Anyone shoot .260/.260 AI in a short action?

[rothgyr]

What COAL are you guys running, and with what bullets?

I just ordered a .260 AI barrel from McGowen(1:8, #7, 26"), and am thinking about what stock/chassis I want to put on it. I want to be able to feed from 5-10 rd magazines, probably AICS, maybe for PRS when I get good enough. If I go SA, I have options galore for chassis and stocks, but am limited for COAL. If I go LA, I'm pretty much limited to either MDT chassis or inletted stocks with a LA DBM like RedSnake or Mountain Tactical, and can run COAL and chase the lands until the end of time.

I'm assuming that if I run 139-147gr pills, I'm going to need LA to seat to seat back from the ogive properly, but I don't know. Not a whole lot of people talk OAL when discussing the .260 AI, or surprisingly even the .260.

As far as my plans go, if I go with LA, I'll probably run a LA AICS magazine with a home made mag mod similar to what the 6 dasher and 6BR crowd do with their short action AICS mags (Patriot Valley Arms sells a kit for them). I'd modify a SA bolt stop/release for the Tikka to match, probably to accommodate around 3.1" mag length and roll with a McMillan A5 fully adjustable inletted to fit a LA DBM. If the SA works well, I'll probably go with a KRG bravo (I like the feel of stocks over typical chassis, and dat 90 degree grip tho)

PS this is my first time submitting a post on the hide, so if I've done anything wrong/stupid, let me know. You guys seriously have some awesome content on this forum.

 

[Supersubes]

Pretty much everybody runs both of those in a short action/AICS magazine. Because of that, most reamers have the freebore set up to accommodate a 2.8x” oal. If you wanted to seat out to work in a longer action, you’d likely need to use a custom reamer, or have a gunsmith throat it for a longer length.

The bottom of the bullet bearing surface will be below the neck/shoulder junction, which doesn’t affect things as much as you may think.

Are you sure you want the AI? I’d steer clear from any AI personally. Been there, and didn’t think any of it was worth the extra 75-100 fps. I’ve never struggled with case life on the .260 or any other similar sized/shaped case.

 

[rothgyr]

I decided to go with the AI for completely non practical reasons other than brass stretch. I have a bunch other factory calibers, and wanted to take a step further toward wild catting, for no other reason than that it intrigues me. They're dumb reasons, but I make a lot of dumb decisions in the name of exploring all the options before going the way I'm told is best. It's been a hard life filled with backtracking, but whatever. I've enjoyed it mostly.

6.5 Creedmoor makes way more economical sense, but my inner hipster says it's too mainstream, so I went with a fantasy caliber. If I end up hating the AI, I'll just rebarrel to something more practical.

I asked McGowen what the throat looked like and they sent me the attached PDF for .260 Rem. If what you say is true, the SA is looking more promising and much cheaper, lol.

 

[Supersubes]

Do you know what bullet you want to run? Does McGowan have any options on freebore length. If you plan to run vld’s, .118 freebore is going to be pretty long(not long action long though). My .260 reamer is .080” freebore and will just fit a 140 vld’s in an AW magazine, which is a fair bit longer internally than an AICS mag. AICS mags are approximately 2.86 length. Aw mags are about .1” longer internal. If you run a tangent ogive bullet, you’ll be in better shape.

 

[Supersubes]

I just looked at mcgowen’s cartridge list. They offer a 6.5 super LR. Have you considered that? It’s a .260 with the shoulder pushed back at the neck shoulder junction to 30 degrees. So the body/ shoulder location remains the same, but the neck is longer. The best part is you don’t need a fire form step!

 

[308pirate]

I'm assuming that if I run 139-147gr pills, I'm going to need LA to seat to seat back from the ogive properly, but I don't know..

Your assumption is wrong

Quit worrying about this stuff and just load ammo to an OAL which will fit in short action mags and clear the lands by at least .010 - .015" It's easily doable.

Since you're not "good enough yet" for PRS matches, you probably could benefit more from learning how to shoot than from learning boutique reloading techniques.

 

[b6graham]

Shooting with a guy at the PRS in New Hampshire this weekend running the 150 sierras in a 260AI. Short action all day. No reason youd every want a LA

 

[lash]

In answer to your title question, just about everyone is running .260 in a short action. I am using 136g Scenars set to an OAL of about 2.877" currently and have loaded them to 2.883" in my AW mags.

And I too am somewhat prone to suggest that you choose a caliber that will get you out and shooting on a regular basis if you wish to get involved in competitive precision rifle matches. It's much less about exotic rounds and such and much more about your ability to place rounds on target under time and/or positional stress in a consistent manner.

 

[Geno C.]

That freebore is a bit long for 140vlds. I run. .060" freebore in my 260ai and don't think I'd go longer if I was going to keep it in a short action.

 

[DAVETOOLEY]

I decided to go with the AI for completely non practical reasons other than brass stretch. I have a bunch other factory calibers, and wanted to take a step further toward wild catting, for no other reason than that it intrigues me. They're dumb reasons, but I make a lot of dumb decisions in the name of exploring all the options before going the way I'm told is best. It's been a hard life filled with backtracking, but whatever. I've enjoyed it mostly.

6.5 Creedmoor makes way more economical sense, but my inner hipster says it's too mainstream, so I went with a fantasy caliber. If I end up hating the AI, I'll just rebarrel to something more practical.

I asked McGowen what the throat looked like and they sent me the attached PDF for .260 Rem. If what you say is true, the SA is looking more promising and much cheaper, lol.

If memory serves me correctly that's the standard SAAMI reamer. Sorry to tell you but the freebore is too long and the 3 degree lead angle is not conducive to accuracy. My suggestion is to load to mag length and try different bullets. I now have 4 different 260 reamers for specific applications.

 

[Dai Bando]

I have a Rem take off that has a very long throat.

It's kissing lands at 2.927" with a 147 eld.

I use AM binderless mags and I had to dremel a notch in the feed lips.

I wouldn't .260 on a Long Action.