.260 Remington

I did, only switched to 308 because there was nobody local in F-open at the time.
Shoots 139’s plenty fast. Would be fun to see what it could do with small primer brass but not sure if anyone makes it. As to the cons, if competing in F-Open most have gone to 7mm and heavy 30cal haven’t they? Unless that changed again.
 
maynard said:
Any F-Class shooters using a plain old .260 Remington? Pros-cons?
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Yes! Pros: Lapua Brass. Easily drives 140 - 150 grain bullets into the 2850-2875 range. Easy to make work (H4831/4350 usually do the trick) Excellent barrel life (4X what a 6.5X284 will give) modest recoil. I just don't see the need to re-invent the wheel with creedmoor's PRC's or other expensive fads. I suggest a close neck clearance (~3 thou). I imagine with the heavier Bergers out there, it will be even better
 
SND said:
I did, only switched to 308 because there was nobody local in F-open at the time.
Shoots 139’s plenty fast. Would be fun to see what it could do with small primer brass but not sure if anyone makes it. As to the cons, if competing in F-Open most have gone to 7mm and heavy 30cal haven’t they? Unless that changed again.
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Yes, depends on where you are. Locally, most matches are less than 700M and many are less than 500. 260 makes a great choice for these distances, and a good shooter can give you a run for your money even at long distance.
 
How does the 6.5 x 47 Lapua rate? I built a few of those for customers and they really performed well. One fellow took an elk at 400 yards... I would think it would be close to a 260 Rem. Neat little cartridge.
 
I built up my .260 on a Remington 700 action in a Milcun laminated stock, using a light Palma Krieger barrel, chambered with a Manson reamer. Gave Manson my barrel specs, he selected a pilot for best fit. Sightron 6-24. It is an excellent shooter. Lapua brass, Lapua and Sierra bullets in the 139-142gr range. 4831SC, 4350 powders work well. Velocities similar to those reported above by Paperslayer.
For shorter ranges, .308 is outstanding, past 500m, the 6.5 bullets perform significantly better in the wind. Flatter trajectory too, if that is important.
 
I have been shooting target rifle with a jacket and sling for over 30 years. Back in 2020 I broke my left shoulder into 4 pieces. First surgery resulted in a plate and 11 screws to hold everything together. Second surgery, a year later, the hardware came out. I am a right handed shooter but just can't get the reach that I need with my left arm to get into a prone position without a lot of pain.

I have several .308 target rifles, most have 1:11" twist so I should be able to shoot 175 gr bullets and maybe 185's. With 40 years as a tool maker I am pretty sure I could turn my prone stocks into bag riding F-class type stocks. This should cover F-TR.

I recently picked up a McMillan F-Class stock that is set up as a barrel clamp stock. Free floated action and barrel just clamped in a block in front of the action. This is what has me thinking of a .260 Rem for a open F-Class gun.

This leads me to another question about necking down cases. I have a couple thousand .308 Lapua cases. How hard is it to neck down these .308 cases to .260 Rem. I really don't want to get into neck turning unless I absolutely have to. I would prefer a no neck turn chamber.
 
maynard said:
I have been shooting target rifle with a jacket and sling for over 30 years. Back in 2020 I broke my left shoulder into 4 pieces. First surgery resulted in a plate and 11 screws to hold everything together. Second surgery, a year later, the hardware came out. I am a right handed shooter but just can't get the reach that I need with my left arm to get into a prone position without a lot of pain.

I have several .308 target rifles, most have 1:11" twist so I should be able to shoot 175 gr bullets and maybe 185's. With 40 years as a tool maker I am pretty sure I could turn my prone stocks into bag riding F-class type stocks. This should cover F-TR.

I recently picked up a McMillan F-Class stock that is set up as a barrel clamp stock. Free floated action and barrel just clamped in a block in front of the action. This is what has me thinking of a .260 Rem for a open F-Class gun.

