Seek advice, information: 7mm-08 vs 260 Remington

[steve_77]

I was curious, how different is the 7-08 from the 308? Ive seen data sheets, Im curious more about recoil, optimal barrel length. The reason Im asking is I have a 300win, and 223 for my encore and wanted a midde weight cartridge, was thinking 260 remington - which i have heard nothing but good stuff about or the 7-08, or even perhaps the 6.5 JDJ  - i know there is not much difference was just curious, if anybody can offer some insight. Right now im leaning towards 260rem. As the 7mm-08, at least to me seems too close to the 308 cartridge, and if I need a 308 - ill use the 300wm. Was hoping to at least to bounce the idea off a few other people and stuff. Hope to hear from you thanks - steve _77

[Lone Star]

There is very very little practical difference in field performance between the .260 and the 7-08.  No game animal will know the difference, the .260's bullet is only 0.02 inches smaller, a non-issue.  Your choice can boil down to what your primary use will be - the .260 if you may want to use it on smaller game/varmints/low recoil with the 100-grain BTips, or the 7-08 if you want to use in on larger game and the various 160-175-grain bullets.  Since you already have the .300W for large game, the choice seems obvious to me.  :wink:

[steve_77]

Lone Star,

thats exactly what i was thinking - just kinda needed to hear it from someone else.


Is there anyone here who has chamered thier encore for the 260 remington?
any problems or anything to people just gettign started in this caliber?

[scienceguy]

Steve,

I have both a .260 and a 7-08.   I shoot 140 grain bullets in both of them.  I have used both on deer over the years, and can't tell the difference between them.  None of my shots have been over 200 yards so far.  If you don't handload, here is one more thing to think about.  You have a few more choices in 7-08 if you want to use factory loads for deer, and the 7-08 is a little faster in factory 140 grain loads.  If you handload, you can easily push the .260 to almost the same velocity as the 7-08, plus you can put together some pretty good 100 grain loads for coyote, smaller deer, or antelope.  I like them both.  If push came to shove, and I had to pick one, I think I would go with the .260 for average deer-sized or smaller game.  This is especially true if you handload.  Even if you don't load the .260 a little hotter,  140 grain factory loads are great on deer.  In factory loads, I've had great accuracy with Speer Nitrex.  Almost every 140 grain 7-08 load I have tried has been excellent in the accuracy department.  Best of luck in deciding!  I couldn't, that's why I have both!

scienceguy

[Coal River Rat]

If you handload, the 260 would not be hard to like, good bullets available and such, but if you don't handload, I would probably think twice about the 260. Factory loads are few and far between, at least at the gunshops that I frequent, Remington I believe has 2 loads, and the only load I ever see is the 140 Corelokt(I'm sure it is a good load but will it shoot accurately in your gun?) and Federal is supposed to have one though I can't remember ever seeing it at any gunshop. There could be another one or two but I'm sure it would be very hard to find unless you ordered it from someone(x-tra shipping costs for ammo). 7-08 on the other hand has more factory loads available from various manufacturers, not a huge amount but more than the 260, and different loads are not too hard to find. IMO the odds would be better finding an accurate 7-08 load when there is more to choose from.  Just some food for thought.   Good Shooting!

[steve_77]

yes i reload, quite a bit i might add - so thats not a big deal  for me. but i apreciate the response.

I guess I was looking for more info regarding standard barrel lengths in these calibers - particularly he 260 REM. Does anyone have anyinfo on optimum barrel length for hunting purposes (22"-26" ) barrel -  would one barrel length have any advantages over any other for this caliber? - steve_77

[Coal River Rat]

My hunting partner recently wound up with a Rem. Model 7 in a 260 from a trade. He didn't have any dies for it yet but we went to the range and chronographed the 140gr. Core Lokt load from Rem. Out of a 20" barrel it was running from 2496fps to 2520fps. With that being said I think if it were me, I'd go with a 24" to at least come close to the advertised velocities in the load manuals, not to mention in an Encore that would balance real nice and still be pretty handy to boot. I probably would'nt go any shorter, especially in an Encore. IMO a 26" would really make that 260 smoke, you definitely would be hitting some good velocity numbers. I bet it would be a good long range gun with the right bullets(high B.C.).

[leverfan]

My hunting partner recently wound up with a Rem. Model 7 in a 260 from a trade. He didn't have any dies for it yet but we went to the range and chronographed the 140gr. Core Lokt load from Rem. Out of a 20" barrel it was running from 2496fps to 2520fps.

This factory load gave me an average of 2682 fps out of a 24" Encore barrel, just for the sake of comparison.  Ken Waters ran into some very slow lots of Remington ammo while doing his Pet Loads report on the 260, though.

