Best Rate of Twist - 260 Rem

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Ben4477

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I need your opinion for the best rate of twist for a new custom 260 rem. The gun will have a custom barrel that I have not ordered yet. The barrel will be of standard weight and either 22 or 23 inches long. The action is off a 1968 Remington 700. The stock will be of fancy walnut and glass bedded. I hand load and want to stay with the primary bullet weight of 130 to 140 grain. I will drop my bullet weight for some coyote hunting. A leupold vX-lll 3.5X10X40 scope. I know this is the right place to get the best opinions from. Thank you.
 
You probably want something in the area of 1:8 twist. I have a 6.5 grendel AR-15 and the barrel for that has that twist. 6.5 is about the same bullet as .260. I am unfamiliar with the 260 Rem, what type of velocities are you planning on pushing your 140 gr bullet to?
 
I'm having a custom barrel made for a 264 win mag, which shoots the same bullet as the 260. For the 264, the 1 in 9 in was suppose to be the best for bullets up to 140 gr. I would suspect that it would be the same for the 260 rem. I'm getting ER Shaw to make the barrel for me. They had the most informative website of all the barrel manufacturers that I looked at. You might take a look at there website, even if your not going to ge them to make the barrel for you, since it has some pretty good info. They had a list with all the different calibers and what was the best twist rate on each one with different bullet weights.
 
I'd go with a 1-8" twist on a .260 for up to 140gr bullets.

I had a Rem 700 Mountain Rifle with a 1-9" barrel, and at .260 velocities, I'm not convinced that the 1-9 is enough for 140gr bullets all the time.

As for speed, with a 22-24" barrel, I'd be pretty happy getting between 2600-2700 fps out of the little round. Some target shooters claim up to 2750 for some loads, but sometimes I think that might be at the edge of this cartridge's limit. And I know many manuals list speeds greater than these, but my chrony never agreed that it was possible with a 22" barrel.

FWIW, I had a load that could get the 125gr Partition to 2900-fps from my Remmy.
 
And I know many manuals list speeds greater than these, but my chrony never agreed that it was possible with a 22" barrel.
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That's because most test actions are equipped with 24" or 26" barrels. Hornady always used real rifles for their tests, but others seldom did. Besides, sometimes people who develop loads get a little . . . let's just call it "optimistic". Round up!!!
 
That's because most test actions are equipped with 24" or 26" barrels. Hornady always used real rifles for their tests, but others seldom did. Besides, sometimes people who develop loads get a little . . . let's just call it "optimistic". Round up!!!
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Yeah, but according to most "fudge-factors" a .308-based cartridge should only lose about 30-50 fps per inch of lost barrel. I'd be more inclined to believe those numbers if my chrony had read over 2600 instead of reliably under with 140s. Powder was H4350, which is just about right in burn-rate for the cartridge.

FWIW, factory Remingtons averaged right at 2600. Even allowing for some blue sky in their claim of 2750, that's at least a 50-fps/inch loss! :mad:
 
I checked out the Shaw barrel's website again and they did recommend 1:9 twist for all the 6.5 calibers, but it wasn't the chart that I was thinking about. I looked at the Shilen barrel's website and the recommend 1:9 for bullets up to 130 gr and 1:8 for bullets heavier than 130 gr.
 
How would a gun with a lower twist rate perform with lighter bullets. With the 260 for example, how would say a 1:8 barrel that is ideal for bullets heavier than 130 gr work with 120 gr or 100 gr bullets. I know you need the lower twist rate to stablize the heavier bullets, but how does it do with lighter bullets?
 
I am unfamiliar with the 260 Rem, what type of velocities are you planning on pushing your 140 gr bullet to?
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Answer: am looking at 2750 fps at muzzle. I shoot targets out to 300 yards, coyotes from 50 yard to 300 yards. Wisconsin deer out to 150 yards if the opportunity happens. Most of my deer have been shot under 100 yards, we have a lot of trees up here in the northwoods of Wiscosin.
 
How would a gun with a lower twist rate perform with lighter bullets. With the 260 for example, how would say a 1:8 barrel that is ideal for bullets heavier than 130 gr work with 120 gr or 100 gr bullets. I know you need the lower twist rate to stablize the heavier bullets, but how does it do with lighter bullets?
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Good question, Im about to buy a .260 with 1:8 twist & want to shoot lighter proj's that 130/140gr.
So can anyone shed some light on this please??
 
From when I got my barrel: 1:9 is good for 120gr... basically 130gr and lighter. That was the deal with the first Remington rifles that caused a stink (shades of the 6mm Remington/.244 Remington issue)... they were 1:9 and they didn't shoot the 140s as well.

If you want to shoot 140s, then 1:8 is what you want. Some 6.5x55SE had 1:7.5, IIRC, because the standard issue was 156gr/160gr... but 1:8 was "ok" for those weights as well.

I got my barrel in 1:8 and I shoot 140s. I haven't shot 120s much except a few at paper and they seemed to do well enough but I wasn't really being particular about it. I've never shot anything but 140s and 120s through mine, though, so I can't give you any first-hand on anything heavier or lighter than those.
 
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