260 Remington advice

macguru · Post by **macguru** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 5:59 pm

Well I bought a savage LRP in 260 Rem to have a play with F Open, and I would have to say I am discouraged. It has a Savage target action and trigger, RBolt RPort with magazine and 2 action screws. No problems there. The barrel is not stainless like my 223 LRPV, its chrome moly steel 6.5mm bore 1in 8 twist. It has taken over 100 rounds to break in and i'm still getting copper, unlike every stainless barrel i have ever owned.....

The thing is, I was hoping to push 140gr pills fairly quick to buck the wind etc, but all those long pointy bergers start spraying all over the target with say 43gr of 2209 behind them.... The best load (about .5moa got a 60.5 at 400m) was 140gr noslers that have a longer driving surface and blunter profile BUT 10% OF THEM blew up before reaching the target (unlike any other pills i tried) so they are out

For saturday I am trying 130gr bergers seated 5thou into the lands with only 41.5gr of 2209. I have ordered some 140gr matchkings and will try 139gr scenars when i can get some.

My question is... Has anyone had great accuracy with the 260 ? what load/projectile... I nearly ordered a 6mm SS broughton today to change it into a 6br... I hear alot of good reports about them for middle distance work... :roll:

Brad Y · Post by **Brad Y** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 6:07 pm

A guy on ausvarmint just got one up in Darwin. 139 scenars off a bipod went 1/2MOA with no load development from memory.

I would definitely try those berger 130's- Im running them at the WA Queens next weekend in a 6.5x47L and they hammer. Should be around the 2900fps mark, maybe a whisker under. They can go faster but this is so accurate its not funny when I do my bit. Read bergers suggestions on tuning VLD's as jumping them sometimes work too :wink:

Main thing is accuracy over velocity- dont try to shoot the bejeezus out of them, just get them accurate. Sierra 142's are another to try out as well.

Cameron Mc · Post by **Cameron Mc** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 6:25 pm

Brad, what load are you using in your 6.5x47 with 130's

Thanks

macguru · Post by **macguru** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 7:22 pm

I will try 140gr SMKs, they are 55 per box of 100. I will not even try 142 smks because they are 65 per box. so what is the point ? too much IMHO. The lapua scenars are 49 per 100 but unavailable for a month or so.....

does anyone have an opinion about the 6.5x47 vs the 260 rem ?

andrew

johnk · Post by **johnk** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 8:10 pm

If it's puffing projectiles & coppering up, it sounds like the barrel is crap, not the calibre or projectile choice.

aaronraad · Post by **aaronraad** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:07 pm

johnk wrote:If it's puffing projectiles & coppering up, it sounds like the barrel is crap, not the calibre or projectile choice.

Second that.

A borescope might be useful if you know what you're looking for. Some JB Bore Paste might lap the lands enough to reduce the agro on the bullet jackets...but the barrel might be best served as another stake for the tomato plant in the garden?

macguru · Post by **macguru** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:23 pm

Got some JB here

How much of a go do you think a chrome moly barrel with sharp lands needs ? (guess thats hard to answer) Will see if i can get a look down the bore on the weekend.

Ill shoot up my projectiles for a bit and think about another barrel if it does not work out but sure would like some load data if anyone has it. Is the 6.5x47 more accurate than the 260 ?

aaronraad · Post by **aaronraad** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 10:42 pm

macguru wrote:Got some JB here How much of a go do you think a chrome moly barrel with sharp lands needs ? (guess thats hard to answer) Will see if i can get a look down the bore on the weekend.

Ill shoot up my projectiles for a bit and think about another barrel if it does not work out but sure would like some load data if anyone has it. Is the 6.5x47 more accurate than the 260 ?

Just try and get rid of the copper first. BRT Shooters Supply has a procedure here using JB Bore Paste:

http://www.benchrest.com.au/howtocleanabarrel.htm

The test will be checking with a wet patch and watching for the colour change. Getting rid of the copper near the muzzle is a good indicator you've gone far enough. You never know your luck, the barrel might clean up well and actually start to shoot better when its fouled!

