Beartrack1
Member
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2006
- Messages
- 14
Looking for some broader advice than my own limited experience!
First let me describe my setup. It's a Remington 700 with a tight neck in .260 with an aftermarket stock, Wyatt 3" magazine box (to seat bullets out to 2.875 cartridge OAL for a bit more case capacity), Lilja #4 coutour barrel in 3-groove (1-in-8" twist) configuration at 27" length. Cases are Winchester 308s necked down and the I then outside turn the necks. This gun is strictly a hunting gun but like most here when it comes to accuracy I'm a big believer in more is better - and since it's a hunting gun for up to larger black bear (some get up to 7 feet where I go) I'm also looking for as hot (and SAFE) a load as possible - as long as it's accurate.
Here's the deal: I've been using 125 gr. Nosler Partitions (didnt' go with the 140s as they'd need to be seated too far into the case given the current throat length) and the terminal performance has been outstanding; 2 whitetails, a cougar that came up behind me last year at 20 paces, a bobcat and also a 5' black bear (through both shoulders and a clean exit wound no less), all 1 shot kills. Very happy with the bullet construction/terminal performance. But the accuracy running 44 to 47 grains of RL-19 (which I'd heard is typically excellent in this cartridge) has been very, very unpredicable and groups up to around 2.25 inches. Yuck. Tried another lot of Nosler bullets, no better. Knowing I had a bit more case capacity (appx .75 grains) due to seating the bullet out farther, I went up to 48.0 grains of RL-19, 1 gr. over what the Nosler manual lists as a max load. That was marginal but I ran out of time before season. I'd still get up to 1.75" 5-shot groups, but then oddly when the barrel heated up groups often shrink to around an inch, again with 5-shot groups. Finally today I got a bit desperate (going bear hunting Saturday) and decided to just try some loads at 49.0 grains and watch carefully for signs of pressure. What I saw really suprised me. I shot 3 4-shot groups, with only 1 case showing any pressure signs at all. But I'm getting 5/8" to .75 consistently now - that on a somewhat hot afternoon with a little mirage going on. 1 case out of 12 showed an ejector port marking on the case head. None showed expansion above the web and the primers though slightly flatter than my test groups at 48.0 grains today, were not significantly flattened or cratered. The 1 case did not weigh significantly more than the others when I checked it though.
On to my questions.. First, has anyone else seen RL-19 tending to sweeten up in a 260 only when loaded hot?
Second, any recommendations on if I need to back this load off? Again, even the round with the ejector mark didn't show any case head expansion and all primers were still tight.
Third, I do know when I ordered the barrel that Dan Lilja had calculated the 140s would be optimal with the 8"-twist rate, but told me that if I ran the 125s as fast as possible they should perform acceptably. Am I likely just proving him right - that the 125s really don't perform as well accuracy-wise at typical .260 velocities as say the longer 140s with this fast of twist rate (1-in8")?
Any other fast loads for the 125 that folks have gotten good accuracy out of with the 260? I did try some combos of VV560 but at loads up to what the manual had listed as max, the accuracy wasn't anything to write home about in this rifle. I do have some IMR 4350, IMR 4064, RL-15, IMR4895, a bit of W760 and some Varget on hand in addition to the RL19 and VV560. Any recommendations if there are other combos I should try? I'd read in 1 post that IMR 4320 had gotten good results for 1 shooter and 4831 for 1 other. But doesn't seem to be a lot of consensus. Really would like to try and keep this 125 NP around 3000ft/sec (out of a 27" barrel) if possible as I've already memorized the trajectory for hunting distances for my shooting anyway (say 400 yards max)
Lastly, I also booked a trip and plan to take this gun to New Zealand next March for Red Stag, any pressure concerns with hunting down there that might make this an unsafe load?
Any feedback would be very, very appreciated. I've spent too much time already at the range an not enough in the field with a rifle I'm fully confident in. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif And I just picked up a second 260 for my daughters first gun (need to find a min. load for that one still), so anyway I'd like to *look* at least like I know what I'm doing! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Though it seems like this rifle has suddenly found a recipe it (finally) likes, I don't want to be firing an unsafe load. Sorry for the long-windedness and thanks for any replies!
