260 Remington advice

[Drhc116]

Hi all,

I have been deer hunting with a .308 for years and have had great success. Recently I picked up a TC Encore in 50 cal and have decided to make this my go to hunting platform as I can take one frame and multiple barrels on my travels to cover any need/season. I have decided on a 260 rem barrel for my encore and my question is what are some barrel length suggestions to make this a light and manuverable hunting rifle? Right now I am leaning towards an 18" barrel to keep the rifle compact and a 1/8 twist to give me a good all around twist rate. I hunt everything from bean fields to swamps to mountains and the longest shot would probably be around 300 yards and that would be rare.

Will an 18" barrel with 1/8 twist still give me good performance? Or, should I consider a longer barrel/different twist rate?

Very much looking forward to your responses.

Thanks,

Dr.

[Doyle]

My Remington Model 7 .260 has an 18.5" bbl with a 1 in 9 twist. I'd like to have a 1 in 8 but even the 1 in 9 does OK with factory 140gr Federals. The .260 is quite an efficient cartridge in that it seems to give up very little when you use shorter barrels. I havent' shot any deer with it but I've taken several hogs. All went down right where they were.

I wish you luck finding a .260 Encore barrel. There are members of the Encore forum I'm on that have been searching for them for a long time. They are very scarce unless you are willing to have one custom made.

[Drhc116]

Thanks Doyle.

Just to further the thread, I plan on ordering either a Match Grade Machine or a Bullberry barrel as I also have not had very good luck finding factory Encore 260 barrels. The specs of my perspective barrel are 18", 1/8 twist, factory heavy profile in SS. I have never used the 260 before and just want to make sure I am making sound decisions on the lenght and twist.

[MarkCO]

The .260 is one of my two favorite cartridges and I have it in 2 very different platforms. Have not tried to get a .260 barrel for my Encore, but if I did, I would likely go with an 20". My LR rig has a 21.5" barrel and it does fine out to 1,000 yards on targets, but I stay under 800 for animals for the energy. I shot my Pronghorn at 680 with it last year and have shot deer from 20 to 800 with it.

Nothing wrong with 1:8, but if I went to 18", I think for the velocity I would stay with the 130s and under and 1:9 would be fine as well. If you want 18", I think you will be fine, but you might want to try a powder a little faster than the go to H4350 used by most in the .260.

[Doyle]

With an Encore action as short as it is, you might find that 18" is not enough to balance it right. I personally would look at a 20" barrel. You'll gain better balance plus maybe an additional 50 or so fps. Even when I put a 24" barrel on my Encore, it still is very short and pleasant to carry.

I've also got a 15" .260 barrel on a Remington XP100R pistol. I've never put it thru a chrono to see how much loss there is but I do notice a bit more muzzle blast as opposed to the 18.5" rifle barrel.

[44 AMP]

While I've never used the .260 Rem, its the short action equivalent of the 6.5x55mm Swede, which I and many others have used for a long time, and the Swede's performance is excellent!

I don't see any point to a barrel shorter than 18", there are also legal restrictions in some places. In an Encore, you are already 4-5 inches shorter than a bolt gun with the same barrel length, anyway.

[doofus47]

I have a 22" barrel on my stock Savage 11 in 260 Remington. I shoot short, 200 at the range, +/- 50 yards in the field. It works great. Twist is 1/8. I mostly shoot 120 grain TTSX.

I had an Arisaka Type 38 carbine (6.5x50) with an 18" barrel and it shot terrifically with 138 grain, so I think that anywhere between should be fine for accuracy. I think my Arisaka twist was like 1/8 (plus a hair more).

It's a great choice in cartridges.

[Drhc116]

I certainly appreciate everyone's opinions. I think at this point you guys have talked me into a 20" barrel over the 18". So the question left is: after a quick look around the old inter web, it looks like most factory loadings are in the 120-130gr ranges. Would i be better off with a 1/9 over the 1/8?

[JD0x0]

More barrel length on the .260rem will give a pretty decent increase in velocity over an 18'' not to imply an 18'' barrel would be ineffective. The extra velocity work well in conjunction with the relatively high BC bullets, giving you a flatter trajectory.

Would i be better off with a 1/9 over the 1/8?

Depends how heavy/long you want your bullets. The 1/8 would work better with long range VLD designs and heavier bullets. IMO the 1/9 wouldnt make enough of a difference with lighter bullets to justify the loss in versatility compared to having a 1/8 twist.