Seddo · Post by **Seddo** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 12:26 am

Have you tried the 123 lapuas? I did some initial testing with them and 2209 and the results are looking pretty good. I have 3 loads to take out to 300y to see how they go before I start playing with seating depth.

bruce moulds · Post by **bruce moulds** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 6:30 am

if you seriously want to clean that barrel, get kg1, kg2, and kg12.
a programme with all three will rid bores of both copper and carbon quicker than any other system.
this comes from borescope testing comparisons.
keep safe,
bruce.

DaveMc · Post by **DaveMc** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 7:50 am

I have had 2 "off the shelf" savages (6BR LRPV and 6.5*284 Fclass originally) plus another action plus been involved with a few others locally here. The 6BR barrel was amazingly accurate right out of the box. But the two 6.5's I have seen struggled a bit more. After finally getting a boresope the two 6.5mm barrels had visible button chatter and they coppered badly and never shot the 140 bergers well. After a few hundred rounds I eventually got the 123 and 130 class bullets to work in one but imagine the barrel had worn in a bit by then as well. To be quite honest one is still going strong now (1200 rounds as 6.5*284 then converted to 6.5*47 and gave to a friend and since it has done another 2000+). We dragged it out again a little while ago and it is actually still shooting very well (and much better than at first)

Beg/Borrow/steel a borescope and have a look. I would suggest if it is nasty (sounds like it but also look at alignment of chamber and barrel) then I would go with the tomatostake idea above. By the time you run it in you will have wasted more $ in ammo than a new barrel will cost. But on the other hand if you want to persist it will probably get better with use (and JB or firelapping).

macguru · Post by **macguru** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 8:50 am

Will try the bore scope this weekend, ill also shoot off the rest of those noslers and other random projectiles to wear the barrel a bit, then ill try to tune it with half a box of sierra matchkings and 139 lapua scenars when noiaa gets them in. If no dice ill get a 6mm barrel and probably turn it into a 6br (or 6x47 ?)

By the way I also have a 223 LRPV savage and it is outstandingly accurate, and with its stainless steel barrel it only took 10 shots to run it in....

macguru · Post by **macguru** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 6:23 pm

UPDATE

I have now put over 200 rounds down the barrel :

1. Conventional shaped pills, such as 140 Amaxes and Sierras exhibit under 1moa accuracy, so there is potential for sub 0.5 moa, with the right load, maybe... Berger hybrids and VLDs did not work well.

2. The chrome moly barrel still coppers up alot.

3. Only noslers explode, other pills are OK

4. I have not seen the rifling with a borescope yet but as i said some loads exhibit promising accuracy.

I have been using alot of borepaste and sweets solvent... not sure where to go next. Another 100 rounds to wear it in ? I was thinking of plugging the barrel and filling it with hoppes copper solvent overnight ...

andrew

Woody_rod · Post by **Woody_rod** » Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:59 pm

I would suggest that the 140 grain projetiles are too heavy for the 260 case and 2209 powder. That load is very light in my experience. The suggestion to go with 123 scenars may provide the answer - they certainly worked for me.

I would suggest trying 2208 powder at recommended levels before changing too much else. The 2209 is about as good as it gets in AU for 260 / 6.5mm powder.

the 139 scenar only needs a 9 twist, where the 123 needs an 8 twist, go figure. Obtained from Litz book.

macguru · Post by **macguru** » Mon Oct 01, 2012 10:15 pm

I would say that twist rec is a mistake. I am pretty sure you need 1 in 8 for 140gr. The whole point of getting the 260 was to use 140gr pills. There seems to be a node there, so i am not sure if i need to make them go faster. If I decide they need more speed and i cant reach the next node , then i will just get a 284 win and stop mucking around, but I am not sure that the 260 will not be ok... There is more drop than with my 308, at least at the 41.5gr load. I tried up to 44gr without pressure signs, but only with bergers and they did not work...