IMR 4064 in 264Mag?

[112Savage]

So after drooling over some cooper western classics and jackson game rifles, I noticed they use a strange powder.
The test targets show 47.2 grains of IMR 4064 with a sierra 142 grain MK for a one hole 50 yard group!

The closest cartridge load that I can find to this is the
6.5 Rem Mag 120 grain speer soft point 46.5grain for 2975fps

Why do they use such a fast burning powder in such an overbore cartridge other than they happened upon a light load that was really accurate?

 

[lloydsmale]

big differnce in loading for the best possible 50 yard group then loading for the highest possible velocity.

 

[112Savage]

I just looked in my nosler reloading book (only book that even lists 4064 in that cartridge). Apparently 47.0 grains with 140 grain bullet was their most accurate load (for that powder). Its going 6.5X55 speeds (2700 fps) and has a load density of around 65%. Man this seems like such a waste. But you are right that tiny group on paper looks great no matter distance, speed, or application of load.

 

[RT2506]

If you had a 264 Win mag as your only hunting rifle and you would only be shooting 300 yards or less without dialing on the scope this would make a very good deer size game load. It would make the barrel last a looooooooog time and still kill GRAVE YARD DEAD any deer.