.223, .260 and .308

[michael_aos]

I originally bought a Remington 700P in .223 and the HS Precision 5rd box magazine conversion.

Fully decked-out, it tops the scales at 14.0lbs.

Even with the 69gr Sierra MatchKings it seems like the wind really pushes those little bullets around.

Lately I've been eyeing the Remington 700 "Mountain Rifle" LSS in .260 Remington. Thinking maybe I could shoot that on windy days for a while and eventually outfit it with an Accuracy International CS short-action stock and 5rd .308 magazines and maybe a 24" barrel.

Anyone happen to know if I can feed .260 Remington through .308 magazines? I'd think so, but...

I just can't bring myself to spend $3K on an Accuracy International AE rifle.

Mike

[John Dunn]

The .260 will feed through the .308 mags.

[michael_aos]

The .260 will feed through the .308 mags.

Cool.

I suppose in the long-run, I'd be better off to just have a gunsmith build me something with a Remington 700 standard short-action from Brownells and a good 24" barrel & brake.

The lack of factory ammo for .260 Remington had scared me off in the past, but now that I bought this RL550B its got me thinking about it again.

Mike

[uscbigdawg]

When you bought the 700p, I think more than a few people told you that you'd want to upgrade to a bigger bullet (BTW, you might try the 75's, 77's & 80's from Sierra, Hornady and other bullet manufactuers...depending on your barrel twist).

The lack of .260 factory ammo is immaterial, as you're going to hand load any decent rifle load for MOR. If you got the Mountain gun the barrel is super too light. Get a rifle from George Gardner and call it good. Out the box, goes bang and keeps going bang.

Rich

[michael_aos]

When you bought the 700p, I think more than a few people told you that you'd want to upgrade to a bigger bullet (BTW, you might try the 75's, 77's & 80's from Sierra, Hornady and other bullet manufactuers...depending on your barrel twist). 

The lack of .260 factory ammo is immaterial, as you're going to hand load any decent rifle load for MOR.  If you got the Mountain gun the barrel is super too light.  Get a rifle from George Gardner and call it good.  Out the box, goes bang and keeps going bang.

Rich

It's only a 1:9" twist, so I think 69gr is about as long as I can go.

Yeah, I looked at the Mountain Gun in .260 in Monday. It's a toy.

Looks like I'm going to have a highly regarded local smith build me an AR-10 in .260 Remington.

This is really just all about fun for me. I just want something fun to shoot that can handle the constant wind a little better. I was too inexperienced to realize how big a deal that was going to be.

Once I'm set up and shooting the .260 caliber for a while, it should be pretty easy to add a bolt-gun at a later date.

My AR-15 is easily my most-fun gun, so the AR-10 seems like a logical addition. I had also toyed with simply a 6.8SPC "upper" but I'm not so sure about it.

A big part of the original draw to the 700P in .223 was commonality with the AR-15, and the availability of cheap factory ammo. That's no longer a huge factor, but I thought it made sense at the time.

Mike

[uscbigdawg]

FWIW, try the Hornady 68's in your AR/700. Better BC.

My AR w/ a 1:8 is driving 69's around .25-.35 MOA. .50 MOA w/ 55's. Got lucky though with a good barrel (Oly Ultramatch).

For a AR10, I'm still figuring out what the "cool" load will be, but I'll probably just call George or MV and ask them for cool bullet combos, barrel twist and then build a "competition" upper from there....He-man/Tactical is calling...

Rich

[rtr]

Hey Mike, I've spent some time at the 400 yard line at Pueblo with a few guns, hitting with an AR at that distance is pretty tough, Tom Freeman has a Tubb in 6XC and a .22 BR, both of which hit really well at that distance. The Tubb is pretty expensive, you can have a .22 BR built for not too much (Lizard Waltzer can build it for you). So you may want to consider some of those options as well.