the charge weight you used, and the LR is a reference to which LabRadar file the velocity data resides. Just rinse and repeat for velocity data in cells B2 - B13. Use the chart to analyze velocities and determine your velocity node.

Dropbox Link

Since you're new to reloading, you may also want to tweak the jump to the lands so you combine the node charge with the optimal jump (using BTO, not COAL). There are plenty of explanations of all of this on the forum.

[/anal off]

Thank you for a very thorough explanation and that master file. I’ll definitely continue to search around the hide for .260 information. I kind of fell into .260 buying this AI from euro optic. I wasn’t going to pay another 800 for 6.5 Creedmoor when I was gaining another 100+ FPS with 260 and saving that amount.

 

[Centerfire01]

some things you may find out down the road with bullet choices. The 260 is a longer oal cartridge so bullets like 140-147 gr will be longer and may have issues with jump and fitting in your mag (look into mags with out front plate inside like accurate). Since you have a 26in tube you can take advantage of some slower powders. H4831sc (hodgdon extreme powder so temp insensitive) will perform very well and found much easier than 4350. rl16 was just coming out and i never tried it in any of my 260s. im sure it will work very well. I used alot of the lapua 139-123 gr bullets and they are great bullets that wont have issues fitting into your mag. So my favorite 2 loads with the 260 were h4831sc with a 139 lapua 26in tube 2830fps, and a shorter 23in tube i used varget and 123 lapua @ 3000fps which worked very well in match use.

That’s cool you’re pushing the 123’s that fast!

 

[Steel head]

Thank you for a very thorough explanation and that master file. I’ll definitely continue to search around the hide for .260 information. I kind of fell into .260 buying this AI from euro optic. I wasn’t going to pay another 800 for 6.5 Creedmoor when I was gaining another 100+ FPS with 260 and saving that amount.

Here’s a really helpful place.

.260 Remington

GenochristXFirst Sergeant Rating: 3.6/5 this site 2131 posts this site 260 loads 10/07/2014 Let's get these separate from the other 6.5mm loads 260 Rem Tacmatch chamber 260 rem brass 140gr berger vld .010" off the lands Win LR primer H4350 43.5gr 2900fps out of a 27" rock barrel Single...

www.snipershide.com

 

[Defender3]

Thank you for a very thorough explanation and that master file. I’ll definitely continue to search around the hide for .260 information. I kind of fell into .260 buying this AI from euro optic. I wasn’t going to pay another 800 for 6.5 Creedmoor when I was gaining another 100+ FPS with 260 and saving that amount.

I've shot .260 for several years now originally starting with a LaRue gasser with a 22" barrel (which I still have and routinely shoot to 1,000). I then bought a succession of bolt guns finally landing on the .260 AI AX that I also bought as a demo from EuroOptic (my second .260 AI).

It's a half dozen of one and 6 of another discussion. JMHO, but 6.5 was flavor of the day; longer neck and like jamming a telephone pole into the chamber whereas the .260's shoulder mimics the 308. I've not had any issues loading for the AI mag and getting the extra case capacity (more velocity) is a bonus.

.260 Master Race continues while the flavor of the day is now 6mm CM.

 

[Centerfire01]

I haven’t noticed any more carbon issues than any other powder I’ve used in my 260.

Accuracy, low ES, good temp stsband easy speed I have found with R16.

I’ve burned through 5+ pounds of it so far and can’t say a bad thing about R16 yet.

What bullets are you shooting with RL16?

 

[Centerfire01]

Is anyone shooting a 140 Or 147 ELD? They seem like the cheapest offering locally with a great BC.

 

[Steel head]

What bullets are you shooting with RL16?

147 eldm’s

 

[Defender3]

Is anyone shooting a 140 Or 147 ELD? They seem like the cheapest offering locally with a great BC.

I posted a chart with the 140 ELD-M and RL-16 above. From what I've seen, most people shoot the 147 ELD-M with great success.

I'm shooting the 142gr SMK in my Proof barrel as it's a very forgiving round and I found 500 of them at a killer price.

Buy a box of the 147s and 142s locally and work a load, then check the sales and buy what works.

Why are you going to the 140gr class instead of, for example, a 130gr? Wind, distance, etc.? Where are you shooting? What rifle and whose barrel?