My 260 chronograph 2845 average at the muzzle using a 140 Nosler bt and am shooting sub moa groups at 5-600 yards with mine. Have shot it some out to 800 but have to seat bullet longer and I have to single feed to do it. I would trust crushing a little bone with the 260 verses the 243. From what I've experienced the 243 needs speed to be as effective. I'm small framed and the recoil is not enough difference to hardly tell one from the other.
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243 vs 260 for hunting?
- Thread starter Olympus
- Start date
603Country
New member
kcub, I do use the Ballistic Tip and have done so since Nosler changed from the Solid Base Boattails. For ease of instant mental calculation when game shows up, I have grown to prefer a bullet with a MV of 3000 fps. The trajectory, when sighted in at 200 will be down 7 inches at 300, 20 at 400, and 40 at 500. I don't shoot deer at 500, so that bullet drop info is of little value, but at 400 I like to know it's 20 inches to plan for. Under rare circumstances, I have on occasion shot deer at 400 or so with my 270, though I have not tried it with the 260 and probably won't. I have taken quite a few coyote and pigs at 400, and even at 500 on one occasion, with the 260.
That preferred trajectory is what moved me from the 120 gr bullet in the 260 to the 100 gr bullet. I thought I'd give that lighter bullet a try for a couple of years as my coyote, hog, and deer bullet, and I can reach 3000 fps with it easily. I have a 20 inch barrel on my 260, so I couldn't reach 3000 with the 120 gr BT. After two years with the 100 gr bullet, I have learned that deer and large hogs tend to run further than they did with the 120 gr bullet. That, and the fact that the bullet rarely exits a big hog, has finally convinced me to go back to the 120 gr bullet, which always seemed to anchor the big hogs and the deer quickly.
Now, as to the type bullet, Partition versus Ballistic Tip, I get extremely good accuracy with the BT. I never could do that with the Partition. And I like the destructive results with the BT, and always got an exit when I used my 270, and almost always with the 260 and the 120 gr BT. I have come to believe that bullet speed is a real consideration when using the BT, which is why Roy Weatherby used the Partition. He was sending out those bullets at 3400 fps, and I expect that the BT's would fragment too quickly on large game at that speed. No matter what we hunt, we need penetration, and the Partition will give you that even at very high speeds, where the BT might or might not.
Over the decades I have killed a couple hundred deer with Ballistic Tips. I have learned how not to use them (quartering shots and breaking bones are not what you do with BT's).
That preferred trajectory is what moved me from the 120 gr bullet in the 260 to the 100 gr bullet. I thought I'd give that lighter bullet a try for a couple of years as my coyote, hog, and deer bullet, and I can reach 3000 fps with it easily. I have a 20 inch barrel on my 260, so I couldn't reach 3000 with the 120 gr BT. After two years with the 100 gr bullet, I have learned that deer and large hogs tend to run further than they did with the 120 gr bullet. That, and the fact that the bullet rarely exits a big hog, has finally convinced me to go back to the 120 gr bullet, which always seemed to anchor the big hogs and the deer quickly.
Now, as to the type bullet, Partition versus Ballistic Tip, I get extremely good accuracy with the BT. I never could do that with the Partition. And I like the destructive results with the BT, and always got an exit when I used my 270, and almost always with the 260 and the 120 gr BT. I have come to believe that bullet speed is a real consideration when using the BT, which is why Roy Weatherby used the Partition. He was sending out those bullets at 3400 fps, and I expect that the BT's would fragment too quickly on large game at that speed. No matter what we hunt, we need penetration, and the Partition will give you that even at very high speeds, where the BT might or might not.
Over the decades I have killed a couple hundred deer with Ballistic Tips. I have learned how not to use them (quartering shots and breaking bones are not what you do with BT's).
I know the 95gr SST bullet will crush bone. I hit my 8pt this year behind the front side shoulder and it exited through the backside shoulder. In deboning my shoulder meat, I saw the bone damage.
The Hornady SST bullet had proven itself to me in a variety of calibers, including 243.
The Hornady SST bullet had proven itself to me in a variety of calibers, including 243.
You will find recoil difference to be negligible. With 100gr Noslers, the 260 will run them to 3200fps in 22". So, the 260 will do everything the 243 will, and will push the wonderful 120-129 big game bullets to 2900fps and the 140gr pencils to 2700. Since you're already loading for the 243, then look to something like a 7-08 or a 308.
603Country
New member
Not much kick from my 260 Tikka T3 Lite. The grandkids shoot it, and nobody (girl or boy) has complained.