Loading the 264 Win Mag?

[HTDUCK]

Somebody here has a 264 they call their pet rifle.
I've looked at loading manuals dating back to the 70s and it seem that load development for his cartridge just stopped.
I see powders listed that no longer exist, and top velocities of 3000-3100 fps with 140 gr bullets from a 24 inch barrel.
I even went so far as to call Sierra's tech line today.Nice folks,very friendly but again IMR 4350 in an overbore magnum was the reccomendation?
No mention of the powders we no commonly use in the other magnums.
No data for RL22,RL25,H1000,Retumbo, etc.

H450 and H870 look promising but they are no longer in production.
Closest thing I can find is a military powder WC872 that is used to load 20mm Vulcan ADA ammo.
8 lbs of it is around $140.00(US) shipped.

I'm having a rifle rebarreled in 264 Win Mag.It's gonna be a 1in 8 twist that's 28 inches long.
The intended use for this rifle is sit in a stand and shoot whitetails out to 600 yards.
I'm hoping to get 3200 (or more) from a 140 AB or Berger VLD.

So I humbly beseech the collective brain trust here to point me in the right direction.
Rifle is at the 'smith,brass, dies and bullets are on the way.
RADD is killing me.

Thanks in advance,
Howard

 

[FOTIS]

I have used up to 68 gr of RL 25 in several 264 for the 140 gainers. 3150 is no problem from a 26" tube though. Never pushed it past that.

 

[jwb]

I just had a .264 built last month on a model 70 to duplicate other model 70 featherweights i currently own. i have yet to chrono the loads but Nosler Partition 140 gr. over 58 gr. of RL22 shows 1" groups or better at 100 yards. The gun can do better but my eyes are old. another very good load is 130 tsx over 58 grains of RL22. cover this group with a quarter. the tsx has been very accurate at 200 and 300 yards. I shot a doe and antelope buck with the 130 tsx load this October. great gun, great round, and i can't wait to get started on the 140 AccuBond loads now that big gzame season is over.

 

[jwb]

HTduck,

I forgot to mention the article in RIFLE's HANDLOADER magazine. The 2005 - February edition has an article and loads by John Barsness for the .264 mag. He mentions the newer powders for this cartirdge. go onto wolf publishing's website to secure a copy of the magazine

 

[HTDUCK]

HTduck,

I forgot to mention the article in RIFLE's HANDLOADER magazine. The 2005 - February edition has an article and loads by John Barsness for the .264 mag. He mentions the newer powders for this cartirdge. go onto wolf publishing's website to secure a copy of the magazine

Well I guess I'm blind,I see a Jan/Feb issue of this but no article on the 264?
Could you perhaps provide me a link?

Thanks,
Howard

 

[FOTIS]

pm'ed yah!

 

[jwb]

http://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/i ... ?magid=102

HTduck,

Here is the link you requested.

jwb

 

[1Shot]

Get you some Retumbo powder. I have a 27 3/4" Shilen 9 twist 264 win mag on a Rem 700 action. I use 66.5 grs Retumbo and the 130 gr Nosler AccuBond for average 3350 fps and well under MOA accuracy. The AccuBond really works great on deer even close up. I recovered one bullet from a buck that I shot at 111 yards that was almost facing me. Bullet struck the front edge of it's left shoulder and I found it when I was cutting up the meat in the right ham. Bullet weight was 87 grs and was a text book mushroom. That has to be a great bullet to hold together going that fast and striking bone and going through around 5 ft of deer. Those long bullets sitting atop that mag case looks like a Saturn 5 rocket. It screams like one also out of long barrels. :mrgreen: I have had much better kill them in their tracks reaction with the 264 Win mag than I ever did with the " shoot them good and they run 100 yards" 7mm Rem mag.

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

I just got a 264 as well and I think I'm going to play with the 123g and 140g AMAXs. They are cheap, accurate, have high BC's, and they will kill steel, coyotes, and deer, so they get a thumbs up from me. Had nothing but great things happen with the 162g amax from my old 7 RM, hope this 264 will do the same.

It appears Retumbo is a top choice for velocity with bullets from 120g on up, I might have to buy a pound to try out versus H1000 and a few other powders I have on hand. On the hodgon site Retumbo is showing 3300fps with 120g and 3000fps for 140g while H1000 is doing 3270 and 2900.

I"ll be trying one or the other here real soon as I'm about to run out of these little 95g vmaxs. I"m thinking the 123g amax is goign to be the way to go in the 24" barrel, reason being with the extra 300fps in MV and not a whole lot of loss in BC versus the 140g amax (.510 for 123g vs .585 for 140g) figuring 3300fps for 123g and 3000fps for 140g AMAXs it will be real real close to the 140g amax out to 1K.

Heres what I come up with at 1K with a 10 MPH crosswind with the 123g amax and 140g amax loaded at max, 700ft ASL, 60 degrees, 1.75" sight height, rifle zeroed at 200 yards.

123g AMAX at 3300fps .510 BC
-218" 83 clicks (20.3 MOA)
1641 FPS
736 Ft lbs
68" 10 MPH 26 clicks (6.2 MOA)

140g AMAX at 3000fps .585 BC
-249" 95 clicks (23.3 MOA)
1611 FPS
806 Ft lbs
65" 10 MPH 25 clicks (6.1 MOA)

As you can see, that little 123g AMAX looks to be one mean bullet, it literally gives up nothing to the bigger 140g, but it does shoot 3 MOA flatter, 3" difference of wind drift is a moot point IMO, I'm not good enough to judge that at that range anyways, and 70 more ft lbs of energy is like throwing an extra BB at it, and there still impacting at a higher velocity to insure expansion. Yah, I think I"m buying some 123g AMAX's and Retumbo...

 

[SJB358]

RM2506, what 264 did you get? Scotty

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

See my post in the rifles section, Winchester model 70 XTR, new unfired since around 1982 or so. Was a family friend and he had 3 264's, 2 were rem 700s with 26" bbls that him and one of his boys used for everything. The winny however, was bought for him by his father in the early 80's according to him and he never wanted or needed to shoot it since he already had 1 of his 700s in 264 at the time. He intended to keep it unfired for his youngest boy who is 10, but he is more into duck and goose hunting so he decided if he could get what he wanted out of it, it would help towards a new shotgun and a few decoys for the young fellow. Just so happens I really really have wanted a 264 for quite some time and I just happened to have the cash, right place at the right time I guess. He had it in the local paper for a week or two and had 10 people come look at it, every single guy wanted to jew him down on his firm price. This guy is one of a kind, you dont jew him down...Either you pay what he asks for it or he'll keep it, simple as that. I knew it was well worth what I gave him for it so I wasn't trying to jew him down any. Infact he told me whatever the guys tried to jew him down, say $100, he would turn around and say well now its $100 more then what I originally ask for it. They give him a puzzling look and ask him why and how that works? He says well you trying to screw me out of $100, I'm gonna add $100 now, LOL. He just has that kinda attitude, he didn't care if he sold it or not really he said, he didn't really want to, but he said he wanted the rifle to go to someone who would put it to good use and not just let it sit and collect dust for 30 more years. Lucky me!!!