well i got the 264 mag

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive never owned a 264 and allways wanted one. My buddy who used to run a gun shop had a brand new Jerrys special order hawkeye with the laminated thumbhole stock. He bought it and never shot it. Still had the hanging tag on it. I think dealer cost was 700 for them and around here a gun like that isnt a hot seller. He told me the other day i could have it for 500 bucks so i snatched it. Dont like thumbholes much myself so found a walnut hawkeye stock for it. I guess it kind of takes away the bargin as with the new stock im up to what a new walunt one would have cost me anyway but what the heck ive got it and thats what counts. He threw in 4 boxes of factory ammo and a set of dies too so i guess i still didnt get robbed.

[BUGEYE]

I had a model 70 westerner back in 63. it was very accurate but since I like to shoot a lot, it was terrible punishment to my shoulder.   when I touched it off it would flatten the grass for 20 feet in front of the bench.  went back to a 30/30 and was happy as a hog.
have fun with your 264. it'll take anything in north America.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  Lloyd, Have had several 264's...when I had mine, bullets were a problem..Killed a lot of medium game with it, but finally the barrel played out on the last one, and I went with something else..think I had 3 or 4..the old model 70 was a shooter..My pal at home loaded 140's for his son in law, and they got about 3250 as I remember with H870...I liked the caliber, and sometimes think I should have another, but have two 7 mags. so !!!!!!! How long is the barrel on the Hawkeye???

[BBF]

If H-870 is still available that is what I would recommend for 140 gr bullets. There may be other powders available now that work as well.

[Lloyd Smale]

ruger has a 24 inch barrel.

Lloyd, Have had several 264's...when I had mine, bullets were a problem..Killed a lot of medium game with it, but finally the barrel played out on the last one, and I went with something else..think I had 3 or 4..the old model 70 was a shooter..My pal at home loaded 140's for his son in law, and they got about 3250 as I remember with H870...I liked the caliber, and sometimes think I should have another, but have two 7 mags. so !!!!!!! How long is the barrel on the Hawkeye???

[Luckyducker]

Lloyd, I think the 264 gives up quite a bit of velocity with the shorter tube when compared with other magnum cartridges but that is not from personal experience because both of mine had 26" barrels.  I think any of the slower burning powders will have potential to make good accuracy in this cartridge.  I used H1000 in mine but I should have tried AA8700 also, and unless you have a stash of H870 on hand I don't think you will find any as it has been discontinued for many years now.  I hope your Ruger has a 1/8" twist barrel so that it has a better chance to stabilize the 140-160 grain bullets.  The old Winchester Westerners had the 1/9" twist and many who shot them claimed good accuracy with the 140's but my Shilen barreled FN Mauser w/ 1/9" just didn't shoot any bullets heavier than 129 grains.  I copied the Westerner's twist when I had it put together and regretted my choice.  Hope it rocks you (no pun intended).

[nomosendero]

Layne Simpson seems to think that Retumbo is the powder for the 264WM among currently made powder choices with 129-140 gr. bullets. We shall see, I recently bought a Ruger Number 1 26" "Lipsey" special. Gonna try H1000, IMR7826 & RL25 as well.

[Lloyd Smale]

I looked in the cabinet and what i have in stock is re25 retumbo and h1000. I need to at least stock back up on 7828. I use it in quite a few differnt loads but theres been none to be had here localy for a while. I guess i dont understand all the myths around this cartridge. I dont see why a 24 inch barrel wouldnt work fine. Ive got a 7mag and a 257 weatherby and both have 24 inch barrels and both get good velocitys. The 264 isnt any more overbore then a 257 weatherby and for all practical purposes isnt spit differnt then a 7 mag. I think most of the opinions you see on it come from days back when some of the newer powders werent available and 4831 was the slowest thing available to us. Im really looking forward to playing with this one. to me the 264 just has a cool factor that the 7mag doesnt. As to bullets ill probably stick to 120-140s anyway as ive got other guns if i want to shoot heavier stuff and i cant imagine anything id hunt that couldnt be killed by a 140 partition or a 130 barnes bullet.

