260 Rem Loads

Now that my 260 is here; anyone have any favorite loads they care to share. Thx

If you google those, you can find a ton of loads. The load depends if you are running Remington, Lapua or other 260 brand brass, on the pressure you will see from each one. You can not go wrong with H4350. I knew some shooters who ran H4831 as their competition load.

I use a warmish load of Reloader 17 behind Nosler 120 gr BTs, and a near max load of IMR 4064 behind Nosler 100 gr BTs. Very accurate. I haven’t tried H4831 yet, though I might someday. And I haven’t use H4350, because when I needed it I couldn’t find any. But, when loading for my brother’s 6.5 CM, I had some H4350 and that rifle loved it, shooting 120 gr Noslers extremely well. If I was going to go to heavier bullets, which I have no intention of doing, I’d get some more H4350.

I'm using Nosler 100 grain Balistic Tips and Varget.
The group well, shot a deer and a couple hogs plus small game. The Balistic Tips work but are a bit soft, I typically hunt really close.
For heavier 6.5 bullets I use a different rifle/cartridge.

M

Since I need 4064 for a couple other reloads I’m working on I’ll start with that and Nosler 120.
Lee manual calls for 32.6 to start max 37

37 grains seems very light for a max load of 4064 with a 120 grain. 4064 will work, but you won't get as much velocity with that powder as you could with a slower burning powder. If you want less recoil or a load that is not up to full potential, then that powder will work great.

If you look at the 260 Rem loading data and study the different powders with the 120 grain loads, you can see what powders will give you max velocity (if that's what you want). The 4831 burn rate powders would be a little too slow burning for a 120 grain, and would be a VERY compressed load. The powders in the 4350 area would work well. If 4064 is the powder you are using, it will work fine. I'm showing about 40 grains should be max. But work up to this powder charge. 38-39 grains should be no problem. But it depends on the brand of brass and seating depth you are using.

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/rifle

https://load-data.nosler.com/load-data/260-remington/

Burn rate chart: https://www.hodgdon.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/burn-rate-color.pdf

I run 44.2 grains of H4350 pushing 129 grain accubond LR. It works well in both my .260 CTR and my APR .260.

Its good to see folks still using these old retro cartridges....

For a time, with the previous 260 I had, I loaded IMR4064 behind that Nosler 120 gr BT. It was quite accurate, as was Varget. I knew that I was giving up some velocity, particularly due to short barrels on both rifles - the old and the new. But the deer didn’t seem to notice. Later, I decided to go for more velocity. The deer and pigs haven’t died any faster.

Dstroud reminds me that I suppose the 260 might actually be a bit retro. Maybe I’ll wildcat it and neck it up to 30 caliber and try that. :-)

LOL!!

.30-260 or 6mm-260 might be incredible!

I had a 6mm/.284 that shot quite well but was a pain in the butt to load for! Sold it.

130 grain accubond in front of 44 grains of 4831. Not a speed demon but very accurate in my Sako.

Which brings to mind another question... if Remington had named it the .26-08 instead of the .260 would it have taken off better lol.

Most likely not. In 1997, not too many people were familiar with the 6.5/.264 bullets and there really weren't many offered. The .260 was very close to the 7-08, which already had a ton of great bullets offered for it and had been around ~15 years longer. It also wasn't much different from the .243. Long range shooting hadn't gone nuts yet and Remington had a well established history of failed cartridge launches. Predictably, Remington didn't back the .260 with a lot of great ammo offerings and sales lagged. Without rifle sales, there were no ammo sales to get other mfgs to buy in and offer anything worthwhile. .260 was close to .264 in name, and although a few loved it, the .264 Win Mag was pretty much a failure.

100 gr Barnes TTSX (not the TSX) 0.010" off the lands
44.4 gr H414. (work up for your rifle)
Fed 210 primer
Lapua brass
Should easily hit 3100+ fps

Really impressive terminal performance on deer and pigs, one of my absolute favorites to hunt with.