260 Rem Vs. 6.5-06

What is a better hunting caliber the 260 Rem or the 6.5-06?


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450' feet faster? Is this a misprint.........Rich

Its not a misprint...its an outright "prevarication" plain and simple.
It's a no contest for me the 6.5-06 Kills the 260 rem in all my experiences. I own 26" barrel guns in both, and my 6.5-06 is 450fps faster with a 140 berger VLD. the 260 is great and fine for under 4-500 yard shots as it is so easy and nice to shoot, but if you don't wanna be limited with the yardage go with the 6.5-06, 6.5-06AI or the 264WM properly loaded I would be fine to shoot deer out to the 800+ yard range and G. hogs well over 1000.

With the exception of a single walking varminter in 22-250 caliber ( 24") all of my rifles have 26" heavy barrels...and I'll tell ya straight out..AINT NO WAY! period.

A person is limited in distance by their ability to shoot....and not so much by the caliber.
 
Its not a misprint...its an outright "prevarication" plain and simple.


With the exception of a single walking varminter in 22-250 caliber ( 24") all of my rifles have 26" heavy barrels...and I'll tell ya straight out..AINT NO WAY! period.

A person is limited in distance by their ability to shoot....and not so much by the caliber.

I was trying to be kind!:D
 
Regarding posts claiming "450 feet (per second) faster" between two cartridges in barrels of equal length, that may well be a fact in spite of virtually all other comparisons show much less difference in velocity. But the real reason's typically not known by the claimant. And others may not know the details involved.

Unless both cartridges have the same peak pressure, such claims are baseless.

Few of us humans can accurately judge peak pressure by all the traditional signs used. The margin of error involved is enough to easily make big differences in muzzle velocity observed.

Personally, I've seen as much as about 300 fps difference in muzzle velocity with the same lot of 30 caliber ammunition across 5 different 26-inch barrels. Slugging those barrels showed their groove diameters ranging from .3065" to .3087". Their bore diameters ranged from .2981" to .3010".

Then there's the claims that one cartridge "kills" another because it shoots a given bullet out faster. That's true, but only when each one strikes the animal at the same place at the same entry angle in all axes. But the more recoil a cartridge has, the harder that is to do. Cartridges with less recoil have always been easier to shoot accurate off the shoulder; they move less during the time the bullets going down the barrel. One's typically more successful with a well placed shot with a given bullet traveling 200 fps slower than a faster one that's not quite as well placed.
 
Just finished reading the thread, here are some facts I would like to interject:

*W. D. "Karamojo" Bell killed hundreds of elephants with a 6.5x54, 6.5 is enough for anything in North America.

*Benefits of a short action are overrated for hunting purposes - 3 ounces... Really?!

*I handload, and pack my own bags. The availability of over-the-counter replacement "Long Range Hunting" ammo is a joke.

*The 06 design offers about a 150-200 fps increase, which is usable.

*The bullets can be seated further out of the case on the 06 if your using Remington type actions, increasing the capacity advantage.

*The ONLY reliable indicator of pressure is velocity, and you cannot know all the variables in the equation. So BE CAREFUL!

*SAAMI puts the max pressure standard on these cases for a few reasons and one is the steel tolerances, so BE CAREFUL!

*Case prep will be easier, maybe significantly, for the 260.

*Reloading dies should be cheaper for the 260 (depending on the brand selected), but not much.

I am thinking you've chosen these two contenders because of some desire to shoot 6.5s, otherwise you'd have asked whether to get a 270 or 30-06, yet if we stay true to the original topic, this isn't even a two horse race. The 6.5-06 is the 260 plus 10 grains of powder, but clearly you also see that the men making points about Shermans, 270s, 280s, AIs, or whatever else have logically valid points, "If you are going go to a wildcat why not this one?" or, "This one shoots the same weight bullet faster from a factory chambering." Listen, I just spent $700 rebarreling a model 700 to 6.5-06 AI and I am man enough to admit that a 270 Win would have been a better choice pratically, but I didn't make that choice with practicality in mind, I wanted sexy and my version of sexy is what I got. Now, you will have to choose what's sexy to you and how much you are willing to pay to be sexy, but don't kid yourself about the nature of your decision, don't argue the merits of your preference for sex appeal as if it were about practicality, don't post rose-colored data to help your case, and don't insult the choice of another guy. We are all men, honestly stand by your choice.
 
