Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Improving 264 Win mag

Sorry if you guys are over this question. This caliber has no support in Australia. I have a standard Winchester XTR 264 Win mag thats has a 24inch barrel,floated and bedded also has a crapy 3*9-40 tasco scope. I want to make this a tack driver out to 500 yards.Barrell and throat are excellent,stock is very good.
I am not worried about loads yet,just want to modify rifle eg scope, heavy barrel with muzzle brake 26 or 28 inch? Any advive would be great. It shoots ok but could do better. Thanks!

On the right track with a precision made and longer barrel. Cartridges like this do better with at least 26" of barrel. The Lilja web site has the calculations on diameter to length to achieve equivalent rigidity for different barrel lengths.

Get a 1-9 or 1-8.5" twist for the heavier bullets.

Stock up on the slow powders like TB 870 and Reloader 25, Retumbo, Magnum etc.
Then your in business, would make a heck of a Roo Rifle.

If your thinking of an improved chamber I would skip the 264 Improved and do a 264 Thor or 6.5 STW but I think the standard is just fine as is.

The barrel is the main issue.. Get at least a #4 contour, finish at 26" and forget the brake.. Just not needed on the .264.. You'll have to have the throat lengthened a tad to allow for the heavier bullets if you decide to go that route, but the .264 really shines with 140 gr pills. Reloader 22 or 25 should work well, also IMR 4350.. For long ranges like you state the bullet selection will be critical.. You'll have to try a few designs and see where the best promise lies..

Then, lose the Tasco and obtain a good scope - one that will allow you to shoot well in that kind of range.. You have a great rifle there.. Best to you.

Tejano and Redneck, thank-you for your advice and will check it out to day. I will give the scope the flick. Thanks again for everyones support.

Best way to improve a .264 Win. is deep-six it and get a 7mm STW. Better bullets, better ballistic co-efficient, and better down range energy.

What killed the .264 was Remington's 7mm Mag. There is a reason for that... If the .264 had been better than the 7mm Mag, it'd still be with us... I rest my case...

GH

Ant264,

WELCOME to 24hrcf! I actually LIKE the 264 WinMag. Very high BC with many bullets. Keep working on it, bro.

Good scope is item number 1, as said before.

grasshopper, last time i looked, there were some very nice new Remington 700s in .264 on the shelf. and you say it was "killed"? i think not! and yea, i have both 7mm RM and .264 WM rifles. the 7mmRM is getting rebarreled to .264 soon. i have a Lilja barrel and reamer on the shelf. the fact that i have 5,000 rounds of once fired brass in .264 WM may have had something to do with that decision, but i can (and do)neck up the .264 brass to 7RM if i wished.

anyway ant264, get a good scope on your rifle, adjust the trigger and bed the action. see what happens. if you rebarrel, go with 1:8 or 1:8.5 twist but not too heavy or you'll dread carrying it. #5 ish is good. (i made the mistake of going too heavy on one of mine, and it is basically just a range toy now)

I checked some other sites like 6mm BR.com and most of the long range shooters are going with a 1-8 to 1-8.5 twist for their 6.5/284s. I don't know if the 200 extra fps of the .264 will compensate for a slower twist or not.

My experience is with factory barrels and hunting bullets only. If you want to shoot the 140 VLD's or anything heavier like the 160 Woodliegh I would go with the faster twist. The 142 SMK are said to be marginal with a 1-9 in the slower 6.5s.

As others said try a different scope and load tuning first and you might be surprised with the barrel you have.

Oh, and welcome, we need more gun loonies from Down Under. Typically they have lots of practical experience and a slightly different take on things that's refreshing.

Thanks guys,My little baby has the action bedded already, as far as I know my barrel twist is 1:10. If I go for the 1:8 or 1:8.5 can I still shoot 100grainers and upwards? Just because I do like to shoot feral cats with lighter bullets. But if I get to smash them with 120s That will do. Thanks again! I dont think I will be shootting anything heavier than 140grns.

Toad,

No offense! But whereever rifle looneys congregate, one can always find someone who likes a "dead" cartridge. i.e: .264 Win. Mag, .348 Win., .300 Sav..., etc... Not to say the .264 is intrinsically bad, but you have to admit, that the limited run rifles are the only ones available for the chambering. Got any idea what the ratio of sales is: .264 to 7mm Rem Mag? Me neither, but it's alot! Virtally ever rifle manufacturer in the world chambers the 7mm Mag. as opposed to how many make the .264? Now if that's not dead, you tell me what is? Even Winchester doesn't chamber it... What does that say?

I concur that you have the right to like any cartridge that you wish... But If you are granted that right, then I should have the same right to dislike it. I have had three .264's in my shooting career. None of the three would shoot less than 2" at the proverbial 100 yds. The first one exihibited excessive pressure with book starting loads and IMR-4831. That didn't exite me, and it's been all downhill from there. In all honesty, I couldn't find anything I could kill with the .264 that I couldn't kill just as dead with a .270.