140 grain Speer Nitrex loads, with the Grand Slam bullet, gave me an average of 2713, pretty close to the factory claim of 2750.  Federal Premium, with a 140 grain Sierra Gameking BTSP, came very close to that at 2712.  Federal also claims 2750 with their 140 grain load.  

In a lighter weight factory load, the Remington Premier 120 grain Ballistic Tip load averaged 2840 fps.  Remington claims 2890 fps for this load, so that's pretty close.

The average is for a string of 5 shots from a clean barrel, and I didn't correct the velocity to actual muzzle velocity, it's instrumental velocity at 10 feet.

I also ran a lot of handloads during this gun test, and the 125 grain Nosler Partition and the 129 grain Hornady tied for first place in handloads.  They offered excellent expansion and penetration in the test medium, good accuracy, and a good balance of bullet weight and velocity.  Plenty of sectional density, too.

[steve_77]

hmm - what kinds of loads do you use in your 260? - have you used any sub 100gn loade like 85gn? -- what about the larger 140gn, I know thats quite a span, but from the info Im getting seems like a 26" barrel of twist 1 in 8.5 " or 1 in 9" would be good -  any pet loads specifically for encore in this caliber.  the 125/129gn loads sound good - pretty much in the middle of the spectrum - what about lighter and heavier bullets? Guess im looking for a gen purpose setup - something that fills the void between my 300wm and 223. - for use on the larger varmints (coyotes at longer range, as well as light deer rifle) - Ill try contacting hart ans  shillan(sp) -- didnt think of that -

[leverfan]

Steve_77-

I shot everything from Speer 90 grain TNT bullets up to Hornady 160 grain round nose in my Encore barrel, and they all did fine with the relatively fast 7.6" twist.  I've heard of folks shooting twists as slow as 9" and still getting good results with 160 grain bullets, but I'd stick with 8" twist or faster.

H414 was my powder choice for light bullets in the 260, but H4350 is the best all-around powder.  Sorry, but I'm against giving my charge weights online, because I've got no control over what folks do with the information.  Every load manual and free powder data pamphlet has load info for the 260, so there's no shortage of good sources.

That Speer 90 grain TNT will turn small animals inside out, so it's a good choice if you're not planning to skin it or eat it.  For a light recoiling deer load, the Nosler 100 grain Partition gave good penetration, and it feels like a 243 Winchester.  I liked all the midweight bullets (remember, a 120 grain .264" bullet has the same S.D. as a 165 grain .308" bullet).  There's no reason to go over 129 grains for a deer bullet, unless your gun just likes the heavies.

All of the 140 grain bullets I tested worked great, except for the Nosler 140 grain Partition.  As I've posted before, the 260 and the 6.5x55mm cartridges just don't push these bullets fast enough for even expansion at ranges over 200 yards.  At least with the bullets I tested, they tumbled at long range, lost rear cores, and generally didn't do what I wanted.  Save the 140 grain Nosler Partitions for the .264 Winchester Mag, or the 6.5-06.

The 160 grain Hornady round nose, while slower than the others, and deeply seated to clear the lands in my rifle, worked just fine out to sane ranges (300 yards or so).  

I've still got all the bullets that I recovered from this test, as well as penetration data, but digging it out with two kids scampering around here isn't going to happen right now.

[steve_77]

thank you laverfan, and others, - given me a bunch of insight here and helped force me to do lots of research - will think i will go with a 24",  1 in 8" twist - as the bullets in the 6.5 tend to be long. And aside from weight length has a lot to do with rate of twist - think at a minimum 8.5 twist would be ok but 8 would be better for the type of stuff im doing. Not going to be in some 1k yard match or anything with the encore - although that would be somewhat amusing. -- ANyhow a friend of mine, says he knows somebody who has a 260  barrel in 1 in 8 from virgin valley for sale, - was curious at this point if there is any diff from foxridge custom shop and VV barrels -- a few people said they have had extractor trouble on VV barrels.... any comments?

[leverfan]

Foxridge sells barrels that are made in the T/C custom shop, so that T/C doesn't have to deal directly with all of us annoying gun buyers.   If you buy a Foxridge barrel, you're buying a regular old T/C factory barrel in a non-standard configuration.  My 260 was made by T/C, I think it was made back when the 260 was a standard offering.  I bought it for a song on ebay, so I'm not sure about it's history, but it was still in the original factory box.

VV, and other custom makers, have tempted me with their 22lr conversion kits for the Encore, but I never made the leap and spent the money.  T/C barrels shoot as good as I can, so I never saw any reason for custom.