Haven't threw a bunch of money down the crapper lately. Think I'm going to call Shilen on Monday and talk to them about a Stainless, Sporter contour, standard crown, 24-26inch, 1-8 twist.
Then I'll have to sit around wait until some 150gr Sierras hit a shelf. I have some 140,143,147gr choices on the reloading bench if I can't stand the wait.

Questions, 1) any reason 7RM brass won't be an easy pass through the 264 die, load, shoot?
2) Wait times at Shilen?
3) Any other things I need to work out before hand?

Shilen or Douglas barrels. I just completed a 264 WM build on an FN Mauser, 26" 1 in 8" tube. Love it.

I've never resized 7mm Rem brass but can; see any reason it wouldn't be viable.

Have used 7RM brass in my 264 for years, no issues at all.

My 264 is an 8 twist, might opt for 7.5 if I wasn't shooting at 7000 feet...

Plenty of 264 brass out there. I load 140 ballistic tips in my 2 Sakos. I use IMR 4350, but there are better powders if you want max velocity. Get a 26” barrel. If you needed to sell it sometime, it would be harder to sell.

I should get the Douglas, Dads was Douglas barrels with Fajen stock. Only memory I have of it was how disgruntled he was the day mom had him trade it for a drum set (not 1 person ever learned)
Probably stick to what I know, Shilen.

I think their options are 7 or 8... I don't know elevation here but 1000-1200ish. I figured the speed would help stabilize.

Thank you, I have several 7Mags... might pick up the 264 brass just for the headstamp, and I'm think 26. You can always take it off later.

26” 1 in 8” has been good for me at less than 700 ft of elevation. 140 VLDs have been my favorite hunting bullet, but 156 EOLs have shot really well also. I have a few boxes of those so I plan to get around to trying them on game.

Buy a Krieger

I have several 7 mags also, prefer correct headstamps.

Enabler, Rifle Looney...
I'll check them,

Krieger and Brux 4 groove will thrill your heart!

Necks thicken when you neck down, create doughnuts at the shoulder neck junction. Find 264 brass and rock on...hopefully some H1000 and it will extend your throat life! LISTEN!

My 264WM wears a Lilja and is an 8" twist. No issues with Matrix 160 VLDs at 5000'. I would consider a 27" or 28" length. What action?? If a Number 1 action go 30". I have no issues using 7 RM brass and Mil Surp WC 860 powder.

Formed plenty of .264 Win Mag brass from 7mm Rem Mag.

Necks do thicken, but you don't get donuts when necking down.

Gif
I can't get the gif to post, guess I need a lesson from that jackwagon "Strider" in the "hunters campfire" forum.

Always wanted a #1
Sadly mine will be a savage, because I'm left handed, have the tools, actions, headspace gauges, all the parts to swap it over... Only thing I need is the barrel and dies, and I may not need dies. I bought a large estate lot a while back for 80.00... haven't looked in the box since the day it came home, but I remember probably 10 die sets, some I already had, but for the money.

Nothing to add about the 7mag cases but I just put together a .264 on a Howa 1500 with a take off from Preferred barrels. 7.5 twist with a long throat. 65.5 grains of IMR8133 pushes a 147 ELDM at 3050. Haven’t chrono’d the 153 A-tip or the 156 Berger but they sure shoot good. 1/2 moa thereabouts.

??? Why not just obtain some .264WM brass?? Keep barrel length at 24" - no need to go longer.. Skip Douglas and go with Lilja if you can.. Over the last dozen years I've refused to use barrels from Douglas, Wilson and Shaw.. Lilja barrels have been OUTstanding to date..

What's your beef with Douglas and Shaw? I have had great results with several Douglas barrels and 1 Shaw barrel in the last 10 years or so.

Necking down does create doughnuts. The Test: insert a bullet in a fired case until it goes past the shoulder neck junction. If there is a doughnut, the bullet will Stop like it hit a brick wall.

Necks thicken unevenly as you neck down also. The two above things may or may not have an effect on your expected level of accuracy.

I have also necked down 264 WM brass and made perfect 257 Weatherby brass, but with a shorter neck, had a reamer ground with .020 freebore and neck length of the 264 WM brass. Always start off with new brass with this kind of thing. In 10T barrels, I was shooting the 100g partition at 3800 with R#22 and fed 215's, 1/2" groups and better...the most accurate partitions I have ever shot.

Generally a couple wtb post on a few forums and you will round some 264 brass up

Why are you guys making brass? Took me 30 seconds on google to find 264 brass. I always stock up on components before I have a rifle built. Otherwise you'll end up like a PRC owner who has an 8lb paper weight.
.

Find and buy some 264 WM brass, crod down in the classifieds has it from time to time, i recently bought 250 sticks once fired WW Super brass for 65 bucks shipped, buy all the RL-33 powder you can find, it works from 139gr Scenars to the big 160gr Woodleighs i shoot in my 9 twist pre-64 Westerner.

You'll know once you try a Lilja....

^ I burned up a Lilja. It was a good barrel while it lasted, but my kriegers have been phenomenal.

Pisted this before, my .264.

Used a Lilja 9 twist as that's what they had on hand. Stabilizes the 140 Berger fine.

These Sako 264’s shot the Berger’s very well. I’m not a fan of Berger’s on game.

