PEAX Equipment

.264 Win Mag

AvidIndoorsman

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Trying to figure out a load for my .264 for this season, I want to switch to copper eventually but finding components has been a bit tough and I'm inclined to wait a couple of years and see if the 6.5 craze gets more bullets in circulation.

Therefore I have purchased a box of 140gr partitions and am thing about using Retumbo, starting at 63 grains, and working my way up from there hoping to get 3100 fps. I really only use this rifle for hunting and have probably only put 80 rounds through it in the lasts 5 years so I'm not really worried about burning the barrel. This is a old Remington 700 with a 1-9 twist and a 24" barrel. In the next 18 months I plan to hunt black bear, elk , mule deer, and either caribou or moose in AK .

Does anyone have any experience loading this caliber and/or using retumbo?
 
I have no experience, but have been enamored with the cartridge for a long time. I think that load you propose would work on the game you have listed. I've read alot of good things about folks using 140ish grain bullets with R33 or surplus powders like WC872 and getting higher velocities than you are targeting. If you are really wanting to switch to a mono-metal, the 120gr Etip will start faster, has a higher BC, and therefore will fly flatter than a 140gr Partition. Probably penetrate just as well. Another I'd be looking at is the 140gr Accubond. I wouldn't have any problem using them on the game you have listed out of a 264 Win Mag.
 
1_pointer is correct in that the 140 gr. Partition and Accubond would both work very well for you in the .264 for the game you listed. Those 120 gr. E-tips are something else also! My son shoots a 6mm Remington using 90 gr. E-tips and he's taken antelope, deer, and his first elk with his 6mm. The elk was a large cow that he shot once at 350 yards. The bullet exited her offside shoulder and she didn't go any further than about 20 yards before she tipped over.
 
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Did some reloading with Retumbo this weekend worked my way up to 66 grains with no signs of pressure whatsoever... kinda scratching my head as the max SAAMI pressure for the caliber is 64,000 and hodgdon says 63.5 grains of retumbo is the max and will yield 63,000.

I'm pretty new to reloading, so i'm curious if this is a pretty common experience with reloading manuals/manufactures... that they way way under-load for safety. I think I could have probably could have gone up a bit more maybe even 68 but decided to call it a day at 66.
 
For charge weight, it depends on the case capacity. Different manufactures have different capacities which results in different pressures, among many other things, like chamber size, and barrel dia.

Pressure signs may not show themselves, speed is can an indicator, but not necessarily. I don't put a whole lot of stock into what published "max" loads represent other than a benchmark. I rarely load to book "max" but rather try for most accurate with highest speed. I'm usually 200fps or less below published speeds even at "max" powder charges. 200fps doesn't mean much when I only shoot to 350 yards.
 
For charge weight, it depends on the case capacity. Different manufactures have different capacities which results in different pressures, among many other things, like chamber size, and barrel dia.

Pressure signs may not show themselves, speed is can an indicator, but not necessarily. I don't put a whole lot of stock into what published "max" loads represent other than a benchmark. I rarely load to book "max" but rather try for most accurate with highest speed. I'm usually 200fps or less below published speeds even at "max" powder charges. 200fps doesn't mean much when I only shoot to 350 yards.

Yeah groups seemed to improve as I went up in speed so that's mostly why I kept going... got to the point at 100 yards that I was the limiting factor of the equation so I said good enough. I'm sure you and some of the better shooters on here could have probably have squeezed another 1/2 MOA out of it...
 
Resurrecting this thread as I'm still flummoxed by ammo manufactures and the .264 win mag.

Saw HSM is manufacturing .264 ammo for a reasonable price... but the box doesn't give the muzzle velocity. I went to their website and they give 2852fps for a 140 grain bullet. Meanwhile they are pushing a 6.5-284 Norma with the same bullet at 3016fps. Nosler on the other hand has partions in .264 at 3000fps, and 6.5-284 Norma at 2700fps. This seems more reasonable. I'm just wondering why HSM would hot load the 6.5 and not the .264win mag.

My handloads with Retumbo and Partitions are getting around 3100 out of a 24 inch barrel for comparison.

Also why has everyone backed off so dramatically on the .264. Seems like if you try to buy .264 ammo you see similar ballistics to a .270 but if you handload you are getting better than 7mm rem mag factory loads.

