.264 Winchester Magnum?

Jelen

Well-Known Member
Hi.
Has anyone got experience or knowledge of the the .264 Win Mag.
I know it uses the 6.5mm bullet but that's about it.
 
Hi.
Has anyone got experience or knowledge of the the .264 Win Mag.
I know it uses the 6.5mm bullet but that's about it.
Yes.
Quite some time ago now. I made up ammunition for another shooter with a Rem M700 (or Win M70?) as I have RCBS dies in .264 WM.
I converted some of my 7mm RM cases (same case), and used Sierra 120gr & 140gr with IMR 4831, from memory.

It's a barrel burner, if ever there was one. A number of David Lloyd rifles were made in it, labelled as .264.:)
 

There are a few around for sale. I know of a couple.

And along with the 6.5 Creedmoor which mimics the 6.5x55, the 6.5 PRC pretty much mimics the 6.5 win mag. And I expect 6.5cm vs 308 and 6.5 WM or PRC vs 300 win mags make similar arguments.

With modern powders and bullets why not?
 
According to the book, Cartridges of the World, the .264 Winchester magnum was announced by Winchester in 1958. It was the first American 6.5mm cartridge since the long defunct .256 Newton was announced in 1913. It was originally only available in the Winchester Model 70 Westerner with a 26-inch barrel. Later it was offered for a time by Remington in the 700 and Ruger in the M77.

The book goes on to state the .264 is a fine ultra-velocity cartridge with excellent long-range capabilities and ballistics superior to the .270 Winchester. It is considered suitable for all American big game. It can be extremely hard on barrels due to careless shooting, inadequate cooling between shots, or inadequate cleaning. It can loose a great deal of velocity with barrels shorter than 26 inches.
 
It can loose a great deal of velocity with barrels shorter than 26 inches.
I guess this is true for all 'overbore' cartridges, and should be kept in mind by us modern folk for whom 22" is a longish barrel. One could end up just burning up lots of expensive powder, not to mention the barrel, just to illuminate the hill or heat up the moderator.
 
I guess this is true for all 'overbore' cartridges, and should be kept in mind by us modern folk for whom 22" is a longish barrel. One could end up just burning up lots of expensive powder, not to mention the barrel, just to illuminate the hill or heat up the moderator.
Just had to find my notes on this which date from 2006 - 2007. :old:

The rifle was a 24" Rem M700 bought very cheap by a target-shooting member. At that time 6.5mm Match bullets were scarce, and all expanding bullets were Section 5 restricted. It seemed like an interesting project to play with an unobtainable calibre in somebody else's rifle. I was already loading for my 6.5x55 so had all the bits & dies needed for .264 WM.

Standard testing routine on the club range, with a ladder load of 52.0 - 56.0* IMR 4831 (140gr) & 55.0 - 59.0* (120gr) of the same, in necked-down Remington 7mm RM cases clocked over an Oehler 33.

It was something of a flame-thrower, and velocities were disappointing at max* of 3000 (120gr) and 2860 (140gr). I had slower powders in Norma 204 and MRP back then, but thought they might have made the muzzle blast and flash worse. It wasn't as flexible to load for as the 7mm RM, which I've always seen as an ultra .270.
The results weren't much better than my .270 in ME terms.

Folk might be interested in seeing the expansion. ratio (ER) of chamber to bore (24" barrel) for various cartridges from Guns Review:-

.300 WM (5.8), 7mm RM (5.3), .264 WM (4.75), .270 (6.35), .243 (6.15) - all compared to the much more efficient .308 (9.25).
 
I shoot a 6.5-284 and love it, they say it's a barrel burner, this is from the target lads that shoot long strings of bullets. 1k to 1.5k rounds. Tell me a staking rifle that shoots that many.
 
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