[nomosendero]

I hope you are right about the barrel. You are certainly correct about not being more overbore than the .257 Wea, but I always wanted a 26" for it as well & most people who have used the .257Wea alot also insist on at least 26". That is the reason I never bought a 257 Vanguard. But I will say this, I have noticed that some Vanguard owners are getting book velocities with that barrel, in fact one I heard of lately was quite fast. I don't know if there is anything unique about their barrels, who knows. The 7RM is a diff. animal & does quite well with a 24". I have not heard of any 264 that did well with a 24", but I hope yours does. There is a guy on beartooth that bougt one & so far it is about like a 6.5-284 in speed.
But if I ran across one like you did at that price I would have bought it too, I think you did well.
I don't understand why Ruger did not do like Remington & offer the 26", nor do I understand them now offering the 300H&H with a 26", but for a 300WM they offer a 24".
The chrony will tell the tale & I look forward to hearing about that.

[Lloyd Smale]

my 257 is a 24 inch vanguard and my buddy has both a mark v and a rem cdl with 26 inch barrels. We took my loads one day and shot them in all three guns. His markV gave an average of about 75 fps over my gun and my gun beat the cdl by about 25fps with all the loads. Now keep in mind that was only 3 loads and all were 115-120s. Switching to a lighter bullet might have changed things a bit but even if i lost a 100 fps its a pretty small concession. Keep in mind too that most loads in the books for both the 264 and 7mag are way on the mild side. Its easy to push a 24 inch 257 to well past the data given in the books so if you are the type that doesnt have a chrongraph to work up loads safely to real life levels it would be a piece of cake for me to take a 264 with a 24 inch barrel using the newer slow burning propelents and safely load it to levels that would smoke most loads given in the old loading manuals using a 26 inch barrel. Personaly i dont like the handling characteristics of a 26 inch bolt. My last 300 was a rem with a 26 inch barrel and it was about imediately cut to 24. Kind of chuckle when guys dont think twice about buying a 7mag with a 24 but because gun writers 30 years ago that had access to nothing slower the 4831 claimed a 264 needed a 26 or even longer. Theres really not spit differnce between those to rounds. I kind of chuckle when one of those old timers would prase to the stars a 7mag and then claim the 264 an overbore barrel burner. I guess like you said my chronoraph will tell the real truth this spring but i have not a doubt in my mind that it will work fine with a 24 inch tube

[nomosendero]

Good, we will see. It will be interesting to see how the 24" goes with RL25 & Retumbo with 140 gr. bullets & 130 for that matter. I notice Wayne Van Zwoll is a big fan of the 264 & says it is easy to get 3300 with a 140, but that is a little stronger than most will say.
Here is a couple of his articles, it appears his opinions are based on his own results & not mere therory.   
http://www.petersenshunting.com/print/2969

www.gunsandammo.com/content/the-264-winchester-magnum

In a bolt gun the 24" has it's appeal, though a 26" handles just fine for me personally. Again, if I got the kind of deal you did I would give it a try as well. But it's not just old timers who feel that the 26" is helpful in the 264, been talking with folks on longrangehunting about the 264 for a good while before I bought one & 26" is the minimum length I have heard of as far as anyone doing a build & when I can't imagine why anyone would do a 264 build with a shorter barrel, I would just do a 6-5-06AI instead. So, right or wrong they see a plus in a long tube.
It was not something for me to worry about as I bought a Number 1 with a 26", my concern is whether or not it will shoot, plenty of old opinions on that one as well.
Like you, I would have to give that gun a go at that price & congrats on a great deal! If your
rifle has great velocities it may change my mind on another rifle I am looking at.
I look forward to the range report!!

[Lloyd Smale]

been searching for loads for the last few days and found out one thing. theres sure a big variation in what some call top end loads. Ive seen it in loads posted for other mags but not as big of a differnce as in this one. You can sure see why some think the 270 will run along side of one. Ill get her to scream somehow and when i do ill let you know.

