School me on 264 Win Mag

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Mainehunter
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School me on 264 Win Mag

Post by Mainehunter »

So I put on lay-a-way, a 1968 Win 70 in 264 Win Mag yesterday at a gun shop near the cost of Maine. Didn't really need it BUT man that wood stock is beautiful!!! I'm a sucker for good grained wood stock! The other issue is the rifling is pretty shallow. I can visually see the throat area is looking a little rough and the gun shop did say the previous owner mentioned the barrel is "burnet out" and the asking price was $550. Gave them half and told them I'll pick it up next week at some point. I've read the 264 burns barrels pretty good but that was back in the day and I'm thinking with todays powders should be better. If I need to re-barrel, I'm looking at "26 minimum on the barrel length but can't decide on 1-9 or 1-8 twist rate? Thoughts? Suggestions?

Mainehunter
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6pt-sika
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Re: School me on 264 Win Mag

Post by 6pt-sika »

I doubt the barrel is burned out but I expect the throat is eroded pretty well . If I were you I’d scrub the heck out of it first and try some handloads before I rebarreled . And if I rebarreled I’d go with a Shilen #3 or #4 contour in stainless that’s 1:8 .
Parkers , Mannlicher Schoenauer’s , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines !
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6pt-sika
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Re: School me on 264 Win Mag

Post by 6pt-sika »

I’ve got a 1:9 on my 6.5-06 and it shoots very very well and it’s a Shilen #3 stainless . But when I built my 26 Nosler I got a stainless Shilen #4 that’s 1:8 and it shoots somewhat better .
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Parkers , Mannlicher Schoenauer’s , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines !
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6pt-sika
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Re: School me on 264 Win Mag

Post by 6pt-sika »

I’ve owned four rifles in 264 Win Mag . The first was a circa 1960 Winchester Model 70 Westerner with a factory 26” stainless barrel , that gun was thirty years old when I got it and I still got it to shoot less then 3/4” at 100 yards for three shots and killed a pile of deer with it . Later AccuSport had Remington build a bunch of 700 BDL stainless synthetics with 26” barrels and the local Gunshop was gonna order one for a fellow so I had him get two . I took that one out worked up loads and it also would do better then .75 MOA but not quite .5 MOA , after awhile someone offered me a good price and it left . A couple years later the fellow that ordered the gun same as the one I had wanted a revolver I had so I ended up with his rifle and some cash . That one was also less then .75 MOA but again not .5 MOA . Then about seven or eight years ago Ruger announced they were making the Ruger #1B in 264 Win Mag and at the time I was accumulating #1’s so I sold the Remington 264 and had the Ruger on order with two of our distributors . Finally got one from Lipseys if I remmember correctly . When it arrived I scrubbed the barrel good and mounted a Leupold Vari XIII 4.5-14AO . When I got home I pulled out the box of handloads that were left over from the last Remington to see if they’d chamber in the Ruger and they did . So off to the range I went got it sighted in 1 1/2” high at 100 and cleaned the barrel well . Then fired a fouler and let it sit to cool . After 15 minutes I sat down and shot a three shot group it measured about 1/2” with my tape measure later at home with calipers I got .489” that was with a Hornady 129 SST pushed with RL-22 sorry I don’t remmember the charge weight . I used those same loads later to kill three deer that season with three shots . After the deer I cleaned it well took the scope off and put it in the safe . When I got intrested in the 26 Nosler I sold the 264 #1 to a collector friend in Maine . Now I’ve got thoughts again about building one or getting one of the early 60’s Remington 700’s with the factory stainless 24” barrel (that was all they came in at that time).
Parkers , Mannlicher Schoenauer’s , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines !
Mainehunter
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Re: School me on 264 Win Mag

Post by Mainehunter »

Thanks for the info 6pt-sika! The gun shop said the previous own had the rifle checked out by a gunsmith in the area and did say the barrel is done so don't know if he used a bore scope. Still, it's worth a try and scrub it good and a friend of mine does an electrolysis setup if I decide to go that route. It seems the minimum barrel length for the 264 is 26"? I'm assuming the #3 & #4 Shilen barrels are sporter profile on your rifles? I'm thinking between 120's and 130's for bullet weight if I need to re-barrel. There's a few of use that shoot at a range out to 1500 yards. Have shot at that range a couple of times over the years with my M25 but the 308 can't compete with the 6.5, 6mm Creeds or 7mm Mags BUT if I can just get this 264 Win working...... :D

Mainehunter
Thunder50
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Re: School me on 264 Win Mag

Post by Thunder50 »

You might get it working well enough to hunt with as the barrel might have some life left in it, just maybe not much. I had one of the early Remingtons but it didn't stay around long, someone else wanted it more than I. I really regret selling off the 6.5 rem mag 700 I had, but I really wanted that artillery luger the guy had.
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6pt-sika
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Re: School me on 264 Win Mag

Post by 6pt-sika »