Beartrack
First let me describe my setup. It's a Remington 700 with a tight neck in .260 with an aftermarket stock, Wyatt 3" magazine box (to seat bullets out to 2.875 cartridge OAL for a bit more case capacity), Lilja #4 coutour barrel in 3-groove (1-in-8" twist) configuration at 27" length. Cases are Winchester 308s necked down and the I then outside turn the necks. This gun is strictly a hunting gun but like most here when it comes to accuracy I'm a big believer in more is better - and since it's a hunting gun for up to larger black bear (some get up to 7 feet where I go) I'm also looking for as hot (and SAFE) a load as possible - as long as it's accurate.
Here's the deal: I've been using 125 gr. Nosler Partitions (didnt' go with the 140s as they'd need to be seated too far into the case given the current throat length) and the terminal performance has been outstanding; 2 whitetails, a cougar that came up behind me last year at 20 paces, a bobcat and also a 5' black bear (through both shoulders and a clean exit wound no less), all 1 shot kills. Very happy with the bullet construction/terminal performance. But the accuracy running 44 to 47 grains of RL-19 (which I'd heard is typically excellent in this cartridge) has been very, very unpredicable and groups up to around 2.25 inches. Yuck. Tried another lot of Nosler bullets, no better. Knowing I had a bit more case capacity (appx .75 grains) due to seating the bullet out farther, I went up to 48.0 grains of RL-19, 1 gr. over what the Nosler manual lists as a max load. That was marginal but I ran out of time before season. I'd still get up to 1.75" 5-shot groups, but then oddly when the barrel heated up groups often shrink to around an inch, again with 5-shot groups. Finally today I got a bit desperate (going bear hunting Saturday) and decided to just try some loads at 49.0 grains and watch carefully for signs of pressure. What I saw really suprised me. I shot 3 4-shot groups, with only 1 case showing any pressure signs at all. But I'm getting 5/8" to .75 consistently now - that on a somewhat hot afternoon with a little mirage going on. 1 case out of 12 showed an ejector port marking on the case head. None showed expansion above the web and the primers though slightly flatter than my test groups at 48.0 grains today, were not significantly flattened or cratered. The 1 case did not weigh significantly more than the others when I checked it though.
On to my questions.. First, has anyone else seen RL-19 tending to sweeten up in a 260 only when loaded hot?
Second, any recommendations on if I need to back this load off? Again, even the round with the ejector mark didn't show any case head expansion and all primers were still tight.
Third, I do know when I ordered the barrel that Dan Lilja had calculated the 140s would be optimal with the 8"-twist rate, but told me that if I ran the 125s as fast as possible they should perform acceptably. Am I likely just proving him right - that the 125s really don't perform as well accuracy-wise at typical .260 velocities as say the longer 140s with this fast of twist rate (1-in8")?
Any other fast loads for the 125 that folks have gotten good accuracy out of with the 260? I did try some combos of VV560 but at loads up to what the manual had listed as max, the accuracy wasn't anything to write home about in this rifle. I do have some IMR 4350, IMR 4064, RL-15, IMR4895, a bit of W760 and some Varget on hand in addition to the RL19 and VV560. Any recommendations if there are other combos I should try? I'd read in 1 post that IMR 4320 had gotten good results for 1 shooter and 4831 for 1 other. But doesn't seem to be a lot of consensus. Really would like to try and keep this 125 NP around 3000ft/sec (out of a 27" barrel) if possible as I've already memorized the trajectory for hunting distances for my shooting anyway (say 400 yards max)
Lastly, I also booked a trip and plan to take this gun to New Zealand next March for Red Stag, any pressure concerns with hunting down there that might make this an unsafe load?
Any feedback would be very, very appreciated. I've spent too much time already at the range an not enough in the field with a rifle I'm fully confident in. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif And I just picked up a second 260 for my daughters first gun (need to find a min. load for that one still), so anyway I'd like to *look* at least like I know what I'm doing! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Though it seems like this rifle has suddenly found a recipe it (finally) likes, I don't want to be firing an unsafe load. Sorry for the long-windedness and thanks for any replies!
Beartrack