[nomosendero]

been searching for loads for the last few days and found out one thing. theres sure a big variation in what some call top end loads. Ive seen it in loads posted for other mags but not as big of a differnce as in this one. You can sure see why some think the 270 will run along side of one. Ill get her to scream somehow and when i do ill let you know.

Yes Sir Lloyd, I have noticed the same thing. This cartridge was blown off years ago after Winchester's marketing booboo's & the rumors of barrel wear. With alot of the "mature" &
popular rounds like the 223, 308, 7RM, 300WM & others, the Manuals are up to snuff with the
latest powders & it's pretty easy to get good data, with the 264 it is almost like starting with a new cartridge. But I think that will change soon because the smaller 6.5 rounds are getting popular, more & more folks are learning of the high BC 6.5 bullets & some of the residual is rubbing off on the .264, I have heard about more people building or buying .264's in the last year than in the last 10 years before that.
The 2nd link I added in my previous post have a couple of quick loads. On of the members here, 1shot, has been using the round awhile, he is getting I think close to 3350 with the 130 Accubond, you might want to PM him. He is using Retumbo & I keep hearing that is the go-to powder for 129-140 grain bullets. I think I should get about 3200 with a 140 Berger, we'll see.

I studied this round really hard, I wasn't sure I wanted to add yet another cartridge, but when I ran the numbers comparing it to both bigger & smaller calibers the ballistics were a standout. The 7mm cal. has some higher BC bullets like the 180 Berger, but in order to outrun the 264 you need a larger case than the 7RM, more like a 7STW, while with a 30 cal. you would need the RUM & these 2 are in a different realm in powder usage, blast & recoil & I already have a 300WM for Elk. Going down in caliber the 264 will mirror the 257 pretty much top to bottom but beat it bad at really long ranges with 140 grain Bergers, esp. wind drift.

Lloyd, I would bet that you will work up some good stuff. Should be fun!!

[Lloyd Smale]

Like i said pal. Ive allways wanted one. I dont hold any illusion that its superior to my 7mag or 257 wby but to me it just has more cool factor to it. You dont see one at the range everyday and it fits nicely between those two rounds being almost as flat as the weatherby with bullets that weight near what is shot in a 7mag. Ive allways marched to a differnt drummer. Probably why ive never owned and never will own a 270. Seems like every hunter up here buys a 270 thinking that it majicaly makes them some kind of expert. I think 80 percent of the hunters in the woods up here either have a 270 or a rem semi auto 06. Some of my 270 haterd comes for jack oconor too. I allways thought he was a blow hole!

[nomosendero]

I feel much the same way about O' Conner, I think he was a yuppie of that day, I read probably most of his articles & some were good but I believe he had an agenda, that being to exalt the 270 & therby let his fame tag along. It pretty much worked for a long time. The biggest turn off to me was his skewed comparisons of the 270 & the 7RM. He would compare his best handloads with 130 gr. pointy bullets to sedate Rem. factory fact. velocities with their less than pointy bullets. He NEVER compared the best bullets/handloads of both rounds. After reading that for a couple of years I bought a 7RM in a Ruger 77 & lucky for me that part. Ruger would shoot as a M77V in 220 Swift did for me later. I owned 3 7mags for about 10 years & they are wonderful, I just don't really need those anymore.

[Lloyd Smale]

ive allways been a 7mm fan. I love both the 280 and 7mag and couldnt immagine being without at least one of each.

[nomosendero]

ive allways been a 7mm fan. I love both the 280 and 7mag and couldnt immagine being without at least one of each.

I understand. I was on a 7RM kick big time for about 10 years & killed a ton of animals with them,
I had a really good M77, a Number 1 & a M700 with a factory stainless tube, but I now prefer the 300's on the upper end & everything I do is better seved by other rounds now. If I ever get another 7mm mag it will be a 7STW.

[Lloyd Smale]

Im a big fan of the 300 mags too and use them at least as much as the 7s