Question about original Remington 260 rifles

[Rflshootr]

Guys when Remington first came out with the 260, what twist did they use?
Reason I ask is a friend has one of the early ones and he says it doesn't seem to like the heavier bullets. It tends to be finicky with them. He did say it is fair with Fed. Premium 140s, the Sierra Gamekings but he's having trouble finding those these days. I told him it could be a twist rate issue but I don't know what twist rate they used. I haven't seen the rifle. My advice was to give the 129/130 class bullets a try.

I have a 1st year production (1997 if I remember right) 260 VLS and as close as I can tell, it's a 1:9 1/4" twist. I also have a pulled barrel from the same era VLS that I took off for someone and it's either a 9 1/8 or a 9 1/4. Probably a 9 1/4 as well. I've never shot anything heavier that a 120, but they shot very well.

 

[HandgunHTR]

I had an early version of the SS Model 7. Bought it to be a hunting rifle for the wife. It had a 1:9" twist. It was super picky about 1) loads, 2) how it was supported on the bench.
If the front rest/bag wasn't directly under the front action screw, it would open up the groups significantly. It took me almost 6 months and 12 different bullet/powder combos to get something that was adequate for hunting (i.e 1.25MOA).

Ended up sending it down the road after a couple of years to a collector who wasn't planning on shooting it, he just wanted all the variations of M7 rifles.

 

[justinp61]

I have two friends that bought model 7's when they came out, neither shot heavy bullets well. I built a Savage to deer and coyote hunt with and used a 24" Shilen 1-9 SS barrel. I built it with 120gr Sierra Pro Hunters in mind, it shoots them very well.

 

[R. Cram]

Wife had a Model 7 that would not shoot 140 gr. copper-lead bullets very good like 3" at 100 yards ....went to Cutting Edge Bullets 100 gr. Raptors and the gun was very close to a one hole at 100 yards.....wish Nosler still made there 100 gr. Ballistic -Tips they shoot very good made a good target bullet only....

I shoot 85 gr sierra for the 200 yd part of Highpower with a mild powder charge, 35 gr 4895 speed powder and the cases last very long, like 150 shots and its very easy to find a load . I switched to 90 gr tnt bullets because the sierra's came apart when the outside temp hit mid 80's or more in a string of 20 sometimes I would have 2 come apart, the scorer could see a gray streak and then no hit on target. Sierra blew me off and wanted to make me jump through hoops so I quit buying bullets from them and we used to get them economically through a drop shipment program we were shooting 5,000 bullets a year. the 85's should not have come apart I believe our muzzle velocity was less than 2600 fps, a great 200 yd bullet for the standing at 200 and rapid fire sitting at 200yd part of the game

 

[HUNTNMOON]

Guys when Remington first came out with the 260, what twist did they use?
Reason I ask is a friend has one of the early ones and he says it doesn't seem to like the heavier bullets. It tends to be finicky with them. He did say it is fair with Fed. Premium 140s, the Sierra Gamekings but he's having trouble finding those these days. I told him it could be a twist rate issue but I don't know what twist rate they used. I haven't seen the rifle. My advice was to give the 129/130 class bullets a try.

I have a factory Remington model 7 that has an 18 1/2 barrel. I'm able to get 3/4 inch groups using 140 Gr Speer HCSP's. I don't know if the Speers are still available though.

 

[Turpentine21]

Once I get my hands on the rifle i can give y'all a bit more info. I don't even know yet whether it's a model 7 or 700. We didn't get much time to talk about it the other day.
Apparently the guns preferred load, Federal Premium 140 spbt, that he has used since he first got the rifle, have been discontinued. Other 140s he has tried since haven't done so well. He does not reload. I offered to let him use my reloading room and I would try to help him find a load if he bought dies but he doesn't want to go that route. I try to steer clear of reloading for other folks personally due to liability. But I will offer to help them do it themselves. He wants to stick with factory offerings. So I'll clean the barrel good, check and make sure all the screws are torqued and we will drop back to some 129/130s and see if it makes a difference. I'll keep y'all posted and thanks for the information.

 

[Turpentine21]

Mine was a 9 twist and it would not stabilize 143 ELDX bullets. I'm mean not even on paper at 100 yards.

That sounds like my AR 10 7.62 x 51 with 20" barrel 1 in 10 twist. It flat out despises 150 Accubonds. Groups look more like buckshot patterns. Move up to 165-168 class bullets and it will do amazing things with AR Comp.

 

[Turpentine21]

If you look though you can see people claiming that the early ones were only 1:11". I can't believe that, but with Remington, nothing would surprise me.

Mac

Yessir Remington has certainly made some blunders with twist rate.

 

[Tom264]

They sure have

 

[Rflshootr]

I shoot 85 gr sierra for the 200 yd part of Highpower with a mild powder charge, 35 gr 4895 speed powder and the cases last very long, like 150 shots and its very easy to find a load . I switched to 90 gr tnt bullets because the sierra's came apart when the outside temp hit mid 80's or more in a string of 20 sometimes I would have 2 come apart, the scorer could see a gray streak and then no hit on target. Sierra blew me off and wanted to make me jump through hoops so I quit buying bullets from them and we used to get them economically through a drop shipment program we were shooting 5,000 bullets a year. the 85's should not have come apart I believe our muzzle velocity was less than 2600 fps, a great 200 yd bullet for the standing at 200 and rapid fire sitting at 200yd part of the game

I used to shoot that bullet for varmints......then they stopped making them. That really torqued my cookies.

 

[wilehunting]

I had one when they first came out. All the rage bla, bla, bla. I didn't reload for it. I couldn't get it to shoot accurately using what limited factory ammo there was back then. I sold it.

 

[Lazy D]

SAAMI specs is a 1-9 twist. Remington would have followed that.

 

[Dot_3]

Hornady Match factory with 130 ELD-Ms are a solid choice. I have a 8 twist brux that I'd made a load for 140 ELDs but got in a bind right before a match and picked up a bunch of the factory stuff. I liked it so good that I switched to 130 ELDs and just duplicated that load. It's killed a bunch of deer too.

 

[436]

Production history
Specifications
.260 Remington cartridge with a 120 grain Remington Core-Lokt bullet.
Type	Rifle
Place of origin	United States
Manufacturer	Remington Arms Company
Produced	1997
Parent case	.308 Winchester
Case type	Rimless, bottleneck
Bullet diameter	.264 in (6.7 mm)
Neck diameter	.2969 in (7.54 mm)
Shoulder diameter	.4539 in (11.53 mm)
Base diameter	.4705 in (11.95 mm)
Rim diameter	.4728 in (12.01 mm)
Rim thickness	.0539 in (1.37 mm)
Case length	2.035 in (51.7 mm)
Overall length	2.800 in (71.1 mm)
Case capacity	53.5 gr H2​O (3.47 cm3​)
Rifling twist	1 in 9 in (229 mm)
Primer type	Large rifle
Maximum pressure (C.I.P.)	60,191 psi (415.00 MPa)
Maximum pressure (SAAMI)	60,000 psi (410 MPa)