260 Rem for Whitetail. Too much?

Last year I reworked my Savage 10FCP .308 into a 260 Rem. This was the first year I got to shoot it for deer. My wife was the first to take a deer with it and I wasn't hunting with her at the time. She did a text book shot through both lungs and didn't hit a leg or shoulder bone, yet we lost both front shoulders. I shot mine with it and also did a great shot right straight through the heart. It completely blew the heart up and made the lungs look like pudding. And I lost both front shoulders even though I didn't hit shoulder or leg. My 10 year old son shot a deer with it too. He shot with the deer pretty much facing him at about 200 yrds. Put a bullet low in the neck and it came out of the neck and traveled about half way down one back strap. We lost one shoulder and half of one back strap. Seeing what I saw of this bullet this year I would have no problem shooting a moose or elk with this gun. But I am thinking this might be a little too much for deer.

I can't complain too much though, we have three deer in the freezer for this winter.

What ammo or bullets ??

140gr Hornady SST. They were the closest thing I could get to what I have been shooting. I could probably drop to a lighter bullet but I would have to completely rebuild all my shooting tables and I just didn't have time to put that much work into it before season this year.

What sort of FPS.

I don't know for sure because I kind of had to rework my load at the last minute but I am guessing somewhere in the 2700 FPS range. Nothing that i would consider a super hot load, that's for sure.

Hate losing the backstrap.

2700 sounds about right and not that hot of a load really.
I think the SST is a bonded bullet, not sure though.
If not maybe it is shedding the jacket.

Maybe though its just a run of bad luck, IE 3 coincidences in a row.

If not maybe try another bullet, like non tipped softpoint or a barnes bullet might not cause so much shock.

Well better to lose a shoulder than the entire deer. SST are not bonded bullets. The interbond bullets are.

Try the interbonds or Nosler accubond. I personally shoot a 300WM using barns 130grns TTSX. Nothing and I mean nothing survives a shot within 200yds and it makes a small entry wound and about a golf ball size exit.

mytwo60, I will agree with you on losing a shoulder is a lot better than losing a deer. After seeing what this little gun is capable of this year I won't worry about losing a deer with it. I might try the interbond bullets. The exit wound on these deer, or the two that did exit, were relatively small. That's why it surprised me so much that there was that much bloodshot meat so far away from the wound channel.

tammons, I can't really call it a run of bad luck, three different shooters with the same results. I have bad luck but come on! ;D
One of the reasons I don't really want to go to a softpoint is it changes the BC so much and I was trying to keep it as close to my target bullets as possible. And the reason I don't really want to go with a Barnes that a 6.5 bullet is long enough already and Barnes is pretty proud of their bullets and I can't afford to buy them when there are so many other quality bullets for so much less.

Might try an accubond next time. I really want to try the Berger VLD hunting bullet. Then it would be exactly like my target bullets but they seem to be hard to come by.

I worked up a load for my father's girlfriend this year. She is shooting a short barrel ruger, so speed isn't up there but it had a massive wound on a big doe she shot. I know its a nosler accubond, I think 130 gr. Definitely not a weak round.

My .260 does great with the factory Rem 140's, they are accurate enough from mine that 200yds is easily doable. My most accurate reload is a 120NBT over H414, no deer with that one but yotes to just over 300yds. A lot of guys like the 129gr Hornady PSP with H4831, the 125gr Partition with either H414 or H4350 is on my loading bench now, but the Barnes 100gr or 120gr TTSX is really calling to me. The .260 is a great deer round or all around round. :)

Bearcat74, I will agree with you. It is a great all around piece of work. I have pretty much only shot 140gr bullets out of it. I used to live in Northern New Mexico near the Whittington Center in Raton, NM. There they have a steel buffalo at 1124 yards. I could ring steel on that anytime I wanted. I certainly wouldn't shoot an animal that far but the gun would get a bullet there. It might be time this summer for me to start working with a lighter bullet.

And maybe that is an acceptable loss on whitetail deer. The last time I shot a deer was a couple years ago in Montana and I was using a 22-250. Kill a deer deader than dead but doesn't ruin that much meat. Maybe I just need to realize that this is an acceptable loss when the state says you can't shoot anything smaller than a .243.

While I haven't had an opportunity to drop a whitetail with it yet, 41.5gr H380 under a 120gr Nosler Ballistic Tip is lights-out accurate from my .260 Remington 700 MTN LSS (very thin 20" barrel) and the doe my brother shot with it last year bang/flopped with no real destructive meat damage.

