.260 Rem Brass?

[BoilerUP]

It appears that new .260 Remington brass is somewhat hard to come by these days. I've got a couple boxes of new .260 Rem factory ammo in the safe along with roughly 20 pieces of brass I've reloaded 2-3 times for my 700 Mtn LSS so I'm not *completely* without, but given the relative lack of supply I'm looking at possibly forming my own brass.

For simplicity's sake (and since I don't plan on competing), I would prefer to simply run a well-lubed case through a full-length die and have it ready to load, avoiding neck turning or the like. Is this a reasonable expectation?

If so, what caliber would work best between .243 Win & 7mm-08? I'm inclined to go with 7mm08 as it would prevent possible headstamp confusion but I'd like to see what others who have done this before would do.

I know .308Win brass is also an option, but that would almost guarantee I'd have to turn the necks...right?

[hcpyro13]

I've been buying Norma 260 brass and have very good results with it. It might not be the cheapest alternative, but I don't have to worry about neck turning or reaming out donuts after re-sizing.

[Dinosdeuce]

I use both Rem .260 and Winchester 7mm-08. Just F/L re-size and go shoot. i do not notice any difference in accuracy. Once I use up the Remington brass, I will stick with winchester. One of the guys that shoots our matches with a .260 uses 7mm-08 exclusively and he usually places in the top 3.

Goodluck

[GaCop]

When I had my 260, I made all my brass from a mountain of 7mm/08 I had lying around. It formed w/o any problems and shot extremely well.

[Solothurn]

I resize and trim new Winchester 7mm-08 brass and have been very happy with that.

Midway did have a sale on bulk Winchester 7mm-08 brass.

[Luckus]

Why not use 308 win brass? (Lapua, WW, Rem etc.)

[Elkbane]

Luckus,
Because .308 brass is much shorter than .260 or 7mm-08 brass. Last time I tried necking down new Lapua .308 brass I started with 2.013" average length (spec is 2.015") and ended up with 2.018" sized cases. Using 7mm-08 brass gives you more length to work with as the spec length is the same as 260 Remington at 2.035". Both of these are shorter than the 243 Winchester at 2.045". You can use it (308 cases), but you'll have short necks (may not bother you but it did me).

I also tried necking up Lapua 243 Win brass - that worked good for 2 firings, then I started getting vertical on my targets that I eventually diagnosed as "doughnut" induced.

I'm currently using Norma brass in my 260 Rem - expensive, but worth it IMO. I tried some Norm 7mm-08 necked down to 260 (test run of 30 cases) and it was about as close to perfect as I could measure. Consistent neck wall thickness and weights, with nice tight primer pockets. After shooting that brass a couple of times, I just ordered some Norma 260 cases - should be here for the holidays......

ELkbane

[Luckus]

Thanks for the reply and usefull info. I may screw a 260 or 260 AI barrel on on my 12 FTR in the future and this info will save a lot of trial and errror.

[earl39]

It appears that new .260 Remington brass is somewhat hard to come by these days. I've got a couple boxes of new .260 Rem factory ammo in the safe along with roughly 20 pieces of brass I've reloaded 2-3 times for my 700 Mtn LSS so I'm not *completely* without, but given the relative lack of supply I'm looking at possibly forming my own brass.



Check around Midway is showing remington 260 brass in the 20 box and cheaper than dirt is showing the 50 pack remington brass

[mike3132]

I annealed .243 win brass and ran it threw my .260 full length sizing die and it came out perfect, no neck turning or trimming needed.

[JCalhoun]

Nosler offers .260 Rem brass.