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.

LTC Arthur Alphin and his company A-Square LLC submitted the first proposal and drawings to SAAMI for the standardization of the cartridge.

A cartridge formed for a specific rifle may or may not successfully chamber or worse may reach dangerous pressures in another.

.264 (6.5 mm) caliber has historically been commercially unsuccessful in North America but has been one of the mainstays in Europe especially in the Scandinavian countries.

The use of the .260 Remington by Sgt Sherri Gallagher to win the 2010 NRA High Power National Championship[4] has sparked a resurgence in the round, and Lapua announced at the 2011 SHOT show that it would be manufacturing .260 Remington brass.

SAAMI dimensions for the cartridge were issued on January 29, 1999, when the Remington's submission was accepted.

(Commission Internationale Permanente pour l'Epreuve des Armes à Feu Portatives) rulings, the .260 Remington case can handle up to 415 MPa (60,191 psi) piezo pressure.

[8][9] The .260 Remington, while having a slightly lesser case capacity than the 6.5×55mm, is loaded to higher pressure levels.

While it is possible to load the 160 gr (10 g) bullet which is popular in Northern Europe, for the .260 Remington, due to the comparatively short overall length of the cartridge, the bullet will need to be seated deep into the body of the cartridge, displacing space which could be taken up by the propellant.

Due in large part to its parentage, the .260 Remington has been adopted into tactical and target shooting rifles.

[1] The 6.5 mm (.264 caliber) bullets have favorable ballistic coefficients and have been adopted for target shooting, especially in the Scandinavian nations.

[11] The .260 Remington is effective on antelope, sheep, goat, or caribou, while its performance is similar to the 6.5×55mm, which is widely used on moose in Sweden and Finland.

[12] While capable of taking Class 3 game[clarification needed] such as elk and moose, some hunters, particularly Canadian professional hunters who hunt large moose and elk, consider it slightly underpowered for these species and best used for smaller deer species such as white-tail and mule deer.

The 6.5×55mm, which is usually loaded to a lower power level than the .260 Remington, is commonly used in Norway and Sweden with bullets weighing at least 9 g (140 gr) to kill Eurasian elk (a term which is applied to moose in these countries).

The .260 Remington would make an excellent cartridge for hunting Class 2 species[clarification needed] such as the smaller African antelope weighing 440 lb (200 kg) or less.

Loaded with lighter bullets, the .260 Remington can be used as an effective varmint or a small predator hunting cartridge for use against such species as marmots, woodchucks, bobcats and coyotes.

Bullets chosen for these species should be designed to open rapidly unless harvesting of the pelt is the objective.