reloading .260rem

redneckandy

Bought a bag of remington 6.5mm 140grn psp bullets. The problem is when I seat the bullet and crimp at the groove my OAL legnth is 2.855 when the max is 2.800. As a result the round will not fit in the magazine of the rifle. My queston is if I seat past the groove and do not crimp(Aside from recoil pulling the bullets in the mag)will I have a problem? The load is 39grns of h380 and I still have enough space to seat the bullet without compressing the powder.
Thanks for the help
Andy

tsr1965

Which Rifle are you loading for, if I might ask? If it is a bolt action, you have nothing to worry about for not crimping into the groove. Actually, you need no crimp at all, unless you are loading for a Semi-auto like the DPMS LR260. Seat the bullet to the max of the magazine well length minus about 0.020 inches. Most rifles with a short magazine are also throated as such, like my Browning A-Bolt. There fore, I seat to leave the bullet about 0.015 inches off the lands, and it fits in the Magazine perfectly.

Best

nononsense

redneckandy,

"My queston is if I seat past the groove and do not crimp(Aside from recoil pulling the bullets in the mag)will I have a problem?"

I have been seating most bullets without a crimp and never encountered a problem. Your load is low pressure and seating the bullet to 2.800" OAL will not create a pressure problem either. Personally, I'd use one of the 4350 powders and develop a good, accurate load that fills the case. Accurate Arms has one, XMR-4350, which works great.

Best.

5mmgunguy

You should have no problem. In fact I have never had a problem with any ammuncition that I have not crimped. Both bolt and semi auto.

Mtnlover

The cartridge OAL is a critical dimension, but seating at the crimp means nothing. It's far more important to find what OAL your rifle will shoot best. You might try starting .010-.020 under the max OAL and work back .010 at a time with the same load to find the dimension that shoots best. I once found excellent results in an old Ruger M77 at .050 less than the max OAL. Your rifle will tell you where you should be seating the round.

redneckandy

The rifle is a remington model 7. I am loading these for my girlfriend who is pertty recoil sensitive and I'm starting light to get her used to the gun.

dfletcher

OAL is more of a critical factor, more important than ensuring you line up to the cannalure.

The 260 is not exactly a heavy recoiling caliber so I don't think a crimp is needed, I don't use one at all. If you do want the extra hold, instead of a crimp, you could use a slightly undersized sizing button for a tighter grip by the neck. Just be aware that undersizing the neck may require you to back off a max load a bit.

But my 1st approach would be to seat to OAL with no crimp using your current dies. Should be no problem.

tsr1965

quote:Originally posted by redneckandy
The rifle is a remington model 7. I am loading these for my girlfriend who is pertty recoil sensitive and I'm starting light to get her used to the gun.


By all means, if she is recoil sensitive, ditch the 140 grainers, and go to a 120. I shoot the 120 Nosler Ballistic Tip. I have also had great success with their 100 grain partition...providing we are talking about deer sized game.

redneckandy

Well I seated one past the crimp and it felt loose, measured it and right past the crimp line the diameter drops to .258. What is happening is there is two grooves on these bullets and when seated the first groove is on the base of the neck and with the drop in diameter at the cartrige throat it has very little surface area to seat on.