Bullets, twist and 264wm

[Roy@ranch]

I am wanting to come up with a 264 win mag. I really would like to shoot the lighter bullets in it 120 grain or so. 500 yards would be my absolute maximum distance, more in the 200-400 range. Concerned about what barrel twist would be best for this. And welcome any and all comment. Basically for deer and an occasional coyote.

Roy

Forgive me if this has been hashed out before, I'm relatively new here

 

[Quintus]

You can get by with a 9 twist, but there is no real downside to going with a 1/8 and that would give you alot more options. I love the 264 with 100 and 125 grain Partitions for your exact application.

 

[B-LOT Banga]

I have a factory 1-9" Winchester 70 shooting 120 gr ballistic tips and it's a laser!! I also made a tikka 264 win mag in 7.5" twist but after shooting it in the ranges you seek 100-500 yds I settled in on 110 hammer hunters at 3540 fps. It's flattens sheep and goats with a couple big bulls. I was shooting 156 eol's at 2960 fps but I didn't have the explosiveness and devastating hits like the hammers and ballistic tips. If I was shooting past 500 yds then I would benefit with the tighter twist and heavier bullets but my opinion a 1-8" would be best at the ranges you seek. Good luck!!

 

[FEENIX]

I am wanting to come up with a 264 win mag. I really would like to shoot the lighter bullets in it 120 grain or so. 500 yards would be my absolute maximum distance, more in the 200-400 range. Concerned about what barrel twist would be best for this. And welcome any and all comment. Basically for deer and an occasional coyote.

Roy

Forgive me if this has been hashed out before, I'm relatively new here

If you're a reloader, 1:7" will give you the flexibility to also shoot the heavy/high BC bullets.

 

[Mike D Texas]

For your stated purposes 8 twist would be good and allow some flexibility if you decided to heavier.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

8" twist barrels are more readily available. 7.5" pretty easy to find. 7" would be special order and subject to the wait times. Most premium hunting bullets will hold up with the fast twist. Pure copper bullets like ours will thrive on faster twist. I would probably do the 7.5" twist for the higher stability and ease of ordering.

 

[sable tireur]

Here are the original models and twist rates for factory rifle and the .264 Win. Mag:

Generally speaking, the bullets available at the time were all cup and core so by comparison to the now modern solids, they were shorter so twist rates usually fell into the 1:9" category. This holds true today with the exception of those solids which several companies are producing by lathe turning. These are long for caliber so they require a faster twist rate for stability. 1:8", 1:7.5", 1:7".

Sticking with the lighter bullets, the Badlands 125 and the Hammer Hunter 131 are similar, requiring that 1:7.5" twist rate.

Given the currently popularity of heavy for caliber bullets being produced, this 1:7.5" twist rate will stabilize the Berger 156 Elite Hunter as well.

If you are drawn to the traditional cup and core bullets then that original 1:9" will suit your needs quite well using the lighter bullets limited in range as you state.

Enjoy!

 

[GLTaylor]

X2 for 1:7.5 twist and high velocity Hammers!

 

[Trooper1]

I have a factory Winchester 1 in 9 barrel. It shoots 117gr and 121gr Hammers exceptionally well. If I were to redo the barrel, I'd probably get an 8 twist. Like the performance of the Hammers in those weights.

 

[Elkmann]

I am wanting to come up with a 264 win mag. I really would like to shoot the lighter bullets in it 120 grain or so. 500 yards would be my absolute maximum distance, more in the 200-400 range. Concerned about what barrel twist would be best for this. And welcome any and all comment. Basically for deer and an occasional coyote.

Roy

Forgive me if this has been hashed out before, I'm relatively new here

I had a Rem 700BDLSS and it shot the Nosler 120BT into less than a half inch at 100 yards using RL25. Wish I still had that rifle.

 

[TN David]

I built one about a year ago and went with 1:6.5 twist Pac-Nor, that way I can shoot about any bullet I want but mainly did it for the faster twist rates required by many of the mono bullets.

 

[jd palmer]

Shot a old winchester 264 for many years ,nothing larger than deer.i shot 120 nosler partitions ,never lost one but limited my shots too 300.

 

[MagnumManiac]

I have a few 264WM's, the 2 factory guns I have are 9" twist and, the other is a custom with a 8" twist. My 6.5-300 Weatherby is also a 8" twist. This is what I would recommend if going with a custom barrel.
The 7.5" twist or 7" twist are fine if you are planning on shooting heavy mono bullets….for everything else, including the heavy 150-156g bullets, the 8" twist is perfect.

Cheers.

 

[GLTaylor]

The nice thing about Hammers is you can't overspin them. At least, so far we haven't been able to destroy one. There are actually 2 things to consider here: bullet stability in flight, and terminal stability. They are very different. The standard for stability of a bullet in flight is generally accepted to be about 1.5. This keeps the bullet nose oriented correctly forward in flight. When the bullet impacts flesh/bone, different dynamics come into play. So far there is no way to calculate terminal stability. A group of people are conducting on-animal evaluations of bullet performance (wound channel size and depth), straightness of bullet travel and penetration distance. These studies are indicating that Much higher stability factors are beneficial! Higher stability factors (2-5+) aid in keeping the bullet oriented nose first (not tumbling) as it drills through flesh and bone. Over spinning a mono bullet has no detrimental effects. Cup and core lead bullets can come apart or perform very poorly above a certain RPM rate. Monos don't have this limitation. As people rebarrel or build new rifles, many are going to much faster twists. 8 twist is slow for some. 7 - 7.5 is becoming more common, even up to .375 caliber