Chloe, the author's daughter, took this fine axis buck with her Hill Country Rifles custom .260 Remington with a youth stock.

By Greg Rodriguez

-- Each year, manufacturers roll out their latest super-magnum offerings. Some of these rounds, particularly the .270 WSM and .300 WSM, are great. But the majority of them can't do anything that any number of long-established cartridges have been doing since before I was born. In fact, one of my favorite deer cartridges, the .260 Remington, has been around in one form or another for over 30 years.
 
It began as the 6.5-08 short-action wildcat and was soon adopted by savvy hunters and long-range competitors. When Remington legitimized it as the .260 Rem in 1997, silhouette shooters flocked to it, too. I am not an active silhouette competitor, but all of the factors that drew silhouette shooters to it, like low recoil, efficiency, excellent downrange performance and reduced wind drift, drew me to the diminutive cartridge as well. It might not look like much on paper, but thanks to the high sectional density afforded it by those long, heavy-for-caliber bullets, the .260 far outperforms its paper ballistics.
 
The .260 Rem did not sweep me off my feet right away. Factory loads were limited to light bullets, and the first .260 rifles I tested were inaccurate. Those problems vanished when Remington changed its factory barrels to a 1-in-9 rate of twist, and 140-grain bullets from Remington and Federal became available.
 
Still, the initial impression of the .260 stuck with me for years. It wasn't until I began looking for a hunting rifle for my kids that I decided to give the .260 another try. I was considering a custom gun in .243 Win, then Hill Country Rifles' general manager Matt Bettersworth talked me out of it.
 

The author's reduced-recoil .260 load propels a 130-grain Barnes Triple Shock at almost 2,500 fps, yet recoils like a .243.

Matt is a former Texas hunting guide whose clients frequently showed up with .243s. Inadequate penetration, no blood trails and lost animals were sometimes the unfortunate results. My own experience with the .243 is limited to the 20 or so big game animals I've taken with it. While I have faith that a well-placed .243 bullet will drop any Texas whitetail, I intended this rifle for my children. I had to concede that, given less than perfect shot placement, the .243 was not the best tool for the job.
 
Matt made a pretty persuasive argument for selecting the .260 over the .243, but I asked him to hold off building the rifle until I delved into the numbers a bit more.
 
Recoil was a top consideration. Full-power 140-grain .260 loads generate 13.91 foot-pounds of recoil. That figure is almost square in the middle between the 9.79 foot-pounds of the 95-grain .243 and the 18.18 foot-pounds of the 165-grain .308. That's pretty mild recoil considering that with good bullets, the .260 is perfectly capable of cleanly taking game as large as elk. 
 

The .308 has spawned many fine rounds (left to right) - the .308 Winchester, 7mm-08 Remington, .260 Remington and .243 Winchester.

While factory .260 loads offer plenty of power, the main reason I chose the .260 is because it performs so well when "loaded down" for reduced recoil. For example, my reduced-recoil load propels a 130-grain bullet at 2,490 fps, yet produces only 10 foot-pounds of recoil - almost identical to that of a .243 factory load. Further, the reduced-recoil load launches a bullet that's a third heavier and has greater sectional density than the 95-grain .243, so it ought to perform well on game. So after running the numbers, I was swooning over the .260 Rem. I called Matt the next day and ordered a .260 built to the same specifications as the .243 we discussed.
 
My new rifle arrived a few months later. The test target's tiny, one-hole groups left no doubt that my new rifle was plenty accurate. I was anxious to see how it would perform on deer.
 
The first test of the .260 was on an axis deer in the Texas Hill Country. A 140-grain Federal Trophy Bonded Bear Claw passed through both shoulders, leaving large wound channels and plenty of tissue damage. Shot at 80 yards, the animal fell right over. Another axis taken on the same trip only ran 20 yards before gravity claimed it. I was pleased with the .260's performance.
 
Over the next year, I did all my Texas hunting with that .260, shooting everything from whitetails to 250-pound hogs with great success. In that time, I also saw Matt Bettersworth drop a 400-pound hog with his .260, and I guided him to several whitetails and exotic deer with it as well. The .260 was everything I'd hoped it would be, but one more task remained: developing a load that my 5-year-old daughter, Chloe, could shoot.
 
I had some good data for it, but due to my travel schedule, I never found the time to load and test it before our hunt. With time running short, I asked Larry Barnett at Superior Ammunition to help. Larry agreed that the load I had in mind - a 130-grain Barnes Triple Shock at 2,500 fps - was mild enough for Chloe, but would still do the job on deer. The day after Larry's handloads arrived, I sighted-in the new round.
 
Chloe didn't have to wait long for her first hunting opportunity. Soon we were peering out of a blind at Apache Creek Ranch. The first two days of the hunt were marked by bad luck, but when her chance finally came at sundown on the last day of the hunt, she dropped a buck with a single 130-grain Barnes Triple Shock. Even at 112 yards, much farther than I wanted her to shoot, the bullet expanded well and penetrated both shoulders, lodging in the skin on the offside.
 
That's the kind of performance I envisioned and the outcome I prayed for when my daughter convinced me she was ready to start hunting.
 
I was pretty impressed by the performance of my reduced recoil-load, but I wanted to do some more field testing before I felt comfortable letting my kids shoot more game with it. My first chance to test this load came on a hog hunt near my home. Torn between a 180-pound boar with big cutters and a 90-pound "eating" hog, my stomach overruled the gun writer in me, and I shot the smaller hog. It was not much of a bullet test, but the pig sure did taste good. My reduced recoil-load had penetrated both shoulders and dropped the hog where it stood.
 