Just finished reading the thread, here are some facts I would like to interject:.......

*SAAMI puts the max pressure standard on these cases for a few reasons and one is the steel tolerances, so BE CAREFUL!
All your comments are well, and very realistically, stated. But I think this one needs a tiny bit of adjustment.

Most modern actions and barrels will start stretching past their elasticity limits at about 100,000 psi (about 78,000 CUP) and finally start to come apart at about 120,000 psi (91,000 CUP). Some may well be stronger.

Cartridge brass is weaker. It starts stretching past its elasticy limits at about 81,000 psi (about 65,000 CUP). This is the limit that's been exceeded when a fired case head extrudes back into holes or cutouts in the bolt face.

When I talked with a SAAMI rep some years ago, he said it was the safety issues with cartridge brass that was their prime safety criteria for modern rifles. No doubt that some makes are stronger than others. The reason is different actions have different amounts of unsupported areas around the case head. But yes, some of the older ones didn't have as good of steel in them so their maximum peak pressure levels had to be lowered.

So yes, "SAAMI puts the max pressure standard on these cases."
 
All your comments are well, and very realistically, stated. But I think this one needs a tiny bit of adjustment."

Let me clarify, in reference to steel tolerances, I was not speaking so much about the ability of steel to take a single pressurization without yielding, but rather the effect of 1000s of pressurizations to alter critical dimensions, which is taken into account by SAAMI. It would have been erroneous to state that steel tolerances were SAAMI's chief concern, and it is equally erroneous to say steel tolerances are a non-issue.

It seems, we are in almost complete agreement, Bart.
 
I have both, actually I have a 6.5-.308

I don't hunt big game and my shooting is limited to varmints and target but as far out as I can see and hit.

I like the 6.5's mostly because of bullet selection - lots of primo target bullets.

My 6.5-.308 gets the most use because of long barrel life, I have more than 2000 on it and it still shoots less than 1 inch 5 shot groups at 100 yds.

Velocity differences are not that much - using the "rule of 4" that says for every 4% of powder capacity increase 1% of velocity gain can be realized.

I use 100 gr H AMaxes in the 6.5-06 with H4350 for over 3300 fps for most of my 6.5-06 shooting.

For the 6.5-.308 I use 123 gr HAMaxes for about 2950 fps with RS Hunter for range targets.

If I had to hunt deer and whatever I would guess an ordinary .270 would work as good as either 6.5's.

Rolling some hapless varmint off a rock some 600-800 yds away is satisfying.
 
new to this thread, but the 6.5/06 is far superior to the .260 remington in performance ,,,,,,

I had one a while back, and it was a GREAT varmint round ,,,,,,,
 
In 40+ years of shooting,I've never seen anyone with a wildcat not have ammo ready and avaiable. That's part of owning one.....
Back in the day the 25/06 had the same growing pains.
 
In 40+ years of shooting,I've never seen anyone with a wildcat not have ammo ready and avaiable. That's part of owning one.....
Back in the day the 25/06 had the same growing pains.

Ever gone on any sort of airline trip??? They can "misplace" a Hippo!
 
new to this thread, but the 6.5/06 is far superior to the .260 remington in performance ,,,,,,I had one a while back, and it was a GREAT varmint round ,,,,,,,
Yes, in some ways it is:

* Impact energy; any point down range it's got more.

* Trajectory at all ranges; flatter.

But in others, it aint:

* Barrel life; about half as many rounds in super accurate rifle barrels.

* Shootability (ease of shooting accurately); less, 'cause it's got more recoil while the bullet's going down the barrel.

So, for hunting, the 6.5-06 may well be best.

For target shooting, the .260's won all sorts of matches setting some records along the way. The 6.5-06 has never had such history.
 
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