.260 Remington range report

[derrelw]

Savage 11FCNS .260 short action w Douglas XX 1-9 twist 22" barrel.
Lapua .260 brass
120gr SMK
Federal lrp
43gr H-4350
2.850 oal
2750fps (average)
1" groups at 100yds
No signs of over pressure

I'm going to try bumping up the load 1/2 grain at a time and try to shrink the groups.

Any thoughts?

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: .260 Remington range report

Not too many.

.5gr increments may be larger than ideal. I use .3gr increments, load 20 rounds per increment, and shoot 5rd groups.

I know this may sound excessive; but it eliminates both guesswork and the likelihood that marksmanship performance might exert an undue bias on the results.

For magazine feeding, I prefer the 120MK and 140SMK over the 142SMK. The 140 A-Max is another good mainstream bullet. Nosler Ballistic Tips and Partitions are excellent hunting buillets.

I like the CCI BR-2's.

The .260 performs very well, and does not need hotloading to give outstanding performance. Good loads can be found that do not overtax the brass or the bore. With reasonable loads, Rem brass is quite good. My best brass starts as Winchester 7-08. I'm sure Lapua is great stuff, but the Rem and Win does very nicely after basic prep, too.

Greg

 

[oldfatguy]

Re: .260 Remington range report

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: derrelw</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Savage 11FCNS .260 short action w Douglas XX 1-9 twist 22" barrel.
Lapua .260 brass
120gr SMK
Federal lrp
43gr H-4350
2.850 oal
2750fps (average)
1" groups at 100yds
No signs of over pressure

I'm going to try bumping up the load 1/2 grain at a time and try to shrink the groups.

<span style="color: #FF0000">Any thoughts?</span>
</div></div>

You might look at Dan Newberry's OCW method. Works very well with fewer rounds.

OFG

 

[Jaxdialation]

Re: .260 Remington range report

OCW seems to stump people. There are many posts asking for interpretation of results, and often disagreement about the results.

I just found my 260 load yesterday. I start with a pressure test, then drop 1.5 grains down and work back up in. 2gr increments. ( I stole this method from ChadTRG who has loaded a few 260s) I do this with a chrony, and shoot the loads in round robin fashion. I always do 5 shot groups. So round robin like OCW, but 5 round groups, and small steps. The sweet spot emerges via group and chrony data.
On this rifle, like many 260s has several places where it is accurate.

I looked at the groups from the 1st step, and since I followed the OCW method, I figured the answer would emerge. What I <span style="font-weight: bold">would have picked for OCW</span> was a mediocre load. No worries, common sense led me to a load that shoots sub MOA repetitively at 285 yards. And it does it with solid SD statistics so I'm hopeful I have my 1000 load too

This .335 moa group is at 285 yards where I do my load Testing.

Lot's of times OCW is highlighted as requiring fewer rounds. Irrelevant for me, because a new rifle needs some rounds down it anyway to get consistent.

 

[oldfatguy]

Re: .260 Remington range report

Your method seems to work very well for you. Excellent shooting.

The OCW method is more about finding the accuracy "nodes" with no regard for group size. And that is where I am sorely tempted to go with the best groups. If I am real lucky a node will also have one of the smallest groups.

OFG

 

[Jaxdialation]

Re: .260 Remington range report

I agree OFG. That load needs to be tested at 600 this weekend.

There is a fast node at 2850 and a slightly slower one at 2780fps.

I'm kinda stunned that a 23" barrel will throw lead that fast. 8.5 twist might be a factor.

 

[derrelw]

Re: .260 Remington range report

Thanks guys I'll try the .3gr increments and post results this weekend. Do you think the 9 twist is too slow for 130 or 140 grain lead? (I want to try some Berger vld's also)

 

[oldfatguy]

Re: .260 Remington range report

One way to find out..... I'm loading 142 SMKs for a 1:8.5 so the 1:9 should work.

OFG