What kind of velocity are you getting out of that 120gr Nosler? I don't normally shoot H380 but I'll bet I could reproduce the velocity from the powder that is my current favorite flavor. I was thinking I might need to back the bullet weight off a little.

Not sure of velocity, as I don't have a chronograph...sorry.

It recoils a *fuzz* softer than factory Remington Accu-Tip 120gr ammunition with absolutely no pressure signs whatsoever.

44.8grs H414 gets 2880fps from my 22" + 120 Nosler Ballistic Tip, very very accurate.

I live in Al and deer are not large, wqhile ANY 22 Centerfire is legal (I've use 221 Fireball to 220 Swift). I have not had bad results with the 260 Rem. My personal experience is with close shots on deer pillaging my shrubbery/free range chicken feed after they destroyed my garden. I wasa shooting Rem 140 Core-Lokt PSPs from a Rem M7 19" bbl. Al the deer were DRT and had less tissue damage the faster 224s I've used. If you want to have a tissaue damage complaint- shoot a deer with a 30-06 loaded w/a 130gr Speer 130gr JHP bullet a 3100fpsI! My mounted 8-Pt showed no bullet entry or exit until the entry wound wa found under the left front foreleg when it was in an extended posture. No exit. I found the perfectly mushroomed bullet(not much more than the base) in the mid-neck off side. when we opened the body cavity it was all jello! All my 260 shots were static broadsides and about 6-8" behind the foreleg/centermass. All were DRT and IMHO not a meat loss issue. If you shoot them thru the shoulder it will F it up.

I use the 140 SST's in 6.5 x 55 Sweede and 6.5 BRM (30-30 Necked to 6.5). Both of these were used on the TC Encore Platform with 26 inch barrels. Both performed excellent and the deer was dead on the spot.

The 140's out of my Sweede were loaded with Alliant's new Powerpro 2000 MR (34.0) grains. They ran at 2400 fps and the recoil was a soft push. Hit my buck at 155 yards and took out the spine at the bottom on the neck. Get this....... NO SHOCK MEAT!

The 140's out of my 6.5 x .30-30 Wildcat did a shoulder shot and I lost both of them. I'm going to slow it down also and see what happens next year.

If you're not into Encore's and only have bolt guns, the 6.5x55 Sweede fits the short action Model 10 Savage action all day long. You'll have all kinds of problems with other brands, but not the Model 10 or the Model 12.

All my bolt guns shoot paper and steel..... my hunt gun is a TC Encore....... it just takes the beating and never blinks an eye.......One Good Shot.......

I shoot 120gr Nosler Ballistic Tips out of my TC Encore .260 and taken the last few whitetails with it. Switched over to it a few years ago after shooting mainly a .243 for 3 decades. Also have a 7mm-08 but it's the .260 that goes out with now everytime. Great range, great accuracy, very mild recoil, and a great compact treestand gun or deer drive gun in the Encore. It's a terrfic caliber for Pa. whitetails.

Try 120 core-lokts and 4350. I get 2900 from a mild load. Not much meat damage and very quick kills with minimal tracking. Less meat loss than the 53grTSX from my 223 this year.

Sounds like 120grs is the ticket. I'll give it a try next year.

If you're not shooting long range don't forget the 140's. Spectacular penetration. Core-lokts hold together better than Hornadys. Core-lokts will leave big chunks of bone on the ground;)

Yeah, 140gr SST's are what I was shooting gopher. Maybe they are opening up a little too fast. Maybe an interlock or a partition is a better choice. Unfortunately I can only shoot a couple deer a year so then I have to wait an entire year to try the next bullet.

My wife shot an averagesized 10pt at 240 yards with an interlock and it shed its core. I cansee how the quicker expanding SST would shoot up some meat especially if shoulder bone is hit. The interlock took out ribs and the core was in the spine.

Now a good friend of mine shoots a .260 Remy and I use a 6.5/06 and your right, it is enough caliber for moose using that 160 grain bullet!

My friend uses Remington Core-Lokts in the 140 grain and has no problems getting pass throughs out to 250 yards behind the shoulder. It pays not to hit that shoulder unless your shooting a heck of a trophy bullet, then by all means "Bust" em down hard so it can not wonder off and get lost.

.264 caliber bullets are anomalies. Although smaller in diameter and weight they are absolutely devastating to game of about any size. try a 120 or 130 grain bullet, not as much meat damage but they fall just as hard.

