100 grain amax in 260

[kimba]

SO, I started rethinking using my normal 140 grn bullets in my 260 and decided to try 100 grainers. I have found the 140 class bullets over penetrate on deer and antelope sized game due to the sectional density and sturdy construction of the 140 6.5 bullets. as most hunting really is done inside 500, looking at the ballistics charts I saw a good class of bullet in this cal is the 100 grainers. I expected around 3200 fps and that seemed fine.
I loaded some 100 amax under vitt550 .5 grains under max loads that I could find. Ran them through crony and was surprised to see vel of 3480 with decent sd and as. Seemed to group as well as everything does out of my criterion 24" barrel.

Looking at this load under drop charts with a 225 yd zero and 10mph crosswind yields the following:

100amax @3480 drop at 500 25.49, wind drift 14.94 energy 1324
140amax@2800 drop at 500 37.55 wind drift 13.62 energy 1427

interesting as the 100 seems the ticket for sure under 500

100 grn at 700 yds drop 71.8, wd 31.44 energy 966 vel 2086
140 at 700 drop 100.07 wd 28.24 energy 1129 vel 1905

Trade offs to be sure some energy diff at 700, but either more than fine on deer/ antelope. Not as huge a wind drift diff as I expected. Interesting to see the 100 still going faster at 700 and very interesting to see the diff in drop. Now not sure the 100 amax is the ticket at 700 on deer, but sure it is great at 500 and antelope drop with one shot from an ar at nearly 300, so not worried there.
NOw if you look at the berger vld at 500 and 700:

140 vld 500 drop 34, wd 12.07 energy 1511, vel 2205
140 vld 700 drop 96.33, wd 24.87 energy 1227, vel 1987

The berger really wins the wind drift battle - esp at 700
for 700 deer or any range elk, the 140 berger the way to go.
as dedicated lope/ deer, the 100grn definitely rules at 500 and might well at 700 depending upon wind .
The real advantage of the 100grn on 500 and under is the flatness with little loss in drift . Using a 5" vital, sighted at 225, it is pbr out to 320 with 3.6 high at 300 and under 1.5" max high/low till you hit the 270ish. if you use 7" vital, it is pbr out to just under 350, about a foot low at 400. hmm food for thought

if you want to sight at 300, it is pbr at just under 400 using the 7" vital with the highest arck above line of sight at around 175 yds and that is 3.27". 375 pbr using the 5" vital

 

[kimba]

NO pressure signs at that vel and decent es and sd to go along with accuracy before you ask and ran nearly 20 through her. I have yet to stretch this load out to 500 to verify ballistic data program says, but it has proven dead nuts on past loads, so I expect no less.

 

[SwampSniper]

I'm also working on a couple of loads for my 260. So far I've found that 42.5-43.5 grains of rl 17 is getting me at or a little over 2920 fps with no pressure signs with both 140 amax and 140 berger with accuracy well under .5 moa but I think once I play with it a little more I think I Should be able to get .25 consistently with this rifle. With those velocities the plot thickens a bit

However, like you say I still believe these light loads are where it's at under 600 for unknown distance targets for sure. Just ordered some 108 scenars and I'm hoping it's gonna be a great coyote load just not sure what powder to try. Right now I've got some 8208 and benchmark I think may work.
Barrel is a a 26" rock creek btw

 

[kimba]

V550, 4350 class

 

[kimba]

I'm also working on a couple of loads for my 260. So far I've found that 42.5-43.5 grains of rl 17 is getting me at or a little over 2920 fps with no pressure signs with both 140 amax and 140 berger with accuracy well under .5 moa but I think once I play with it a little more I think I Should be able to get .25 consistently with this rifle. With those velocities the plot thickens a bit

However, like you say I still believe these light loads are where it's at under 600 for unknown distance targets for sure. Just ordered some 108 scenars and I'm hoping it's gonna be a great coyote load just not sure what powder to try. Right now I've got some 8208 and benchmark I think may work.
Barrel is a a 26" rock creek btw

I was able to push over 2900 with 140, but that was in 26" barrel using n160 and h4350 - this one 24" and just use 43 of h4350 .

 

[kimba]

I took her out today again and wanted to verify zero and run through chrono again. Using the 48.5 load of v550 and the 100 amax, vel were amazing again! AS of 3524fps, es of 18 and sd of 10. using the 200 gong, shots touching with no flyers. Brass looked fine as well. Frist shot near center on 435 gong in a stiff wind based on dope chart - holding over with zeiss duplex reticule ( did not adj turrets).
I put some 85 sierra hp with same load through and got tight groups with as of 3424fps and es35,sd18. Not pushing that 85 fast enough and cannot get it tight to lans due to throat on the criterion made for the 140's, so numbers not terrible - would certainly turn a yote inside out
I wonder what a 100 tsx or sim would do? Prob not get the speed that I do out of the amax, but would not have a concern shooting at 100 yds like I would with amax at that speed. A 100grn tsx cranking around 3400 might be a real hard to beat combo on deer and antelope.

 

[justinp61]

Hope I'm not hijacking with a question. Has anyone tried a 260 with 123gr Hornady SSTs on deer inside of 400 yards?

 

[kimba]

I have used the 129 sst at a frontal shot of 45 yds and the deer just crumpled. 2900 fps as it was not a max load.

 

[Engineering101]

kimba

Don't forget that the 260 Rem is also a great long range prairie dog gun when stoked with 95 grain VMAXs and the folks around Billings appreciate the help getting rid of as many as you care to shoot. My nephew lives in Bozeman, has a 260 Rem (30" Krieger, 5R) and has taken p-dogs over 1,000 yards. With that long barrel he too gets some pretty sporty velocities.

 

[kimba]

did not see any 123 sst - they are 129 I think. The amax comes in 123, but did not get to run those as sold to a guy at work that needed them for his Gren. The 123 has a better bc, but not a factor under 700

 

[justinp61]

These.

Hornady InterLock Bullets 264 Cal 6.5mm (264 Diameter) 123 Grain SST

 

[SwampSniper]

That 100 grain amax at 3500 is gonna be hard to beat! I shot some more of my 140 grain loads the other day but temp was up 25 degrees from first testing so I had some bolt stick and marks on case heads. I'm in Venezuela now til April for work but when I get back I'm gonna try backing off a little. Also this was a .010 jam so I'm sure seating of the lands a hair will help. This was a 2950 fps load.

As far as the 123 sst I haven't used that exact bullet but my wife shot a deer about a month ago with 120 nosler ballistic tip at 3000 fps at 80 yards and had excellent results. Pass through and 1-1/2 hole in offside ribcage. I've seen almost identical results with 130 sst in 270 winchester out to 350 yards so I'm sure the 123 sst would not dissapoint you

 

[kimba]

2950 with 140 grn is smoking - more like 260 ai speeds and those hot. yep the 123 is in amax, the 129 is sst - both great with the 123 being used a lot in grendles. I have not tried jamming but have a buddy that does in his 260 ai. In theory, it should make for more consistent pressures and thus lower sd/es, but you do need to back them a bit vs the 3-5 thou off loads. I did not realize they made those -I would not worry they should make stuff

 

[justinp61]

Isn't the A-Max a target bullet? I going to order a box of the 123gr SST and give them a try. According to Hornady it has the same B.C. than the A-Max.