Thread: What a mission! 260 Load

Well I finally got there but I feel aged from the process. Load sorted for the new 19" Tikka 260.

As we all know, supply in certain areas for ammunition is very bad so ended up grabbing some 142 Nosler Long Range Accubonds and using some powders I had available. Not normally the projectile I would go for due to the price but they look the business.

Teamed up with Peterson brass we got into it. Started with Rel 19 but didn't get the speed I was after. Tried 2209 (I have a very small amount left) same again, speed no good. Tried Rel 17 and ahah good speeds. Tried some groups in my speed ranges and it shot well. Shot them again and they shot poor. Wtf. Scratching head.

Decided to chase down a powder that a few of you have success with, fairy dust Rel 26. Gave it whirl starting low and working up, speeds good, accuracy again looking promising but not convincing. Ran some more loads and got reasonable results but just nothing giving me confidence. Without diving into details I went through a range of tests with seating depth and powder charges to try find what the heck it wanted.

Today after establishing where I think it likes to be seated I once again ran some powder charges starting with what I thought was the good one but included a couple of others just in case. Surprise surprise the one I thought would go well went poor and my very last one went very well! For the sake of "I wonder" I had also included the old Rel 17 charge using the new seating depth and it shot well. Ok, its done this before and I have been disappointed on the follow up confirmations shoots so thought bugger it. Shot home and loaded some more straight away and back to the range. Boomfa she's still on point, Rel 17 shot well again too.

Im usually a low fuss 0.5gr increment sorta guy but in this case 0.2gr both up and down is the difference between shooting outstanding and shooting average (theories on this?). One fussy little combo but just over 100 rounds later (yep you read the right) we have got there (I think). Time to whack some gongs and hit the hills. Final load being the 142 ABLR doing 2700fps in front of 48.6gr Rel 26 at 55 thou jump with the 43.5gr Rel 17 load shooting same POI and speed for a backup.


Cheers to @Kelton , @superdiver and @25 /08 IMP for the 260 advice throughout!