My wife and I shot 4 AL whitetail last year out of our garden. She got hacked off because they were eating her bushes in the front yard too! All our shots were with Rem 140gr Core-Lokt bullets, double lung shots, BEHIND the fore leg/shoulder area. All were DOTS(dropped on the spot), and no shoulder meat was lost. I shoot Hornady SSTs (Hornady Light Mag 308) in my Rem 700 Sendero 26" @ 3000fps with the same result. I try to aim at least 10" behind the front leg vertical plane if possible. My sole deer this year was an old 7pt buckin my greeenfield following some does that I shot off-hand with my wife's Ruger Compact 7mm-08 @90 yds(porch to back fence). It went about 30 yds, collapsing as it tried to jump the fence. It also was a double lung shot, a little higher than I like, but it was a standing unsupported shot on a moving deer. If you want to see meat destruction-shoot a deer with a 220 swift or a 300 Weatherby Mag. I guy in my old club used a 300 Weatherby( on 100 lb AL deer!) and lost both shoulders and still had to track some deer w/ 5" exit wounds! I killed 2 the same day with a 222 Rem that were dead in their tracks in the green field(neck shots). Bullet placement will save your meat.

The .260 Remington is certainly NOT to much to use on any whitetail deer or mule deer for a fact! I have used the 1/4 bore (25-06) for years and now am using the wildcat (.264-06) 6.5/06 for you metric fans out there in the hardwoods. ;D

I have looked at that 6.5-06 and that does look like a very good round. Little bit more poop than the 260 but I'll bet that it's a killer down range. I have even thought about that as a next build because I have a ton of 25-06 brass laying around that would work for it.

I have been using two 6.5x55's for a few years now with the 140 Hornady IL at about 2600 fps, with excellent results on deer and one cow Elk. Sounds like you have had a bullet problem. My new barrelled Swede really likes the 120 Nosler BT but I haven't shot any game with them yet. Try the 140 IL and slow it down a bit, 6.5's really don't need big speed to kill well. jmo

i shoot 6.5 284 120 sie sptz. 3250 fps no meat lose when shot though lung entry and exit wounds hit one going away from me between shoulder blades lost a lot of meat that time. if your meat eater 22-250 3500 fps neck shot no meat loss one shot kills done this many times.i think your bullet is to soft try different brand.

My sister in law shoots a .260 Remington. She makes neck shots, prefers to hit them high in the neck. She doesn't like tracking them. So far, she's three-for-three, bang, flop. Her husband loads 120 BTs over IMR 4350.

Yes, one does not need the extra muzzle blast created by the .264 Win mag caliber but the 6.5/06 is just the ticket for down range shooting and penetration with a 130 or 140 grain bullet it very good. I would not be affraid of elk hunting with this caliber, it will do the job.

I had problems with the .260 remmington 140's putting whitetails down without them running for hundreds of yards first. Then I switched to the 120 grn nosler ballistic tip. Since the switch I haven't have a deer run farther than 10 yards.

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The 260 Rem is really too small for large whitetails.

Better stick with a 340 Weatherby or 375 H&H with premium controlled-expansion heavy-for-caliber bullets for complete penetration on whitetail.

With conventional bullets, stick with something at least 458 in diameter.


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Wouldn't expect any less out of you Hammer. ;D Go big or go home right?

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Once shot a spike mule deer using a light-for-caliber 210-grain Nosler Partition from a 340 Weatherby at point-blank range -- maybe 20 yards.

It was at last legal light.

Took two hours to find him -- laying exactly where he had been standing when he was shot. Hadn't moved a foot.

If he had been hit with a 250-grainer instead of the little 210, or if we had more muzzle flame by using a 378 Weatherby, we might have found him quicker.

But hunting for a little spike in the dark using lit cigarettes for light ain't too easy.

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Hammer, you a funny man!

260 to small lol lol lol

Your .260 is fine, just use a tougher bullet. Try a ttsx, GMX, or partition.

I use a 125 grain Nosler Partition for deer and it has been outstanding. Everything falls to this bullet and very little waste with the controlled expansion.

Hi,
Reports of SST bullet failures are starting to be common here in eastern Kansas. First 270 and then 30 caliber blowing up on soft tissue. Now you are reporting 6.5mm as well failing on body shots. I would look for another bullet.

Papa

Double-lung behind the shoulder for meat. Look for the pink blood on th eground and follow the red trail..


Big deer, worried about losing a big 'un.. Take out the wheels (shoulders). Top of the shoulder crease normally tickles the lower part of the spine... DRT with very little kicking, but bone fragmentation takes out more meat especially if you hit lower than expected.

SC