260 Remington question: how to get from here to there

[doofus47]

I have a Winchester M70 in 30-06. I have a 7.62x39mm. I'm pretty darn happy with both. I'd like a medium caliber rifle to fill the gap for hunting. I"m thinking 260 Remington, although 25-06 seems to overlap a bit.
If I were going to acquire a rifle in 260 Rem, it seems to me that my choices are:
1. buy a rifle in 260 remington. pricey but built to spec.
2. buy a .243/.308 and change barrels. Pricey but generally spec'd the same.
3. Buy a large ring Mauser and change barrels.

Method 1 gets me there, cheapest probably. Methods 2/3 are a bit more effort and would finish with a bit more panache and a unique rifle.

If you had 600 or so dollars to spend which way would you go?

Just asking.

[DnPRK]

I bought a Savage 12 BVSS in .308 and an aftermarket .260 barrel. It takes me 10 minutes to swap barrels with simple tools.

[bamaranger]

Yeah +1 to the Savage in a caliber with similar bolt face size. You don't even necessarily need a "short action" either. A beater Savage 110 in '06 or .270, or...many of the early short action calibers with the same size bolt face, (.308, .243, 7mm-08(?) were put in long actions as Savage did not make a "short action" until later on in the 110/10 history, sorry, not sure of year.

Beater Savages are relatively common. You can dump the beater barrel, duracoat the rough action (or not) and put on a .260 barrel, w/o a bolt face change.

I think Brownells sells the entire kit to do this, barrel, barrel vise, wrench and head space gauge,....in a variety of calibers.

Not to hijack, but .358 and .338-06 are some other interesting options. I have considered those, as well as that wind slipping .260, but never made the jump.

[sc928porsche]

260 is made from the 308 case (6.5x51) or if you wish 6.5-308. Bolt face diameter is the same for 308 and 30-06. So................anything made from the 308 or 30-06 case will fit the bolt face. The main difference is long or short action.

If you use a large ring mauser action, you will put more than $600 into it. Unless you get one that has already been properly sporterized. You can find some of those in gun and pawn shops.

Most of my rifles are built off of the large ring mauser. Even though I do the work myself, parts for the conversion can be costly. Orbendorf follower, timmeny trigger, good quality barrel, reamer purchace or rental, stock, bolt handle, floor plate release, scope mounts, etc. And once everything is done, all of it has to be polished and blued.

The easiest to change over would be the savage.

[kahrguy]

Don't limit your self to just the 260, If you think you will end up buying a new rifle then add the 6.5x55 and the 6.5 creedmoor to the short cartidge list. The creedmoor offers the handloader a better basic cartidge is work with but all three have a number of factory rifles to choice from . Tikka is a good choice for the 6.5x55 and savage has a several model in both 260 and 6.5 creedmoor . If a nice used savage or stevens rifle is found in any 308 based cartidge you can also change the barrel at home if needed. Look for a 243, 7-08 or 308. I would hunt with any of these

[trg42wraglefragle]

There really doesn't seem like much of a gap between what you already have.
I'd spend the money on reloading gear, or a new scope, or just not spend it at all.

If you don't hand load I'd probably prefer 7mm08 than 260rem as 7mm08 ammo seems to be more common and cheaper.

[Jimro]

Get a cheap Savage and swap barrels. With the cost of large ring Mausers this is even more economical.

Jimro

[Doyle]

If you plan to reload, then definately use a long-action donor. The reason is that the super high BC 6.5mm bullets are VERY long. They won't even begin to chamber in my SA .260.

[tobnpr]

Savage route, and what TRG said.

Just finished a Savage 7-08 build...

And just got an aftermarket .260 barrel to swap out on my son's .308 Savage.

Barrel wrench and go-gauge, made my own barrel blocks.

7-08 and .260 have very similar ballistics.

We shoot steel at long range, so retained energy is not a concern for us.

However- since you are building/buying for a hunting application, you should go with the 7-08. The 7mm bullet will have more energy downrange. And, it's also a good choice if you don't handload as commercial ammo is more available, and less expensive, than .260 which runs $30- $50 box

Hit the pawn shops and look for a "donor" action if you can find one...barrel condition, stock condition doesn't matter. Savage 10/110 , or Stevens 200 in any caliber with the correct boltface (preferably- although you can change the boltface on a Savage relatively inexpensively).

Should be able to find something for $250-$300. Sell the barrel and stock.
Aftermarket barrel ($250), stock ($200-$300), maybe even a Timney or Rifle Basix trigger. Especially if you can get $100 or so from the stock and barrel, you'll have built a very accurate rifle within your budget.

[doofus47]

I didn't know the Savage barrel swap option was that easy. Thanks for the feedback guys.
happy new year

[taylorce1]

If you had 600 or so dollars to spend which way would you go?

If I had $600 total to spend I'd get theSavage 11 THXP with Nikon scope.

If I wanted to spend just $600 on a rifle without optics I'd get a Remington Model 7, throw a Leupold VX2 3-9X40 and go hunting.

Swaping barrels out on a Savage is easy to do, but I find I don't swap barrels out. I build the rifle I want and sell off the old barrel. If the Savage was a true switch barrel rifle then I might find it a little more appealing to own just one receiver and several different barrels, but it isn't so I like one barrel per receiver.

[PetahW]

Originally Posted by doofus47

If you had 600 or so dollars to spend which way would you go?

The same thing I did two years ago, when I bought a used Model 70 Featherweight in 6.5x55 (the .26 cal ballistic twin of the .260Rem) for $500 with a 2-7x32 Leupy already mounted.


.

[shane256]

You can also just call up Savage and ask for a .260 in whatever. I'm guessing they still do it, but you used to could custom order a Savage rifle direct from them in any cartridge they've ever chambered, even if they don't currently offer it.

[tobnpr]

Savage will do it, but you'll pay through the nose, after a nice long wait...

So why bother when you can do it yourself?

[alaskabushman]

I love my .260, its a great cartridge and wonderfully accurate, I even killed an Alaskan black bear at 140 yards with it. Not really a black bear gun but it did the job in a pinch. I wish you luck in your quest.

[Scorch]

I usually advise people to buy a used Rem 700 short action and have it rebarreled.

[Scorch]

I usually advise people to buy a used Rem 700 short action and have it rebarreled.

[Ben Towe]

+1 on getting something else if you don't hand load. The .260 made a big splash when it came out a few years ago, but it seems to have been fading ever since. One shop around here still keeps ammo on the shelf but there is no selection. Not to say it isn't a good round, because it is, it was a wildcat round for a good while (I think Jim Carmichael developed it). It just had too much competition from well established rounds that would do the same thing, i.e. .25-'06, 6.5x55, 7mm-08.