.264 Winchester help....

[mchapman]

My dad bought me a new model 70 win .264 in 1991. I used the gun years ago and killed a couple of whitetails with it. The gun was fairly accurate with winchester factory ammo (140 gr silvertips) but never really shot very well.....so i shelved it. I have recently decided to try and make the gun perform better. This past weekend I shot a group with it using new winchester factory ammo ......the result was terrrible; a 3.5 inch 3-shot group at 100 yards....so bad i didn't even back up any further! I have all of my reloading eqipment for it and the gun is in superb condition....but in only has a 24 inch barrel.

My question is 3-fold...does anyone have some good reloading data for this caliber? Could the barrel be a factory dud that's causing such inaccuracy? Given the .264 really comes into it's own with a 26 inch barrel, would you recommend buying a new 26 inch barrel for it and if so where could i get one?

Thanks for the help,
MC

 

[lee31]

I have a win model70 264 I bought new in 97 or 98 it has a 26inch barrel. It won't shoot 140s very good I think the twist rate on the barrel must be to slow. But with 60.5 grains of IMR4350 and 120 nosler bt's it shoots 1/2inch groups all day with a velocity of 3300. Its one hell of a combo on whitetails.

 

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

Brother there are so many variable I don't even know where to start. Needless to say I think you already know 3 rounds at 100 yards of random off the shelf ammo is no measure of precision and accuracy.

Run down a list for your self
Whats my twist rate?
Have I gone over my rifle and re checked torque settings?
How was my rest?

I think you get the idea, If you have checked it all out and you know its not you start with a new load. Pick a bullet, brass, powder and primer combo and get loading, asking for loads is as much of a crap shoot as factory ammo in my opinion. Define what you would like to achieve with the rifle and the guys here can help you pick components and refine your load data. Lots of real real smart guys here, very willing to help you.

Jon

 

[champberetta]

Have you cleaned the barrel really good lately? If you put it away with a dirty barrel years ago and never cleaned it to bare steel it may be all gunked up with powder residue, just a thought but i have a 264 and it will let you know when itneeds cleaning about 35 to 40 shots is all it takes to throw the accuracy off on mine.

 

[06mauser]

I have a remington CDL in a 264. I started off loading 140 grain bullets for it becasue of the higher bc's. The gun would not shoot 140 grain bullets to save its but. I should have checked the twist rate first it was 1 in 9. I switched to 130 grain bullets and it went from minute of deer to sub moa. I tried a bunch of different combinations of bullets and few different powders to get it to do this. The gun finally settled on a combo Hornady SST's and IMR 4350. Nothing fancy but the gun could shoot.

 

[mchapman]

Thanks for the advice so far fellas...I guess I could have provided a little more info and expectations on the rifle. I'm simply wanting the gun for whitetail hunting purposes. The place I hunt is farming country in Oklahoma ...lots of bean and corn and wheat fields. I hunt from a sturdy, comfortable stand but I'm not shooting at extreme ranges...400 yds tops!

The barrel is clean, I used Hoppes copper solvent to clean it. The twist rate is 1:9...I have not checked the torque settings...I did some reloading for it years ago (120 gr. HPBT matchking sierras, winchester brass, remington 9 1/2 M primers, 63 grs. of H4831 propellant)...this load was a little more accurate than the factory stuff but nothing to write home about. As far as my rest when shooting....sand bags. I have a 300 winchester in model 70 that I shoot 3/4 inch groups with at 100 yds...so I don't think that I'm doing the 264 a disservice..but maybe I am??? I would love 1 to 1.25 inch groups with the 264. I was really wanting to stick with some form of 140 gr. bullets because of the bc, sd and downrange energy...but maybe that's not possible. I've never shot any 130's out of the gun....

There are some powders on the market now that I'm not familiar with like retumbo and H1000...I've never used these powders in anything....any info on how they work in different bullet combos compared to H4831 would be helpful too...

Thanks

 

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

H1000 would be a great choice, I run that and CCI BR2 primers in my 300 win mag. I will be using it for my 264 when I get some time to do the loads.

I would suggest trying a lighter bullet, it may just help. The 130g VLD, TTSX, or ACCUBOND would all be great picks. If you want some more BC there is always the cutting edge 130g VLD and the swampworks VLD. But to be honest at 400 yards I don't know if your really going to reap the benefits of such a high BC bullet.

Just make sure you give the rifle a good once over, clean her and shoot a few rounds out of that clean bore to foul it up before you do any serous load testing. If you have access to a range where you can shoot at 200 plus for load work I will suggest that as well. A lot of bullets don't have enough time to fully stabilize at ranges shorter than 100 yards, which gives you false results.

If you choose the Berger make sure to read the article in my signature line and shoot a 24 round seating depth test after you do your ladder testing.