Short (ish) barrel 260 powder options

[beetroot]

I have a Tikka T3 in 260rem that wears the factory lite 22.375" barrel, which I run suppressed.
The rifle is a nice overall length unsuppressed, but a bit unwieldy with the suppressor on so I'm going to chop the barrel to 18-20", probably go 19".

I current use ADI 2209 (H4350) with 140gr Hornadys, but have been reading mixed reviews that both faster and slower burning powders may suit shorter barrel length. Recommended powder seem to be:

Varget
H4350
Reloader 16
Hodgdon Superfromance
Reloader 26

Anyone have first hand experience with shortish barreled 6.5mm cartridges that can offer a recommendation?
I'm currently only getting 2675fps from my current load (but great accuracy) so a powder change is probably a good idea regardless of what length I end up cutting it to.

Cheers

 

[Doug k 042414]

I have a .260 rem gas gun with a 20” Lilja barrel. I have been running 42.7 g of H 4350 in lapua cases with 136 gr lapua scenar l’s that have been pushing 2719 with a Sd of 6 and an Es of 13.

The only two issues is 1) even at mag length, the lapuas are hitting the barrel prior to chambering when feeding through the feed ramps...

And 2) due to the weird pressure curve in gas guns, I am beating the piss out of my brass (ejector swipes). I still have great primer retention, but I think it’s just gas gun issues. I am no expert, but i think you might have more luck pushing higher pressure/velocity with a bolt gun. If you start load dev and run an ocw or similar test, you should be good.

I just grabbed 4lbs of Reloader 16 and am reworking loaded with a 120-130 gr eld m. Hope that helps

 

[Supersubes]

I have a Tikka T3 in 260rem that wears the factory lite 22.375" barrel, which I run suppressed.
The rifle is a nice overall length unsuppressed, but a bit unwieldy with the suppressor on so I'm going to chop the barrel to 18-20", probably go 19".

I current use ADI 2209 (H4350) with 140gr Hornadys, but have been reading mixed reviews that both faster and slower burning powders may suit shorter barrel length. Recommended powder seem to be:

Varget
H4350
Reloader 16
Hodgdon Superfromance
Reloader 26

Anyone have first hand experience with shortish barreled 6.5mm cartridges that can offer a recommendation?
I'm currently only getting 2675fps from my current load (but great accuracy) so a powder change is probably a good idea regardless of what length I end up cutting it to.

Cheers

Any of those powders will work. It’s a myth that shorter barrels need faster powders imo. Easy to rationalize your way to the conclusion you need a faster powder, but in my experience, that just isn’t the case.

 

[Simia Dei]

A mate is running RL16 out of a 22" barrel with 140s and 147s. From memory he is hitting over 2700fps with 41.5 grains. I can confirm with him if you like? I remember he had shit luck with 2208 and 09. 2000 MR might be an option, I found it to be temp sensitive though.

 

[briang7511]

i ran 40.4 varget with a 123 lapua. 2990 fps with a 23 in tube. single digit es/sd lapua brass. This was a few yrs ago when H4350 was scarce and rl16 was not out yet.

 

[Bradu]

I use imr 4064 in my 16" barrel 260. I don't get very good speed with 4350.

 

[beetroot]

I use imr 4064 in my 16" barrel 260. I don't get very good speed with 4350.

What projectiles do you use and what FPS?

Interesting that you find 4064 to give better velocity as it's a even faster burning powder than Varget.
It's very curious that both faster and slower burning powders given faster velocities than H4350.

 

[beetroot]

A mate is running RL16 out of a 22" barrel with 140s and 147s. From memory he is hitting over 2700fps with 41.5 grains. I can confirm with him if you like? I remember he had shit luck with 2208 and 09. 2000 MR might be an option, I found it to be temp sensitive though.

That'd be great if you could get some numbers from him!

 

[Simia Dei]

That'd be great if you could get some numbers from him!

My memory was slightly off the mark. The node he settled on is at a average of 2664fps (ES: 16, SD: 6) with the following load details:
- DA: 1140
- Temp: 20.8 degrees Celsius
- Hornady 147 ELD-M
- 42.1g RL16
- CCI BR2 Primer
- Brass is starline I believe

I suspect Lapua SRP brass would net slightly better results.

 

[Bradu]

What projectiles do you use and what FPS?

Interesting that you find 4064 to give better velocity as it's a even faster burning powder than Varget.
It's very curious that both faster and slower burning powders given faster velocities than H4350.

I run 123 amax's and 142 smk's. I don't know the velocity of anything at the moment, I had everything stored in my app but lost everything when I broke my phone about a month ago. I know my 142's with 42.1 grains of h4350 were right around 2500 and the 123's were mid 2700's with 4064. I don't remember what the speeds were for the 142s with the 4064 though. I find varget and 4064 to work better with my short barrel. My 22" and longer I use h4350 for my 260s.