260 Remington AI Build

In my .260 AI (40°) H4831sc and the 140 vld was stupid accurate at 2930 fps with 47.9 grains, and with rl 26 I got the 147's to 3100, though I have a 30" barrel. I shoot them at 3040 normally, but one could drop it down, there was another very good node around 2950. Also, mine are HBN coated. I'm using 51 grains of rl26 with a 6" drop tube. Without HBN, I was at 49.7 grains. With yours, I would start at 44 or so and work up. With H4831sc, I would do as another stated, start around a mid book load for a .260 and work up.
 
We have some smart guys on this site !! I am a big fan of PO Ackley And I have most of his books but didn't know that there was only a 40o Ackley in 260 Remington. When he started testing different shoulder angles, he started trying 28o shoulder angles. Then he went to 30o shoulders. next he tried 32o angled shoulders. Then he followed up with 35o shoulders. still trying to find the optimum shoulder angels he went to 40o degrees. he found that 40 degrees was optimum even though he tried up to 50o.

I found that up to 30 cal he had tried 3 or 4 different 28o degree shouldered cases,about 6 different cartridges with 30o degrees, one or two with 35o degrees and 35 to 40 with 40o shoulders that you can still find dies for (He was a busy man) the only 260 Remington he tested was 40o degrees. all others would be called Improved.

There are many other wildcatters that have included these shoulder angles in their design and these are considered "Improved" but don't wear the Ackley name. The 30 and 35o degree shoulders have been very popular in some shooting circles and are widely used by others wanting to get optimum capacity with good feeding consistency. I have never found the Ackley's to be lacking in performance.

There is very little difference that I have found between the 30o and the 40o shoulder except a little better case life.

For those that are interested in a little Ackley history.

J E CUSTOM
 
Thanks for the info! I'm looking more for accuracy than speed. I shot 58 rounds through it today breaking the barrel/ fire forming brass.

It was what I would call a fluke, but you shoot enough groups and you have to get lucky. The rifle is consistently better than half moa, which for an 8 pound gun is not too shabby
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Never once had an issue with my 40° .260 AI. Then again, it's a center feed AICS mag. Then again, so are most rigs set up for PRS. So I still wonder why people talk about running a 30° vs 40° for PRS guns. Never seen it have any issues in my first hand experience.
 
I have found that If I install a center feed mag/box they all feed the same. So on 40o shouldered cartridges I always try to use a center feed.

J E CUSTOM
I use a center feed dbm mag. When fire forming 6.5ss rounds I could run the bolt significantly slower with the 30° shoulder vs the 40°. Not saying it feeds poorly but there is definitely a difference.
 
Running 40deg shoulder .243AI from steel AI mags in a LSS chassis with a savage 10 action and comparing to the new barrel in 6XC which has a less steeply shouldered case, the feeding was definitely rougher with the .243AI than the 6XC. AI case took way more effort on the bolt and was subject to all kinds of hangups from running the bolt too quick or too slow. The 6XC is generally insensitive to bolt speed and never hangs up.
 
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A lot of info here! This was my second wildcat round. My first was a 338 Edge. It is a tack driver! I have effectively engaged steel out to 3200 yds with it. For the 260 IMP. I just fireformed another 50 rounds while working up an accuracy load. I started at 40.0 of H4350 and went up to 47.5 gr of H4350. At 47.5 i seen pressure signs. My most accurate was 43.5 gr and my group was .380 MOA at 100yds (5 shot group). Now I'm going to start playing with seating depth and see if I can tighten the group even more. I still have another 400 cases i need to fireform.
 
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