Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles My best .264 Winchester Magnum load

I was getting 3350 with the 120 ttsx's, 26" barrel and 7828 ssc. Gettn 1" groups at 200 yard at 3300 vel. Just fyi

There ya go!

RC,
I was finally able to get to the range this morning even if it was 34F. 76gr R-33,120TTSX,R-P cases and 250CCI = 3430average for 9 rounds but accuracy was only around MOA.76 gr was max in my rifle. 26" Krieger 1/8 on a trued Rem 700 lefty. Retumbo gives better accuracy but only around 3200. The trials are not finished as I will go to the 127LRX which I have been using to hunt with at 3200 with Retumbo. I have Nosler brass to play with too but seems the R-P has given better accuracy with the Retumbo. Obviously I will try the R-33 with the brass and bullet combos too. Have you noticed the muzzle blast and loudness increase with R-33? It seems louder and more harsh, guessing its the increase in velocity and pressure.
Bill

Sounds really good Bill. I think that the fact you only could go to 76 grains is because of the monometal bearing surface. I think Barnes has always had a pressure issue. They have load data specifically for their product because of it. Sounds like you worked up carefully and did it right.

Almost 250 fps more than with Retumbo. RL33 is quite a bit slower I've found. That's good for the .264

I bet if you took that load that was the best and played with the seating depth, you'd hit paydirt.

I haven't noticed any louder muzzle blast. I wear muffs and plugs.

Not since they added grooves to the X bullet. TSX and TTSX bullets typically generate equal or less pressure than other bullets.

RC,Is RL33 as temp sensitive as some of the other RL powders? I've loaded RL22 & RL25 in the 264's before and got some high pressure spikes in hot weather. I've been using Retumbo with good accuracy, but not as fast.3150 fps with 140 Bergers.

I don't know.

I hear a lot of talk about powder temperature sensitivity. I've used some of the powders that have the bad rap but have never seen it IME.

W-760 comes to mind. Shot it in the cold and in the middle of hot July prairie dog slaughters. In matches too

Ref temp sensitivity,I have wondered the same about the Reloader brands. I know IMR 4831 is very temp sensitive, at least in my 300WSM. I went to way west Tx in Sept with the 300 zeroed at 100 at around 57F. It was 95 in Tx and the bullet impact was over 3" hi at 100. Got home last week after a 5 week trip , checked the 300 at 57F and it was a full 3" low..of course I changed the zero in the hot weather to 100yd zero. Now trying to find a temp insensitive powder for the 300WSM...but that isn't relative to the 264...I guess...

Wow, 33 does seem to be a really good powder. I know of a few that are running 33 with 140's and seem to be doing really well.

I have been running RL25 and having excellent luck with 140 AB's and BT's. Might have to give 33 a try if I find some on the shelf..

Just took this adult doe in southeast Missouri at 538 yards with my 264 win mag, 120 ttsx pushed w 7828 at 3300 fps, with the help of a zeiss 4.5-14 x 44 with a Z-800 reticle and a vortex 1000 yard rangefinder. I used the 500 yard hash mark and put it high in the shoulder.

Nice Job!

Nice shooting! Way to lay em down!

I was pleasantly surprised how well the zeiss Z-800 retical worked. Now I want to change all my scopes to z-600 or z-800 reticles....uggg!

Try dialing with confirmed data. There's nothing more accurate.

rcamuglia,

Thanks for generating this thread.

Regarding RL-33: This powder is not the usual RL series offered by Alliant. Both RL-17 then RL-33 are different formulations produced by Nitrochemie in Switzerland. Both have a longer burning curve.

RL-33 hasn't shown much change in velocity between 85-90 and 50 degrees. Tucson isn't noted for being cold till Jan/Feb.

I have used it in the 6mm-284, 257 Roy, 7mm/375 Ruger, and 300 RUM. It doesn't seem to do that well with lighter bullets. I read on LRH that if the bullet is into the rifling it will lower the ES significantly.

I was running this in my 7mm/375 with 180s and did a great deal of shooting. I had issues with POI moving vertically from 1.9" to 2.2" at 100 over several weeks of shooting. As a control I switched to H1000 and the drifting POI has ended. I would love to put those 180s into the rifling but would either have to regrind the reamer for a shorter throat or seat long for single shot.
The velocity difference between these two powders is 125 fps.

One more thing I notice is the barrel's hottest portion is near very close to the muzzle, far closer than other powders. Just thought that was interesting.

I had wanted to hear how RL-33 would work with the 264 win mag and now know.

Thanks again for sharing your information.

Same to you Az.

About seating depth, it probably varies with which bullets and chambering you are loading for. I can't see having an absolute about depth with a certain powder.

For instance, this load/rifle had the best accuracy at .060" off the rifling. It shot well at another depth too even further off.

Someone else here on the "ask the gun writers" forum tried RL 33 in the 300 win and got great results with the heavies. My bet is that the 230 Berger would love it.