The 260 Rem is DEAD !!

The polymer cartridge would be the most practical reason to upgrade. Even though I believe 260 would be a step up in general, total costs probably outweigh all the benefits for something that's more a side-step than an upgrade. *IF* the polymer cartridges pan out IMHO they have some good benefits. Now getting the polymer technology up to par might be problematic and I'm NOT for using the US military for alpha and beta testing core weapons systems.
 
The weight of the polymer case cartridge would be close to a brass cased 5.56. That's huge. Less weight means carry more. That reduces one of the big advantages of the 5.56 Nato cartridge over the new cartridges being tested. But lots of hurdles to making a polymer case work.
 
Aluminum case pistol ammo is much lighter. I wonder if that might be a viable approach in the right alloy for higher pressure rifle ammo.
 
^^^
Interesting topic, above my pay grade...
Aluminum is very strong, used for 30mm. cannon shells in the GAU-8- so it's certainly strong enough for centerfires.
My guess as to why it's not used is because it's not suitable for full auto due to its lower melting point.
 
No the 260 is not dead and likely never will be. It is a great cartridge. It has suffered from Remington's lack of understanding of what the boys want. It was offered as a hunting cartridge and not supported very well. All the .264 lineup are great at range. The .260 benefits more from hand loading and a long action. Short action magazines are a little short for longish 140gr bullets and causes them to impede below the neck. It is easiest to either neck down from .308 or 7-08 or up from .243, so brass is much less an issue for the .260.

The Creedmoor was designed from the start as a competition cartridge and is supported well by Hornady and most firearms manufacturers. even Remington has decided to offer the Creedmoor. For most purposes the Creedmoor, .260 and the 6.5x55 are very similar. The Sweed has a larger case head and is a little harder to get ammo for. The .260 doesn't have as good of factory support for loaded ammo. The Creedmoor is well supported.

All three 6.5's will better the .308 in drop and drift at long range. Not saying the .308 is a bad round. It has fathered many offspring and done well for it's self. All those rounds are great and each offer it's own brand of magic.

it's all good.

Joe
 
I'm a 6.5 Loony. Own a 6.5-06 (Interarms/Shaw), a 260 (Savage), and a Grendel (AA). I shoot 140s in the first, 129s in the second, and 123s in the third. All are 1/2" or below (.3" in the Grendel). The only issue I've had with the 260 is being short throated and I have to seat Hornady bullets deeper.
 
Reload, and it will never die.
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Probably the best answer so far. I am a big promoter of reloading. I shoot 7mm and 8mm Mauser and if not for reloading I would have had a tough time shooting those guns a couple of decades ago. I even have case forming dies so I can use any of the full length family of 30-06 cases to form brass.

I reload for everything I shoot except for 25 auto and I just don't shoot it enough to justify the cost. So I just have 500 rounds of 25 on hand and that is for me a lifetime supply.
 
Don't know what nitwit you heard this from but it is, to be nice, silly!

I've had a .260 Rem for over 10 years, finding ammo has NEVER been a problem. As others have said if you reload, "finding ammo" will never be problem.

Have been using the same cases from my original batch of ammo and 100 extra new cases ever since but decided I wanted a larger supply of cases...

Just last night I was going to "try to find" some additional ammo...

And, in spite of being proclaimed "dead" I find there is MORE AMMO AVAILABLE from more companies and with more different bullet types now than ever before!

Large variety of 139g to 142g match ammo, a good variety of 140g hunting ammo and a HUGE amount of 120g to 130g in a wide range of bullet types including Partitions, SSTs, GameKings, MatchKings and more. Wasn't looking for lighter bullets so didn't notice how much of this was available.

So many new types and weights I ended up buying about a box of each worth about $400 (plus another $560 worth of 6.5 Grendel ammo".

Even better, in spite of all the BS you hear on this site about how expensive .260 Rem ammo is (claims of $35-50 per box of 20), prices I just paid started at $22.xx and only one type cost over $30. Most was between $24 and $26 per box of 20)...


The 6.5 Grendel ammo was even cheaper at just $16.xx to $22.xx per box of 20 of the excellent Hornady ammo.

T.
 
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Not to be offensively argumentative, but just because Hornady says that the 6.5 creedmoor is their idea and based on the .30 TC, doesn't necessarily make it so. I could describe the 6.5 Creedmoor as an improved, 6.5-.250 savage, and not be incorrect. Matter of fact, when the cartridge was first introduced and brass was not available, gun writers used the .250 savage case to make ammunition for testing. I could also observe that the new 6mm Creedmoor is suspiciously like the 6mm International, which was a favorite of bench rest shooters in the 1950's and 1960's. And yes, I'm 71 and old enough to remember that. My dad always told me that there is not much new under the sun.
 
GeauxTide said:
I'm a 6.5 Loony. Own a 6.5-06 (Interarms/Shaw), a 260 (Savage), and a Grendel (AA). I shoot 140s in the first, 129s in the second, and 123s in the third. All are 1/2" or below (.3" in the Grendel). The only issue I've had with the 260 is being short throated and I have to seat Hornady bullets deeper.
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Is the problem the magazine well or the throat? Years ago I had an L61R sako in 7mm mag. My bullet of choice was a 160 gr bullet and I couldn't seat it out far enough due to the chamber. I loaded up a dummy round with the bullet seated to the base of the neck and had a gunsmith ream the throat for that round, worked great!
 
^^^
It's both, natch- if loading heavy VLD's. Heavies and the .260 are a well known issue when it comes to mag length.
My .260 is chambered in ".260 Match" which has .07 more freebore than SAAMI spec. This allows seating out 140 VLD's, but they're longer than can be accommodated in standard AICS mags so it's all single load.

Answer is build it on a long action...
Which, of course, then begs the question of "if I'm building off a LA, why not 6.5-.284 Norma, etc...
Choices and velocities go up due to the boiler room size of the long action, barrel throat life goes down accordingly, of course.
 
fourbore said:
Now, I have a choice, reload 260 or rebarrel to 243. Not a big problem but a little surprise for me. And why am I surprised you ask? Seems I read some discussion around the 260 and no one actually came out and decalred the 260 dead. Well it is, they just did not have the funeral yet. I did read the 6.5 was very popular. I did not pick up on the flip side, the 260 was dead.

It kinda too bad, I like how the 243,260,7mm,308,358 all share the same case dimensions and go/nogo gauge. Life is what it is. perhaps, I could try setting back the barrel and reaming to creedmore. That would be something new for me. And if I screw it up, get a 243 barrel.
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1. I buy most my rifle ammo online and htere are quite a number of options that way. I'll order 5 different sorts of ammo after buying a rifle to see what it likes.

2. As many have writte, reload. If you have the time.

3. Instead of rebbl to .243Win, rebbl to 7mm-08.
 
The only practical advantage over say, .308WIN..... that I can see in a hunting rifle chambered in any of the 6.5's is slightly reduced recoil- mid to heavy weight 6.5 bullets will be lighter than mid- to heavy weight bullets for say 7-08 or .308 ..... all else being equal (and it never is) ...... also, mass market gun barrels will likely have the same contour across the model, regardless of caliber .... and I'm thinking the rifles with the smaller bores will weigh a bit more.... mitigating recoil further (but only slightly)..... for 95% of the hunting situations I anticipate for myself and kiddoes, there is not enough of difference to justify buying another rifle- the ones I have will do what we need .... and IF I did buy another rifle, it would probably be in a caliber I already stock components for, and certainly not in one I can't find brass, bullets and or loaded ammo nearly anywhere.....
 
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