FINALLY got my 260 together.

My stock finally arrived yesterday and I got busy putting it together. It started life as a 7mm mag that I bought on Gunbroker for 200 bucks and shot 3" groups at 50 yards. Oh well, I bought it for a donor anyway.

Savage 110 action
PT&G bolt head
Criterion 24" varmint contour 1-8 twist
NSS precision barrel nut and .250 lug
McMillan A3 in coffee camo
Vortex Viper PST 6-24x50
EGW practical rings and 20 MOA base
YHM 7.62 QD Ti Phantom

A big thanks to Tim at N.O.S. and Jim at Northland. Both super nice guys and a pleasure to do business with.

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...sf87aaaed.jpeg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...s7d146800.jpeg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...sa5ae7ffc.jpeg



Took it to the range for a shakedown. Starting load of 39gr of IMR 4350, 140gr SMK's in necked up 243 brass. After I got it sighted in I did a 6 shot group(lost track) and a 3 shot group with the suppressor.


Six shot......yanked the 4th one.
http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...sbc74cb3b.jpeg

3 shot suppressed.
http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...s355fe5bd.jpeg


Next is load development, confirm drops and stretch her out.

Really nice!

Fine rig.

Nice

nice, i like how you have the scope close to the bore. Nice.

Looks good. Give the 142 SMK and the 140 Amax a try too. I have had great luck with both of those.

Not too shabby, wait till you break it in.

Nice rifle

That's pretty. Have you been shooting at Ben Avery?

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Originally Posted by shooterbill

That's pretty. Have you been shooting at Ben Avery?

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Thanks. I have not been to Ben Avery.

How long was your wait on the Mickey stock from N.O.S.?

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Originally Posted by BoilerUP

How long was your wait on the Mickey stock from N.O.S.?

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Ordered on 2-21-13
Delivered on 8-27-13
A little over 6 months. Tim is a great guy to deal with.

nice build.....
what,s your total investment?

Congrats, Nice build. I really like that coffee Mac.

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Originally Posted by eddiesindian

nice build.....
what,s your total investment?

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A little over 2400 + 1000 for the suppressor.

yikes.....
Do you happen to know your fps on your load?

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Originally Posted by eddiesindian

yikes.....
Do you happen to know your fps on your load?

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They were just starting loads to break in the barrel. I will do some actual load development this weekend and check velocity when I settle on one. Can't wait to stretch her out.

roger that:
curious to see how the 140,s fly out to distance.

Very nice! I've been playing with my creedmoor for a wile now and I can tell ya the lil 6.5s are bad to the bone.

I was able to do some load testing yesterday and the results flat out sucked, it only liked the lowest charges of IMR4350 with anything over 40 grains printing around 2 MOA. Time to try a different powder.

sometimes you hit pay dirt early on load development...sometimes you dont.
4350 is a slow burn as it is.
which powder do you think you,ll go to next?

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Originally Posted by eddiesindian

sometimes you hit pay dirt early on load development...sometimes you dont.
4350 is a slow burn as it is.
which powder do you think you,ll go to next?

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Not sure. I see the majority of people shooting the 260 are using H4350. I have some Winchester 760 but the velocity numbers aren't that great.

kingzero, I know all rifles are different and like different things, but my 260 loves 43grns of IMR4350, 140grn PSP,CCI BR Pri. Hodgedon lists only a max load for this at 43grns, 2715fps, and only 57,000psi, so I went with it right off. No pressure signs. This combo shoots bug holes at 100yds and 1/2 Moa out to 300yds for me. I could easily be wrong, but I doubt your issues are coming from the IMR4350. Off hand, I suspect your not using enough of it. O yes, the 140grn PSP is a "bore ryder" bullet, and this makes it easy for me to start it "touching" the lands, which I think helps this combo. Good Luck-Good Shooting........Jim

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Originally Posted by FW Conch

kingzero, I know all rifles are different and like different things, but my 260 loves 43grns of IMR4350, 140grn PSP,CCI BR Pri. Hodgedon lists only a max load for this at 43grns, 2715fps, and only 57,000psi, so I went with it right off. No pressure signs. This combo shoots bug holes at 100yds and 1/2 Moa out to 300yds for me. I could easily be wrong, but I doubt your issues are coming from the IMR4350. Off hand, I suspect your not using enough of it. O yes, the 140grn PSP is a "bore ryder" bullet, and this makes it easy for me to start it "touching" the lands, which I think helps this combo. Good Luck-Good Shooting........Jim

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I am shooting 140 SMK's and worked my way up to 42.8 grns where I saw slight flattening of the primers. I feel I could take it to ~43.2 grns but nothing above 40 grns printed worth a ****. I was running .002" off the lands.

