.260 Rem vs 6.5 Creedmore?

[Mt_Medic31]

Hey guys,
what's the difference betweeen .260 Remington and 6.5 Creedmore? I know both bullets are 6.5mm, and both are based on a .308 case. But the Creedmore, according to the magazines, is the latest and greatest. I work away from home for a week at a time, so when I get home I will check my reloading manuals, but it doesn't seem to me like they can be that different given the construction.

Thoughts?

I have a base action project gun, was gonna make a .260, but could make a 6.5 Creedmore if it was that much better.

[malinois]

I would stick with the 260...unless you like paying more for components...the 6.5 creedmore still is an odd ball....But if you dont mind paying extra for brass....I would just go with the 6.5X47.lapua...The lapua seems to have a slight advantage in accuracy...due to better cases but its kinda like the old addage of how many spirits can dance on a pin head. Balistically they are very close.

[Hawk-1]

does anyone have any side to side comparisons with like equiptment to show that one is more accurate than the other?(.260vs6.5x47vs6.5creedmore) also what is the actual cost difference when one says "if you like paying more".....? Also are componants available readily for all three? thanks. Thinking about building one of the three.

[malinois]

Go to midwayusa where you will see for yourself the cost diffrence between brass on the 260,and the other 6.5mm cartriges. The new stuff is always a little harder to locate then the run of the mil 260 stuff also. I will leave the accuracy answers to the ones that have the other rounds but the are a bit more accurate since they were optimized as a target round from the start...6.5X47 Lapua and creedmore.

[chickenchoker]

http://demigodllc.com/articles/6.5-shoo ... creedmoor/

[Mt_Medic31]

Considering the increased cost, and I know 6.5 lapua is considerably more, I will stick with the .260. I can get cheap surplus .308 brass, and easily resize it to .260. Thanks for the input guys.

[RBriscoe]

Considering the increased cost, and I know 6.5 lapua is considerably more, I will stick with the .260. I can get cheap surplus .308 brass, and easily resize it to .260. Thanks for the input guys.

I would suggest thinking twice about using surplus fired 7.62 brass. Most of it has been fired in automatic weapons with chambers that are rather larger than commercial civilian chambers, let alone match chambers (sizing them can be quite a chore). They may also have stretching leading to case head separation. On top of that, the primers are normally crimped and you will have to get them out and swage the primer pockets.

The .260 Rem factory chamber supposedly has a 0.297" neck. Many custom reamers have a neck around 0.294", but they vary depending upon the desires of the owner. Necked down .308 brass may have a neck too thick to use without neck turning or reaming.

The short version of the above is that surplus brass can be a lot of work. If you can get some unfired Lake City Brass at least some of the potential problems will not be an issue.

Commercial brass is available that is a lot more reasonably priced than the 6.5x47 Lapua. There is Remington (brand) .260 Remington brass or you can form brass from most anyone's .243 Win or 7-08 brass very easily.

The Creedmoore case is simply Hornady's version of the 6.5x47 Lapua. The person I know who shoots it likes it, but it does not really offer anything to distinguish it from the 6.5x46 L or .260 Rem. They are all capable of essentially the same performance in a silhouette rifle.

If you have not recently priced 6.5x47 Lapua brass, take a seat because it may be a shock. It is about $88 a hundred and I have seen it go for more.

If you go with a .260 Rem, I would suggest discussing the reamer with the 'smith prior to committing to the project as there are a lot of different ones floating around out there. Some of them are short throated and are suitable for a magazine gun in a short action. Some of them have longer throats and are more suited to a single shot in a short action or may require a longer magazine or even a long action.

As far as shooting goes, all three are pleasant to shoot, as is the 6.5x55 Swede. All will encounter some ranges which favor a 7mm because of tough rams.

Cheers

[BCloninger]

This might be the article you were looking for.

[Mt_Medic31]

Briscoe,
Thanks for all the info. I got a smokin deal on a short action 700 xhr with the adjustable trigger in .243, so gonna swap out barrels for a lilja .260 in #5 contour I think. That pretty much just leaves the stock for me to figure out. Given my money constraints right now, I think I am just going to hollow out the Hogue stock that it came in, and bed it for free float.
As for brass, there's a site called something like Topbrass.com, I have it bookmarked at home, but can't find it this morning on google for some reason. They process the military brass so it's ready to reload. military crimp removed and all. Still VERY cheap from them too. 500 pcs is like $80. I will not rely on it for sure, but would like to try it to see if it is good. I want to practice alot, so the lower the cost, the better. In .223 they do the same, and you can even have it come re-primed with CCI primers, so all you gotta do is powder, seat and shoot. I will look when I get home and repost with the website.

BCloninger, The link you tried to post insn't showing, please retry as I would like to read the article. Thanks.

[BCloninger]

BCloninger, The link you tried to post insn't showing, please retry as I would like to read the article. Thanks.

http://demigodllc.com/articles/6.5-shoo ... dmoor/?p=2

[Jason]

A quick Bing search reveals...

