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Posted: 5/20/2013 8:00:33 AM EDT
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I have had this gun in my safe for a few months now, and finally got around to loading some ammo for it this weekend. I added a Timney trigger because the stock trigger was terrible, and threw on a Millett 4-16x50 scope in some NF ultralite rings.
After 5 sighters with factory ammo I started shooting my hand loads... 123gr SMKs, Lapua brass, CCI BR primers, H414 powder. 2.80" OAL. I started going up the ladder, and my first two charges resulted in 3/4" 5 shot groups (40 & 41gr H414). The third group tightened up to a 1/2" group, and it would've been better but I pulled my third shot a tiny bit left (42gr H414). I kept going up the ladder from there to see how fast I could go without the groups opening up, and I quickly hit that mark just two grains above my best group (43gr still shot 3/4", but 44gr was pretty bad). This is a legitimate 1/2-3/4 MOA gun out of the box (well, with a better trigger). It cycled well on factory 120gr ammo, and the 123gr hand loads even at low charge weights. Overall, I couldn't be happier. |
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It's a great round, will be getting around to building one on a LR-308 pattern lower/upper with a 21" SS match Bbl. w/ a 1:8 twist
for using w/ some 142 gr. Pro Comp. Nosler VLD's in the near future. Good luck with yours, looks really nice BTW, the quality triggers really make a difference on your groups... |
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It's a great round, will be getting around to building one on a LR-308 pattern lower/upper with a 21" SS match Bbl. w/ a 1:8 twist for using w/ some 142 gr. Pro Comp. Nosler VLD's in the near future. Good luck with yours, looks really nice BTW, the quality triggers really make a difference on your groups... Sounds like a sweet build. How did you arrive to the 21" barrel length? |
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It's a great round, will be getting around to building one on a LR-308 pattern lower/upper with a 21" SS match Bbl. w/ a 1:8 twist for using w/ some 142 gr. Pro Comp. Nosler VLD's in the near future. Good luck with yours, looks really nice BTW, the quality triggers really make a difference on your groups... Sounds like a sweet build. How did you arrive to the 21" barrel length? I my world it's not a rifle w/o at least a 20" tube...most rifle cartridges (non magnum) will have a complete burn at about 20"- 22" of barrel length, while magnum class cartridges at around 26"-28" of tube etc. Just a personal thing as working with numbers, length's and calculations for most of the day (Engineering) gets in your noggin etc. 
I have my barrel maker cut to my desired length, which makes me a happy camper... My M14 National Match .308 has a 21" Bbl. BTW, so it's a really good length for the round... |
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I, too, am tickled with my DPMS. I have the same gun chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, and although mine isn't quite as accurate as yours, I've shot only the factory 120 and 140 grain loads from Hornady. With factory ammo, mine is about a 1.25 MOA gun. I hope that with some reloads (waiting on powder) I can shrink those group sizes a quarter to half inch.
Do you plan to try the 140 grain class of projectiles, or are you going to stick with the 120-123s? I can tell a difference in recoil with the lighter weight pills, but with the better BC of the 140s I plan to stick with those to get better windage at distance. I shot at 750 on a really windy day and was grateful for that .585 BC of the 140 Amax. |
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I, too, am tickled with my DPMS. I have the same gun chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, and although mine isn't quite as accurate as yours, I've shot only the factory 120 and 140 grain loads from Hornady. With factory ammo, mine is about a 1.25 MOA gun. I hope that with some reloads (waiting on powder) I can shrink those group sizes a quarter to half inch. Do you plan to try the 140 grain class of projectiles, or are you going to stick with the 120-123s? I can tell a difference in recoil with the lighter weight pills, but with the better BC of the 140s I plan to stick with those to get better windage at distance. I shot at 750 on a really windy day and was grateful for that .585 BC of the 140 Amax. I'm planning on getting some of the 142gr smks eventually, but for now the 123s work. Most of my shooting will be 600yds and closer and the 123 has very little disadvantage to the 142s at that range. Go with the 142s over the 140s. Much better profile and better bc at low velocity. They help fight wind at the long ranges. |
