264 Win Mag

nhenry

Handloader
Feb 7, 2022
609
1,060
Something I'm noticing with the 264 win mag load data I look at is that case fill is on the low end most of the time. Why is that?
 
Noticed the same when I had mine. Lots of new powders out now that are slow burning which should do well in it and have better case fill. Mine liked Retumbo so never experimented much more after that. I just don't think there were enough super slow burning powders until recently.
 
Noticed the same when I had mine. Lots of new powders out now that are slow burning which should do well in it and have better case fill. Mine liked Retumbo so never experimented much more after that. I just don't think there were enough super slow burning powders until recently.
Retumbo is THE powder for 264 wm.

I believe I'm at about 96 to 98% case fill with Retumbo and 140gr vld .010 off the lands.
 
It’s a dandy of a cartridge and one that I idolized as a kid due to my stepfather’s pre-64 M70 Westerner rifle. He killed a fine antelope with it that hung on the wall and it was very well suited for hunting our New Mexico big game species.

Thanks for taking me back to a much more simple time.

V/R,

Joe
 
It seems to me like it would benefit from real slow powders like RL26, RL33, US 869 and the likes.
 
These are from another location. These seem realistic. A friend gets a few fps less (15-28 fps) in his 26” barrel. He followed this ladder closely but was able to get about a half grain higher before stopping with Retumbo. LRT didn’t show any over pressure.

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A few years back I bought a Remington M673 Guide in 6.5 Rem Mag. The Nosler load data showed faster speeds for the 6.5 Rem Mag vs. the 264 Win Mag.
I knew that real world results were in favor of the bigger 264 Win Mag case.

JD338
 
I like LRT in my 7RM with 175 gr ELD-X’s. I’m getting 2989 fps from it at 2.5ish grains under where I start to get resistance opening the bolt. No ejector marks or sticky bolt where I’m at. I really hope it’s got good temp characteristics for ball powder, like Magnum. I’m still going to use it as my hunting load this year. My hunting takes place with 0 being the very lowest temp, with 30-35 being the average. The load was worked at 78 degrees so it won’t be that huge of a difference.

Edit: This is with #5 contour, 26” 1:8 X-Caliber barrel. I can get it over 3k easily with the LRT without pressure signs but it’s a lot of powder and heavy bullet. It heats the barrel up quickly and I feel like 2990 fps is enough abuse for the throat.

I have 5 lbs of Staball HD to try as well but haven’t loaded anything with it yet. The HD would probably treat you pretty well in your 264 as well.
 
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