Actually, I looked at all the horns on my walls, and realized They'd all been taken with a different cartridge and lo' none of them were taken with a belted magnum... Thus, I have concluded that belted magnums just mean more powder, more bark but the end result is the same.

If hunting with a "whatever Loudenboomer" makes you feel better or more confidant, then go for it. But as for me, "How" I take a game animal is far more important than "if" I take one.

As we get older, most of us come up with some surprising, and unlikely conclusions.

Remington and Ruger are still selling rifles chambered in .264WinMag and not just limited run rifles either. Remington sells that limited 700 model and the Sendaro SF2. Ruger sells the Hawkeye chambered in the round. You may not like it and that's fine but with two major manufactors still selling new factory rifles chambered in the round it's a long way from dead.

I'm with you 100% on not needing a magnum though:^)

Terry

Grasshopper,
That was a very respectful and civil reply. I hope more of us will follow suit.

grasshopper, you are free do dislike the .264

my point is that the .264 is not dead. it is more popular now than it was 10 years ago. (and yea, the naysayers called it "dead" then, too)

the OP wanted info about improving his M70, not a sales pitch about .270, 7mm, ect... this is not a cartridge popularity contest, it is a thread titled "Improving 264 Win mag"

you can pick ANY cartridge out there and make a case against it, but why?

ant264, you will be able to shoot lightweight bullets with the 1-8" or 1-8.5" twist. i have used this cartridge with 1-9", 1-8.5" and 1-8" twist, and the 8" and 8.5" twist will do it all. my Sendero SFII (1-9") will not shoot 142 SMKs, but would shoot 140 SMKs into 3" to 500 meters. my customs will do a little better than that with 142s.

but you gotta like 20 moa to 1K...

That is exactly my point in my orginal post. I was responding to the title of the thread. Had the title of the thread been: "Improving my M-70", my answer would have been entirely different.

BTW, I didn't really say I dislike the .264, I just don't "like" it. I remember a few years ago Layne Simpson did an article on what he claimed were "dead" cartridges. And yes the .264 was among them.

How many ammo companys load the .264? And how many different loads do they offer?

My research lists 4, Rem 140, Win 140, Prvi Partisan 140, and Nosler custom 130gr. AB.

As an earlier poster pointed out Remington and Ruger both make rifles for it; now. But will they next year? In about 4 or 5 more months we'll know. But I wouldn't bet on it...

The 6mm Remington is certainly more popular than the .264 and that was another cartridge on Layne's "dead" list.

I am as big a 6.5 slut as anyone here. And if I told you how many rifles I have in the 6.5 bore you'd likely call me a liar. Likely some fine day I'll run across a Pre'64 M-70 so chambered and it will follow me home. I'd have one right now, but my buddy done me wrong, but that's another story for another time. But even If I did, I'd not likely hunt with it.

At one time Remington didn't make either the 6.5 Rem Mag, or the 264. They resurrected both, And the 6.5's aready gone. I'll bet you a beer that in 5 years or less, both Remington and Ruger will have dropped the chambering. And that's a bet I'd be happy to lose. In truth, "I" didn't proclaim it dead! The gunwriters did. I merely repeated their assessment.

A lot of great and respected chamberings have been dropped over the years, And almost always the reason is SALES. If it don't sell, they don't make it.

I tend to agree. My lifetime animal harvest has been with 2 standard cartridges, the 280 Remington & 308 Winchester. I have taken roughly 50 big game animals from Axis, Whitetails and lesser critters. At no time did I ever feel like I needed anything else. I have owned other shooters including some fire-breathing magnums but they were only wants not needs. Shooting critters across a canyon is not for me. I have shot some across arroyos but they were all under 400 yards.

in my opinion do a 4.5 to 14 powered leupold. Then actaully shoot the gun. You may not need anymore to shoot at 500 yards. I can hold 5 inches at 500 with a 2.5 to 10 weaver of a bipod and a rear sandbag. You should be able to do this with a .264 a 14 power scope and some good loads.

I think I better let you know abit about what I used to do. I used to work on cattle stations hunting feral pigs,cats,crows and kangaroos. I can if I wanted to take either a 222,243 or even a trusty 308 and shoot roos from the bonnet or my cruiser at a distance or up to 230metres away. Reason why I bought a 264mag is that the ballistics are ver very good. I have used a 7mm rem mag but from what I have read the 264 out performs the 7mm mag down range slightly. I just need some positive advice to get her up n running. The 264 has the protencial to out class alot of out calibers. Oh buy the way, those winchester short magnums are abit quite over here now.

79inpa mate I have been looking at the Leupold vx-11 6-18*40 AO or VX-3 4.5-14*50 LR. What do you think?

Walk closer!!!!

I have only fooled with two .264's, one a genuine original Model 70 Westerner. Both would safely attain 3200 fps or thereabouts with 140's using several newer powders (IMR4831 is too fast), and with the right bullet shot well under an inch. They would also get 125-130's up to close to 3400 fps, also with good accuracy.