Only two barrels in my career would not shoot - one was a Pac-Nor which they took back, inspected it and found a problem and shipped me a new one.. The other was a Krieger, #8 contour, and the owner just told me to round-file it and replace it with a Lilja.. Problem solved..

I have only one beef with Kriege - that they refuse (for the most part) to provide an SS barrel under #5 for magnums... Hopefully that's been changed, but that was their policy at the time..

I've heard horror stories about most barrel makers...I've had two barrel makers replace a barrel under warranty. It was honored, but each took almost a year to get rectified, so I have not looked at those maker's since. Too many other options on the market these days.

I have heard red that Melvin at NULA only uses Douglas barrels. I wonder if he gets the cream of the crop!

Damn that’s sexy… 👍

My bet is because they're cheaper....


But whatever... Y'all use what you wish... Who cares?

Uh huh. Very nice.

I use Retumbo but the same idea. Plenty of 264 around.

Heavy sumnabitch though.

In this specific forming process (7mm RM to 264 WM) it's simply not going to happen. Never has for me.

The 264 neck is shorter and uses none of the 7mm shoulder area. It's when you're necking up - say 7mm RM to .338 WM - that you will get the donut. That's because some of the shoulder will be in the neck area.

Yeah, but I’m sure you can find a place to sneak it in. My 6.5 PRC Supergrade is fairly heavy as well. But man does it feel nice to shoot.

That sounds like an excellent rifle.

Yep, i took the forearm screw out of my pre 64 264 stock, loaded some 139 Scenars with RL-33 and was amazed! got a pile of 160gr woodies loaded, when they're gone that Scenar may get the job.

I bet. Mine is fed 140 Accubonds mostly. Or the 140 Ballistic Tips. Both shoot the same for me.

Yessir, found out one thing about my rifle that day, tried putting the screw back in with little pressure, accuracy suffered, tightened the hell out of it, no good, that rifle doesn't want anything touching it's barrel, the screw is in a small ziplock with pre-64 264 mag black marker id'd.

Gunner, what is your load with the Scenar and RL33?

NYR, i started at 70gr, worked up, 73gr RL-33 under the 139 Scenar, WW brass, FED-215, COL 3.320, Vel 3220, if that bullet will hold up on light to heavy big game it'd be a fine hunter.

I bought 200 recently for my .264 and my 6.5x55.

Thanks Gunner.

That's good stuff Gunner. I might give that one a whirl myself.

Gunner, based on the Scenar thread I have no doubt that bullet holds up, near and far.

Yeah, I bet they'd be quite good in the 264.

You're welcome NYR, and Thanks Men, i have 300 of those little 139 scenars, was worried about it and the 160 Woodleigh lengths iirc 1.360 and 1.380 inch with my 9 twist pre-64, both bullets print nice round holes out to 400 anyway.

Nice custom 264. Who stocked your rifle?

Bill Soverns, back when he was a member of the ACGG.

The only thing I'd change is that bolt handle.

Why?

Prefer a three panel teardrop.

SO lets have an update.
I called Shilen shortly after starting the thread. Ordered up the 1-8 twist, 24 inch, 264 Win Mag in What I would consider a magnum sporter, (I think they call it a number 5) Standard crown, and Stainless. They told me 3-5 months, should be closer to 3 as the 6.5 bore is so hot right now, and they may be able to work me in if they had someone cancel, since my specs were pretty standard.
2 weeks later They billed me, and 3 days after that it was on the porch.
Waited a bit for some other parts to get here and thought I had better take inventory on what I had coming and what I had on hand.

Starting point was a Savage 110, 270Win, Left hand. DBM. No idea on year. I've had it stashed away a long time. When you are left handed you buy them when you see them.


I wanted to keep the standard bolt head, so ordered all the pieces to put together a mag, and sock the standard version away.


Found a super cheap Magnum DBM on Ebay. It didn't have the right floorplate, took all of 10sec to swap that.


Tore apart an old 7Mag that weighs around 17 pounds for banging steel. Never gets used, So I stole the notched barrel nut, recoil lug, would have stole the bolt head but it's right hand. Stashed the receiver away for a rainy day.
Went on to headspace, went good. Never adjusted the Trigger Pull, Didn't check it, but it felt nice.
Didn't have clearance in the barrel channel. I can't find a dremel, and I had planned to paint the gun. SO if you have a week stomach, turn away now.
I went at it with a wood chisel like an angry beaver.


Looks "OK", no body will ever accuse me of trying on this 1.


Also stole a 20MOA rail off the 7Mag. Had the 12x Super Sniper hidden away from a distant Black Friday Deal, Rings have been used but they came with that scope. Butler Creeks were purchased.


Got it all put together, and rounded up Reloading supplies. I'ld still like to find some CCI magnums, 150gr sierras, and H1000 or Retumbo. But I bet I can get decent results with what I have. Brass with the correct headstamp is coming.


There it is, Brass gets here, I can do some testing, maybe hammer some yotes and if we get real lucky, a fall trip to Wyoming.



Enjoy the day gents.

is that a magic Savage that just floats in the air?

Carefully balanced on those posts. Was going to hit the "Fence Post" Thread. Got lazy.

I like it - even has the bolt on the proper side.