.264 Winchester Mag loads?

[308Nut]

I have cleaned the gun well with Sweets and Hoppes. The bore looks perfect to me. The lands are sharp right to the front of the chamber.

 

Have you looked at the throat with a bore scope or just with the naked eye?

 

Unless you look through a bore scope, even a cooked barrel looks sharp and clean to the naked eye.

 

Sorry!

 

M

[MattMan]

And if any of the previous owners liked shooting much... just sayin'.

 

I'd give it a whirl with some good components and see what it'll do. If you can ring a 6" gong or break block ice from the small end consistently at your intended range, you're good to go.

[40-year-AZ-hunter]

I have cleaned the gun well with Sweets and Hoppes. The bore looks perfect to me. The lands are sharp right to the front of the chamber.

 

Have you looked at the throat with a bore scope or just with the naked eye?

 

Unless you look through a bore scope, even a cooked barrel looks sharp and clean to the naked eye.

 

Sorry!

 

M

 

Just with the naked eye. I have a .243 that has visable throat erosion (again with the naked eye) and it shoots quite well. I'd be very surprised if it is "shot out".

 

Also, as I said in the original post, it will shot just about 1 moa (at 100 yards) with Remington factory ammo. I guess if nothing else I can just shoot factory ammo, but that just does not sit right with me. If I cant get it to group better with some modern components, then I'll shoot the factory stuff.

 

I'm not trying to shoot near as far as some guys do. Consistently in 6" at 400-500 yards will be just ducky with me.

 

I guess another alternative would be to take it to a gunsmith with a bore scope and have them tell me what it looks like to them.

 

Thanks again guys for all the suggestions!

 

Bruce

[MattMan]

Consistently in 6" at 400-500 yards will be just ducky with me.

 

You're likely already in that range with Remington factory fodder. What dies are you using and have they loaded accurate ammo for another gun? FL sizing just enough to headspace on the shoulder instead of the belt, or bumping them all the way back every time?

[40-year-AZ-hunter]

Consistently in 6" at 400-500 yards will be just ducky with me.

 

You're likely already in that range with Remington factory fodder. What dies are you using and have they loaded accurate ammo for another gun? FL sizing just enough to headspace on the shoulder instead of the belt, or bumping them all the way back every time?

 

 

I believe they are RCBS dies (cant remember for sure as I have a number of die sets and am not home to double check) and I have not had another 264 to load for. Interesting question tho since the factory ammo groups better than the handloads I've tried to date.

 

I normally try to set my sizing die (for anything I'm loading) back just enough so it only neck sizes.

 

I guess I should say that altho I've reloaded for 45 years, I've never had a rifle that I had to fret over being too precise in order to get reasonable groups. I do however weigh each charge. Heck, I'm not expecting 1/2 moa. I've just been frustrated that this rifle is so fussy.

 

Part of the reason I broke it out after many years is that I was thinking I wanted to buy a .257 Weatherby but could not afford it. Then I got to thinking that my old .264 should do anything a .257 Weatherby will do so why not just try to set it up for longer range shooting. Again, longer range to me is 400-500. Normally, I dont use my favorite rifle (a pre-64 featherweight .270) at over 250 yards. It shoots about MOA with just about anything I feed it.

 

Thanks again.

 

Bruce

 

 

[AZJR]

Hi Bruce!

 

I had the same rifle and traveled down the same "handloading road" you're walking back in 1992-1993, before I ended up selling the rifle.

 

Of the bullets I tried, my rifle preferring the 125 grain Nosler Partition bullet, 57.5 grains IMR4350, Winchester cases and a WLR primer. With a 1960's vintage Bushnell Scope Chief 3X-9X scope the best groups I could coax from the rig were consistently in the 1.50" range- a few flirted with 1 MOA, but not the norm. At the end of my journey, I found my particular .264 WM really wasn't much more than a heavier, longer barreled, hard-kicking, and MUCH louder version of the .270 Winchester.

 

If I still had the rifle (and I don't pine for it as I sold it for a nice sum back in '93 without the scope) I would be interested to try Ramshot powder, a FED 215M, and the Berger VLD 140 grain bullet.

 

The .257 Weatherby Magnum seems to be one of the modern darlings right now, and not without reason; it is a fine, flat-shooting cartridge and available in an affordable platform in the Weatherby Vanguard sub-MOA rifle.

 

Talk to you soon,

Jim

[BruinPoint]

I'm struggling with a .264 Win also. It's a Rem 700 CDL (special run) with a 26" fluted barrel. So far I've found that this rifle heats up faster and picks up more copper fouling than anything I've ever seen. The best it shot with 100 gr Ballistic Tips (set 0.01 off the lands) was with 63.5gr of RL22 and had another sweet spot at 67gr which is getting close to Nosler's listed max. I haven't found a load it likes with Accubonds yet but I haven't adjusted the seating depth.

 

I also discovered that Remington gave this rifle a short throat. Listed max OAL is 3.340", but with the 100 gr BT's I'm on the lands at 3.300" and barely able to close the bolt. I'm scared to see how deep I'll have to seat 140's... Maybe I'll get some time this week to try some new loads I've whipped up. I had high hopes for this gun but seems like it's gonna be a project. Worst case scenario I'll burn up the barrel trying to find a load, then have it rebarrelled in 7mm Rem.

