Powders for 18" .260 rem with 100 Barnes TTSX?

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Powders for 18" .260 rem with 100 Barnes TTSX? (Not the 120 TTSX). Yes, that's the question. New rifle - Rem Seven with either a 9 or 9.25 twist. Top 2 or 3 powders to try?

Thanks.
 
With my 16.5 inch barreled Ruger Compact, I got great results with IMR 4064 behind a Nosler 100 gr Ballistic Tip. Now I have a new rifle with a 20 inch barrel, and I'm still using 4064.
 
Curious as to why the 100gr. That is an awfully light bullet for the .260. Most .260 shooters I've seen start at 120 and go north from there.
 
Doyle, I started with the 120 gr Nosler BT, but was shooting way more pigs and coyotes than deer, so I went lighter for a trajectory that closely matched what I had with my 270. That meant less thinking required for shots up to about 400 yards (pigs and coyotes only). Then when deer season rolled around again, I just stuck with the 100 gr Ballistic Tips and the deer fell over just about as fast. I am pretty sure, from observation, that the 120 grainer is a more efficient killer of deer, but the 100 grainer works just fine.

Let's face it, the guys shooting those big heavy high-BC bullets are long range paper punchers. They say they can correct for distance with the turrets. Well, yes you can, but I'd rather not have to correct. The big buck I got this year would not have given me time. I had seconds to spot him, decide on him, put the crosshairs on him and squeeze. He was at a light trot the whole time he was in view, looking for the ladies.

Sight my 260 and 270 in for 200 yards and they are down 7 inches at 300 and 20 inches at 400. And...I do have the turrets, so if a coyote is enjoying the sun at 500 or so in my hay pasture, I can dial and shoot.

Anyway, that's what works for me, and I've been doing this for a LOOOOONG time. Others might feel differently.
 
Cool, thanks. I started out with 140s in my .260 but when my supply of that is out I'm probably going to move to 120s. I don't intend to shoot past 300 anyway so I don't need a huge B.C.
 
With a 10" twist, like some 260s have, 100 gr can be good.
The only good groups I have ever got with my 260s is with 100 gr Nos Bal Tip:

Range report 2009-06-18 260Rem
100 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip moly coated # 26100 bullet moly coated ,
45.0 gr canister IMR4895, 2.940" over all length, almost no insertion of
the bullet into the neck, due to the short bullet and long throat.
Quickload prediction 61,328 psi 3261 fps
chronographs as 3,236 fps

Nosler 0.3" 3 shot group at 100 yards
 
Curious as to why the 100gr. That is an awfully light bullet for the .260. Most .260 shooters I've seen start at 120 and go north from there.
Click to expand...

Excellent question.

Because I want a premium bullet (gilding metal or bonded).

And since the bullets I like in the 120-130 range in that category (premium) are all in the 1.400" length range, give or take a couple hundredths of an inch.

And, since, according to this:

http://www.bergerbullets.com/twist-rate-calculator/

With twist rates of 9.00 and slower, at my temps and altitude, there is not enough stability - only about 1.3 to 1.4 stability factor.

the 100 TTSX is only 1.156" long and will be fully stable.

Ideally, I would prefer to use one of these: 120 E-Tip, 129 Interbond, 130 Accubond, or the 120 GMX, in preference order, but these are all too long to optimize stability in all temp and altitude conditions. Those bullets all need around an 8.7 or tighter twist to optimize in all relevant conditions for me.

It is my belief that a 100 TTSX will give similar penetration performance to a non-premium 140 (and superior to a non-premium 120 or 130), and have the added advantage of more muzzle vel. This particular rifle will be a 200 yards absolute max proposition, so MV trumps BC all day for wind bucking performance at these short-medium ranges.

Largest game for this rig would cow elk, and 95% of time largest game would be whitetails. If I get a gun tag for a bull elk, I'm grabbing the .30-'06 or 9.3x62, to be safe! Honestly, though, even with cow elk, I'd almost surely grab the .280 or .30-'06. I killed my first elk last year, a 400+ lb cow (with a .30-'06 and 180 TBBCs), and it was a lot tougher than I would have imagined. Took 4 shots to make it lay its head over and die. So in truth, this .260 is a deer / sheep / goat rig.

Thanks again.

P.S. Coincidentally, I also recently acquired a 6.5mm-'06 A-Square custom with a measured-by-me 1 in 9.3125 twist, so I guess I'm looking at the 100 TTSX for it too. I was hoping it was going to be 8.5 or tighter. The seller didn't know.

If the Remington .260 measures out at 9.0 instead of 9.25, I'll probably give the Hornady Interbond 129 a go instead of the 100 TTSX. The rifle is on its way to me.
 
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Here's the stock of powders I have on hand, among the ones that may be the good for .260:

-H Benchmark
-H 4831
-H 4350
-IMR 4350
-H 4895
-H 380


Should I try one of these I have - which first?


.....Or, go get one of these other recommended ones that I don't have?:

-IMR 4064
-R Hunter
-R Big Game
-H 414
-RE 15
-RE 17
-H 335
-H BL-C(2)
-Win 760
 
Curious as to why the 100gr. That is an awfully light bullet for the .260. Most .260 shooters I've seen start at 120 and go north from there.
Click to expand...

The rules are different with copper.

100 gr is light for a lead bullet, but with copper it is not. As a rule you drop down at least one bullet weight and preferably 2. A 100 gr TTSX at around 3100 fps will equal or beat a 130-140 gr conventional bullets performance. A heavier copper bullet at slower speeds may not expand.

Barnes website is confusing, they show a 100 gr bullet, but load data is for 110 gr bullets. they seem to prefer either 4350 with lighter bullets though.

http://www.barnesbullets.com/files/2014/11/260RemingtonWeb.pdf
 
I've used RE17 with 139 gr bullets in a 18.5" barrel. Seemed to do well but I moved away from my reloading buddy before I got a chance to fine-tune the load. I've heard that RE17 works best with bullets on the heavy end of the spectrum for a particular caliber so it might not be the best for your situation.
 
I run a 16.5" Ruger Compact in .308 and H-4895 is your friend. I also have an almost matching one in SS in .243. Same powder works well in them both.
 
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