Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Which fast 6.5? .264 mag, 26 nosler, or 6.5-300 Weatherby?

I am aware of three 26 Nosler that have been built.
All were pretty fussy as max loads were approached. A little more fuel gets LOTS more pressure.
Accurate barrel life is over at 600 shots.

Of the three mentioned, I would get 264 Win.

I'm curious; what powders were "fussy" at or near max.

The 26 is overbore with conventional slow powders, like RL-33, Retumbo, MagPro, etc. Even H-50bmg doesn't seem to be an optimal performer.

With 869, 872, etc. I don't find that to be the case. Performance is pretty smooth, even when pushing max.

DF

Another vote for the .264 WM . . .

+1!

Any more than a 264 is too much of a good thing.

I use 869 powder in my 26 nosler I get great groups with 140 ballistic tip noslers.

yep Id do a 264 Win Mag, bit of a hero catridge that ive dreamed of owning

had 260s, 6.5x55, will be getting a Grendel later this year and then I'll grow a pair and build a 264WMag.

What is the parent case for that?

300 WM

hanco,

Yeah, I use US869 in my 26 as well, though with 140 AccuBonds. It shoots just as well with 140 Partitions, though, and the only bullet I've found that won't shoot so far is the 120 Ballistic Tip, maybe because it's being pushed too fast, though that's not usually a problem with BT's.

Would like to hear personally from somebody who's shot a 26 out in 600 rounds. The word around here is 1000 and sometimes more, as long as you don't shoot it wham-wham-wham and really heat up the barrel.

As in 300 wby mag

264 mag brass should be easier to find

My 264WM gets 3550-3600 fps with the 100gr TTSX and good accuracy. Starting to work with the 120-125 grainers now, and the results are similar to what southtexas reported.

Wow! That'll be sizzling.

Of the calibers you mentioned my first pick would be the 26 beltless Nosler. From seeing the cartridge drawings it seems to be the most evolved or modern design, and if I settled for one of the other chamberings I would always wonder if the Nosler would have been the most accurate.

However, I don't want another 26" barrel, I'd go 24" and live with slightly less velocity which would still be plenty fast.

From the 264WM Sierra 85gr HP at 3831 causes ground hogs to explode.

Why not get one of each. You can't have too many guns. I have three 264's and a 26 Nosler. Buy a 264 Sendero. Have it reamed out to 26 Nosler. I'm gonna get a 6.5 Weatherby as soon as I can. I have a 6.5 Creedmoor. It kills just as well as the big boy out to 350 yds. Way cheaper to load for too. No recoil. We are all way over gunned in my opinion. I came to that conclusion after watching grand children blow the same holes in deer and pigs with a 243 as I do with my cannons. Just my own opinion.

Has anybody gotten their hands on a 6.5-300 Weatherby? If so how did it shoot?

If anybody's interested I am thinking about selling my .264 WM
It's totally custom built by Karl Kampfeld and has a 30" 8 twist barrel.
Only 50 shots down the tube and it's fast!

6.5 Romulus in short action = 165 gr Matrix VLD's at 3400 fps
6.5 Prometheus in long action = 165 gr Matrix VLD's at 3500 fps
170 gr bullets coming soon .......

140's need not apply

Yes

Mark V Terramark shooting 130 Scirocco II; recoil was moderate (nowhere near .300 Mag territory) and it shot well inside of 1 inch.

Get a .264 if it's pre-64 for nostalgia, but the 26 Nosler and 6.5-300 are both worthy. Long term they will both catch on making brass readily available and affordable.

Ballistics are negligible between the two, but I like the redesigned Mark V.