[youngbuck]

Might want to send Lark, AKA .270 a PM. He's done a lot of work with 264s. His son also shoots one.

[jeffro]

Bruinpoint

 

A thin barrel will heat up fast. Slow down your shooting. Magnums will heat up. Its a matter of how much fire your throwning down the barrel. Did you break your barrel in. Some say barrel break in is BS, but it can help on factoy barrels do to the fact that they are very rough compared to customs. Try some JB bore paste. If you want to get more agresive you could try those tubbs final finish bullets. As for your 140grs, many high bc bullets are long, and have a better shape than the 100s. This will make them smaller out front, and thus allowing them to be seated out longer, and still not touching the lands. The ogive is much farther from the tip on a high bc bullet than on a 100gr. Im not sure what you want to use the gun for, but I wouldnt be shooting 100grs in a 264mag, unless I just wanted to blow up small critters within 200yrds.

[.270]

.264's get real twist sensitive when you start using the longer bullets. most of them aren't twisted fast enough for long bullets, like the bergers. if you load it right and don't hurt the barrel, they can be incredibly accurate and they flat smoke across the prarie. i just shoot 100 grain hornady interlocks out of mine, with h4831sc powder. i like the velocity and they shoot real accurate. work great on anything up to deer. haven't shot an elk with a 100 grainer. my boy shoots 130 grain swift sirroccos out of his and loves em. he also shoots h4831. he killed that big bull this last year with it. the sirroccos really hold up well. he never could make the bergers hit out of his rifle. barrel twist is a little slow for that long of a bullet. the length of the bullet has more to do with twist requirement than the weight. if you decide it's too much trouble i'll take that westerner off your hands for you. one thing to remember, is to keep your barrel from getting too hot. .264's have a reputation of smoking barrels, and they will. they aren't any worse than any other small bore, high powder capacity cartridge, but they will burn out on you. i've burned up a couple. just be smart and it should last a long time. and if your model 70 is an uncut, in good shape westerner, don't mess it up. leave it original or sell it to me and get a new rifle you can mess up. it is a sin to cut up, or rebarrel or in anyway molest a model 70. especially a westerner. Lark.

[BruinPoint]

Quick update--things are looking better. Switched to RL19 after not quite getting there with RL22. Have both the 100gr B-tips and the 130 A-bonds shooting much better and have fine tuned the seating depth on both. The 130's shot 6 rounds under an inch at 100 this afternoon. The 100's aren't quite as tight, but close enough for as little as I plan to actually shoot them.

 

I also found out that free-floating the barrel was a bad idea on such a long tube without bedding the receiver. I hadn't ever heard of that connection before but it makes sense. Just out of curiosity I'm going to put the factory pressure point back in the forend with epoxy and see what happens.

[fang]

I have a pre-64 Winchester model 70 Westerner .264 magnum that I've owned for 35 years and rarely shot. Recently, I got to thinking that I should see if I could equip it for shooting 400-500 yards. Trouble is, I have not found a load that seems to work well in it.

 

Most of the loads I've tried have been with components I've had on the shelf for many years. Sierra and Hornady 120-140 gr spitzer bullets, IMR 4350 and 4831 powder. Most of the loads I've tried have grouped in the 2-3 moa range. The best shooting load is Remington 140gr Core-Lokt factory loads at just over 1 moa.

 

I know bullets and powders have been improved over the years and am thinking that I need to try some "modern" bullets. Do any of you have suggestions for a brand/type that is particularly accurate, especially in 6.5mm? At this point, I'm not really interested in the likely performance on game, but rather in working up an accurate load. I'll worry about whether it's a bullet suitable for game later. The rifle would be used for both deer species in AZ and antelope (if I ever get that lucky). If you happen to shoot a .264 mag and have a specific load that has worked well for you and would share the info, that would be wonderful too.

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Bruce

[fang]

Well I have a Remington 264 mag long which I bought in 1966. The best group at a 200 yard target was in 1.2 inch with a 120 grain spitzer HP bullet loaded to 65.0 gr of H4831 putting out 3369 fps muzzle. I have used this load for many years and still shoot my rifle. This rifle has a Stainless steel barrel and I have had no problems. I have resently restocked the rifle with a Boyd premium laminated stock. Also I have shot deer and elk and one bear with this load and they all just drop on the spot. I have a 300 mag built on a M-14 bolt receiver with a steel tapered barrel which I have shot at 150 yards an elk and they just drop. Both rifles are scoped. These two rifles are using my reloads. The 300 winchester Mag is loaded with 72 gr IMR 4831 180 gr Harnedy bullet and 3025 fps muzzle and at 300 yards its 2567 fps. I am 75 now and these two rifles are right on target. They are my best for all around hunting. I use to have a Winchester 458 mag and I could load down for elk and up fo anything. It would go through an engine block at 100 yards with a 500 gr bullet. So this is my picks over many years and I hope this will help you also in your hunting.