LaRue is a offering 18" and 22" .260 option that as a special purchase add on for a new limited addition I just purchased.  I've got two other .308s and I'm good at 1000, but have the same challenges around 1200-1300 when I beleive the round goes sub-sonic.  I'm not anticipating getting seriously into LR shooting but figure for the low price of the option, its worth giving it a try.  

From the reading I've been doing, I'm guessing the 22" makes the most sense.  I've followed the threads and multiple articles comparing the 6.5 Creedmoor and the .260 Rem, and have come to the conclusion, for what I'm looking to do, either would fit the bill.

Does anyone have experience with any of the LaRue rifles in 260? If so I'd like to hear your experince.  I'll be getting the appropriate dies and will do some loading, but will shoot some off the shelf as well.  Looks like Berger has a 140 grain/.606 BC pill.  If nothing else, it will be fun seeing what we can work up.  If anyone has experience here that could give me a starting point it would be much appreciated.

I have a thread on the LaRue 260 here.  I've only been shooting factory, but when I have time, I'll be working up some loads.

Never go 260REM when 6.5CM is available in a gasser...

even if you can't get 6.5CM from Mark.  {I'm only speaking from a Precision, Fizaks & Mechanics gallery}.

260REM is a RFA [wRongFuckinAnswer for those in Rio Linda and the Dead Center of Texas]

ever since the 6.5CM has been available.

Let the beating from the bird house builders begin.



BTW, You can get LAPUA 6.5CM brass @ 100pcs/$110.  And that is with a Small Rifle Primer Pocket.

I was going to say, "ARMALITE already figured that diameter out", BUTT!!! I won't. [REF is to DPMS].

For the price I bought both 18" & 22".  That being said I might keep the better performer, or use the barrel nut, gas block & tube from one on a 6.5 creedmoor barrel.

While .260 Remington and 6.5 creedmoor are very similar, I would of expected .260 to have become much more prolific given its been around longer, but it seems to me the 6.5 creed is getting more traction/aftermarket support, and its factory ammo is less expensive, given it's slightly less fps.

Will this be the next dvd hd vs blue ray, and the best one win?

Not no BUTT!!! Fizaks no when it comes to gassers.

I won't even ask what color, though it is a technical question.

Just my opinion, but I suspect Mark went .260 first because the DoD is looking for a precision rifle / sniper replacement for the .308 and was testing the .260.  The .260 is basically a necked down .308 which gives it a similar shoulder design, similar cartridge and I believe a better OAL than the 6.5CM (and the LaRue metal 7.62 mags allow a better OAL than, for instance, a PMag). That could make the .260 an easier and less expensive replacement to field across the DoD.

For the price they are being offered at buying not just one but a few is probably a good idea

I've been researching a lot about the 6.5 C and .260 as of late and there are a lot of arguments both ways but it's literally splitting hairs from what I see.  50 fps difference, easy function through a semi auto, availability it's anybody's ball game unless you are spending way more time with it and a way better shooter than I am there just isn't anything that seems to make one stand out.

I was thinking more of the VHS, Beta, but that just shows my age....

When you have things that are very similar in the marketplace, whichever has the better marketing effort wins.

I'm going with the 22", as I can't see giving up the velocity when velocity has the impact it has here.  The thread referenced above has some great info and while reading it another good thread on 6.5 loads is referenced as well.  Guess I'm getting bored, but I'm also looking for a 6.5 Grendel upper for a spare lower I've had sitting in the safe.  It will give me something to research while I'm waiting on my new tAR.

Nice diatribe, and I say that as a .260 junky getting a 6.5 CM build completed.  Does the LT come with a HP bolt, I don't believe they do.  The combination of the pressure of that CM cartridge with a small pocket and your large diameter firing pin hole would not be good.  If they do offer it, then it's a non-issue.  Go with the 22" barrel, it's free speed.  You know we all love free methamphetamine! (second time using that one today, I love it!) HAHAHA!!!!

When shall the beating end?  ;)

No they don't.  Just replace the bolt with a JP hp bolt if you think you need to.

It should never start when ARMALITE already figured out the firing pin hole diameter almost two decades ago.

Yes, IIRC, they also use some tapered point firing pin.  Interesting why this was not made common, isn't it?

