Why havn't I heard of the .260 Remington before today?

Question

It should be a very popular round for silhouette shooting and mid-sized game.

The .260 sounds like a dream cartridge.
Ballistic coefficient ~0.5.
Less recoil than the 7mm Remington Magnum.
Better ballistics than the 6.5 X 55.

Somewhere, they even use a 6.5 as a sniper round.

Any reasons?
.

It's true!

http://www.remington.com/products/ammunition/ballistics
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Answer 1

In January 1997 Remington announced the 260 Remington cartridge, based on the 308 Winchester necked down to accommodate the 26 caliber projectile.
It was designed for use as a Target, medium size game and varmints cartridge.

But I don’t understand why you are comparing recoil as less then a 7mm Magnum, you are right it does.
You do understand 260 Remington is a non magnum cartridge, it’s between the 250 Savage and 7mm-08.


Hope this was of some help.

D58

Answer 2

A quirk of American hunters resulting in nothing .26 caliber being very popular State-side. Sure its a good caliber, but probably not better than the very popular .25-06 Remington. The .260 Remington is NOT a magnum caliber but the 6.5 Remington Magnum is. The 6.5 is also a .26 caliber and is a belted magnum which also never achieved much popularity State-side. The 6.5 Magnum is a good, dangerous game caliber once used to hunt tiger in India. Today it is chambered nearly exclusively in the excellent 673 Remington Guide rifle recently resurrected with a 22" inch (rather than the 18 n 1/2 or 20" barrel of days gone by) tube which allows the cartridge to really shine. I've recently bought one (and also the .350 Remington Mag) and really like them.

Best.

H

Answer 3

This was a wildcat caliber until only ten years ago when Remington started producing rifles and ammo for it. It is an excellent cartridge and very efficient, but I have seen very little promotion of the caliber. Ballistically it is very close to the 6.5x55, but fits in a short action, and it'll do about anything the 6.5x55 will. It also is very close in performance to the 7mm-08, and has probably been overshadowed by the 7mm in the same way the .270 Win overshadowed the .280 Remington.

I have begun seeing rifles from Kimber and SAKO in .260, so I think its popularity may be growing. Can you tell it's one of my favorites?

Answer 4

Dunno. It's been around a decade officially, and if memory serves as the 6.5 Panther quite a while before that. Perhaps it's because everybody these days thinks you have to burn a hundred grains of powder to kill a rabbit (and I suspect for those people, it's probably true). But you're still behind the times. The 260 Rem is now relegated to being a great deer-class cartridge, the darling of the long-range paper punching crowd having become the 6.5/284 for the past few years.

Answer 5

It has been around for a long time but has had its name change for marketing. In short it is a 308 case necked down to a 6.5mm and has been call 260,6.5-08 and 6.5mm Remington.

It is a very good round for match work, David Tubbs uses a 6.5x284 for his long range matches, got a video of him shooting 1 mile away at a paper target as well as a watermelon, and hitting it...

But for some reason it just has not had a big following in the U.S.
Many countries have used a 6.5 as a military round because of its flat shooting characteristics form WW1 through WW2

Answer 6

There is a .280 Remington....don't know a .260. The 6.5x55 was developed for the Swedish Mauser rifle in the late 1800s and became legendary for it's flat range. These fine Mausers made their way into the sports world via surplus sales from the 1950s and 1960s and many became hunters, so it's a popular cartridge in Europe and here in the US as well. It was also used in the Olympics for years.

From wikipedia:

The 6.5x55 Swedish cartridge is highly esteemed as a game hunting round in Europe, and enjoys a stable following of devotees in North America. It is used for harvesting game as large as moose in Sweden and Norway, while in Canada and the US it is used for taking deer and other medium sized game. Sportsmen who favor the round laud the combination of low recoil coupled with the cartidge's inherent accuracy and superb penetrative qualities. European rifle makers including CZ, Steyr and Mauser all continue to offer sporting rifles chambered for this potent cartridge, while ammunition companies such as Norma, Lapua and Hornady offer "hot" loadings of the 6.5x55 Swedish round that are designed for use only in modern hunting rifles that can tolerate higher chamber pressures. These "souped-up" loadings should never be used in older military rifles.

Biathlon: Before the .22LR rimfire became the standard rifle calibre for biathlon shooting under rules in 1975, the 6.5x55 Swedish was widely used in biathlon competitions, both on account of its great inherent accuracy and its historical popularity with the Scandinavian nations which have always tended to dominate this sport.

Answer 7

I do know that Remington used to make a .260 Bolt Action Pistol for hunting. The XP-100 I do believe.

Answer 8

It's not real. It's an April Fool's joke.

Gotcha!