nosler 260 remington brass review

[LongRange]

this is through my scope...nightforce NXS 8-32x56 set at 25x at 930yds befoe any shots fired...the pic dont do it justice as the target is clear as day when looking through with your eye...

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo1-40.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo1-40.jpg.html)

same target at 930yds after shots fired looking through my spotting scope...

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo2-40.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo2-40.jpg.html)

550 yards 10 shot group through spotting scope...

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo3-21.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo3-21.jpg.html)

im not sure where the 10th shot went LOL i think i pulled it off the target...

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo1-41.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo1-41.jpg.html)

this was the first round fired cold bore at 550yds at 3" square center of target using JMB ballistics...

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo2-42.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo2-42.jpg.html)

this was second round fired at 930yds and last 5 shot group....

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo3-22.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo3-22.jpg.html)

[Steelhead]

Those are some serious speeds!
Watch out with H100V, it can get squirrelly real fast but it's a good powder in 260/6.5CM.

I wouldn't sweat 2 thou neck length difference, 5 will make a difference though.

I never clean my 260 brass, wipe it off and brush necks, clean neck and shoulder with steel wool when grungy.

All I use is a lee collet, knock the shoulders back at approximately 6th loading with a Redding body die.
so easy to use and no lube needed with the collet die.
Size, prime & charge and seat bullet.

Tested Berger 140 hybrids today with H4350, got to 44 grains, could go higher for sure.
44 was looking REAL good and am looking forward to trying them out past 1000!
Will get speeds next time, I'm just happy they worked at AICS mag length.
Pretty big jump and the VLD's didn't like jump in my barrel.

Thinking hybrids for 1000+ and hornady 140bthp's for the rest.

[LongRange]

Those are some serious speeds!
Watch out with H100V, it can get squirrelly real fast but it's a good powder in 260/6.5CM.

I wouldn't sweat 2 thou neck length difference, 5 will make a difference though.

I never clean my 260 brass, wipe it off and brush necks, clean neck and shoulder with steel wool when grungy.

All I use is a lee collet, knock the shoulders back at approximately 6th loading with a Redding body die.
so easy to use and no lube needed with the collet die.
Size, prime & charge and seat bullet.

Tested Berger 140 hybrids today with H4350, got to 44 grains, could go higher for sure.
44 was looking REAL good and am looking forward to trying them out past 1000!
Will get speeds next time, I'm just happy they worked at AICS mag length.
Pretty big jump and the VLD's didn't like jump in my barrel.

Thinking hybrids for 1000+ and hornady 140bthp's for the rest.

yeah i figured that out with the 100V. i really like the collet die as its very simple and very effective and im thinking it should help a lot by not working the brass as much as the bushings do and also like that the collet die crimps the necks to the seating stem which should make the inside of the neck very uniformed.

my barrel just dont like the hornady bullets...and yes please let me know how fast those bullets are going with 44g as im at 41.6g and my crony says right at 2840 2850 and 43g was about 2930.

[Steelhead]

My load with Hornady bthp's is 43.9 and chrony and drop show 2830ish.
Id be surprised if the hybrids had much more speed than that.

[LongRange]

thats interesting...and the only thing i can think of is that my loads are slightly compressed at 42g and thats causing the higher speeds.

[Steelhead]

thats interesting...and the only thing i can think of is that my loads are slightly compressed at 42g and thats causing the higher speeds.

You may have a fast barrel also but I'm sure the roomy Win brass is making a difference.
Even at 44 I'm not crunching powder at all.
My headspace is set to barely clear a go gage so that's not a factor.

[LongRange]

You may have a fast barrel also but I'm sure the roomy Win brass is making a difference.
Even at 44 I'm not crunching powder at all.
My headspace is set to barely clear a go gage so that's not a factor.

have you weighed the win brass with H2O? all my nosler brass is right at 54g over flow capacity. my buddy shoots rem brass and if i remember correctly his over flow is right at 56 or 57g.

[LongRange]

also another thing i noticed in the target pics above...the 2nd shot a 930yds IS NOT the shot at the bottom right corner of the yellow its the shot that is lower and to the left...the shot i circled was wishful thinking i guess LOL.

[LongRange]

Are you guys triming your brass before or after you expand?
I trimmed before last time and it all worked out well but i just sized and expanded 100 cases tonight and started thinking its probably better to trim after expanding...i measured several cases after neck sizing then again after expanding and they were the same but it still seams best to me to trim after. I also expanded the entire neck on these cases and it looks like the expander pushed the doughnuts to the outsides of the necks as the necks average .002 larger at the shoulder. Im just going to clean these necks up as they are already pretty thin at .288 loaded neck...these are the 100 pcs of nosler i plan to shoot in matches this year.

Also do any of you guys prep and turn necks on virgin brass or do you fire form first? My understanding is its best to fire form and then do all the prep work and thats how ive always done primer pockets.

[Steelhead]

I trim after sizing.
I also fire form the brass once with cheaper bullets first before neck turning.

