260 Remington

[Hoss50]

My dad just bought a Tikka CTR in 260, and I am sure he is going to want me to load for it. Does anyone have any pet loads or powders, etc that you can share?

Current Bullets on hand for 6.5 Caliber Are:

135gr Berger Classic Hunters

140gr SMK

140gr ELD-M

140gr SST

[10Turkeys]

It's been a few years since I shot a .260, but with mine I found that basically any powder that would work in a .308 Winchester will work in a .260, 4895, 4064, Varget. At one time I was shooting a 6.5x55 and a .260 at the same time and I was using a mild load of VV-N-150 for both.

[MMACFIVE]

The 260 rem and the 6.5 creedmore have nearly identical case capacity. It might be easier to find a good CM load and go from there.  I’ll bet 40-42 grains of H4350 or IMR 4451 would work well with any of your bullets. 

[Hoss50]

24 minutes ago, MMACFIVE said:

The 260 rem and the 6.5 creedmore have nearly identical case capacity. It might be easier to find a good CM load and go from there.  I’ll bet 40-42 grains of H4350 or IMR 4451 would work well with any of your billets. 

I have 1/2lb of H4350 left from when I was using it in my 6.5x55 for load development. I think I am using H4831SC in it right now with the 135gr Bergers. 

 

[logman48]

I shoot 48.0 gr RL26 with the 135 gr Berger. 2880 fps. .330 moa

[L Cazador]

Tikka has long throat so the Berger classics are going to shoot best from magazine length or less. RL 16 works very well in my 260 with the Berger 135. The 260 case is over a tenth of an inch longer than the 6.5 Creedmoor case so use that extra case capacity wisely. It can easily generate 100-150 fps over the Creed with the right powder. You're going to like the way that Tikka shoots! Enjoy

[John O]

I bought one of these a year ago and have done significant load development with H4350 and 143 ELDX's.  Very happy with accuracy and temp stability.  My daughter shot a nice buck at 560 yds with it in November.  Very pleased with the results.  PM me and I would be happy to share load details.

[MMACFIVE]

3 hours ago, L Cazador said:

Tikka has long throat so the Berger classics are going to shoot best from magazine length or less. RL 16 works very well in my 260 with the Berger 135. The 260 case is over a tenth of an inch longer than the 6.5 Creedmoor case so use that extra case capacity wisely. It can easily generate 100-150 fps over the Creed with the right powder. You're going to like the way that Tikka shoots! Enjoy

When loaded to factory coal there is about a .5 gr difference in volume between the CM and 260 rem with a 140 gr bullet according to Nosler load data.  How the heck are you getting an extra 150fps? Theoretically you would need about a 15 gr different to get that much extra velocity. 

[10Turkeys]

I've had a T3 in 7mm Rem Mag, a T3 Hunter in .308 Winchester, and currently own a T3X Hunter in 30-06 , none of them have had a long throat in them.

[no worries]

RL 16 and 143 ELDX works in both Tikka 260s we own.  They are T3 models and I use a 6.5 CM mag box ( called an M+) which allows longer cartridge length.  You can also shave down the bolt stop if needed to accommodate the longer bullets. 
 

[Hoss50]

I finally got to the range with my dads 260 Remington. We broke it in a couple months ago, but had not started load development. Today was day 1.

I had loads with 135gr Berger Classic Hunters loaded over varying charges of H414. The rifle seemed accurate at almost all load charges but these 2 stuck out. 

 

[Hoss50]

This was the warm up group. 5 rounds at 38.5gr including the cold barrel shot.