Gunsmithing Leade. What should I do??

[aqualung]

Hi Guys,

Just spoke with my 'smith yesterday, he's building me a .260Rem on a Sako 591 action, Kreiger 28" fluted bbl (MTU contour if memory serves).

Well, we got to talking about chambering the beast, and what bullets I'm gonna use.

I intend to use this as a 'universal' gun. It will be my no.1 hunting gun, but it needs to hang with the boys on the range as well. Will not be hunting anything larger than about the size of a Whitetail, but will probably want to shoot it out to 800 to 1000yds.

I was going to go with 140 A-max or 142 SMK's for the range work and 130 Swift Scirocco for live quarry.

Comments on the bullet choice very gratefully received, but my main question is this...

Given the fact that I want the chamber to be minimum SAAMI spec for no neck turning, and the bullet choice, what kind of leade do you think I need??

My thinking was 140 A-max loaded to max mag length, at 20thou jam, and cut the leade accordingly.

Any /all comments very gratefully received.

Neil

ps. I'll reply tomorrow, as it's real late here, and past my bed time! Cheers!!

 

[hero's machine]

Re: Leade. What should I do??

I think you have a good plan. Don't discount those smk's on critters. Here is a pair of elk scapula that I shoved a 142smk through at around 2k fps. Twas dead on impact.

 

[wnroscoe]

Re: Leade. What should I do??

99% of the time I use a 260 reamer with .090" free bore. I also have a .030" FB reamer but it's for VLD's and magazines. The .090" FB reamer will be GTG for SMK's and Scenars giving a COAL of approx 2.845" with a .005" jump.

As far as a chamber that allows you to mag feed with Amax's and VLD's while jamming, you'll need a slightly shorter FB depending on your desired COAL. For SMK's and Scenars, the .090" works great and is my go to reamer. That perfect one size fits all chamber isnt out there, I've looked. Pick your bullet and build the rifle around it.

 

[aqualung]

Re: Leade. What should I do??

William,

Your advice is sage, as always. I pretty much thought what you confirmed, there IS no one size fits all, I was just hoping for a compromise that I had overlooked.

Oh, if only life were simple!

Sierras' are cheap and plentiful, but not legal in the UK for live quarry. Scenars' are very accurate, plentiful, but NOT cheap, ditto for live quarry.
A-max.... reasonable price, good accuracy, but very rapid expansion on game, ergo meat damage...

What's a boy to do??

I think I'll chamber and throat for "normal" bullets (SMK, Scenar, hunting bullets etc) and single load the VLD's the days I'm on the range, or accept that I might not get the very best from the A-max working it out of the mag.

Any further input/advice will be very gratefully received.

Thanks again,

Neil

 

[wnroscoe]

Re: Leade. What should I do??

Look at the Sierra Game King. It needs a slightly longer FB because of the ogive to yeild the same COAL but, it hammers on game and shoots in dots.

 

[Slinky001]

Re: Leade. What should I do??

I have shot sierra game kings in a .308 at 300 yards just to try and they were hangining in there every bit as good as the Sierra MK.

Just because it's a huntinting bullet and it's not sexy doesnt mean it doesn't work!!

 

[aqualung]

Re: Leade. What should I do??

Guys,

Thanks for the heads up on Gamekings, although I shoot them in my 7mm-08, I had completely overlooked them for the .260 build!

I shoot both the 150 SMK and the 150 SGK in the 7mm, so that I could have a target bullet to practice with and a game bullet to hunt with. I have noticed a slight zero shift between the 2, but I just zero for the Gamekings and accept that the SMK's land in a different place on paper. It don't affect the group size though!!

N

 

[coldboremiracle]

Re: Leade. What should I do??

I'd keep it simple, shoot either the 140 amax or the 142 (whichever shoots better) and shoot it at everything. Either of those two bullets will perform fine on game, and save you from extensive multiple load development,purchases,ect.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Slinky001</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Just because it's a huntinting bullet and it's not sexy doesnt mean it doesn't work!!</div></div>

And just because they are sexy match bullets that shoot like a million bucks doesn't mean they wont bring down a deer handily.

 

[Bass Ackwardz]

Re: Leade. What should I do??

Love it when people dont read the whole thread before commenting...lol

Just live with the fact that you may have to single load the one or the other...

Bill

 

[aqualung]

Re: Leade. What should I do??

Coldbore,

My only concern with the A-Max is very rapid expansion leading to a lot of hydraulicing, leading to a lot of meat damage/loss. It's not trophy hunting here, it's shooting for meat, so meat loss is an issue. Head/neck shots are often frowned upon by the Deer Welfare organisations here, although Game Dealers love them, because no meat is lost.

It is ILLEGAL here to use non expanding ammunition on live quarry, so SMK's are absolutely out of the question for taking deer. A-max you could get away with, because right at the front of the Hornady reloading manual, it says that the A-max is suitable for medium sized game.

Do you have experience of shooting game with the A-max, and if so, where did you place the shot, and how was it for meat damage?

Neil

 

[aqualung]

Re: Leade. What should I do??

Bill/Bass,

Love your handle, wish I'd thought of that!

Not reading the full post first is also one of my pet peeves, but I take the view that guys are really just trying to help, so I just take the usefull info out and discard anything that's not relevant.

Figure I'll just end up single loading the target rounds on the range. This ain't gonna be my competition gun anyway, so it's not like I'm missing out on anything by single loading. The "Bisley Gravel Bellies" do it all the time anyway!

Neil