Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles DIY bedding M77 (pic heavy)

Dave, the one and only problem with the .264 is the lack of variety of factory ammo for it.
Usually my recommendation for this cartridge is to handload.
I know thats not what you wanted to hear but it might be a very real prospective.
Good luck buddy..

As tough as it is to hear sometimes, i'm really only interested in the truth.


so, I appreciate it.

I might gather up one more box of fact ammo so I have some brass to work with, then I'll start shopping for dies. I should be able to work with one of my reloading friends on developing the right load for it.

Yea it improoved. Used to get a lil wild once the barrel got hot. Seemed to stay consistant this time around. Just gotta find a cheap load that it likes now...

I just went through 11 pages and no range report with pics after the bedding?

There's no "happy ending" yet man.

unfortunately the saga continues

I can show you a picture of a triangle 1 3/4" 3 shot group roughly centered on POA if you want to see it. But it's hard to muster the enthusiasm it takes to get it from my camera to the photobucket acount & from there on to here.

I'm going to give the win powerpoint factory loads another shake since they seemed to be trying to group for me before the bedding job.

It's been very tough for me to get time to shoot this thing too. My weekends have been tied up lately and it's tough to get to the range during the week.

Dave,

Depending on how much clearance you have on your barrel now, a quickie test is to loosen the stock up and slide a strip or two of matchbook cover or ammo box cardboard at the end of the forearm to recreate the pressure point. It will only take a minute or two to try on your next outing.

I'm interested to see if your gun is like mine in that it likes the pressure point for decent groupings...

I thought of that last night while at the range & I almost did it. But I was getting frustrated, storm clouds were rolling in, wind was picking up, it was time to hang it up.

I'm hoping she'll group with the barrel floating. If I get an honest inch I'll be plenty happy. Anything inside an inch I'll just be more happy

Ah, yes. Believe me, I feel your pain.

My Devcon 10110 bedding compound should arrive today. I'm going to give this bedding a whirl, and then recreate my pressure point after the bedding job cures.

Dave -

Ammo can make a huge difference. Might be time to start reloading. I've found its pretty easy to find good loads for my rifles by working up powder charges in 0.5g increments, regardless of bullet weight, even if the bullet is a mile from the lands (as is common with my Rugers due to mag length restrictions).

It doesn't take many test cartridges to find a good load, either. It used to be I would load up 4 or 5 at each powder charge, then spend hours at the range shooting them slowly enough to keep the barrel cool. These days I load one at each powder charge and shoot them slowly, keeping track of the impact points and velocities. Then I look for the best grouping for consecutive shots. If I find a good group of 3-4 consecutive shots, for example, I pick the middle charge and load up some more for test. Normally what I find is that load development is done at that point.


Good luck with that rifle.

My first 3 shots last night.... I used a piece of letter sized grid paper with a half inch square in the center. Shots felt good, confident. I saw no holes in the paper. I actually believed that I landed all 3 tight in that 1/2" dark square POA or maybe just barely enlarged it.

When I aproached the paper to find I wasn't on the paper, 7" low & 5" right of POA & a loose 1 3/4" group..... I was slightly deflated.

I got it in to the general POA/POI but it never tightened up. 3 inch groups from 1.5 to nearly 3"

Today the sun is shining, no wind... I wish I had the day off & a crisp $50 in my pocket, I know what I'd be doing today.

Dave, I would leave it freefloated until you shot some different bullets. If you pick up dies I can load for you. I have a pound of W760 powder that I don't have any use for. My Nosler reloading manual #6 has a loads listed using W760 starting with
100 grain up to and including 140 grain for your 264. We can start off with the W760 and what ever bullet you want...Barnes TSX? Let me know if you want to do that....the powder is yours if you want it

Thanks man, I take back all that chit I said about you.


I was looking at boolits that midway has listed for it.

I was looking for the barnes tsx in 140.... I see it in a 130, might have to give that a try.

I'll look for dies & a trimmer or what ever I need, you tell me what you think is best? probably just neck sizing??

All you need are dies if you want me to reload. I have a trimmer. See if you can find some rem 9 1/2 M or fed 215 primers and whatever bullet you want. I would full length resize if I were you. Full length resizing is recommended for hunting rifles and will chamber smoother than neck sizing only. The dies come in a set...full length resizing die and bullet seater.
When I got my 300 wsm it wouldn't shoot factory ammo ( several different brands and bullets) worth a crap, but shot handloads well under an inch with ease.

By the way, if your ordering stuff from Midway get some boretech eliminator to clean the crap out of your barrel...good stuff!! Check out Midsouth shooters supply for components too

Thanks for clarifying CoyoteHunters question as it was on my mind too. Hope this project doesn't have you down and will throw out that you may never know frustration until you reload. I enjoy it but am terrible at it I guess. Decided that while all my rifles shot great- I needed to fix things. Sound familar to anyone else??? Decided I had to measure from the ogive and load everything at .030 as common wisdom dictates. Ouila- instant hell in a handbasket. How does one diagnose, six shots, three tight pairs at different poi's. Now if I could only find my orignal notes for the good overall length........tugging at neck collar as I speak. Thanks again Dave. Post is worth its weight.

A poster here has PM'd me offering a set of old LEC dies for sale. I think i'm gonna give em a whirl.

Full length sizing is fine. Just set up the die to bump the shoulder only a thousanth or two.

hey that is great Dave. If your like me, the sounds in your head will now be like 'hmmm...gotta be the powder....no, must be seating depth....oh I know- need to case trim......bet that crown must need cutting.....dang scope screws.......wait a minute - were those action screws loose....did I let the barrel cool?? Dang it....Dang it.. I swear this is the SAME load that cut a clover last time out...what the..... Enjoy!!!

LOL, kensjs1, I HATE that feeling!

Jordan - just saw your post about the Tikka- are we related??