Heavier weight bullets 129-140 grains are actually pretty common in 6.5mm but may be less common in the .260 because of OAL problems on certain platforms. Occasionally the longer bullets end up with too long of a OAL to fit into certain short actions and magazines. Probably not an issue in a TC type rifle.

[Doyle]

Like I said earlier, I've got 1/9 and wished I had 1/8. I like heavier bullets and a 140 is at the top of what a 1/9 can handle. My old hunting buddy had a .260AI made up with a 1/7 that he used to shoot the seriously long 150gr+ bullets.

Go with a 1/9 only if you never intend to use anything greater than about 130 gr. If you ONLY wanted to use 140+gr then go 1/7. 1/8 seems to be the ideal midrange compromise for everything from about 100gr up to about 150gr.

If I can ever get back into reloading, I think my go-to bullet in .260 will be the 129gr Hornady SP. I got hold of one batch of those loaded up with RL-17 and it looked really promising but I never got a chance to fine-tune it.

[603Country]

I had a 260 made up for me (rebarreled a Tikka 308) and the Brux barrel is 20 inches long (at my request) and I believe that the twist is 1 in 8.5 inches. Shoots great.

[Jevyod]

My 260 is a Ruger M77 MkII. I believe it has a 20 inch barrel. It does have 1/8 twist. It shoots beautifully with 140 grain accubonds.

[Damon555]

I've got a TC Pro hunter and I use 28" barrels....Considering that the rifle does not have a conventional action taking up 5 or 6 inches of length you can go with a long barrel and still have a pretty short rifle overall.

Here is a 26" barreled Reminington 700 SPS Varmint along side a 28" barreled Encore Pro hunter.



It's tough to tell from the angle of the picture but the Encore is about 2" shorter than the bolt action rifle over all even with a longer barrel and length of pull..

You'll be surprised at how well your rifle balances and handles with a longer barrel.

[GeauxTide]

Don't see the need for handy with a SS; however, you can get quality aftermarket from EA Brown, http://www.eabco.com/. I recollect that 24" is the standard offering. Having reloaded for a 16.5" barreled Ruger and a 22" Savage, the longer barrel is the way to go in the 260. It likes medium slow powders in the preferred 120-140gr bullets, which causes a grand fireball and blast in the short barrels.

[somerled]

The beauty of the Encore is that you can use longer barrels and still have a trim rifle. I don't think I'd go with less than 22 inches. The 1-8" twist is best for the longer bullets with high ballistic coefficients--probably 140-grains plus. If you're going to use 120 grain bullets and keep it under 300 yards, a 1-9" twist will work ok.

If I was setting up a 6.5 mm rifle, I'd go with a 24" 1-8" barrel. But that's me out here on the edge of the plains. But I've used Encores with 24" barrels in wooded areas without a problem. They're more compact that most bolt-action rifles with 20" barrels.

[Unlicensed Dremel]

A 22" bbl in an Encore feels like an 18" bbl in a turnbolt, so get at least 22", IMO. Maaaaybe a 20. But not 18. You might even consider a 24". No reason to sacrifice that velocity.

Twist rate. Yes, an 8 twist will stabilize anything you've got, up to flat-point / flat base 162s or VLD 140s. But you're probably going to hunt with non-VLD 120s, 130s, and 140s - standard hunting bullets, in which case 1 in 9 is plenty fine too.

[tobnpr]

My son's .260 handles 140's with no problem in an 8 twist. My guess is that H4350 would still be a good choice even in a shorter barrel...but better start looking for brass now

[603Country]

I recently ordered some Lapua 260 and had no problem getting it. Midway, I think was the source.

I just hunt with my 260, and punch paper, and for a time I used the Nosler 120 gr BT and it killed deer as well as my 270 with the 130's. Now I use the 100's, and they do fine as well. Just had some venison for supper. I'm really fond of the 260. The Tikka is super accurate and recoil is mild.

I use IMR 4064 with the 100's and R17 with the 120's. If I was starting over on load work up, I'd probably go with 4350.

[Colt46]

A very good cartridge with mild recoil, excellent ballistics and good results at the range or for hunting.

[Doyle]

What's not to like?

Ammo availability (or lack thereof). Never any locally. Online is limited at best.

[emcon5]

Originally Posted by Doyle

Ammo availability (or lack thereof). Never any locally. Online is limited at best.

Reloading components are readily available.

[Doyle]

Reloading components are readily available.

Even those can be trouble. My favorite bullet is the 140gr Sierra Gameking. Try finding any of those (or any Gameking for that matter). They seem to have disappeared from the face of the earth.