[LongRange]

thanks Steel,i figure its best to fire form first to straighten out the case and then do all prep work. ive uniformed primer pockets on virgin brass before and then checked again after fire forming and ended up milling another 0.005 or so out on most of the cases.

so i turned about 60 cases last night and they came out a lot better than the first cases i turned...not that the first cases were bad they were just a little rough. i also came up with a much easier way to set the cut into the shoulder with the K&M tool...instead of setting the cutter and pilot and turning a case hoping the cut into the shoulder was good i backed the cutter off until it was just barely touching the neck at the shoulder/neck junction and locked the set screw on the pilot.i then backed the case off the pilot and adjusted the cutter in until it was just barely touching the neck at the neck/mouth junction and then turned a case and the cut in the shoulder(IMO)was perfect.
i also fed the case VERY slow into the cutter and put a little imperial wax on the pilot with every case instead of every other case so everything went very smooth.
the cutter blade is easy to adjust on the K&M tool and is very precise but the pilot is kind of a PITA but after adjusting the pilot like i did last night its a lot easier.
i set the cutter to just clean these necks up at .005 and you can see that with only taking that off the neck it turned about 90% of most of the necks...also you can see at the neck/shoulder junction a real shinny gold ring that was where the doughnut was as the expander pushed it out which was also a lot easier to expand the entire neck and trim the doughnut from the outside than it was to stop the expander short of the doughnut and ream it out.


http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo-17.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo-17.jpg.html)

[LongRange]

my buddy came out this morning with his 260 that he just got put back together after about 6 months waiting for his scope to be replaced. he also had a issue with his criterion barrel that criterion step right up and took care of by sending him a NEW barrel and also...FREE OF CHARGE...installed his muzzle break...it is indexed PERFECT and they smoothed out all the rough edges around the muzzle end of the break and around the ports...i should have gotten a pic to post as criterion did a fantastic job on the break. also hats off and MADD props to criterion for stepping up and handling the barrel issue so fast and also for going the extra mile to install the break free and cover ALL shipping costs...my buddy paid $0 dollars...their CS far exceeds ANY in the shooting industry that i know of!!

it took 3 rounds to get on paper and heres a couple of groups he shot using ammo he loaded almost a year ago...42g H4350 under a 140g hornady and heres the best part...mixed primers...it was ammo he had left over from load development when he swapped barrels and was mainly using it to coat the barrel with HBN.

first 5 shot group...
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo1-44.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo1-44.jpg.html)

this was a 6 shot group....im thinking his riffle is a hammer LOL....
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo2-44.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo2-44.jpg.html)

[LongRange]

thats enough about my buddy...and i told him when im sitting at my bench tonight loading my fully preped,neck turned nosler brass with bench rest primers for tomorrow all ill be thinking about is the groups he shot out of a new riffle with sh!t ammo he found in the bottom of his tool box and mixed primers grouping at 205yds LOL!!!

so ive been TRYING to get the 140g match hornadys to shoot out of my riffle for quite some time...ive tried every powder,primer,neck tension,seating depth,ECT ECT i have and these bullets just WOULD NOT shoot in my riffle. i had 2 boxes left and at the last minute this morning decided to give them ONE LAST TRY...i even told my buddy that if they didnt shoot a 1 hole group today id give him the 160 bullets i had left...well after my second group he went home empty handed....im not sure what the velocity was as i didnt expect this so i didnt bring my chrony but i will go out tomorrow to chrony and confirm this load. needless to say im like a kid at christmas because i shoot a LOT and it gets spendy shooting the higher priced bullets...142g SMKs are $172 for 500 and 139g lapuas are $316 per 1000 not counting shipping...140g match hornadys are $232 per 1000...also with the SMKs the bearing surface varies quite a bit...in the 500 box i have now its from .580 to .595 which changes seating depth by 2.276 to 2.286 in my riffle...the 300 or so hornadys ive shot and the 900 lapuas are ALL VERY consistent and oddly enough have the same bearing surface of .634 to .635.

5 shot group...low right was ALL ME not expecting a center punch last 4 shot thinking have i found a good load for these??
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo-18.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo-18.jpg.html)

[jerry shaw]

That is sure a nice group.

Most of my .260 shooting has been done with Lapua 139's over VV N-150. I found them at Powder Valley and have been very satisfied. The gun likes those really well. Having said that, it has a Shilen stainless bull barrel. We used the Lapuas at the Midrange Prone match at Camp Perry last year where we shot from 300 to 600 yards on the F Class targets. Every dropped point was caused by the shooter.

I had trouble finding 140 AMAX bullets last year, so I didn't do a lot of experimentation with them. The little that I did do with these bullets was very satisfactory. 120 AMAX worked well too.

[Steelhead]

Nice shootin!
I'm still impressed with the Hornady 140 bthp's and their advertised BC is very close, I use .285 and the gets me to subsonic range, have to see what the air does after that.
In my barrel they shoot better than the Amax's.

