.308 or .260?

I have NO experience with the .260, but my criterion is: Will I be able to get a particular calibre of ammo 10 to 15 years from now without going bankrupt?

I agree with one of the previous posters who said that, if you want long range flat shooting, go with the .270.

Personally, the .308 does all that I want and I stick with it.
 
While I do not have aspirations of being a long range shooter, I am a hunter and a reloader, not a target shooter and hand loader.

I chose the 308 because of availability of both reloading components and factory ammo. Yes there is lots of ammo for the 260 if you reload, but I don't see it real often in factory offerings out side of box box stores.

Those are the reasons I chose to go with 308, cheap to shoot and lots of bullets to chose from.
 
This chat has caused me to think about what I shoot and why. Grubbylabs said that he's a "hunter and reloader", and that pretty much describes me too. This year I've been using the 260 instead of my 270, and I've been quite happy with the outcome. But...

- If I was going to shoot at 100 to 400 yards, either the 260 or the 270 will do, but at the outer range of 400 I'd rather use the 270 (that's just me, and is no reflection on the 260's capabilities).
- If I was going to shoot targets at 600 to 1000 yards, I'd probably go to the 260 or the 308. That's simply because of the bullets and information available for long distance shooting with those two calibers. And I'd need a new rifle, and I wonder what it would look like and who I'd get to build it.
 
Just my own experience, and it isn't much...

I was interested in the .260 several years back as a good midrange caliber. But after looking around at the scarcity of ammo, I settled on the .243, which uses the same case and operates in a short action rifle.

Absolutely no regrets.

Today, if I were to choose between .308 and .260, it would be the .308, because .260 remains relatively scarce.
 
I'll add that if making something bleed (as opposed to only paper/steel) might be in the cards at some point, the 7mm-.08 has much greater energy at range than the .260...

So when you're looking at the ballistics of the .308 vs. the .260 be sure to add the 7mm-.08 to the spreadsheet. That caliber doesn't get a lot of mention on this board for some reason, but it's a ballistic twin to the .260 and has the advantage mentioned above.

When it comes to hardware, be sure to take a long look at Savage. Out of the box accuracy is generally at least as good as Remington- and changing calibers should you get the urge is easily done at home, avoiding the expense and down-time of sending the rifle to a gunsmith.

Good luck.
 
I want to say that while the men and women on the front line take the worst of it, those who serve in support roles deserve not only our full respect, they to are far from home and its terribly hard on them and their familes and it is a service to the nation.

thank you for what you do.
 
The AR15 and AR10 rifles, properly built can and do turn in .5 MOA and better groups. Those of us who are hunters generally don't need better than 1 - 2 moa.

That having been said, mid-priced bolt guns like the Savage out of the box have a reputation, but not usually the guarantee, of excellent accuracy.

Returning to your choice -- there's been a lot of advice given between the .260, the 7mm, and the .308 and a mention of the .243 Winchester.

Your best bet is to do the following:
  1. Recognize that ammunition for the .260 Rem will be slightly more expensive than the other cartridges at about $30/box and up
  2. If you are serious about 1000 yard shooting,you WILL be using premium ammunition. The differences in price for premium ammunition between the calibers tends to disappear.
  3. The price of premium ammunition plus your fiscal situation and amount of shooting will take you to a decision to reload or not reload independent of the caliber.
  4. The .243 Winchester with heavy bullets has some capability against black bear. The .260 and up have more.
  5. The real difference between calibers for long range shooting is in wind drift. The drop is readily dealt with using turreted scopes, but the wind tends to have a random component that makes precise correction difficult.
You can get a feel for wind drift by going to a trajectory calculator like http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj-5.1.cgi and run high BC bullets at typical factory velocities for each of the cartridges.

Recoil will be a factor in your shooting enjoyment. Heavy bullets in the .308 give recoil somewhat above that which most shooters find comfortable to shoot. Try using the recoil calculator at http://shootersnotes.com/articles/taming-recoil/. Use the same weight of rifle throughout the series of calculations for the same bullet weights and velocities you run the trajectory calculations at.

Next, try using Berger ballistic coefficients http://www.bergerbullets.com/Products/All Bullets.html under the notion that you will reload. You will likely find that the .243 115 gr VLD bullet and .260 140 gr VLD give about the least drift at 1000 yards.

Beating the 140 gr 6.5 mm BC requires that you go to 180 gr bullets in 7mm and 200 gr bullets in .308. Two bad things happen. First the muzzle velocity gets to be rather low, and second, your shoulder can tell the difference!

Hence, the .260 Rem seems to best fit the interests you've indicated, but the .243 works very well too, including a reasonable capability against black bear out to about 300 yards.

This was a long-winded way of saying that you should look at the .243 especially if you don't plan to reload.
 
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When I was looking into buying my DPMS LR- , I was strongly considering a .260 as they are doing quite well in long range comp. But I went with the .308 as I have tons of surplus ammo and brass and already reload for it.

Still could always buy another .260 upper.
 
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