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I, too, am tickled with my DPMS. I have the same gun chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, and although mine isn't quite as accurate as yours, I've shot only the factory 120 and 140 grain loads from Hornady. With factory ammo, mine is about a 1.25 MOA gun. I hope that with some reloads (waiting on powder) I can shrink those group sizes a quarter to half inch. Do you plan to try the 140 grain class of projectiles, or are you going to stick with the 120-123s? I can tell a difference in recoil with the lighter weight pills, but with the better BC of the 140s I plan to stick with those to get better windage at distance. I shot at 750 on a really windy day and was grateful for that .585 BC of the 140 Amax. I had a DPMS LR-260, but it just didn't shoot for me, so I had GA Precision build me one using a 22" Bartlein CNC cut-rifled barrel. It is super accurate for 5rd groups. (.4-.6" at 100yds) My go-to load right now is the 130gr Berger VLD running at 2820fps. It's very easy to group with at 1000yds with that load. I have shot it off my truck bed in heavy mirage at 1000yds, using my scope on 10x, and still printed a 9.25" group. One round opened the group from 4" to 9.25", after I didn't hold for a wind change, just to see what the wind was doing. It's not that fun to shoot within 1000yds because it's too easy to hit targets with, especially if you've been calling the wind all your adult life like I have. |
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I had a DPMS LR-260, but it just didn't shoot for me, so I had GA Precision build me one using a 22" Bartlein CNC cut-rifled barrel. It is super accurate for 5rd groups. (.4-.6" at 100yds) My go-to load right now is the 130gr Berger VLD running at 2820fps. It's very easy to group with at 1000yds with that load. I have shot it off my truck bed in heavy mirage at 1000yds, using my scope on 10x, and still printed a 9.25" group. One round opened the group from 4" to 9.25", after I didn't hold for a wind change, just to see what the wind was doing. It's not that fun to shoot within 1000yds because it's too easy to hit targets with, especially if you've been calling the wind all your adult life like I have. I'm surprised the DPMS didn't shoot. What loads were you using? |
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Don't be surprised-they are rack-grade barrels mass-produced, button-rifled, that rely on insane bull diameter to fight heat and harmonics.
123gr & 139gr Scenars were the main diet. Lapua brass. Different VV powders. It will shoot around 1 MOA, with flyers opening the groups. I've heard of some shooters getting LR-260's that shoot lights-out. Both my LR-308 and LR-260 just weren't like that. They were still under 1.5 MOA, which is pretty dang good for a mass-produced gas gun, but I need .75 MOA 5rd groups or better, and that's what I got with the Bartlein barrel, which is stupid accurate. |
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Don't be surprised-they are rack-grade barrels mass-produced, button-rifled, that rely on insane bull diameter to fight heat and harmonics. 123gr & 139gr Scenars were the main diet. Lapua brass. Different VV powders. It will shoot around 1 MOA, with flyers opening the groups. I've heard of some shooters getting LR-260's that shoot lights-out. Both my LR-308 and LR-260 just weren't like that. They were still under 1.5 MOA, which is pretty dang good for a mass-produced gas gun, but I need .75 MOA 5rd groups or better, and that's what I got with the Bartlein barrel, which is stupid accurate. I definitely got a good one then, especially if you were only able to get 1-1.5moa groups. If I was shooting 1.5moa groups at best, this gun would be sent back to DPMS and the barrel would be changed... or for sale on gunbroker.
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I don't think DPMS has an accuracy guarantee of much less than 1.5 MOA. For the price, it was hard to beat, considering I got the complete upper for $640 back in 2007. We were using necked-up .243 Winchester Lapua cases back then.
One of the gun writer's had a hummer sent to him for review back in that time frame, and it was a 1/4" gun a 100yds. Some shoot like that, and most don't. I think they were using ER Shaw barrels, which is a main supplier of mass-produced pipes. |
Took the 260 out again but I let my dad shoot it while I was shooting the 308.. so I didnt have enough ammo to make 5x 5 shot groups at the end of the day. I did however get one 10 shot group in at 200 yards. Wasn't terrible but I was being blown around quite a bit by the wind. .52 moa. :-)
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Great shooting. The LR260 I picked up used is the Hunting edition with the JG trigger group in it. I have not shot it much but it only has the 18" barrel.