A few weeks later, I took the .260 out for a freezer-filling expedition to the legendary YO Ranch near Mountain Home, Texas. I shot three does on that trip, the first one through the center of the chest as it stood in the brush facing me at 60 yards. It dropped instantly. A postmortem revealed that the bullet passed through the deer lengthwise before exiting the left ham - incredible penetration for a cartridge that generates .243-like recoil. The second doe dropped in its tracks after taking a Triple Shock through both shoulders.
 
Unfortunately, the third deer was not so impressed with my new load. I shot it through the near shoulder at only 40 yards. The deer looked dead on its feet as it made a frantic dash into the brush. But when Tuffy, my tracking dog, and I got close, the deer jumped up and ran. We finally caught up to it again about two hours later and delivered the coup de grace after an amazing effort by Tuffy to find it.
 
Why the perfectly placed shot was not fatal puzzled me. Because of the angle, only one lung was hit before the bullet exited the middle of the rib cage. The wound channel consisted of nothing more than a .260-inch hole. There was no evidence of "shock" or a temporary stretch cavity - a clear indication that the bullet did not expand. I'm not sure if this was a fluke or if the velocity of my load was too low to ensure consistent expansion, but I have since gone to a softer bullet for my children's loads. I still use the 130-grain Triple Shocks, but only at higher velocities. That one instance, which was clearly a case of bullet failure, is the only problem I have ever had with my .260 after taking countless game with it over the years.
 
I still hunt with my .260 as often as I can. Whether I'm hunting whitetails, hogs or pronghorns, I never feel undergunned. The .260 may not flip elk on their backs at 1,000 yards, but it is lethal on whitetails and easy on my ears and shoulder. Efficiency and low recoil may not be in style at the moment, but for those of us who admire those traits or are looking for a great round for a new shooter, the .260 Remington just may be the best deer cartridge in existence.

Greg Rodriguez
GunHunter Magazine - September 2005

INTERESTING ARTICLE ON THE .260
I HAVE PONDERED FOR MONTHS ON WHAT TO BUY FOR A CALIBER,AND WAS SWORE ON THE
260 ALONE OF WHAT I HAD READ FROM OTHERS.BUT MANY AT EVEN GUN SHOPS HAS SAID IT WAS NOT POPULAR AND HARD TO BUY THE AMMO.ALSO VERY PRICEY AS I WOULD HAVE TO SPECIAL ORDER IT,NOONE HAD IT ON HAND.ANYWAY I ENDED UP WITH A MOSSBERG
270.LIKE IT VERY WELL. FIRST TARGET SHOT WAS A BULLSEYE.WE''LL SEE HOW IT DOES IN THE FIELD.

As stated, manufacturers keep coming up with newer loads that are faster and so on. A faster bullet isn't what's needed, it's practice and familiarity with your weapon of choice. Bow hunters and muzzle loaders prove it every time they take an animal, it isn't speed, it's your skill. Today there are more gadgets than ever that help us with trajectory and distance and as we continue to use them, some hunters are loosing their skills and depending on the gadgets.
Practice with your weapon of choice, practice your hunting skills and become the best hunter you can be, don't depend on an electronis devise to do it for you. The same goes for guns, shoot what you know, not what the manufacturers say you need. I believe that the old 30-30 still has taken more game than any other cartridge.

Re: Kid friendly .260. What a joke.The rifle is bigger than the child.Taking a 5yr. old to a preserve to pullthe trigger and kill a wonderful game animal is disgusting.What did this child gain from this experience?Certainly ,not how to hunt or to shoot since she could not even hold the rifle by herself.Children should be introduced to the wonders of the outdoors and shown how to hunt.As far as the .260 caliber this is a joke.After you talk about the 30-30,30.06,270,you are starting to stretch.Gun writers jump on all these other calibers because it gives them a story.

It is obvious that whoever wrote this has not put a lot of thought into it and does not understand the simple joy of taking a child hunting. I think it is important to start children early and introduce them to the woods and hunting. Here in Oregon we don't use many tree stands or blinds so taking a young child out is more of a day in the woods than a day 'hunting'. We took our Grandson out last season for a day, he was a little over 3 and loved being with us. He shoots his own 22 and out larger hunting rifles but they are held for him while he stands next to us, holds onto the gun and pulls the trigger. That day last year he shot my 300 H&H with the help of his Dad. He didn't learn a lot about hunting because it was meant to get him out in the woods, buy I bet Chloe learned more about hunting from being in that blind that day and will use that day as a foundation for her future learning about hunting. Any time a child can be in the woods, in a blind and assist in taking their first animal is a day for all to remember.
Too many people try to put far too much meaning into something like this and miss the point, spending time with our children in the woods, hunting or shooting or on the river fishing. It's about the kids so who ever wrote the article I was forwarded needs to see this as the start of an education, nothing more than a Father and Daughter spending the day together.

I also own a 260 caliber Ruger M77 sadle gun. I have made shots on coyotes of 180 yards. Last year I shot a nice 7 point in Alabams the bullett did not exit the deer, there was no blood trail, however the deer went approm 40 yard and collapsed. I love the gun and it was bought for my sons 14th christmas . Now he uses my 7 MM magnum and I use the 260 for the low recoil and accuracy.