Reduced load for 260 Rem.

[wvbuckbuster]

Has anyone made any reduced loads for the 260 rem? Have a friend who bought a Ruger Hawkeye compact and is worried his son might not handle the recoil. He is 12 yrs old and small built. Looking at starting loads for the 100 and 120 gr bullet. Also using H4895 with their reduced formula. Looking for what others might have tried. This will be for deer hunting. Thanks, Dan.

 

[Anonymous]

While I haven't made reduced loads for the 260, I have made reduced loads in the dimensionally similar 6.5CM.

A 129gr Interlock at 70% of the book max for H4895 (23.5gr charge) yielded 2025fps in an 18" barrel with 1 MOA groups. I'd hunt with it- especially E.Coast stand hunting where the ranges are relatively short.

Even in my light Barrett, it was nearly recoiless. Basically it kicked like a .223 in a full size rifle. You could play around with the 120BT and the 100gr PT as well but it was simple to get an effective, low recoil load with H4895b in my rifle. I'd think any of the softer bullets would work just fine at those speeds.

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Thanks Hodgeman that is the kind of info I'm looking for. Dan.

 

[Anonymous]

You can go down to 60% per the Hodgdon folks, but 70% was pretty light in the recoil department while still producing a useful MV for hunting.

A friend of mine played with the 100gr PT- I think that would be an excellent bullet in this application. I used the 129 Interlock because I have a bunch on hand I got for the price of shipping.

With any of these bullets and H4895 reduced loads, you're going to be in the 6-7 ft/lbs of recoil range- very mild indeed and it should be the ticket to introduce a young person to centerfire rifles and get them shooting well.

 

[Slimfinn]

I have a 260 ruger 77mk2 that i cut the barrel down and put in a compact stock for my daughter this year. I loaded with 33gr of h4895 and 129gr interlocks, it shoots sub moa, but still has a little bit of kick. I haven't tried going lower didn't want to get too slow, but im out west and possibly shoot a little further. I did add a limb saver recoil pad too.

 

[fwood]

I went with 100g ballistic tips and normal loads with h4350 and my daughter took a great buck at 12 years old. Not much recoil.

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Hodgeman I have some Rem Cl 120 gr going to try with the reduced H4895 loads and maybe Nosler or Sierra 120gr. The 100gr PT sounds good and might try as well. Using what I have on hand first.

Slimfinn I will start at about your 33 gr load of H4895 and see how it groups. My friends son has been hunting with a Ruger in .223 Rem and has taken couple of deer under Dad's supervision. Hopefully we can get him bumped up in caliber a little bit and increase his effective range if needed. Thanks everyone for the info. Dan.

 

[bobnob]

I’d be going for the 100g bullets and try 30 to 33g of the H4895 in 1.0 grain increments, seeing which one gave best accuracy. That will still have some punch on the business end but be easy on the shooter.

This week I trialled a light load in my 243 for work around the farm - an 87g Vmax with 35g of H4895. Danged thing is a 0.75moa shooter and a real softy to shoot!

That 4895 is surprisingly accurate with low load density!

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Got to the range today to try out the reduced loads. Started with 32grs H4895 grouped 3 ins. Next was 33grs group was 3/4 in 2 touching and I pulled the fourth shot . 34 grs was the last load in this series and it gave 1 in group. So it appears that the H4895 will group plenty well enough. The recoil was fairly mild so I think Dawson will be able to handle this ok. Just for funs tried the starting load of 34grs H335. It went into a 2,5 in group and more recoil with some muzzle flash. Looks like H4895 will be the one with this bullet for now. Hope to try the 100 gr Nosler PT sometime for him. Dan.

 

[bobnob]

Sounds like you solved the question Buster. Thanks for sharing the results!

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Took the 260 reduced load of 33 grs H4895 120 gr Rem CL back to the range to verify and group was about the same so called it good. Then sighted in 1.5 ins high at 100yds was about 3 ins low at 200yds so that's ok. Then shot into 5 1 gal jugs of water at 100 yds. Caught it in the 5th jug. Bullet mushroomed back to the cannelure and weighted 85grs. So I belive it's all up to Dawson now. Can't wait to see the pictures of his smiling face with his next deer. Dan.