The .260 Remington (also known as 6.5-08 A-Square) cartridge was introduced by Remington in 1997. Many wildcat cartridges based on the .308 Winchester case had existed for years before Remington standardized this round. Because 6.5 mm (.264") bullets have relatively high ballistic coefficients, the .260 Remington has seen success in rifle competition including bench rest, metallic silhouette, and long range. It is capable of duplicating the trajectory of the .300 Winchester Magnum, while generating significantly lower recoil. Also, converting a rifle chambered for the .308 Winchester (or any of its offspring, such as the .243 Winchester, 7mm-08 Remington, .358 Winchester or .338 Federal) to .260 Remington generally requires little more than a simple barrel change. Origin and history Remington has had a track record of adopting successful wildcat cartridges into the Remington fold by offering rifles and ammunition and at times attaching their name to the cartridge. Like many cartridges such as the .22–250 Remington, .25-06 Remington, and 7 mm-08 Remington, the .260 Remington started its life as a wildcat cartridge called the 6.5-08, and was eventually released as a commercial cartridge by Remington. However, Remington was not the first to attempt to standardize the cartridge. LTC Arthur Alphin and his company A-Square LLC submitted the first proposal and drawings to SAAMI for the standardization of the cartridge. Remington filed similar papers with SAAMI to do the same a few months later. When the dust settled, the 6.5-08 would be called the .260 Remington instead of 6.5–08 A-Square. The 6.5-08 cartridge was created simply by necking down the .308 Winchester. Handloaders and wildcatters can easily form .260 cases by necking down the 7mm-08 Remington or necking up the .243 Winchester (both based on the same .308 case). Since the parent cartridges were readily available for low cost, the 6.5-08 was often an economical alternative to cartridges such as the 6.5×55mm. What the 6.5-08 provided over the .243 Winchester, .308 Winchester, and to a lesser degree the 7mm-08 Remington was bullets with excellent ballistic coefficients and sectional densities. Since the 6.5-08 was a wildcat cartridge, variations existed between cartridge chambers depending on the reamer used to cut the chamber. Furthermore, depending on whether one chose to form the case from .243 Winchester or .308 Winchester influenced the neck thickness and therefore the dimensions of the cartridge. A cartridge formed for a specific rifle may or may not successfully chamber or worse