alternative powders, 260 Rem.....

[Jerry G]

ldholton » Tue Apr 05, 2016 10:17 am
for .260 RL-17

Not if you work up a hot load at around 50 F and then come down to AZ to shoot in the summer.

[ldholton]

maybe , but is there a need to run a max load ? not from my rifle

[Jerry G]

You will see pressure increases even if you aren't maxed out. Just be aware of it, it may change your sight settings.

[Jason]

Definitely no reason to run a hot load in a 260 Rem, which has more than enough case capacity to drive 140+ grain bullets too quickly unless they are seriously tough like bonded bullets. I usually try to run my CPT loads toward the lower end of the load range if I can get good accuracy, and pushing ram loads too hard just results in bullets blowing up on impact instead of holding together and taking down the rams reliably.

[Jason]

I would expect powders the have been recently introduced to have better support from the manufacturer and therefore better supplies/more available. With that in mind I am looking at the IMR Enduron series of powders, specifically 4166 as a Varget replacement.

SteveD or anyone else,

If anyone has had time to develop some loads for 260 Rem with IMR 4166 yet, I'd appreciate hearing results. I'm down to a couple pounds left of Varget and am intrigued by the promise of IMR 4166 having Varget's temperature insensitivity but also having CFE 223's copper fouling reduction. I dispense all my highpower silhouette loads individually on my RCBS Chargemaster anyway, so I don't really care about how it meters. I have a pound of the IMR 4166 to test with, but I've been working so much lately that there hasn't time for much shooting, much less a lot of small batch loading and testing.

[SteveD]

I am most interested in the powder comparison but I will be shooting a 6 or 6.5 BR so the results won't be directly comparable.

[Jerry G]

I am using IMR 4831 (42.5 gr) to push142 sierra in my 260. I am getting 4 inch groups at the rams but at 1,000 yds I am over 1 minute. Might be the wind, I'm not sure. I don't think 4831 would work in the BR case.

[SteveD]

I wouldn't think so Jerry, IMR 4831 is between VV 550 and VV 560 for burn rate. Good medicine for a 260 with a 142, too slow for a BR.

Glad to hear about the better availability of VV. I liked 550 and 560 in a 6.5 - 08 AI with Sierra 142s.

[Merlin]

RL17 makes em hum.....