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Lapua's new .260 Remington brass will be the "go to" brass for match shooters using this cartridge.
The biggest news for .260 shooters in 2011 was the introduction of factory Lapua .260 Rem brass. With this development, there is no reason for practical long-range rifle shooters to try alternate calibers like 6.5x47 Lapua or 6.5 Creedmoor; the last piece of the .260 puzzle has dropped into place.

For the KRG Short Action Customs .260 rifle, I used the new Lapua brass, the 139-grain Lapua Scenar, CCI BR2 primers, and Reloder 17. Other than the brass, this is the same recipe I've been using for my match .260 Rem loads for several years, and a load that approximately 30 percent of the .260 match shooters I know use. Other alternates include using H4350 or H4831SC for powder, a Federal 210M primer, and the 142-grain Sierra MatchKing bullet. A minority of .260 shooters use any bullet other than the 139 gr Lapua or 142gr SMK. Use of the three powders is mixed almost evenly. H4831SC will typically fill the case past 100% at a max load. H4350 is the old stand-by, proven load. The recent arrival is Reloder 17, which, due to some powder technology improvement, typically yields about 100-150 fps over the other powders when loaded to similar pressure. In the .260 Remington, this means launching a 139 gr Scenar at 2900 - 2950 fps instead of 2775 - 2850 fps.


Groups like this were typical from the KRG T3. It measures 0.36 inch center to center.
The nice thing about the Lapua brass is that you can literally do no case preparation and still end up with very accurate loads if you do everything else right. I used my standard recipe of Reloder 17, Lapua brass, CCI BR2, and the 139 gr Lapua for testing the T3. I loaded the rounds to an OAL of 2.810" and my final load was 42.3 grains of Reloder 17. This gave 2920 fps in the 25-inch barrel. Compared to the standard .308 load of a 175 SMK at 2650 fps, at 1000 yards my load has 30% less wind drift and 26% less drop with about 24% less recoil. Even though the bullet is lighter, the .260 load retains 21% more energy at 1000 yards than the .308 load. Accuracy from the bench was excellent. This rifle with that load would place most 3-shot groups into dime-sized groups, with a few "bug hole" groups here and there. To put it simply, this .260 load rocks and is capable of winning any long-range match.

For field testing, I took the rifle to a Thunder Beast Training Group class we were running in Northern Colorado. Although I am used to the AI stock that feels and fits different, the KRG W3C stock impressed me. Its adjustability let me easily set the rifle for proper fit, and everything worked as it was supposed to. Making first-round hits on small and medium steel plates out to 1000+ yards was as easy as it is with a $10,000 sniper system, though this rifle package would cost less than half of that. Some of the best praise that can be made for a long-range field rifle is that it fits right and everything works without drama, and hits are easy to make. I can give that praise to KRG's system and the barrel job Mark Gordon did on this Tikka T3.


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