New to 260 Rem - Looking for starting point.

[Aussea]

Just wrapped ordering my new Savage 260 Rem through NSS (Jim is a great guy - can't help but throw him a plug).

The Home CEO is starting to put some controls on how much is being spent on this project - though - she was nice enough to at least try to help. She gave me a box containing:

2 lb H4350
100 Rem 260 Brass
1k Tula LR Primers
200 Nosler 6.5 120gr BT
Redding Deluxe FL Die Set 260

(Yes, my wife buys me reloading gear)

While I have been reloading for 5.56/6.8/308/9mm for a while - the 260 is a new beast for me. Of course, there are plenty of resources available online but I thought I would ask-

Anyone have ideas on a good starting point for me with this on a 28" 1:8 Criterion?

Is this combination that can be made to work?

Appreciate any thoughts offerred.

[stangfish]

What are you trying to do? Which Tula primers? 43.5 is very close to the sweet spot. The 260 has a long bearing surface and that is a lot of barrel. 24"-26" is plenty to go the distance.

[Aussea]

Sorry about that - I wasn't really clear.

For the moment, this will just be a paper puncher out to about 600 (or longer if I get the opportunity). Just looking to have a platform that can reliably shoot better than I can (not that this is hard LOL). Setup will be going on a B&C Medalist A5 Adj, so it will be way too heavy to carry around in the field - no problem, that is what the 6.8 or the L1A1 are for:)

Barrel length - I went with Jim's recommendation on the 28". Sure 24-26" would work fine - but can't hurt to have more if it doesn't cost you anything.

TulAmmo Large Rifle Standard Non-Corrosive.

Those are pretty much the numbers that I was seeing in researching a starting load. My main area of concern were the 120gr pills. Seems the common opinion is that the 1:8 is more suited to the 130-140gr.

Appreciate your input though - always good to have the opinion of a successful reloader - unsuccessful ones don't tend to type much on forums.

[stangfish]

I had that exact barrel about a year and a half ago. Wish I had it back. I had my best luck with Lapua 139 Scenars but never tried the Bergers or Noslers CC's. I am loaded up with 'em and unused Nosler brass. Currently my lovely bride likes her 14 w/a Shillen 1-9 using the 120's Nosler BT's you have.

[earl39]

I am not to spiffy on the 120's but anything from 123 to 142 will work fine with the 8 twist. I use rl-19 so can't tell you anything about the powder but tula primers are really good primers. the tula and wolf both come from Russia and are very consistent with the difference between regular and magnum only being the cup thickness. Remington brass is ok but Lapua is better and you pay for it too so budget brass is Remington. Lapua bullets are superb but for budget shooting don't overlook the A-Max. BC is not as good as Lapua's but they do shoot good in most rifles.

[alphapygmy]

I've got a 23" Pac-nor barreled 260 that won't shoot anything well but the 120 Nosler BT's. 46gr RL19 and .020 off the lands and it shoots half inch 5 shot groups all day. Not a hot load at all in my gun but shoots consistently well for me when nothing else has worked.

[Wildboarem]

I'm running a CBI 26" 1/8" .260. I was shooting 140's exclusively for a while (amax, bthp, Barnes burners). All shot great with h4350, imr-4350 and rl-17. As components have been so scarce I decided to try some 123 blems from midway. Came up with two loads, both at 44.2 h4350/rl-17. I thought they were the 123 Smk' s so I ordered 500. Turned out they were nosler cc' s. Lucky for me the smk shot just as well. I tried some 123 amax at the same load and they shot great also. If your staying under 1200yds the 123's don't give up anything to the 140's. It's interesting, in my rifle I've been able to substitute amax/Barnes/ SMK. It even likes the same seating depth. In today's world it's nice to be able to plug in different components as you never know what your going to find.

[BoilerUP]

43.5-45gr H4350 with those 120 NBTs...prob end up real close to 44.2 as OCW as previously mentioned.

Also, if 39.3gr Varget won't shoot something is probably wrong - that has bugholed in three different 260 barrels (20 & 26" 1:8, 22" 1:9) of mine.

[kimbajmann]

Hate to say it, but throw out the rem brass. It is nearly unusable as primer pockets loosen with moderate loads real fast. Win brass is useable, but lapua is really what to use. I shoot 41.5 Vit 550 under 140 grn accubonds for 2885 out of a 26 shilen 1/8 twist and that was accuracy node not max as tried 41-43 grn and 43 was where started pressure signs. Look at comp burn rate charts. I cannot load that in remcrap brass. Was getting comp speeds from 140 sst and other 140 pills. Have used cci br2 and fed lr as well as winlr/
m with no real differences in perf.

[kimbajmann]

Oh th above accubond shoots well inside 1/4" 5shot group at 100 off sandbags if I do my part. All bullets shot close to same-not tried monolithics though. Any decent barrel on a 260 should do same as it an easy round to load for like 243 and 308 - and any 308 based round.

[Wildboarem]

Hate to say it, but throw out the rem brass. It is nearly unusable as primer pockets loosen with moderate loads real fast. Win brass is useable, but lapua is really what to use. I cannot load that in remcrap brass.

Yeah, what he said. I only get 5-7 loading pushing hard so take all your R-P brass and send it to me. You shouldn't suffer which such things. I send you a PM with mailing address. ;) At $0.10 a piece after 5 firings I will shoot it all day long and then go buy more. Lapua brass is nice and so are their bullets but not everyone has the budget to shoot at a $1.00 a round reloaded. R-P and WIN brass are not the same as Lapua but sub 1/2 minute is sub half minute. My Stevens is no DTA/ GAP /Surgeon / AI but I don't think I'll be throwing that away either.

[kimbajmann]

Yeah, what he said. I only get 5-7 loading pushing hard so take all your R-P brass and send it to me. You shouldn't suffer which such things. I send you a PM with mailing address. ;) At $0.10 a piece after 5 firings I will shoot it all day long and then go buy more. Lapua brass is nice and so are their bullets but not everyone has the budget to shoot at a $1.00 a round reloaded. R-P and WIN brass are not the same as Lapua but sub 1/2 minute is sub half minute. My Stevens is no DTA/ GAP /Surgeon / AI but I don't think I'll be throwing that away either.
Mine was junk after two loads - have a bag of it that will not waste primers on. I have hear that it is hit and miss with remcrap - just like their rifles. Glad you get good use out of it - now weigh it and tell me how many weigh the same lol. Now measure case capacity and tell me same. Every reloader today knows the Remington brass is only slightly better than the federal stuff which is the poorest to be found. Show me a competitive shooter that uses remcrap brass when there is a choice to get lapua - hmm they must be wrong and you are right I guess.

[kimbajmann]

I would be pissed if I did not get 20 reloads out of lapua in 260. You will have to re- anneal the necks after like 8-10, but that is easy enough. Now cals that push cases hard will not get that, but get same in 308 with lapua brass - wow, not so expensive now lol. Knowledge is important in life not brand loyalty. Maybee I got one of the bad batches of remcrap, not sure. most brass will give you 5-10 reloads

[Marine24]

Anyone have experience with Silver State Armory 260 brass? I just picked up 100 cases from Southwest Ammo.

I'm also getting started with 260 Rem with the 130gr Barnes TSX bullet as my hunting load.

[BoilerUP]

I have been told by Southwest Ammunition that SSA brass = Nosler brass.

[Marine24]

Good to know. I've used Nosler's .308 and 30-06 brass before with no complaints. Can't argue with the price of SSA at $68.15 per 100, compared to Nosler at $61.99 per 50.