Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 264 Win Mag

WOW

Lord help us, i just finished mug number three of coffee over four big brown farm eggs sitting on a slice of toast made from Wifes homemade rising sourdough wheat bread slathered with peanut butter, that slab of meat is making me hungry again LOL!

Reading my mind.

Nice shooting. The old 264 still has it going on.

Gunner, how long has it been since anyone was this mean to you? Made me drool too....mb

I guess I’ll keep being mean😁
This is known as Idaho surf and turf. The interesting thing about this elk was when I was taking her apart I noticed the one hind quarter was off colored. When I took the sirloin tip off, I realized she had a busted leg. The femur was totally broken in half with chunks floating around. I had no idea anything was amiss when I shot her. She was leading three others and did not so any signs of being injured. There’s no way the bone would have knitted with those chunks missing but she was still making a good living. That is until that ELDM reduced her to my freezer. It didn’t affect the meat either, she’s dang good eating.

Have at it mbogo does make a guy hungry and love those kind of photos....mb

Damn right Big B.

LOL MB, not very often ; ]

Mbogo, that looks great!

Great and timely thread, last night late in a pile of trade bait was a 10lb factory sealed plastic bag from Hodgdon in a cardboard box, it's full of H-870 powder, also got 3K Fed-215 primers, any guesses what those 140gr Grand Slams will be sitting on top of? LOL

I think 75gr will be a good spot to start with chrono, more old school hunting this season on the way with pre-64 Westerner and gloss Redfield 4-12x40 AO glass.

Run that over a chrono. It shouldn't be anywhere near 3200fps even with a 30" tube.

And what should it be great Swami?

3,100 fps isn't too hard for a 139-143 gr bullet in a .264 in a 24" barrel.

another 6" * 20 fps = 120 fps. 3,100 + 120 = 3,220 fps. It pans out for me.

I got $20 on rcamuglia that it's a chrono'ed velocity.

"Truing" is the first hint. Quickload projections are the second. I'll shoot some tomorrow through a 25.5" Benchmark over a 35P and get back to you.

You do that BB. I've shot my 25" bbl .264 Win Mag over my O-35, so I'm not guessing.

77.0 gr US-869 gets you there.

Yeah, I'll be interested in your results, IIRC 74 of h870 with a 140 npt was 3030fps in my 700 Ltd classic with a 24" barrel. Started working on an 8lb jug of T5050 for my 7mm rem mag the other day. Sure like slow burners...mb

Thanks MB, yes, slow burners need only apply in 264 WM, my 26" Westerner went 3241 fps with 78.5gr H-870 under the 140gr Speer Grand Slam, Fed-215's with COL of 3.300 inch, went to max to check brass/primer relation, all looked good, easy extraction, but settled on 77gr for 3189 fps, a lower velocity node was found there, not after max with these bullets, this speed will be plenty for what i want to do for sub 300 yard whitetail hunting.

Serious load, if you will for heavier big game is the 160gr Woodleigh protected points at 3000 fps over RL-33, i'll shoot these 77gr loads for groups when the winds calm.

Personally, I eventually found the 26 Nosler solves all the supposed "problems" of the .264--with no more perceivable throat erosion. Generally at least 1000 rounds can be fired before any noticeable reduction in accuracy--and it's easy to get 3300 with 140s in a 26" barrel.

But also eventually found out either the 6.5 PRC or .270 Winchester work well for my purposes, with noticeably less recoil, a wider range of excellent powder choices--and a similar reduction in other hassles, such as finding brass, especially good brass.

Of course, the basic definition of "rifle loony" will always mean SOME of us will be determined to champion cartridges such as the .264, which never became very popular in the first place, decades ago.

But am always interested in new variations on flogging a dead horse....

I used up a couple pounds of H870 in the 264 and in the 7mm STW back around 2001-2002.

With zero satisfactory results. The burn rate was just too slow for either of the rifles mentioned. I could not get enough in the case to make acceptable velocity. While I do not have any records of the trials, I do remember stuffing 99 gr of H870 into an STW case with a 160 gr bullet. It did not make 3000 fps.

The 264 (my rifle anyway) behaved in the same manner with H870 and a 140 gr bullet. Low velocity and powder granules in the barrel and action.

I had pretty decent luck with H1000 in both rifles. 67 gr H1000 gave 3200 fps with a 140 partition and 3000 fps with the 140 gr Sierra spitzer boat tail in the 264.

67 gr H1000 with the Sierra was my typical load, when I was not burning 120 gr or 100 gr ballistic tips over H4831 at 3000 fps.

John,
I always chuckle at the discussions of ctg A vs ctg B. Reminds me of the King Kong vs Godzilla comparisons.

I suggest deciding on the velocity desired for a specific bullet. For example it is pretty well established that a 7mm 175 tends to shoot accurately at around 2950 fps. So why not select a chambering that will give that level of performance and if it can be done with more readily available powders then so much the better.

I have a buddy who wants to move those 175’s much faster but he is stuck with a minimum of 26” inch barrels and hard to find powders and pretty big cases.

Me, I would get a 7mm PRC.

With rangefinders and dialing that 2950 is perfect.
R

Rick,

Well, yeah!

Part of the deal here is that Campfire members average around 65-70 years old, which has been demonstrated by some informal surveys over the years. This is the generation that grew up when the MAGIC in big game cartridges was due to increasing muzzle velocity--which is why they argue about 100 fps in MV, and also firmly believe in older cartridges that supposedly get another 100 fps, or whatever. Which of course was supposed to provide more "killing power" at any range, even when the difference dwindled to much less than 100 fps way out there, where such rounds were supposed to work their magic.

But such cartridges often resulted in powder problems--especially when the shooters insist on using older powders they grew up with. Yet they still believe there's always a solution, somewhere--even when they've beaten their head against all of this for years.

Of course, you and I are from the same generation, but I eventually lost interest in beating my head against a dead horse. Which is why after considerable experimentation I tend to use more "friendly" rounds, whether the .270 Winchester or 6.5 PRC.

But, but... a pre64 M70 Westerner with a 26" barrel in 264 is just so cool.... I covet one...

Hahaha. I don’t see anyone here “championing” the .264 Winchester, but simply trying to help the OP answer his questions. The OP’s thread title is literally “.264 win Mag”

I’ve had a .264 Winchester long before the 6.5 Craze or the introduction of the 26 Nosler. I spent a lot of time getting help from guys who knew how to make it perform to its potential. I’ve spent a lot of time and components testing powders and projectiles to find what I considered the best load combination.

If I was just now getting into the 6.5mm Magnum business, I wouldn’t choose the .264 Winchester because of all of the new chamberings that are easier to work with. You’ve stated before that updated load data with newer powders has been ignored.





Again, the OP is asking specifically about the .264 Winchester and not any 7mm cartridges