Shilen #3 is considered sported weight I believe and a #4 is more along a magnum weight contour . Usually when I get a used gun I do 25 passes with a Hoppes soaked brass brush then a couple dry patches and I repeat this eight times for a total of 200 passes of the Hoppes soaked brush . Then after that I take a Hoppes soaked patch thru 4 or 5 times then dry patches , let it sit about an hour then get Hoppes Copper Solvent or Sweets 7.62 and a NYLON brush wrapped with a patch , soak the patch make a pass let it sit 3-5 minutes then two dry patches then repeat . I do the copper solvent stuff maybe 10-12 times then dry patch really well followed finally by regular Hoppes soaked patches a couple strokes and final dry patch . For me this process has done well , others say it’s to much . They can think what they will and I’ll continue to do this process as it’s worked for me just about every time I’ve done it .
Parkers , Mannlicher Schoenauer’s , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines !
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6pt-sika
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Re: School me on 264 Win Mag

Post by 6pt-sika »

As to barrel lengths . My 6.5-06 was finished at 24” I’ve got several 260’s that are 26” , my 26 Nosler at the moment is 26 3/4” reason being I wasn’t sure how much it was gonna jump at the bench so I wanted the extra 3/4” so I could thread for a break if necessary and then if I didn’t like the break I could cut the threads off and recrown at 26” . The gun never got threaded and has stayed at 26 3/4” honestly this is the only gun to date I’ve been able to take load data from the books and equal or slightly surpass the printed max velocities .
Parkers , Mannlicher Schoenauer’s , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines !
Mainehunter
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Re: School me on 264 Win Mag

Post by Mainehunter »

This going to be a "winter project" . I'll spend some time cleaning it and such. Getting to the range probably won't be till early spring the way things have been going. I can get dies bullets and some brass to make up some loads but I'm thinking the amount of testing I may need to run through her, I'm thinking the barrel might be done by then. We shall see.

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6pt-sika
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Re: School me on 264 Win Mag

Post by 6pt-sika »

Mainehunter wrote: Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:32 pm This going to be a "winter project" . I'll spend some time cleaning it and such. Getting to the range probably won't be till early spring the way things have been going. I can get dies bullets and some brass to make up some loads but I'm thinking the amount of testing I may need to run through her, I'm thinking the barrel might be done by then. We shall see.

Mainehunter
You could be right about the barrel after the fact . My opinion on 6.5mm billets if you care to read . The “Taticool” guys advocate the 140’s for the BC etc etc and I’m not arguing the point . But like you mentioned I generally prefer 120-130 grains . My 260’s and Grendel’s usually get fed nothing heavier then 125 grains although my 700 5R is doing well with 129’s . The 6.5-06 is pretty much 129 or 130 only and the 26 Nosler has loads worked up for all the 129 and 130 grainers . However once I’ve killed a deer with each of those bullets I’ll try four or five 140 grainers I also have loads worked up for . I will say I’ve found in the five 6.5x55’s I have at the moment they all do well with 140’s . I have a CZ 550-FS in 6.5 Swede that I’ve only shot 140’s in and it’s the only 6.5 I’ve killed a deer with so far using a 140 . I have four Swedish Mausers in various configurations that I’ll eventually try on brown critters and probably all with 140’s . That first Pre 64 model 70 264 I had killed deer with the old Nosler 120 solid base and the first of the Nosler 120 BT’s . The 120 BT is a skoosh light for the 264 , I skipped one down a bucks rib cage because I shot at a steep angle and when he turned I put a second in his crankcase problem solved . The Nosler 100 and 120 BT’s work nicely in 260 and Grendel class cartridges as well as the Hornady 123 SST .
Parkers , Mannlicher Schoenauer’s , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines !
Pete44ru
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Re: School me on 264 Win Mag

Post by Pete44ru »

Mainehunter wrote: Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:32 pm
This going to be a "winter project" .

I'll spend some time cleaning it and such.

Getting to the range probably won't be till early spring the way things have been going.

If you can get it going NOW, shoot it down yer driveway so you won't need to plow any snow...…………………….…. :mrgreen:



.
Mainehunter
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Re: School me on 264 Win Mag

Post by Mainehunter »

Pete44ru wrote: Sun Nov 24, 2019 6:30 pm
Mainehunter wrote: Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:32 pm
This going to be a "winter project" .

I'll spend some time cleaning it and such.

Getting to the range probably won't be till early spring the way things have been going.

If you can get it going NOW, shoot it down yer driveway so you won't need to plow any snow...…………………….…. :mrgreen:



.
:D Like pushing the banks back with the V Plow!!! :lol:
model55
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Re: School me on 264 Win Mag

Post by model55 »

1-8 if you want to shoot the heavier bullets with better ballistics.
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DocRock
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Re: School me on 264 Win Mag

Post by DocRock »

As far as I know, there is still a very limited selection of .264" bullets in the 150 grs + range. Some of the uber VLD 140s may need 1:8 but, generally speaking, unless you plan to use the rifle on elk or moose, where the top end SD's should deliver penetration similar to a 30-06 180 grs, 120s -140 grs are the 6.5 sweet spot. I have killed deer with the Hornady 160 grs RN and an assortment of 140s from a Swede sporter (much lower velocity) and found no appreciable difference. And I use 30-06 180 grs Partitions for elk, so have no experience in that regard.
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