.260 Mountain Rifle

[subfan]

Close to closing a deal on a Remington Mountain rifle in .260. I was wondering what the feeling is on the gun and the round. I do not have any remingtons in the inventory and never paid much attention to the .260 until recently. Ammo seems scarce. Gun is for deer/antelope and for use by me and my daughter. Figured she could handle the recoil from what I hear about it.

[gonehunting]

It's a good rifle, I considered buying one in a 30-06 a while back, but decided against it because Winchester brought back the controlled round feed action. It would be fine for deer/antelope but you are right, the .260 isn't as popular as some cartridges so bullet selection and availability in factory loads will less. One thing to keep in mind, since the mountain rifle is built to be light for easy carrying up rugged terrain, that there will be more felt recoil when shooting.

[fremont]

Fantastic round IMO. With high quality bullets up to ~140 grains in .264", there's not that many North American game animals that can't be taken handily. (Please don't flame me about grizzlies, etc.....you know what I'm talking about )

I want one, though, in a compact rifle. Here's my dream gun. Winchester compact 20" in .243 Win rechambered and rebored to 260 Remington. Oh, yeah!

[Shane]

That little Titanium in .260 handles like a dream. Nice!

[AMMOe]

Don't forget the 160 grain round nose bullets by Hornady and Norma. The have anchored many head of elk-sized game from 6.5x55's. There is actually a good selection of 6.5 bullets out there. The cartridge has about the same case capacity as a 6.5x55 and should be an excellent all around rifle. Handload, for Heaven's sake! You can then tailor your loads to suit your terrain and your daughter. ( ) ~AMMOe

[subfan]

Fortunately I do reload and am looking at dies now. I have Hornady .300 WSM and Redding 45-70 dies for tradding fodder if someone is interested.

[fremont]

Originally posted by AMMOe@Oct 6 2004, 07:17 AM
Don't forget the 160 grain round nose bullets by Hornady and Norma.

AMMOe's right. My Norma reloading manual shows that they have a 156 bonded bullet (Oryx) which is getting in the 2500-2600 FPS range out of the 260 Rem. This sounds potent.

My own personal preference would be to use a bonded bullet where possible. (The Hornady may be their Interlock design, but it is not bonded like Norma's Oryx.)

[subfan]

What is the largest game animal that you would consider with that Norma load? Is the twist in the Remington condusive to that heavy of a bullet?

[fremont]

Originally posted by subfan@Oct 7 2004, 04:44 AM
What is the largest game animal that you would consider with that Norma load?### Is the twist in the Remington condusive to that heavy of a bullet?

I would have no hesitancy going after an elk-sized animal with a 260 Rem round topped by that particular Norma bonded bullet (and moving at >2500 FPS).

Re: the twist question, I crunched a couple of numbers tonight. (Let's hope I got the math right. ) The Remington 260 Rem Mountain Rifle DM has a 1:9 twist rate (per Remington's website). Using the Greenhill formula (Desired twist rate = 150 x [bullet diameter divided by (bullet length divided by bullet diameter)], I get a bullet length of slightly over 1.16" that corresponds to a 1:9 twist rate. Now, let's compare that to the lengths of some representative Barnes 6.5mm (.264") bullets: 120 grain (1.222"); 130 grain Triple Shok (1.327") and 140 grain (1.360"). If a 1.16" bullet corresponds to a 1:9 twist rate, then look at these other (hypothetical) length bullets (and the resulting calculated twist rates): 1.20" (1:8.7), 1.30" (1:8.0) and 1.40" (1:7.5). What's the length on a 156 grain Norma Oryx? Don't know. Not even sure if it's longer than a 140 Barnes. But, it's fair to guess that it's greater than 1.16", the point at which a 1:9 twist is too slow for bigger, longer bullets.

What do custom barrel manufacturers have to say? A good example is Pac-Nor Barrels in Oregon (www.pac-nor.com). For 6.5mm barrels, they go as fast as a 1:7 twist rate (in a 4-groove barrel). Their website indicates that their most popular barrels in .264" are 5-groove models with either 1:8 or 1:9 twist rates.

Moral of the story? If it were me--and I had the option--I would certainly opt for a faster twist rate than 1:9, given the bullets I'd want to run through it (140's, and I like Barnes X-bullets). A lot of experts like to say "When in doubt, it's better to twist it faster than too slow." 1:9 probably works great for quite a large number of manufacturers' 120 grain bullets, but it's too slow for my wants.

[subfan]

Fremont,

That was a wealth of information! Thanks

[fremont]

Subfan,

Just curious....did you ever buy the 260 Mtn gun?