Go ask the Reverse Engineer companies why they didn't use the taper

or

the da-da-dagnabit proper hole when it was already there to purchase and copy, sir.

I just spent 3 days last week spotting for many different shooters up at Boomershoot, a fun long range explosive target rendezvous we have every year up in Idaho.

I wish I could show you what a 6.5 Creedmoor or .260 Rem looks like through the spotting scope next to a .308 Winchester, even from 20" barrels.

I had one guy who had never shot his Ruger American 20" 6.5 CM past 100yds before.

With 120gr Hornady ammo, he was smoking guys who had taken LR classes with some of the better trainers out there that were shooting .308s, not even close.

This is what I've seen for at least the past 10 years, where 6.5mm has really grown in popularity.

Time of flight, trajectory, and wind drift are different ball games entirely as you watch them next to each other.

It's like watching a tight laser-shaped vapor trail next to a mortar round.  I'll give the .308 one thing...it's easy as sin to watch go downrange, being so slow and high arc, with a huge vapor trail due to all the turbulence created by the drag.

I would just back the truck up on Hornady .260 Rem 130gr ELD-M and not worry about it.

You can get it for $21.58 per box from ammo liquidator right now.  Ammoseek .260 Rem

Hornady is going to change things for .260 Rem with that load, just watch.

Us poor bastages on the east coast have to pay too much in shipping to get that great deal from A/L.  

Read up some on ammo liquidator, they have great prices, but sometimes they don't ship at all, or don't deliver the right product.

Review sight http://www.ammospy.net/retailers/AmmoLiquidator

I sometimes bought from botach, always got what I ordered, but sometimes it was a huge hassle.  But I could also say that about Palmetto State Armory as well.

With that said has anyone ordered from them, and have any positive experience?

Update:  After looking at ammoseek they listed Buds gun shop as I have always had good luck with them and insured shipping it was cheaper than paying the $29 shipping from ammo liquidator saved exactly $5 total and from a place I trust...

He was specifically asked to build .260 Rem for a certain customer set.

.260 Rem has more case capacity, but projectiles aren't located ideally with relation to the shoulder-neck junction.

This is where 6.5 CM shines since you can locate the projectile base at the shoulder-neck junction, while also having a longer neck for more consistent neck tension.

Now that Lapua 6.5CM SRP brass is here (I already have some.), that will make the 6.5CM capable of operating with more room for accuracy nodes, although the CM shoots well with very little load development.

So is this one of the reasons why Hornady is loading in 130 gr and not 140gr or more like the Creedmoor?   Seems like factory loads for the Creedmoor have better bullet options..

I know of the 129gr Hornady fodder BUTT!!! not the 130gr of which you speak .

Now, if Hornady loaded with the Berger 130gr AR Hybrid OTM Tactical

well hell, there would be more than a few 6mm folks being disturbed.

Hornady has a 260 round loaded with the 130 eld. The case length and neck shoulder junction was specifically why I chose the creedmoor over a 260 in a gasser. The ability to get ultra high BC factory ammo that will print half moa at 1$ a round isn't bad either. Love the 260, but I just wouldn't choose it over a 6.5 creed in a gas gun due to potential projectile limitations.

Federal and the likes may use Berger bullets, but I don't see Hornady doing that when they have their own brand that they promote.

I would hAve preferred a 6.5 just due to price and available ammo sorces..  

But LaRue decided to make a .260..  I have had a tOBR since they first started shipping..  and just buying a new barrel is way cheaper than buying a new gun lol.   And I have found some .260 ammo down around  6.5 prices..  

I was just hoping that we would be seeing it loded with as good a bullets as the 6.5..  But from what you are saying it can not..  

I think that's one of the digs on the .260, while it has the same case and shoulder angle as the .308, the neck is shorter than the 6.5CM and doesn't provide the same amount of tension (area) found in the 6.5CM. I would think that would limit you in some bullet choices with aggressive tapers, but with so many bullet choices for reloaders, you should be able to develop a consistently accurate load. The factory 130 Prime and Hornady ELD-Ms are shooting well in my .260 tOBR. I took it to 600 and then 1000 this weekend and was doing better than some of the bolt guys on the line.