King have you ever used a suppressor before? Could it subtract accuracy? Dunno just asking.

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Originally Posted by Mach2

King have you ever used a suppressor before? Could it subtract accuracy? Dunno just asking.

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Don't think so. Accuracy was great with starting loads. I just don't think my rifle likes the higher charges of IMR4350.

hmmm...I knew the 4350 was a slow burner, but according to what fw conch mention,d, man, that is relatively slow. I figured that those 140,s would be flying at least in the mid 2800,s.
interesting.
good thing you put a 20moa base on your rig.

Im scraping IMR 4350. I loaded another 25 rounds and went back to the range yesterday. While the accuracy was better (some around MOA) it isn't performing how I want. Next chore will be finding some different powder.

roger that......
And the madness begin,s yet once again....olololol
Good luck......

Try RL17 in the same charge weights that are used with H4350...

...or Varget. 38.0 grains +/- tends to work GREAT with a 139-142, although its velocity typically lags H4350-capable velocities by around 100fps.

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Originally Posted by eddiesindian

roger that......
And the madness begin,s yet once again....olololol
Good luck......

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Yup, the madness of trying to find powder.

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Originally Posted by BoilerUP

Try RL17 in the same charge weights that are used with H4350...

...or Varget. 38.0 grains +/- tends to work GREAT with a 139-142, although its velocity typically lags H4350-capable velocities by around 100fps.

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I want to try H4350 because it's more temp stable. I think my uncle has RL17 but he is in Alaska for the next two weeks.......lucky *******.
Im dying to get this thing stretched out.

kingzero, I went back and read your entire thread, and a few things popped out at me. The donor rifle printed 3" groups at 50yds. Why?? Your first groups that you showed us were very good beginning loads,in my book, so I don't think there was anything wrong with the action. You necked up 243 brass. Did you then "fire form them"? Rather you did or not, those first groups were good, but sometimes necking up leads to "thin necks", depending on your chamber.? I can't get serious boat tails to group out of my 260 until I get out to 300yds. You say you want to "stretch it out"- do it. Before you give up on the IMR 4350, take those SMK's out to 300 or so and see how they do. It could be that H4350 will work better for you, but if IMR4350 doesn't, then I doubt it ? Good Luck-Good Shooting.......Jim

I don't know why the donor rifle shot so bad and wasn't concerned because it was a donor. The first groups were great but it was a starting load and I want some more speed. I have talked to a few others that can't get IMR4350 to group, but can with H4350 and vise versa. I am open to other powders, right now I will try what I can get my hands on without being raped by the powder pushers.

I didn't fire form them first just ran them through my FL die, trimmed and chamfered. Neck thickness is right at .015".......pretty standard from what I have read.

It may be the bullets too. I wanted some 140 A-maxes but couldn't find any. I know the rifle will do better with decent velocity. I just have to find the right combo.

and finding the right combo may get pricey and time consuming.
I , as others have mentioned, believe your groups are pretty good.
How about shooting what you have, I gaurantee that the groups your getting will infact get you out to distance. I think you,ll be suprised. and, you can hunt down more components in the mean time. thats what im presently doing right now.

I found some H4350 and Varget this morning and my uncle has some H4831. More testing next weekend.

reloaders addiction: Testing newly develop,d rds..........
load up a bunch of different charge and bullets weights...take the chrono....you never know....you may just hit pay dirt
I hate it when I do that and find the golden load only to have to wait to see what the speed is for ballistic calculation.
Good luck, hope you can get some more speed with accuracy

I may have found the problem. I got some .040" wire to replace the factory trigger spring and when I went to take the stock off, the front action screw was a little loose. I didn't have the right bit for my torque wrench and just snugged them up. I meant to torque it later but forgot.

I don't know if it was really the problem but Saturday I had loaded up 10 more of the starting loads and they didn't shoot like the first ones. First group was ~1.003" and second was ~0.867". I hope to test my theory along with some other powder this weekend.