M70 264 Win Mag

[SJB358]

Last weekend while visiting my favorite little gun shop, they had a pristine M70 Sporter 264WM with nice wood and no visible marks or scars, other than some slight marring of the front action screw. Well, I looked it over and quickly put it down so I didn't try and bring it home. I kinda thought on it for a few days and called them a few days ago and asked if it was still available. They said they had it and would put it aside if I put a deposit on it. Well, I got busy at work and forgot about it.

Well, I woke up early today and called, in hopes that it was sold, and I would get past it. Well, they still had it, so I drove the 40 miles to check it out again. I asked them if they had a bore scope to check it out. It looked unfired, or barely used by the throat. I guess at nearly 50.00 a box for shells, unless your a handloader, it would be mighty expensive. Everything else looked great on the rifle, the checkering, blueing, crown and all the rest look great. I put some money down on it and will pick it up in a few days or a week. Wanna assemble some equipment for it, so it is ready to shoot once I get it home.

I hate having extra scopes lieing around and with the 4.5x14 VXIII with B&C sitting in my safe, I figured I needed a proper rifle for it! I had bought the scope in hope of Winchester building their 25-06 Sporters this year, but being I haven't seen them yet, I will have to shoot this 264 a little.

It seems like the Shooters Pro Shop had a bunch of 6.5 bullets like the 140gr PT, 125gr PT and some AB's for WEEKS, and now, when I look, all I see if Nosler brass! I will keep my eyes out and probably try some Hornady or something to get this rifle broke in. Scotty

 

[JD338]

Congratulations Scotty! That is an awesome find. 8)
Excellent scope choice too.
Time to get dies and components line up. I would think the 6.5mm130 gr AB would be an awesome bullet. This baby will shoot flat as road kill. :wink:

Looking forward to seeing some pictures and a range report.

JD338

 

[SJB358]

I am looking into all that right now. I am pretty stoked with the find. I almost kind of wished I would have gotten the whole amount today instead of just giving them what I had with me. Ah well, it will give me time to get mounts and such. Plus a set of dies, some bullets and cases. I have been looking over some loads too. Seems like it should be fairly easy to load for. Scotty

 

[DrMike]

If you can load for the 7mm RM, you can load for the 264 WM. I believe it will be a real prize in your safe.

 

[1Shot]

You can use 7mm Rem Mag cases. Just run them through the 264 Win mag die and your are ready to go. The 130 Nosler AccuBond is perfect. Get you some Hodgdon Retumbo powder and some Large Rifle Mag primers. I use CCI 250. My rifle, Rem 700 with a Shilen 27 3/4" barrel really shoots with the 130 AccuBond 10 thousands off the lands and 66.5 grs Retumbo, CCI 250, WW 7mm Rem mag case resized to 164 Win mag. It does 3350 fps average. My rifle has a tight chamber and I ran into pressure problems at 67 grs. 67.5 grs is the max that the Hodgdon manual list. The AB is the perfect bullet. It will not blow up at close range and it will still open up really well at long range. I have killed 5 deer in the past two years with the 130 AB from 80 to 250 yards and it just drops them in their tracks and exits all but on one. I shot it almost facing me a 111 yards in the front of the left shoulder and found the bullet in the right ham while cutting up the meat. It was a text book mushroom and weight was 87 grains. It has to be a good bullet going that fast and still holding together and going almost all the way through a deer from stem to stern.

 

[SJB358]

1Shot, you are just the man I have been waiting to hear from. I have Retumbo and CCI250's already. I am not sure I will use 7RM cases, as I have a 7RM and since the 264 is so close in size, I may stick with 264 headstamped brass and since I can get Nosler 2nds right now for the price of Win brass, I may just start out with that.

I plan on trying the 130gr-140gr AB or the 125gr or 140grPT. I am going to kind of get what I can get once I start loading for it. Mine only has a 26" tube on it, so I would be more than happy with a 130 at 3200 or better. I am really looking forward to working with this rifle. I can see it being a favorite if it shoots well. Scotty

 

[BK]

Nice catch, Buddy! I kinda like .264s, but as of yet I don't have one. What's the barrel length on that one? Just a personal quirk for me, but I don't know if I'd buy one with a 24" tube.