I just the notice that my FDE 7.62 shipped Friday.  Should have it in hand mid week.  They were great about it and gave me the matching number to my Costa.  I requested the 260 barrel be installed, but was told when I oredered that probably Wolfe the happen.  Since it is not as flexible as the tOBR, once I install the 260 it's staying that way.

Been struggling with the Grendel build.  I have a real nice lower and I'm trying to decide what to put on top of it.  I figure my FDE is my 6.5 Heavy, and the Grendel will be my 6.5 Lite.  Hunting, not target shooting, is my goal, but I only get a few weeks a year chasing, which leave plenty of time for the rest.  I'm playing back the 15 Elk I have taken, and for the most the Grendel would do well as my primary.  But if I can shoot 260 well, I'll probably hump it this year and go lighter when those couple extra pounds will mean more in a few years.

I know the ground we hunt well and there is only one place where I can envision a shot over 300 yards, but there, where I have scored, it can stretch out a bit and would be tough with the Grendel. I might as well take advance of the Heavy while I still can, knowing I can press the distance.

I've been shooting Barnes sx's for quite some time and don't see it changing here.  I need to keep terminal velocity 1600-1800, which doesn't look like an issue with the 260.  After looking at it on paper, I'm going to start with the 127 TTSX, and hope my barrel get here sooner than later. I'm going to be working with 100 ttsx in the Grendel, and while powder doesn't translate, look like I the 260 will rate these as well.

Since I'm a novice on the reloadimg side, I'd like to keep things simple...at least to start. IIRC,  IMR 4350 will power both of pills in the the 260.  For plinking rounds, I can see a purchase of the 22 buck a box 130 elds.

If anyone has info on the development of these rounds, the 100 and or 127 sx's, I'd appreciate the starting point...or end point if you have that already...:)

Repeating internet gossip (as opposed to actual knowledge), but isn't the shoulder angle of the .260 much better in terms of reliability for gas guns? I'm not sure if that's going in or out, but it's what I understand to be the case (get it? Case!).

The dig I hear about .260 in gas guns is OAL.  "But it won't fit in the magazine if you load XX.X grains."  I tend to favor hotter loads (my .308 bolt loads are extremely compressed), but I can't say that I've ever run into a seating depth limitation on either a .260 or 6.5 cartridge, even with hot loads.  FWIW, I'm much more conservative in my gas gun loads, but I still trend toward the upper end of published charge weights.

IIRC the 260 has more powder (case) capacity than the 6.5CM. In my gasser I've not run into an OAL issue and the LaRue mags offer the max OAL for any mag (I believe), even more than the KACs. It's not like we're loading flatlines in the gassers.

FWIW - In my .260 Rem AR10 (Lilja Barreled) you really can't get much closer than 1gr lower from maximum before you start really trashing brass; I got ~5 loadings out of Lapua brass before it was done, and I'm getting about ~3 out of .mil 7.62 brass I formed into .260.  I've run 123s, 130s, and 142s and haven't run into a magazine/seating depth issue yet; everything is loaded to 2.810, and run it in a PMAG.

Regarding mag feeding, my AR10 has been just as reliable as my AR15s; all the jams that I've expirenced have been a direct result of me playing with the gas block, or an odd brass deflection off my brass catcher. It doesn't happen very often.

Edit: I have seen the Larue 260 barrel kits for sale ala carte now, and entertained the idea of grabbing one. However for the price, you can have a Bartlein or Kriger spun up. That's the route I'm going for my next barrel.

Since the 6.5 has a less tapered case some folks had a little trouble dialing in the gas system. Larue made a comment that he still thinks the 260 is a more reliable gas gun caliber and it has a wider tolerance for gas adjustment while still being reliable. I never did get a slr gas block to work with the 6.5. If you academically think of a gas port as 0-100%, the 260 might function between 40-100 whereas the 6.5 might demand 50-70.

I don’t think I’ve seen this phenomenon mentioned with other barrels chambered in 6.5 but it wouldn’t surprise me.

For anyone who may not know reading the thread, the LaRue large frame barrels use an extension with a diameter that is slightly larger and only fits the LaRue uppers.

For anyone shooting Prime .260, it's on sale for $211 a case, which is $128 off the regular price. It shoots in my gasser, but is a little too hot for me so I save it for the bolt gun.