.260 Remington Range Report - fairly long

[selmerfan]

Ok, I finally got out to the range today, literally after months of waiting. All loads were fired from my .260 Remington 700 Mt. Rifle. Bore is .265", boolits are sized to .266", dropped from an NEI .266" 140 GC RN mould. Alloy is 3 parts WW to 1 part linotype, water-dropped. I used a Nikon Buckmaster 3-9x40 scope. All loads fired from my "booger bench" with sand bags, range is 100 yds. Chronograph was approx. 10' from the muzzle, it is a PACT precision Chronograph. Beautiful day, calm, 70 degrees F. All loads used .243 Winchester brass necked up, trimmed to the same length and from the same lot. Remington 9 1/2 primers started off all loads.
The first velocity given is the average, the next four are the individual readings.
20 gr. 4895 - 1561 - 1579, 1504, 1576, 1586 - 3/4" at 100 yds.
21 gr. 4895 - 1615 - 1546, 1644, 1655, misfire - 1/2" at 100 yds.

11 gr. Unique - 1597 - 1591, 1606, 1582, 1611
12 gr. Unique - 1671 - 1684, 1654, 1665, 1681
13 gr. Unique - 1756 - 1773, 1749, 1754, 1747
14 gr. Unique - 1769 - 1780, 1745, 1771, 1781
All Unique loads grouped ok, 1 1/2 - 2 1/2"

12 gr. 700x - 1715 - 1725, 1697, 1724, misread on chrono - 1/2" at 100 yds
13 gr. 700x - 1791 - 1778, 1794, 1794, 1799 - 1 1/2" at 100 yds.

12 gr. Clays - 1638 - 1639, 1621, 1653, 1651
13gr. Clays - 1731 - 1718, 1711, 1736, 1744
Both Clays groups threw patterns, odd considering the very low velocity spreads.

That's all I got, I also have had good success with 13 gr. of Red Dot with this bullet, but I have not put it over the chronograph. The IMR 4895 and 700x 12 gr. load are the best cast boolit groups that I have thrown out of this rifle. I hope this helps someone out there! :)

Selmerfan

[Doc Highwall]

Nice shooting, I have a Browning 1885 Low Wall in .260Rem, I think I will have to get a 6.5 mould now.

[Nrut]

Selmerfan..
That is nice shooting, and thanks for posting your loads...:drinks:

[mckenziedrums]

Sorry to bring an old thread back to life but... Just picked up a 260 and after some searching noticed your results. Do you happen to know exactly which mold this was?

[Doc Highwall]

If you look you will see it is a NEI .266" 140 GC RN mould.

[mckenziedrums]

I've got that... I'm curious the profile since there isn't a 140 in their current catalog that I can tell. Looking at their website I saw a 130 and a 160 so I'm wondering if it may be a custom mold or something.

[selmerfan]

The 140 gr. is in error because the previous owner marked the box entirely wrong - he marked the NEI box with a Lyman mold number. It is a 130 gr. round nose boolit.

[mckenziedrums]

That was my guess but just wanted to confirm... Debating a few mold options for this one and your results certainly caught my eye. Any better luck with anything else or was this pretty much it? (Thanks for taking the time to reply!)

[selmerfan]

It's the only mold that I have. :)

[mckenziedrums]

Well with results like that I wouldn't go out and buy another one either! Any further updates in regard to working up your load?

http://www.neihandtools.com/catalog/264-130-gc.jpg <-- I'm assuming that's the mold... are you crimping it?

I've got some 260 brass (Nosler/Lapua/etc) but I'm probably going to form my "plinking" brass from 308. Thankfully with a Giraud annealer it's easy enough to size and then get good neck tension from annealing but the crimp groove on that mold got me thinking about crimping. Also considering trying to see what they'll do coated since I've got a suppressor and I don't want to clog it up with lead. Not really looking to see how hard i can push them but I'll probably play around just a bit just for fun.

[selmerfan]

Actually, yes. I decided to run some 2400 through the rifle and 15 gr. of 2400 is just as good as the 4895. I switched over to R-P .260 Rem. brass and that brought the 12 gr. Unique load to sub-MOA at 100 yds also. I switched brass because I was having inconsistency with my jacketed loads with brass formed from both .243 Win brass and LC Match .308 brass that I necked down and turned. Swapped over to .260 Rem R-P and Lapua brass and groups shrank like a snowman in July. I've never seen brass make that much difference before, but this rifle definitely has preferences.

[selmerfan]

Yikes - I had to go re-read my post a little more carefully. I don't even own this rifle any more! I still have the .260 Rem in a Ruger M77 that I owned concurrently with the Mountain Rifle. I think I have a more recent report with the M77 - I'll look for it.

[selmerfan]

Yikes - I had to go re-read my post a little more carefully. I don't even own this rifle any more! I still have the .260 Rem in a Ruger M77 that I owned concurrently with the Mountain Rifle. I think I have a more recent report with the M77 - I'll look for it.

Here are a couple of more recent threads.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?236902-260-Rem-range-report

Some good discussion on this thread, as well as some results
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?226421-260-Rem-loads

You're making my cabin fever worse! I haven't been out shooting in almost a month and it was -11 here this morning. I'm anxious to get a garden planted, get to the range, and get the boat on the river for some spring channel cats!

[selmerfan]

And you're distracting me from writing my sermon... :D

[mckenziedrums]

I've heard that about the brass... I've got a reamer coming to ream the sized down cases. I'm hoping that between that and annealing them I can get some consistent neck tension and at least have decent groups when I'm shooting casually. This report is great... obviously every rifle is different but this puts me in the ballpark with a few powders to try. I've looked around and I don't see a mold that's quite like the NEI anywhere else so I may just have to get one ordered to play around with. Thank you again for your information and time!

Just saw your latest post... that's funny... My shooting buddy that just picked up a 260 as well is a preacher. I was just interrupting his work by saying "Hey... I think you'll be able to shoot 260 a bit cheaper when we're at the 100 yard range if I get this mold"

[selmerfan]

Honestly, the main reasons that I shoot cast in the .260 Rem are these:
1. Cheap practice and trigger time myself and my daughters
2. Low recoil

All I need is enough precision to practice my off-hand shooting out to 200 yds on 8" steel plates. This fills that need and it's fun to cast my own and shoot for low cost. If I were starting the hunt for a good load with a different .260 Rem, I'd start with 2400 because I have good results with cast boolits and 2400 in the .260 Rem, .308 Win, .30-06, and .30-40 Krag. The problem is finding 2400 right now...

[Nrut]

mckenziedrums (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/member.php?32696-mckenziedrums),

You may want to check out NOE molds..
Heard tell people are having problems with NEI these days since the original owner died a few years back..

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=27&osCsid=32jj6qgb4shfc2jnmnnjncs182

[rockrat]

There is a GB for a boolit for the 6.5 grendel, @125gr that should work well in the 260. At least I will find out once I get the mould!!!

[mckenziedrums]

I've put my name in on the MP groupbuy yesterday... but can't hold my breath on that one. The NOE ones look quite a bit different in design. They've got the 134g and the 145gr at NOE. At first glance they are considerably different in design but I'm attempting to carry on a conversation on a conference call and look at the same time. I've got a number of MP/NOE/etc molds so very familiar with them. Not brand loyal, looking for the best bullet really.

Edit: I saw the NOE groupbuy as well... posted a question in the forum and waiting on a response as to design and usage in the .260

[Harter66]

Ive been reading every 6.5 thread to come along ,I have a 264 WM. Funny I got the same Unique velocity with it and a papered 260-120 fp NoE. Also about the same groups.