Rem Core-Lokt 140gr factory ammo only has an average velocity of 2449 out of my riffle. I really think a better barrel is in order, like you guys I want to shot at 1k. Would the best bet be to send the complete upper to someone like GAP and have them put a 20-22 in barrel on it and have them match it to my bolt group? Have not shot past 100 yrds with it right now since I have a junk 3x9 that I have mounted to it. Going to get a Vortex viper but trying to decide with 6x24x50 to get, the pst or XLR in FFP. Great shooting guys. Keeps me motivated to keep working on this one. |
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Great shooting. The LR260 I picked up used is the Hunting edition with the JG trigger group in it. I have not shot it much but it only has the 18" barrel. Rem Core-Lokt 140gr factory ammo only has an average velocity of 2449 out of my riffle. I really think a better barrel is in order, like you guys I want to shot at 1k. Would the best bet be to send the complete upper to someone like GAP and have them put a 20-22 in barrel on it and have them match it to my bolt group? Have not shot past 100 yrds with it right now since I have a junk 3x9 that I have mounted to it. Going to get a Vortex viper but trying to decide with 6x24x50 to get, the pst or XLR in FFP. Great shooting guys. Keeps me motivated to keep working on this one. If you do change it out GAP would be a good place to start, though shilen, krieger, etc all make drop in barrels that are not too hard to install yourself and will shoot extremely well. Also keep in mind just about any barrel / gun is extremely handicapped if shooting factory ammo, unless you get lucky and find some factory ammo that happens to shoot well. The only way to really shoot lights out with any gun is to load your own and test out different combinations. I'm not sold on ffp... I run sfp on all of my guns. Its just personal preference I suppose. I know others that swear by ffp, and that's ok too. Its just math, so whatever your brain works best with should be what you choose. |
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Great shooting. The LR260 I picked up used is the Hunting edition with the JG trigger group in it. I have not shot it much but it only has the 18" barrel. Rem Core-Lokt 140gr factory ammo only has an average velocity of 2449 out of my riffle. I really think a better barrel is in order, like you guys I want to shot at 1k. Would the best bet be to send the complete upper to someone like GAP and have them put a 20-22 in barrel on it and have them match it to my bolt group? Have not shot past 100 yrds with it right now since I have a junk 3x9 that I have mounted to it. Going to get a Vortex viper but trying to decide with 6x24x50 to get, the pst or XLR in FFP. Great shooting guys. Keeps me motivated to keep working on this one. The 18" barrel is plenty fine for shooting 130gr VLD's, or 123gr A-MAX, SMK, Scenar, & NCC's. You should be able to get the 123gr pills to somewhere around 2800fps with an 18" barrel in .260 Rem. I only have 4" more of barrel, and I can run the 123gr over 2900fps. You don't lose a lot of velocity per inch in that length range of the barrel, but you do once it starts getting below a certain length. Velocity loss or gain follows a non-linear curve, not a constant __ fps per inch of barrel. I would see what you can do with the 123gr pills first, using H4350, RL19, IMR4831, etc. Do you have a manual for loading for the .260 Rem? |
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Thanks. I have seen several out there. I guess all they really need is my bolt to headspace to.
I do reload, just have not developed any loads for this yet. Original owner gave me some of his with the data he was using. I just realized early on that the 18in barrel is not going to be the right one for what I want to do. So I have not spent much time doing load development with it. Chronoed it just to see what the velocities were on this shorter barrel and give me some idea of the impact it has when I change it. Still not set on the scope either. Doing a lot of reading right now to better understand the benefits. |
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Great shooting. The LR260 I picked up used is the Hunting edition with the JG trigger group in it. I have not shot it much but it only has the 18" barrel. Rem Core-Lokt 140gr factory ammo only has an average velocity of 2449 out of my riffle. I really think a better barrel is in order, like you guys I want to shot at 1k. Would the best bet be to send the complete upper to someone like GAP and have them put a 20-22 in barrel on it and have them match it to my bolt group? Have not shot past 100 yrds with it right now since I have a junk 3x9 that I have mounted to it. Going to get a Vortex viper but trying to decide with 6x24x50 to get, the pst or XLR in FFP. Great shooting guys. Keeps me motivated to keep working on this one. The 18" barrel is plenty fine for shooting 130gr VLD's, or 123gr A-MAX, SMK, Scenar, & NCC's. You should be able to get the 123gr pills to somewhere around 2800fps with an 18" barrel in .260 Rem. I only have 4" more of barrel, and I can run the 123gr over 2900fps. You don't lose a lot of velocity per inch in that length range of the barrel, but you do once it starts getting below a certain length. Velocity loss or gain follows a non-linear curve, not a constant __ fps per inch of barrel. I would see what you can do with the 123gr pills first, using H4350, RL19, IMR4831, etc. Do you have a manual for loading for the .260 Rem? Thanks will do. I have 4350 and Scenar 123 gr, just have not loaded any up. I will give it a try and see. Thanks. |
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