260 Hunting Loads

[BigBullBob]

Looking to see if anyone has a good hunting load for the 260, i picked it up for my wife and this is going to be primarily her deer gun, with an occasional cow elk thrown in. I have quite a few powders to use and 100 rounds of new peterson small rifle primer brass. Been contemplating which bullet to use, so any input will be welcomed and top range for her will be 300 yards. Thanks in advance

A 127 grain barnes bullet worked good for me

 

[scottishkat]

Ronald have you tried RL19 on a hot day? You may need to watch hot loads with reloader 19 especially when the temperature goes above 70 degrees. I had an issue with it in 30-06 and lighter bullets on an Axis deer hunt one summer in Florida. A lot of the older Eurenco powders have a reputation of temperature sensitivity. I really like H4831SC and 7828 with heavier bullets in my Sako 85.

Good luck and shoot straight y'all.

 

[Quintus]

I have several good options. The 130 Sierra HPBT Gameking is and the 125 grain Nosler partition are my favorites. I am running both with Super Performance and WLR primers. We have also had good performance from the 130 Accubond and 100 grain partitions. We have killed some big bodied deer mulies and white tails with all of these bullets to distances from 20 to 450 yards. the 125 Partition seems to be everyones fav if they had to pick I'd say. we run these in 8 twists and a couple older 700 9 twists. One of the biggest deer we have ever killed was with the 100 grain partition. My daughter was a 85 pound 12 year old and I was loading the 100 Partiton to keep recoil down on the 700 TI she was shooting. She killed 4 deer that first year with 4 shots and her buck dressed over 270. we did find that bullets in the off shoulder and it is displayed with the mount. Ol boy went stiff legged and just tipped over. Over the years she had a stint with the 300Wby, but is back to whacken n stacken em with that .260 Rem.

 

[wv270wsm]

We've been shooting the 130 accubonds over imr 4350 with great results. The deer seem to not care for this combination

 

[WinMag4me]

I loaded 120 BT for my 13 year old daughter.
She has sure made the model 7 260 deadly on whitetail for the past 14 years.
She has even made head shots on does at 250.
No experience on elk but sure works on Ga whitetail.

 

[Swinehunt74]

Savage action with 24' Bartlein, threaded and headspaced like a Remmy. Lights out with 46-47gr H4831sc OAI 2.775 behind 130 Sierra gamechanger and same charge with 130 Accubond for larger critters. Velocities 2875+.....Deer and feral hogs beware. Been shooting this cal for 35 plus yrs. Started out with wildcat 6.5-08 then went with SAMMI 260 when Remington went mainstream. Still shoot original 6.5-08 with over 2500 round count and shoots sub 1/2" still. Shoot custom built 260 in F-Class last 10 yrs. Just Love this cal...

 

[crazyhorse]

Been using the 143ELD-X and H4831SC (not at home and don't want to guess on amount). ALOT of WT deer have been shot with this load and not one has gone more than 10ft. I'm not a huge fan of the ELD series in the bigger rifles but at 260speeds they seem to work really well. Except for the hardest of angle shots its always a caliber size entry with half dollar size exit.

 

[marioq]

Tagging in. Just getting my 260 up and runnjng

 

[26guy]

I have a Model 7 that shoots lights out with 39 gr. of 4064 behind a 120 gr Nosler BT. Same gun shoots just as well with Barnes listed max load and a 127gr. LRX. I also have a 1:8 Model 700 that shoots .5 with 130 gr. Gamechangers and H4831.

 

[rharfo]

Just a side note about 260 performance, in my OCW tests the other day when I hit the quiet node perfect the groups pulled in and yielded some ragged hole groups I didn't expect (the gun had never done better than four's and five's before). Final distance off lands test is Monday so I will end up with a 20" bbl deer rifle with 130gr accubonds shooting like a target/varmint rifle. IMR4350 is unbeatable in this gun, Varget, IMR4064, and RL15 failed to come close. 1 in 7.5" twist walther barrel is working good.

Specs on your rifle?

 

[Savage 12BVSS]

Specs on your rifle?

Sorry missed your post, its a savage model 12 earlier style stagger feed varmint action (donor was a 12BVSS varmint rifle), with a 1/7.5 twist lothar walther barrel, 20" long, sporter profile. Stockade carbon composite stock pillared/bedded with an internal bedding block. Rifle basix ll trigger and machined SSS recoil lug. It also has a 4-16 load work-up scope on it instead of the 3.5-10 hunting scope it usually wears. It shot mid fours to mid fives when I built it in 2007 with the first accurate load I put together for it. Served me well as a lightweight deer rifle for the thick stuff up here, work took my time back then and now here I am 13 years later final tuning the original load. The OCW porition turned up a lighter load than the original and that tightened it up some, now I'm waiting for a mild temp low wind day to do a full ladder test of distance off lands loads. Don't expect a lot tighter groups at this point but will take any further improvement that occur's. If it shoots in the two's it will be the tightest shooting short barreled hunting rifle I've ever owned or assembled. I'll know in the next week probably.

 

[Mike Thorn]

Berger 130VLDH
Alpha SRP Rem 7 1/2
43.1g H-4350
Stacks em like bug holes and cordwood. Could probably bump up the powder as this load was developed in an AR-10 but I'm lazy and I've already got the dope set on my AXMC/NF.

 

[COhntr]

As soon as this whole scare brought on by the news, tabloids, facebook has run it's course and we are able to find components again, i will definately be using some of the information that you guys have provided. Thanks again

 

[BEEMAN]

I've run 130 Berger. 130 AB and 124 Hammer Hunter out of both my 6.5x47's. All worked great on deer. I will say last year the 124 HH was very impressive on game.