tell me about your 260 ackley or 260

[308 nate]

I am planning on building a 260 ackley.I would like to hear all your thoughts on this cartridge,pros and cons you have experienced ETC.... I plan on using it for coyotes,white tail and possibly elk. I know it's a little light for elk.But I plan on using a Barnes x bullet, if I ever use it for elk.It is going to be about a 9-10 lb. gun, Rem.700 action,McMillan stock,pac-nor barrel,1 in 8 twist (or should I go faster?)I plan on only using VLD's.barrel lenghth is undecided.(22-24") What kind of velocities can I expect with a 140gr.( I'm hoping for 29-3,000)
thanks for your thoughts,
308 nate [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[chris matthews]

To get the speed you desire with the 140s, a 26-28" barrel and the 260 Ackley is required. However, it is a great round for everything you mentioned including elk- as long as you take care of basics and put the shot where it belongs!

[RiverRat]

I have two 260's, one a rifle I use in F class competition with the 142 MatchKing, the other one I use for hunting. Both rifles were built with 1 in 8 twist Krieger barrels. Two friends of mine have 260 A.I.'s and that they really like as well. I think you be hard pressed to find a medium capacity case that will do what the 260 will do.

I feel the 1 in 8 twist is perfect for the 260 Rem or the A.I. version. While I have shot nothing but the 142's thru my match rifle, I have shot bullets as light as 90 gr. (Speer TNT) up to the 140 gr. Sierra SBT GameKing thru my hunting 260 with excellent results. So the 1 in 8 twist will be fine.

Velocity, from my friends 260 A.I.'s the "accurate velocity" with the 140 gr. class bullets seems to be around 2850 fps. Velocities in the low 2900's are possible but the real accuracy, like I said before, is at 2850 fps in both of their rifles. This is + or - 100 fps over the "accurate velocity for a standard 260 with a 140 gr. class bullet.

Since I am assuming you will be using your 260 A.I. for hunting mostly, listed below are the accurate velocities for different bullet weights from the 24" Krieger barrel on the standard 260 hunting rilfe. As a minimum you can expect at least that much velocity.

90 gr. Speer TNT: 3465 avg. fps. with IMR 4064. This load load blows windows through coyotes. Definetly not a fur bullet.

120 gr. Sierra Pro Hunter: 3007 avg. fps again with IMR 4064. This load has performed excellent on deer.

140 gr. Sierra SBT GameKing: 2745 fps with
H430 EXT. I have used this bullet on feral hogs with excellent results. Complete penetration and dead right there hogs.

Accuracy with all the above bulles from the 1 in 8 twist averages .5 MOA or less. The loads I shoot came right out of the Sierra 5th edition manual. Again, I think you could expect around 100 pfs more accurate velocity with the above bullets with A.I. version. I would use nothing shorter than a 24" barrel if I were you.

Hope this has helped some.

RiverRat