This leads me to another question about necking down cases. I have a couple thousand .308 Lapua cases. How hard is it to neck down these .308 cases to .260 Rem. I really don't want to get into neck turning unless I absolutely have to. I would prefer a no neck turn chamber.
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How hard? I never re-necked to 260 Rem, but I probably would do so today, going from 308 Win down to 243 Win. Back in the day, a co-worker gave me a shoe box more or less full of fired IVI 7.62x51 brass and lots of .38 Special fired brass - all mixed up. The co-worker said his brother-in-law had shovelled them up from the RCMP range in Regina, Sask. - so back in the day, when that could be done. About that time I had got a Rem 788 in 243 Win. So I used a single leverage RCBS press and "normal" full length size RCBS dies and crunched 50 (?) or 100 (?) cases from 308 Win into 243 Win. I do recall putting a length of "pipe" as a "snipe" on that press - I did slightly bend that press handle, but the press and the dies did not break. For many years that was the only 243 Win brass that was used in that rifle. I did not own neck peeling tools then, so those case necks were not turned - that Rem 788 rifle might have had a generous sized neck in the chamber (?). I also did not anneal those brass to re-form them - I took the guy's word that they had been once fired, previous to the re-forming. A new bullet should have slid into a fired brass, if there was sufficient neck clearance - I may have checked that, but do not recall doing that, then. There is probably a few of those cases still left here in a bin - from like 45 years ago, in the late 1970's.
 
Sizing to .260 will thicken the neck. Whether or not it would be too much could only be determined by trying loaded rounds in the .260 chamber. If necessary to thin the necks reaming would be faster than outside turning.
Out of curiosity I have resized .308 to .260 without neck thinning without any problems, but you never know without trying it. Didn't use these in my .260 target rifle, but in a Remington factory barrel. Only Lapua .260 in the precision rifle.
I have a RCBS .308 to .243 forming die set; it involves reaming at .250. If I were converting a batch of .308s to .260, I might use this set, ream at .250, then size up to .260.
I always use Imperial Sizing Die Wax for operations like this.
 
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maynard said:
I have been shooting target rifle with a jacket and sling for over 30 years. Back in 2020 I broke my left shoulder into 4 pieces. First surgery resulted in a plate and 11 screws to hold everything together. Second surgery, a year later, the hardware came out. I am a right handed shooter but just can't get the reach that I need with my left arm to get into a prone position without a lot of pain.

I have several .308 target rifles, most have 1:11" twist so I should be able to shoot 175 gr bullets and maybe 185's. With 40 years as a tool maker I am pretty sure I could turn my prone stocks into bag riding F-class type stocks. This should cover F-TR.

I recently picked up a McMillan F-Class stock that is set up as a barrel clamp stock. Free floated action and barrel just clamped in a block in front of the action. This is what has me thinking of a .260 Rem for a open F-Class gun.

This leads me to another question about necking down cases. I have a couple thousand .308 Lapua cases. How hard is it to neck down these .308 cases to .260 Rem. I really don't want to get into neck turning unless I absolutely have to. I would prefer a no neck turn chamber.
Click to expand...
Many years back I used a 6.5 Panther in silhouette. That was just a 308 case necked down to 6.5, and then fireformed for some minor changes. If you stay with a saami spec chamber, it should be as easy as just running the 308 brass through your 260 sizing die with proper lube and presto, instant quality 260 brass. - dan
 
guntech said:
How does the 6.5 x 47 Lapua rate? I built a few of those for customers and they really performed well. One fellow took an elk at 400 yards... I would think it would be close to a 260 Rem. Neat little cartridge.
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There are people still shooting the Lapua but the 6.5 CM have pretty much obsoleted it too - same as the 260R . RJ
 
Well I am too old and refuse to grow a manbun so the 6.5 CM is out of the question. lol
I am sitting on a couple thousand .308 Lapua cases so necking those down to .260 make sense, if it isn't too work intensive. Did I mention that I hate reloading? I only reload because I can't buy ammo as accurate as I can make myself.
Now I guess I have some more homework to do about what chamber works best and what twist rate to choose.
 
I do. But not in F-Class.

2825FPS
140 ELDM
42.3gr H4350
SD around 5 all the time
ES around 10-15 fps.

I usually use ALPHA .260 small primer brass. They last for ever if you anneal. Very good quality.

Super accurate!

I shoot 260 in a Cadex R7 barrelled action and one of my PGWDTI Coyote.

Cheers.
 
My 260 brass is necked down from 308. My rockchucker sizes it down with my rcbs 260die no problem. It turns out the right length. Never had a thickness problem. I think the brass lengthens rather than thickens
 
I run a 260 for ORA PR. I have resized a fair amount of Lapua and Petersen 308 to 260. As people said a single pass through the sizing die does the trick.

Both JC and IBI prefits chamber it without any further effort.
 
I ran a 260 for years, it is an excellent cartridge and gives up nothing to the 6.5CM. I shot 136 Lapua Scenar L bullets, in Lapua brass with H4831SC and a Federal GMM primer, and I was less than 10 mils to a grand.

If you want factory ammo, Hornady has a target load with a 130 grain bullet and it shot well for me but good luck finding it. They are pushing their own cartridges and don't run it but maybe once a year or two.
 
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