With nosler 260 brass my H100V load with the bthp's was 41.5 and a CCI 200 primer at 2.850.

[LongRange]

That is sure a nice group.

Most of my .260 shooting has been done with Lapua 139's over VV N-150. I found them at Powder Valley and have been very satisfied. The gun likes those really well. Having said that, it has a Shilen stainless bull barrel. We used the Lapuas at the Midrange Prone match at Camp Perry last year where we shot from 300 to 600 yards on the F Class targets. Every dropped point was caused by the shooter.

I had trouble finding 140 AMAX bullets last year, so I didn't do a lot of experimentation with them. The little that I did do with these bullets was very satisfactory. 120 AMAX worked well too.

ive shot the Amaxes in my 260 and my 300wm with no luck...i do shoot the 208g hornady BTHP in my 300 and it loves them....ive shot a lot of the 140g match hornadys with no luck until now. ive also shot 900 of the 139g lapuas and and around 700 of the 142g SMKs and my 260 loves both...my goal is to get the 140g horns to shoot as they are almost a $100 bucks cheaper per 1K.


Nice shootin!
I'm still impressed with the Hornady 140 bthp's and their advertised BC is very close, I use .285 and the gets me to subsonic range, have to see what the air does after that.
In my barrel they shoot better than the Amax's.

With nosler 260 brass my H100V load with the bthp's was 41.5 and a CCI 200 primer at 2.850.

have you chronyed this load? i really like the 100V as it burns very cool as does the H4350...i shoot 5 rounds with the slower burning powders and my barrel is warm at the muzzle...i shoot 10 rounds of 100v and the barrel is barely warm at the for-end of the stock and cool the rest of the way out to the muzzle.

[LongRange]

i got out this morning and verified the 41g 100V load and chronyed it as well...it IS a good load and very repeatable...i wish it was going a little faster but im happy i finally have a load the 140g horns shoot with...i loaded up 5 at 40.8g,15 at 41g.5 at 41.2g and just .2g opened up the groups so 41g is the load.

this is the group i shot this morning...two things were different from yesterday to today...yesterday 0 wind...today(im guessing)2 to about 5MPH from left to right...i also blew the top off my lee collet die(i didnt think i was over camming that much)so i had to use my bushing die to size the necks and im thinking that is the cause of the 30FPS ES today but even with that the group is nice...

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo2-45.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo2-45.jpg.html)

i also set a target out at 567yds to see if this load would hold together and it did...i wasnt shooting for groups i was shooting to see how pin point this load was at distance...i over doped the first shot but once i got dialed it was dead on....until the last couple of shots when my trigger developed a bunch of creep(i wish jewell would make triggers for savage)...the shots fired at the outside yellow squares were all shot after i got my dopes dialed and let the barrel cool and were shot 10mins apart...yes 50mins to shoot 5 rounds LOL....shots 5 thru 10 were shot at the outside targets...

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo1-45.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo1-45.jpg.html)

[LongRange]

also i know this thread has gone a little off track but i will say i like the nosler brass over all and it will hold up well even if shooting high pressure loads...i know a few of you guys had some bad nosler brass but i think ive read a bad review or two on EVERY brass made including lapua brass...is nosler as good as lapua? NO but id say its pretty close.
now for the things i didnt like about the nosler brass....
1-the price...about $110 for a 100pcs...i can buy lapua brass cheaper...$89 bucks per 100pcs
2-the hundred pcs i bought at sportsman had short necks right out of the box...several were 2.005 COAL...i like to run mine at 2.025 to 2.030 and im not sure they will ever stretch that much...the longest piece before neck turning was 2.0165 but i had to trim them all to 2.011 to turn the necks.
3-the necks are thin at .288 loaded neck size and fired neck is .297 so if using a bushing die the necks are really being worked and im pretty sure the doughnuts would return and this is the biggest reason i bought the lee collet die.

things i like about the nosler brass...
1-its tough...if it with hold up to shooting a 142g bullet close to 3000FPS for 5 to 7 loads then IMHO it deserves a little respect
2-a little more case capacity
3-i found a good load for the hornadys with this brass LOL!

if your looking for good brass with just a little more capacity than the lapua then the nosler brass will fit that bill...i know remington brass has the most capacity and it will hold up if your not loading hot...i will continue to shoot this nosler brass until i put my new barrel on then ill switch back to the lapua as case capacity will not be a issue.im also pretty sure the current barrel will last most if not all of this years match season so ill shoot it until its done before changing it then have it set back.

[Steelhead]

I think they just had a small run of brass that wasn't up to snuff and that's what I got.
Almost all the latest reports are solid.

Mine lost primer pockets fast with reply ugly mild loads.

I will say it was very good looking brass LOL!

[LongRange]

well im still shooting the nosler brass and had a good day today after a little adjusting.....5 loads on this brass...
1&2 are high 3-7 are adjusted...

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff515/LTT-/Mobile%20Uploads/photo1-56.jpg (http://s1239.photobucket.com/user/LTT-/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo1-56.jpg.html)