Top Brass Reloading
http://www.topbrassreloading.com/

[RBriscoe]

That is an attractive price for processed brass, but there are still some things to watch out for. You might consider looking around for some Lake City or Hornady (mil contract) cases either new or once fire. The fired ones are more often than not fired in something other than an M240. As you know, the M240 chambers are designed to allow chambering and extraction at high rates of fire under extreme conditions (translation, they are big). Typically the Lake City or Hornady brass was ammo used in sniper or designated marksman weapon systems with chambers which are not quite so large.

A source where I frequently buy commercial brass has Winchester .243 Win unprimed brass for $192/500 just for comparison.Here is a link for some once fired Lake City I found in a casual web search. The site is not clear whether it has been processed or not. There are a lot of places that sell once fired stuff. I am not sure about the availability of unfired Lake City or Hornady brass any more.

As I am sure you are aware, military brass is frequently heavier than commercial brass and so loads should be adjusted accordingly. When you talk with the 'smith let him know your plan to use G.I. brass as he may have a reamer set up for it which might save you some time if the current crop of brass has necks as thick as some of the older stuff.

Necking down once fired cases is a bit of a roll of the dice. I would suggest trying a few cases, necking them down to 7mm first and then to 6.5mm, and see if it will work without having to anneal the case mouths.

Bullets are...well, they are not getting any cheaper.

The .260 Rem is a very good round, but so is the 7-08. You might want to ask about the ranges where you expect to shoot to see which one is better suited to the rams you will face.

Have fun!

Rick

[Mt_Medic31]

Briscoe,
I think I would still use match brass for competition, but if I wanna shoot 2-3 hundred rounds a week for practice in the summer, I would rather have some cheap brass to do that, then re-sight with match rounds before competition.
I would re-size the brass, then trim the neck size with a Forster tool. The gun dealer I use is a retired weapons designer, and he tells me that when he necks down .308 to .243, he freezes the brass overnight, then pulls it out in bunches of 10-15 and quickly re-sizes them while they're cold. Apparently cold brass takes the re-size better. Brass is so different metallurgicaly, its weird.

[RBriscoe]

Briscoe,
I think I would still use match brass for competition, but if I wanna shoot 2-3 hundred rounds a week for practice in the summer, I would rather have some cheap brass to do that, then re-sight with match rounds before competition.
I would re-size the brass, then trim the neck size with a Forster tool. The gun dealer I use is a retired weapons designer, and he tells me that when he necks down .308 to .243, he freezes the brass overnight, then pulls it out in bunches of 10-15 and quickly re-sizes them while they're cold. Apparently cold brass takes the re-size better. Brass is so different metallurgicaly, its weird.

That is a very ambitious practice schedule. If you intend to shoot that much, your next purchase should be a Dillon progressive loader (no kidding). Aside from the expense and time spent reloading, your barrel won't last long at that rate either. Depending upon a number of factors the accuracy barrel life of a .260 Remington might be 3,500 rounds or a bit more.

More realistically, you might consider a mixture of smallbore and high power practice. This may seem a surprise because there are differences in smallbore and high power rifle techniques, but trigger time and work on your form would probably benefit from a mixture of smallbore and high power practice. (Smallbore was invented as practice for high power by Wayne Leek as I recall it because it was several hours to the nearest place he could shoot high power.) Indeed, some dry firing would be a good addition to your training program and can be done in the evening at home. If you have an air rifle, that is good practice as well as you will learn the importance of follow through due to the long barrel time of the pellet in an air rifle.

I have to admit that I have never frozen brass overnight to try that, but I am more than a little suspicious that it does not do anything. On the other hand, I can not think of a real risk of trying it.

Good Luck

Rick

[Mt_Medic31]

Briscoe,
you're right, 2-300 a week is too much for just high power. I try to go to the range at least once a week, and there is practice swingers for both smallbore and HP. so I guess it would be more like 300 rounds between all the guns. I do shoot both classes of smallbore. And mostly, I don't know where you are, but here in montana, we can only compete outdoors from about May until October, Maaaybe November. So I kind of have to practice when I can. Its almost always windy here, so when it gets cold on top of it, it's not fun to shoot outdoors weekly (thank god for indoor gallery rifle). Though I do like the Polar Bear paper target matches in Jan and Feb. As you recommend, I also dry fire, with a target at the end of the hall in the basement. This past summer was my first season shooting in organized competition. I did well, shootin typically 19-22/40 at the local matches, a 27 being my personal best. BUT, then I went to the state match ( just for the fun of it) and shot a 15/60. So, upped the practice and studying, because I will not let that happen again.
I already have a Dillon progressive, and that's what I use for my .223 prairie dog gun. I will make 400 rounds over a couple days, and that usually lasts me half the summer. Great machine, and pretty accurate too, for a progressive style. It's not as precise as a single stage, sure, but I prefer to crank out 200 rounds an hour versus 40 or 50. The .223 gets 3/8 MOA with my hand loads, so the 550 works fine by my standards. I do all the match case prep (primer pockets, etc etc), and use a crimp die at the end, which of course helps. The prep takes 2x as long as the loading. If things go according to plan, I should have close to 2000 rounds through the gun by the end of shooting season next November. If I have to change barrels every 2-3 years I'm fine with that. Cost of the addiction eh?