Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .264 Win mag barrel life

I read online that the 7mm Rem mag will give twice the barrel life of a .264 Win mag. I find that hard to believe but what is the life expectancy of a .264? I'm interested in getting a new model 70 in .264 and want to know what to expect.

Moosemike, I bought a Ruger Varmint tang safety, douglas barrel 220 swift the year after they came out! 2K rounds later it was still shooting 3/4 inch using Hornady custom 55 gr ammo, Last year I bought a 59 mod 70 that had not been fired since it left the Winchester Factory, I do not hot rod it and I can only hope at 60 years old I can burn the barrel out! Go for it and forget all the BS you read vis barrel life! very best WinPoor

Thanks Winpoor. I'm not a hotrodder either but I am wondering if the .264 is really twice as hard on barrels as a 7 Rem mag.

Moosemike,

I had it explained to me once that I should hope to live long enough or shoot enough to actually wear a barrel out. I am possibly going to see my old 220 Swift need a new barrel someday. Not yet but maybe someday.

You can shorten a barrel's life by hot loads and rapid fire but the average shooter, using standard loads and reasonable care should never have to worry about shooting out the barrel of even a 264.

For what it's worth, I think the idea of a 264 burning up a barrel any faster than a 7 mag is bunk.

It's a great round and on my short list for upcoming builds.

Mart

I've burned out a number of barrels, but part of it is what defines burned-out. I generally replace barrels on prairie dog rifles when they'll no longer put 10 shots in an inch or less, as fast as I can fire the rifle, but am more lenient with big game rifles.

My first .264 was a pre-'64 Model 70 Westerner that a local rancher had owned for a LONG time, and he'd used it to shoot a lot of coyotes, deer and elk, and probably some other stuff as well. Have no idea of the round count when I acquired the rifle there was some gator-skin in the throat, but it would still group three shots into less than an inch with several loads. When I sold it a few years later it still shot the same way, despite having been used to test a bunch of loads and shoot some animals.

Right now I have a 26 Nosler that's had around 150 rounds through it, some the result of 5-round groups shot as fast as I can aim carefully off the bench. There's just the tiniest hint of erosion at the very front edge of the chamber, a LONG way from the rifling, and from my experience with other rifles am guessing accurate barrel life will be over 1000 rounds--as long as I don't shoot too many of those 5-round groups, which were required by a magazine for an article. Would assume a .264's barrel life would be somewhat longer.

For most hunters, the most barrel wear will be working up load(s). After that, those kinda rifles generally aren't shot that much, should last a lifetime with that level of use.

With some of the Fire membership, however, that barrel may last only a few months...

DF

Because barrels vary, a generalization based on experience can only be made.

I have burned them out in 1000 rounds and have a limping .30/06 that will only shoot 2 bullets now and thinks it is a shotgun when loaded with anything else. That rifle has around 4-5000 rounds through it.

Because the .264 case volume approximates the small Weatherby's from .257-7mm, the 7mm Remington and others and the bore diameter fits somewhere in the middle, I would estimate 1000-1500 rounds with combination hunting and recreational bench shooting and if shot only as a hunting rifle, up to double that.


John

I just cannot understand why people are still worried about burning out a .264WM. People have this preconceived notion that .264WMs are fire-breathers with a limited time frame of shootability...yet NO ONE ever thinks twice about the .257 Weatherby (same case capacity and slightly smaller bore). Would it not be as bad or worse than the .264?

Shoot it, have fun, and IF you burn the barrel out, replace it and get back at it...then brag to your friends that you shot a rifle enough to actually burn one out cuz most people will never do it.

They are great at so much that barrel life shouldn't be a factor, accuracy, ballistics and the lack of any real recoil makes them the perfect rifle, and with todays quality bullets like Nosler's ballistic tips and accubond's I would say the 264
Win Mag is the perfect American rifle.

War Eagle,
I'm under no illusions about the .257 Weatherby mag. I've owned one and I'm told they are good for about a thousand rounds.

I found an article on the 264 WM by Joseph von Benedikt. In it he states,

"Hard on barrels? Yes�historically. With today�s improved barrel steels, slower-burning propellants, and improved cleaning solvents, it is not the throat-toaster it was reputed to be. Still, reasonable maximum-accuracy life expectancy is around 700 to 1,000 rounds."

So, a "throat-toaster" is about 500 rounds? LOL

Off the top of my head, I can think of at least three pre-64 Model 70 Westerners that belong to friends who are avid hand loaders and hunters. All three use the .264 Win Mag as their primary big-game cartridge and all of three of them shoot a lot, every year. Only one of those rifles was bought used (about 20 years ago) and none of them have had to be re-barreled.

My memory is rusty but when the 264 got its rep for toasting barrels, seems to me that came from those who used it for 'varminting' at long range. At any rate it was those shooting the 264s fairly quick or rapidly for longer periods of time.

IMO the average hunter would not wear out a barrel in a lifetime of prepping for and hunting.

If you get addicted to long range target shooting , that's another story.

I replaced the barrel on one of my .264 at about 1500 rounds.. It still shot good, but the throat was shot out so it could be seen with the naked eye.. I liked the .264 and have given thought to getting another in maybe a 700 or model 70. But with 2 7 mags. in the safe, I see little point.. I need to be finding homes for the ones I have when I can not longer hunt, or drop dead.

One of my dad's friends used a 264WM for groundhogs in PA for years, some of the farmers asked him not to shoot close to their houses because the noise was startling as heck. I believe the only barrels that I have seen get worn were on M60 machineguns when in the USArmy.

MM: Cooking barrels is something not to sweat. They are disposable goods like bullets. If it wears out you just get another one.

Buy what you like and don't worry about the 264.

I got 2500 rounds from the original barrel on a blued Win 70 classic in 264. The rifle had been capable of five into 1 moa with several loads early in its life. At 2500 rounds it started copper fouling very badly, very quickly, as in three rounds.

It would shoot two within 1/2 moa, the third about 1.5 moa out, and the next four or five would create a shotgun like pattern.

Spend an hour scrubbing the bore with Sweet's and it would do it all over again.

So, anyway, that is when I knew the barrel was toast.

I had not been kind to the barrel. I shot high velocity strings quite often doing load development. I over heated the barrel on many occasions.

I sincerely doubt that a 7 Rem mag would have given any where near twice the life with similar abuse.

IS: When they're gone, they're gone. Time to screw on a new one..

Finally changed my Remington 721 264WM barrel in 2010 which I have been shooting since 1963 But not because it was bad just because I wanted a 30" barrel. I abused it a lot over the years with 85 and 100gr bullets at max load. Its my favorite cartridge. Low recoil and hard hitting. In the new barrel I have hit 3100fps with 160gr Woodleigh bullets and am still testing loads.