 

[FOTIS]

Didn't someone who looks remarkably like me tell you to get a 264 Win mag when your 25-06 did not arrive?


Congrats and stock up on retumbo and rl 25

 

[SJB358]

Didn't someone who looks remarkably like me tell you to get a 264 Win mag when your 25-06 did not arrive?


Congrats and stock up on retumbo and rl 25

Uh, maybe? HA! It does have the 26" barrel, so I think I should be good to go. I have some Retumbo left over from my 25-06 loads. I think this will be a good one. It certainly looks new. Can't wait to see what it does. Scotty

 

[Guy Miner]

Excellent! That should be quite a rifle.

 

[SJB358]

I hope so! I can't be any worse than the CDL! Just kidding buddy! Scotty

 

[Powerstroke]

Scotty -

Congrats on putting a 6.5 in the safe !
Yep - The ole 130/140 AB's should do the job just fine - can't wait to see your results.

 

[SJB358]

Thanks Mark. Looking forward to working with this rifle some. I hope it has some zing. I am going to try and find some AB's here shortly so I am ready for load work when I get it all set up. Scotty

 

[1Shot]

beretzs: You have got a good rifle M-70 with 26" tube. When they neutered the M-70 by putting a 24" tube on it later because of the cry babies saying "it was too heavy to hunt with" they killed it. I am not sure what twist in is the barrel. If it is a 9 twist you might have trouble stabilizing 140 gr bulelts. From what I have experienced with the 130 AccuBond I would not hesitate to use it on elk. If it will bust the scapula on a 170 lb deer and travel all the way through it's body to within an inch of exiting the ham length wise with an impact velocity of at least 3200 fps it will take out the boiler room of any elk that ever lived. From others experience and my own and the new Hodgdon manual I just got Retumbo seems to be THE POWDER for the 264 Win mag. With my long barrel I was getting 3600 fps with 120 Nosler BT and great accuracy. That would be great if your intended target was deer/antelope no close than about 250 yards. Where I deer hunt in east NC I have shots from in your lap to as far as you would want to try one in some bean fields. I decided on the 130 AB for that reason. At 3600 fps I think that the 120 BT might evaporate on the hair at 200 yards and under. I have shot a number of deer with a 6.5X55 Swede at 3000 fps with 120 BT at between 50 and 100 yards it really comes apart. Just keep in mind to go slow and don't heat up your barrel a lot and be conservative on the paper punching volume and that 264 Win mag will last you a life time of accurate hunting.

 

[SJB358]

Thanks 1Shot, I imagine as long as it shoots well, I won't be putting a ton of rounds through the rifle. I usually end up with one good load and stick with it. I would think that I might put 50 rounds through the rifle, a year after I work up loads for it. I was pretty stoked to see it had a 26" barrel. Once I get some components together, I will start assembling things and get it out to the range. I will give a good look to the 130gr AB's. They seem to have a pretty strong following here by you and Mark, so that can't be a bad thing. Plus, they are pretty reasonably priced! Scotty

 

[Elkman]

congratulations, that caliber has always been one that I thought I should have owned. When you have your "first" clearence sale keep me in mind !!!! Have a great day :grin:

 

[DrMike]

When you have your "first" clearence sale keep me in mind !!!!

Bill, did I miss something? Is Scotty planning a clearance sale? I'll vie with you for this one. :grin:

 

[rjm158]

Scotty, the 130 AB's work great out of a 264. I have one of the M70 XTR's and killed a whitetail doe 3-4 years ago with it at 152 yds. I don't recall off hand what the specific load was but it shot great and flat. I think you'll be pleased.

Ron

 

[257 Ackley]

Can't wait to see it! I have to agree with a couple others that the 130AB seems to be the perfect bullet for this rifle. You may get the 125 PT to do what you want, but those 600 yard shots will do better with the AB. Not that it hurts to have a couple bullets that shoot well in any rifle 8) .

I'm glad it has a 26" tube. Now we will be able to compare ballistics and see how my 6.5WSM compares to the old .264. I am checking on dies on Monday for both of us to see where they are priced at and availability.

 

[Scott Spencer]

Scotty....Scotty.....Scotty!!! :mrgreen:
Congrats on the new rifle! I know you'll have a lot of fun with it.