[earschplitinloudenboomer]

Combined effort of Carmichael/Huntinton and Remington to develope a "shootability" package...gun/cartridge/shooter. Round has plenty of horsepower for even large whitetails, good penetration, low recoil and initially chambered in rifles easily handled by younger or small framed shooters @$^%&# hang political correctness!!!!!!!!!!...young or female shooters! A very nice package originally aimed at particular market. As I grow older, that light recoil, light rifle concept looks pretty good to me...'an my frame aint that small anymore.

[subfan]

I got it a while back and topped it with the Leupold 2.5x8. I just have to find the time to shoot it. Worked up some loads too.

[huntducks]

Hey Subfan

I have a Ruger in 260 have owned it for 3 years now, it's one sweet shooting rifle, I have tried every bullet you can think from 77gr Norma to 140gr Hornady of the bunch the best shooting one in my rifle is the 100gr Nosler BT using RL-15 powder and Rem primers, second would be the 85gr Sierra using H-380 and third would be the Hornady 140gr interlock using RL-15 and Fed mag primers, the Nosler BT really shoot well 1" groups plus that's the grain bullet I was looking & hoping it would shoot for a Antelope gun, I was just at the range yesterday shooting 77gr Norma and 120gr Rem CL between the loads bullet combo along with the worst trigger I have ever seen on a factory rifle 8lbs I was all over the paper 3" was about avg.

I have found that H-380 in my rifle has less recoil then RL-15 and groups almost as well so a young lady should have no trouble shooting the 260 and like someone said as I get older I find it very pleasent to shoot.

[subfan]

Right on... Remington needs to get the word out on this gem of a cartridge. Wondering why they are not hyping it up Maybe they are too busy with the SAUM rounds.

[DATUM]

If you Ack Imp the .260 you just about come up with 6.5x284 vel. neat round. One of the guys that shoot a local 600 yard shoot has won it quite a few times with it.

[shrike]

The .260 will shine as a deer round with the occasional opportunity to hammer a moose or elk if one would be encountered while deer hunting. Any which can be handily potted with a 140 grain premium like a Nosler partition or Barnes TSX. Meaning I would not pass up a good shot on moose or elk if I was armed with the .260.


However if I would go specifically for moose or elk I would carry something bigger that makes good entry and exit holes.

[Railguner]

I shoot a 6.5x284 with a 140gr Burger VLD @ 2950 with it's .612 BC you can knock down any elk out to silly ranges. Heck of a long range deer round in the right hands. RG

[Rick]

Wow - this topic was almost 5 years old? :)

[Mntngoat]

my first wild pig at about 165 lbs was taken with a custom model 7 in .260 shooting 140 grain partitions over Vhit N160. The .260 is a fantastic round and since you hand load its is even better. dropped it on the 1st shot.

ML

[subfan]

To update... My daughter has semi-retired from hunting as her school work takes priority :-( She took an antelope and deer with the .260 while I "borrowed" it to take a NM muley. The 100 HSP with RL-15 is a sweet load in this gun. I'll take it when I can as it is a neat lightweight package. Can't recommend it enough!

[larrysogla]

The .260 caliber has a reputation for excellent penetration. With the tough construction heavy bullets........it should be good for the big hogs. I don't have experience on moose and elk............so I'll leave it for the others to comment on those.
'Nuff said
larrysogla

[DeeRedRaider]

OK, one more comment on the .260. I've been shooting one for 5 years and have shot three whitetail bucks and several pigs (all at moderate ranges) and all animals were dead in their tracks. The gun is a compact Ruger. I shot a Rem 700 Mtn rifle in .280 for years and just got tired of getting mule-kicked each time I pulled the trigger. Yep, I got soft..... Bottom line is that .260 is a big step down in recoil from the .270 but doesn't give up much to the big brother in performance. The 145-class whitetail I shot in November couldn't tell the difference....

[Bullfrog 31581]

That's interesting. I've had a .260 since 1998 and I've shot several hogs and deer with it. Everything I shoot behind the shoulder runs about 75 yards before expiring using several different factory loads. HOWEVER, I've also gutshot animals with it and they also go the same distance before dying, which isn't bad. By best buck to date I put a pretty sloppy gutshot on through brush with the .260 and he didn't go far.

I'll also note that I've never shot a Nosler Partition out of it which is my favorite bullet. My local gun shops just don't carry it in the .260 whenever I check.

[Railguner]

Just passing this along, Lapua sells brass for the .260 and Federal is coming out (hopefully this month) with MATCH ammo for the .260. In the tactical arena is has a big following. RG