Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 26 NOSLER

I really like that. Stainless barrel in the factory wood stock.

I am just now getting my .264's figured out. After that I might step up to a 26.

I haven't so much as looked at a pic/design of the 26 Nos. cartridge but I've read enuff to understand its large capacity and long range performance.

That said, as a PLAIN hunter I'd pick a 264 Win Mag OR 26 Nosler over
the 6.5 Creed and smaller cases.

I like SPEED and I only have to make me happy. Efficiency is not that important to me. Efficiency comes at a cost TOO.

Jerry

..........LOL ....Your reaction or comment is sometimes and even always typical anytime a new cartridge with either slightly better or even much better ballistics than the old standbys are introduced. You say why?..... I say why not!!!

After all....Who needs a 375 Ruger when we have had the 375 H & H since 1912? Well? How about 24" or 25" tubed H&H ballistics from a 20" tubed 375 Ruger? Whoops! What a mistake that 375 Ruger was uh? Those creative boys at Hornady and Ruger screwed the pooch with that one. Thousands and thousands of new 375 Ruger rifles have been sold since its intro and a few rifle manufacturers offer it today. But what the hell....LOL Just what was the point?...LOL

Who needs a 338/378 Bee when the venerable 338 Win can be used?

Who needs a 264 Win Mag when the 6.5 Creed can be used?

Who needs any of the the 300 mags when the good ol standby 30-06 can be used?

Forget about the 7mm Rem and 7mm Wby rounds. We have the 280 Rem.

And who needs the 378 and 460 Wbys when we have the 375 H&H and 458 Win.

On and on and on I can go.

Dam those flatter trajectory and down range harder hitting cartridges anyway!!!..LOL

My neighbor just bought a new Challenger Hellcat with 707 HP...Why hell! A std 305 HP 6 cylinder Challenger will still take him anywhere he wants to go????..What was the point of that?

Sounds to me Savage that your hunting conditions and lack of long range talent cannot justify owning a 26 Nosler....And that is ok.

One mans "what's the point" and "junk" cartridge can be the treasure of many others...

Creed vs. Swede, vs. 26 Nos, etc.

Have all three, (no .264 WM).

To me it depends on the task at hand. The faster rounds handle wind better. The Creed, etc. are great LR rounds, especially with a good turret, just not as good in a cross wind.

I don't see a lot of killing difference at closer ranges. Bullet performance rules and of course, bullet placement.

What bigsqueeze said.

DF

savage62 from 02/14/17:

WHAT THE BIG DEAL ON THIS ? WHO IS GOING TO USE IT ON THE WOODS WHERE MOST HUNT CAN'T UNDERSTAND THIS. THE 30-06 OR 300 MAG OR 270 30-30 CANT DO ALONG WITH OTHER CALIBRE

This thread is like deja vu all over again.

MEN I UNDERSTAND ALL THIS WHAT I MENT A FEW HUNDARD FEET DOES IT DO THAT MUCH .I HEARD IT 200 FT SLOWER THEN STATED WHICH BRINGS IT CLOSER TO A LOT OF GUNS

Savage62

Not meaning to give you grief but do you realize that, in computer speak, using all caps means you are screaming at us?

No i did not. Never heard of this

savage 62,

Well, your capital letters have convinced me.

I'm selling all my rifles except my custom 8x57 Mauser, since its chambered for the oldest smokeless cartridge of any of the hunting rifles in my collection. All cartridges developed since then are obviously useless redundancies.

Thanks for the followup on the 140 NBT.

But, 3,200 fps is pretty fast, 140's in the .264.

140's at 3,200 fps is about Kosher for the 26 Nos, a bigger case.

Wonder what PSI's you're generating, the .264 at 3,200 fps?

What load are you using?

DF

Hogwash! I know guys that get their plane every year with .243s and 7-08s. I was on a cull hunt where we took down 67 Piper Cubs and nobody had anything larger than a .338 WM with a majority of those being .270s.

I'm sure some stunt shooter is going to chime in with how he killed a deHaviland Beaver with his .233 as well.

It all comes back to the age old argument between caliber/velocity and bullet placement. I believe bullet placement wins every time.

But I will add that a 300 Weatherby is the ONLY rational choice for shooting elk.

I'm using RL25 in my load DF with a 26" 264 Win Mag. Was able to get the same speeds out of IMR7828 and Retumbo with140's pretty easily. I've shot this load for about 5 years outta Nosler cases, CCI250's and the 140 AB/BT. Not saying it's a cream puff load but I'd guess around 64-65K going off speeds chrono'ed and QL listings of it.

It's funny but our own. Wayne Van Zwoll here just mentioned he runs 140 Partitions with 7828 for 3200 as well from his. That was another great shooting load I remembered him writing about in the past so I tried it, but the 25 and 140 BT/AB just shoot exactly the same for me.

Have you tried RL-33? Rcamuglia is a real RL-33 fan and shoots some impressive speeds/groups with his .264 WM.

The Nos with US869 can reach 3,300 with 140's, but burns more powder than the .264.

.264 WM fans seem to like the round. My experience with it wasn't so good; I found it to be fickle.

The 26 Nos has been more straight forward, at lesat for me. The secret is ultra slow powder, US869 being the champ. Pull down WC872 is about a US869 clone, at least in my experience. And, 872 is cheaper than 869.

DF

Not always. Some are better than others. When it starts out with all caps, and dumps on someone else's favorite cartridge that's a good sign though.

DF, I just tried some RL33 about a week or so ago. You're right, speeds were very good. Honestly after running through a bunch of Retumbo, 7828, RL25 and now a little RL33, I'm not sure what I'd try again with a new barrel.

I liked Retumbo but it seemed really "spikey", that's probably a horrible technical term but the accuracy and speed I get from 25 is good and I don't beat up primer pockets so I'm okay with it as it sits right now.

I think if I did another 264 it would be a Mashburn version... just because I'm a nut with this stuff. I do like the 264 the way it sits though.

One more note on the Nos. Some have tried 160's. To me, much over 140 gr, a 6.5 sorta gets bogged down. If I'm gonna shoot 160's, I'm moving up to 7mm.

Just me.

DF

beretz,

I've had two .264's, and in the first one (a pre-'64 Model 70 Westerner, the model with the 26" barrel) Ramshot Magnum was the clear winner with 140's, getting a little over 3200.

The second one was a Ruger Hawkeye with a 24" barrel. Magnum was the winner with 130's, but RL-25 did best with 140's--though top velocities were only around 3100.

You answered your own question.My advice is you need to be a Rifle Looney to comprehend why this cartridge is needed.