260 load and powders with 140 Sierra Game Kings

W

Wendyj

New member
I mostly shoot the ELD from the bench using H4831 sc. I picked up 200 140 grain SGK on sale a few weeks ago. I have shot some with several different powders out of my CTR 20 inch barrel. Just wondered if anyone has a load for these that is serving them well.
 
Wendy,

I haven't heard of too many CTR's out there, especially in 260, although I hear they are great rifles!

So far I've only shot/loaded for the 168gr. 308 Win MatchKings.
Still find they like about 0.015" off of the lands.

As with anything, Pete's gun doesn't shoot the same as your gun. Time for the books...
Best of luck
Std7mag
 
Wendy, go over on the Texas Hunting Forum. Some of those guys are serious long range shooters and will share their load recipes. They'll tell you to use H4350.
 
Mine will shoot with the 4350 pretty good. Seems like everything in this rifle likes a little jump so far. The first one of these I had shot everything great with h414. This one has been finicky with powders for every bullet brand I've put through it. Proven fact no two rifles shoot identical.
 
20 years ago the most common question on gun forums was "Can I shoot 38 special in my 357 mag?"
Now the most common question is "How much H4350 in my 260Rem with 140 gr bullets?"

I knew the answer 20 years ago, but my 260s don't have the twist rate for a 140 gr bullet:(

And my fast twist rate 6.5 barrels are turning into 6.5-06 rifles and shooting 120 gr bullets.
 
Clark is it the speed that you like using 120's, or are they more consistant than heavy bullets in your rifle?

Wendyj try IMR 4451 Hogdon has data on their website.
 
Wendy, I don't have access to Quickload anymore but when I did I played with it a while to see what powder it though would work best with an 18.5" bbl .260. When using heavy-for-caliber bullets, RL17 usually came out on top with its predictions.
 
hooligan,
I made a 6.5-06 Shilen select match #3 stainless 8" twist ratchet rifling, trip to the range in Sept 2015.
The 142 gr Nosler Accubond Long Range bullets were averaging 2.5" 5 shots at 100y with 3 groups.
The 120 gr Nosler Ballistic Top bullets were averaging 0.8" 5 shots at 100 yards with 3 groups.
I was out of time so I hunted with 120 gr and never figured out what was wrong with 142 gr.

One of the deer I shot in Oct 2015 was at 629 yards with the 120 gr.
That is a breakthrough improvement in rifle building for me, but I need to troubleshoot the 142 gr loads.
 
My barrel is a Douglas XX, 24" 1:8" #5 contour. I have good results with H4831sc and 140 grn SST'S and Berger VLD'S, not sure on velocity but it's consistant enough..
 
WendyJ, In a .260 Rem and 140 class bullets the load I see alot of people shoot is 43-44gr H4350 and a 140gr bullet. I understand that H4350 is the #1 powder for the .260 Rem

Take that with a grain of salt the obvious rules apply "start low and work up"
 
Mine is a 1 in 8 twist and 140 grain seem to be the optimal bullets I've tried. The Bergers Barnes and the newer Hornady eld are longer so for some reason my old standard coal and the h414 doesn't do as well. I have to shorten the oal and just happened to ladder up a bunch of rounds with the h4831 and accuracy was holding tight again. The h4350 hanging in with it but real hard to find here.
 
Got 12 lbs of H4350 all matching lot # sitting in my powder closet...don't be jealous lol. But seriously though have you thought of trying the 120 or 123 Amax's in your .260?

Thinking out loud here: but is it possible that for target shooting that the 140's are great for sure, but with the short 20" barrel that the added velocity of the 120's or 123's that they would actually do better for drop?
 
I'm with carjunkie. If a person is in to long range shooting, the 140's give a higher BC, but the higher BC does nothing for you inside 400 yards. I shoot Nosler 120 gr BT's for hunting, and get a trajectory very close to that of my 270. My barrel length is 20 inches.
 
The higher bc doesn't do much inside of 400 I agree. I've only been bench shooting this one and can really tell the difference out to 6-700 yards. The only other weight I've tried is a 127 Barnes which I plan on using on antelope hunt this fall. It does group almost as good as 140 grain but I'm not able at the range I go to to shoot them at steel and only paper targets stop at 300. I would have probably never bought the game kings but got 200 of them for $20.00. Was worth having something else to load for. The 20 inch barrel and my loads are staying moa and sub moa out to around 650 if I do my part. Forgive the language but I can't shoot for s,,,t pass 700 with the 260 or 308. Trying to save up for a 6-24 viper pst. May not help but It's topped with original viper 6-20 x42 and anything over 12-16 power in this heat I can see a lot of mirages. Husband has a Nightdorcs SHV in second focal plane on a 7 mm mag he shoots and he seems to have no issues with a 4 .5 X 14. His hunting rifle so I can't talk him out of it.
 
Wendy J seems like you know what you are doing, but I still think that the 123 or 120 Amax would be better suited for the 20" barrel. In particular the 123 Amax with a bc of .510. and I could also be off base here but I'd guess that you are less than 2700fps with the 142's

I don't know your velocity but I'd be willing to bet that the 123gr would start out 100-150fps faster than the 142's and may actually drop less to the 600-700 yards you mentioned. However accuracy is most important and your rifle obviously shoots the 142's good.

If you care to post your velocity figures I can run the #'s in my Ballistic App and see what it says.
 
Wendy, my first .260 factory load was Federal Premium with 140 GKs. They shoot very well and every hog I've hit with them went down immediately.
 
Car junkie you couldn't be much closer. 140 eld chronograph S at 2720 fps on average on a 10 string shot group. I didn't chrono the Barnes or the game kings yet.
 
Using the same weather variables and adding the 100fps to the 123 Amax (2820fps) to 700 yards the lighter bullets beats the 140 Amax by .2 mils
 
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