264 winchester magnum

[codybear]

To those of you that have experience with this caliber, I am curious about the pros and cons? What do you like/dislike about this gun?

[Curly]

It burns a bunch of powder and 26" barrel is really the minimum for taking advantage of the slow burning powders.  Velocities with 140 gr bullets are not really that much more than a guy could get out of a 22" barreled 270 win burning way less powder. 

6.5 mm bullets do have some high BC's though, so there is that.

One thing in the "con" column in some people's minds with the .264 Win is the fact that it has a belt.  I never understood why having a belt is a problem, but some people don't like belted mags for some reason.     (I have no problem with the belt on my .300 Win or .264 win).

[Skillet]

.264 WM is the 6.5 Creedmore done right 

[Curly]

26 Nosler is the 264 Win Mag done right......   

[Biggerhammer]

The 6.5 Badger is the 26 Nosler done right.

[Skillet]

In all seriousness, I've not owned one, but have shot one a couple of times. A heavy M70, factory loads.  Recoil noticeable, but not close to the same ballpark as a 300WM w/180's.

They had a rep as barrel burners, and as mentioned a 26" tube is probably a good minimum.

Would be a great long range caliber, but is often overlooked for the sexier 6.5's now.

What rifle(s) are you looking at?

[Buck Rub Jr]

I just put a new hogue stock and a Burris fullfield II 4.5-14 on my grandpas old savage 110 .264. Getting ready to do some handloading so I cam  get it out to the range.

[horsehunter509]

I love my 264. One downfall is most older ones dont have a fast enough twist for some of the heavier bullets. Mine shoots 130 bergers at 3188 and has taken deer at 692 yds and a elk at 490 yds.

[BigGoonTuna]

i've got an early M700 in .264 mag with the 23 or 24" "blued stainless" barrel.  i've been tinkering with it for a while, trying to get some velocity from it.  i haven't gone further than pushing 140s at around 3050...but that's the short barrel for you.  would love to get a 26" or longer 1:8 twist barrel screwed on in the near future.  recoil isn't anything i would consider "magnum", more like 270 level.

for me, the biggest downside is that i don't have as much time to work on my loads as i would like.  this cartridge is very finicky compared to some others.  and official published data SUCKS! iit takes years for powder companies to publish load data when new powders come out, and the loads are extremely conservative.  some good advice i've read on another forum, "once you start reloading for the .264, you've just signed up to be your own ballistician."  then, there's the whole issue of the original loads using a bore riding bullet, so in most rifles you have to seat the bullets deeply to avoid jamming them into the lands.  a bullet comparator is very helpful. 

[codybear]

All, thanks for the replies. I stumbled across a ruger M77 .264 in stainless with a composite stock and couldn't pass it up. I just had a Vortex HST 6-24x50 mounted on it this past weekend and am eager to get it to the range. I plan to stick to factory loads and see how dialed in I can get it out to about 500yds.

[CaNINE]

I have a custom 264WM with a benchmark 26" 1:8 twist.  I purpose built this rifle for my main open country deer and antelope rig.  I can push 143 ELD-X and 140 VLD with Retumbo or H50BMG to 3200 fps with no pressure signs and still maintain sub 0.75 MOA performance out to 1000 yards.  If I throttle back to the 3050 node I can get 0.5 MOA performance.  I think the biggest drawback with any of the fast 6.5's is that they can be picky with bullet/powder combinations.  Some will say barrel life is a concern but I consider barrel's a commodity, much like replacing tires on a car.   

[Matth]

26 Nosler is the 264 Win Mag done right...... 

i have both and i would half to agree.