second choice bullet? 260

[airstream]

The choice has been made to go after elk with our new 260. I am currentaly getting 3 inch groups at three hundred yards with 140 grain VLD Bergers .I am rounding out my first 100 rounds through the new cooper, so hopfully The group will tighten up a bit, but might not as the gun is 1-9 twist.

If I end up not being happy with the accuracy or terminal performance of the bergers could I get some suggestions on a back-up bullet.

Accubond is second choice but I am worried about my wife to be, slapping a bull in the shoulder instead of behind it.

should I rule out 130's as to small?

we will limit our max range to an ethical yardage, If we can wade through the wolves.

I am coaching her on the impotance of bullet placment.

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

Berger is my first choice Accubond, JLK and Sirraco could be considered? Have you done a seating depth test with your rifle and Bergers?

[bcdeford]

It is a little unorthodox but I used a 140 gr. out of my 6.5 creedmoor to take an elk at 370 last year. the bullet performed very impressively... took out the heart and lungs went through the opposite shoulder blade and stopped just inside the skin on the far side. The elk dropped in mid stride. i was getting 3 inch 5 shot groups at 500. it has a decent bc as well.

[airstream]

Yes,first starting at min and working up to max in half grain intervals, all loads pretty much shot 1 inch , I settled on 37.5 grains of IMR-4350, QUESTION: WOULD MAXED OUT SPEED HELP STABALIZE THIS BULLET? max is 40plus grains
I loaded
2.835
2.850
2.860
2.870
2.892
AOL
JUMPING THE LANDS SEEMED TO SHOOT BETTER IN THE RIFLE AS OPPOSED TO JAMMING THEM.

But to tell you the truth all loads shot at about an inch at 100 yards, rangeing from .940 to 1.400.

I have only loaded about 1200 rounds in my handloading career, but I do believe that this " limmitted" accuracy may just be that the long bergers dont like the 1-9 twist.I am just learning about that .

tommorrow I will try AOL test again. this time taking extra care, also i will perform this test at 200 yards to help magnify group size. I believe the gun will end up shooting 2.5 moa at three hundred yards. I can live with that, we will see.

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

Your describing a ladder test, I asked about a seating depth test? Good powder choice. I use H4350 in my 260 loads and I got the best groups at the high end of the scale I got 2950 FPS from a 140g AMAX she groups 1/4" at 200 yards.

Read this artical and test your loads at 200 yards minimum. Remember its a hunting rifle so dont get to fast on the trigger and get your barrel hot I try and keep the final load tuning under to under 2 shots in a 10 min peroid.

Optimizing Precision And Accuracy From VLD Bullets

[airstream]

well the first 100 Bergers are gone and nothing to write home about.

I have Hornady 129 Interbonds on the way. Will be using reloader 19.any suggestions on starting load?

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

I would stick with the H4350 or H414. I had the best groups with Fioccoie primers but BR2 could not group under an inch at 200.

Did you do the seating depth test?