Throwing another weird discrepancy in the mix I noticed that the current Nosler factory is at about 3000fps, but I found an old box of Nosler custom at a shop in Montana that was at 3150fps.

I get the barrel burning argument except.. 26 Nosler, 6-5-300wby...etc. So that really doesn't seem to answer it.

Almost makes me think there is a conspiracy or something ;)
 
Always wanted a .264 win mag , Winchester m70 featherweight.
I sure think a 26" barrel is a good thing to have on any mag rifle though but seems a 24" can still move em pretty good.
 
Worst thing even made available to handloader's in the chronograph. We were actually a lot better off in the days before they came out. Didn't matter much what the velocity was, what mattered was a good bullet at a suggested good velocity! Your 264 with a 140gr bullet at 2800fps isn't all that bad. That's about where my 6.5x06 is with a 140gr bullet and my 6.5x55 just isn't that far behind them! So I'd say, put the chronograph away, use the book as a guide and work up a good hunting load. That would be about 1 1/2" @100 yds or better. Or you could store the 264 and get yourself a 30-06 with a 180gr load. It's been doing what you want for a long time!
 
I have been shooting .264 WM’s for years. They can be a bit finicky it seems. With the slow 1 in 9” twist you are limited as many of the new 6.5 bullets (140+) won’t stabilize well. I shot 130 grain sciroccos out of my sendero, and i am shooting 130 eld-m out of my m70 featherweight 24” barrel. I have always shot H4831sc. My current load is the 130eldm in front of 66 gns H4831sc. Shooting well under MOA at 3,300fps. Has worked fantastic on deer
 
Don, I'm very happy with my current load for hunting. Just wondering why the factory ammo is all over the place.
My guess is that some factory loads are old recipes and others are taking advantage of the newer, slower powders.

I've had a hankering for a 264 Win Mag for a long time. I read an article in North American Whitetail when I was a kid about a guy in NE. The article stated he used a 264 Win Mag and that it was a cartridge a head of its time. The increase in large capacity 6.5s the past few years have shown that very well be true. But, if buying new today, I'd strongly consider a 26 Nosler.
 
Worst thing even made available to handloader's in the chronograph. We were actually a lot better off in the days before they came out. Didn't matter much what the velocity was, what mattered was a good bullet at a suggested good velocity! Your 264 with a 140gr bullet at 2800fps isn't all that bad. That's about where my 6.5x06 is with a 140gr bullet and my 6.5x55 just isn't that far behind them! So I'd say, put the chronograph away, use the book as a guide and work up a good hunting load. That would be about 1 1/2" @100 yds or better. Or you could store the 264 and get yourself a 30-06 with a 180gr load. It's been doing what you want for a long time!

I both agree and disagree... I think that people put wayyyyy too much stock into velocities and energy, and not to say either one is bad, but I think a lot of animals will fall to a lot less than people think they will.

With that said, I wouldn't want to be bothering with a .264 magnum of any sort that only shot at 2800fps. I can get to within 50 or so of that in a 6.5 creedmoor or 260, burn less powder, and also have cheaper, more plentiful ammo if I wasn't a hand loader.
 
I wouldn't want to be bothering with a .264 magnum of any sort that only shot at 2800fps.

Exactly... I'm getting 300 fps faster than factor loads with hand loads, I have limited experience with hand-loading (this is the only rifle I have loaded for) but it doesn't seem like most hand-loaders, or various calibers, are seeing a 10% improvement in speed over factory.
 
Worst thing even made available to handloader's in the chronograph. We were actually a lot better off in the days before they came out...
Wow, that's a new one on me. I'd say erratic published numbers mean a fella should get a chronograph out and see what's what for velocity, s.d., and extreme spread. Then you know for sure, for your rifle.
 
So I'd say, put the chronograph away, use the book as a guide and work up a good hunting load.

Thats a first for me, I have never heard anyone say they would trust book velocity over a chrono. Gotta love the internet.
 
To each their own is the way I feel about it.
Blind men don't care how ugly their woman is. Probably all the happier for it.
I like knowing the real velocities of my loads in my rifles. That way I know which powder , bullet combination is the most efficient.
Plenty of guys don't need a chrony, or calipers or more than one or two types of powder to load for just about anything.

Some think good accuracy is hitting a pie plate at the hundred.
If it makes them happy it is fine with me.

I'm afraid I just have to know more and try for better if I can.
That's just me I'm sure.
 

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