Building up a Surgeon .260 rem! What do you think?

[kpk]

Hey guys and gals haven't been on in awhile. I thought I would get your thoughts. I want to build a short action custom rifle and am choosing between the Surgeon RSR and 591, what do you think?

I'm very intrigued by the 6.5mm cartridges and think I'm going with the .260 Remington. I've read the 6.5-284 is the king of the 6.5's, but only 1,000-1,200 round barrel life just isn't going to cut it. What do you think of the .260? The ballistics match or exceed the .300 win mag w/o all the recoil, etc.

Let me know your thoughts. Probably go with a Rock or Bartlein barrel McMillian stock, nightforce...blah blah. It'll be a year to get this dude done...

 

[QTRMOA]

I have seen two Krieger .260 barrels drop off at 3000 rounds
.243 will go around 2,600-2,800 and is a touch better

 

[Thorgrim]

You've been reading @ demigodllc.com haven't you. Go for it. I'd consider the .243 too. Check out 6mmbr.com & snipershide.com for more info. Ask around about a gunsmith. I'm waiting for a KMW Sentinel in .260 or .243. Hopefully I can get one next year . I may just rebarrel my .308 down the road. Chris Matthews @ longshotrifles is building my 7mm. It should be done in about 6 weeks. I've heard good things about Jon Beanland in OK.

 

[AckleyShooter]

Beanland built my 7wsm....he is the man.

260 is good. But 243 will whip it's butt to 1000....If you only want it to shoot long range go 243. If you wanna kill deer sized game at long range, you need more energy than the 243. The 105 amax in 6mm is good out to around 500 and still carries 1000ft pounds of energy. Any plans on further than that, you need to step up a bit.

 

[shortgrass]

I think your on the right track with the Surgeon Actions. I've had the opportunity to examine a couple, closely. They just plain 'out class' the Rem. 700 most are so fond of. The .260 is real good round, you need the B.C. of the 6.5mm , 139/140g bullets to do the work way down range, the 6mm's just ain't got it! I wouldn't dismiss the 6.5/.284. I'm just not sure all the talk about barrel life is worth listening to. I am sure that it depends on how hard ya' push it and what you consider acceptable accuracy. Looks to me as though you've done the research and already know the sweet spot with the 6.5's is 2800/2850fps. Just cann't see throat erosion being that big of a deal at those velocities, but hey, I've been wrong before. The big deal with the 6.5/.284 is mag length if you build a repeating rifle. The .260 A.I. cures that problem. If you're going single shot you have no worries. All in all, I've cut a couple chambers in 6.5/.284 for customers I know put alot of rounds down range and they have not had the problems with throat erosion that we hear about on the forums. Alot of what we hear is from the "arm chair engineers", I think.

 

[Thorgrim]

No 6mm.'s got it too.
Match Bullets
With enough powder capacity to drive the 0.585 BC 115gr DTACs at 3150+ fps, the .243 Win is an outstanding long-range cartridge. George Gardner of GA Precision recently won the long-range Shumway Cup segment of the 2006 Snipers' Hide Cup shooting a straight .243 Win. In so doing, George bested Terry Cross (.260 Rem) and David Tubb (6XC), so you can see the .243 is a top performer at long distances. In fact, in terms of Wind Drift, a .243 running 115s at 3150 fps beats both the .260 Rem (2850 fps) and the 6.5-284 (2950 fps) running 142 MatchKings.
6mmbr.com ref.
There's always something new.....can't go wrong with either.

 

[AckleyShooter]

i ran several powders in my 243AI running the 105 amax...44gr of R17 gave me 3325fps....but I chose to stick with the 46gr of R22 due to the extreme accuracy I was getting despite only doing 3050fps.

3325 is smoking fast for a bullet that has a .500 BC

If you really wanna buck the wind and have huge distance ability, look at the 7wsm. I was getting 3150 with a 24" barrel and no pressure signs with the 162amax.

 

[kpk]

Actually the main reason I started reading about the .260 is because of my 6.5 Grendel. I read all about it and studied up and it just seems to have an edge in the BC, etc. Then I starting reading on other 6.5mm catridges particularly the .260 ackley improved. That would be my pick for sure if I could get the brass. I worry about that eroding the throat while fire forming, unless someone wants to do it for me, lol.

Either way I'm pretty set on the Surgeon 591 (short action). I can get it and really decide between the .260, .260AI, 6.5x47, and even the Creedmore seems to be a great pick.

Here in Elk there is a guy that is supposedly a good gunsmith. His name is Jerry Newman. He's built quite a few custom guns around here as well as my father-in-laws 7mm SAUM. Seems to be top notch.

I'm really wanting something with more mass than a .243. It's a great round, but I want to kill stuff at distance also. What distance is a clean kill for the .260?

 

[BadLands Bob]

I have seen deer killed at 4 & 500 yards with a .260 shooting 142 SMK's. Have also seen it kill pigs at 300 -350 yards. 500 is probably the max I would take a shot at a deer with the 260 and 400 yards for pigs. My wife and kids love shooting our AR10 in .260. The recipe for the loads we shoot is 37 grains of Varget, 142 SMKS, Fed GM or BR2 primers in RP cases.
Jerry Newman is a heck of a gunsmith and all around good guy. There is another guy up at Laverne by the name of Mike Luckett that also builds one hell of a rifle. If you speak to either one of them, tell them I said "Hey".

 

[Ksmirk]

I have a LR 243 and I will tell you you can make steel clang out past 1K! if you want something to really stretch on out there without breaking the bank each trigger pull take a look at a long action, build a 284 Winchester and have the barrel throated to where you can seat the bullets out there to gain powder capacity. I built a 284 and did the throating to make the COL of the round with a 162 A-Max measure out at 3.100" to shoot those Western Oklahoma deer WOW what a round this little sucker turned out to be! I'm not pushing it hard and clocking 3011fps with the 162 A-Max and the deer that have been shot with this rifle are all in my freezer! I need to find another bullet that will hold together a little better that A-Max at these velocities flat out mess deer up. I would strongly suggest you take a look at the 284 Winchester I think it'll turn your head away from the 260. Later,

Kirk