26 nosler in a r700

[ekoso]

Quick back story. Always wanted to build a rifle and decided that I wanted a 264 win mag. I purchased a r700 in 7mm as a donor rifle, easy peasy, buy the appropriate machining tools and everything will work out perfectly since the 264 win and the 7mm are the same case.

Now the monkey wrench. After allot of nagging from a good gun buddy, I've been looking at turning the same donor rifle into a 26 nosler round.

The question. What problems am I going to run into? Bending feed lips? Is the actions bottom opening to short for a 26 nosler bullet?

Basically I don't want to take on something that is a bag of problems for a first project

Thanks in advance

 

[guntech]

Try a couple of rounds in the magazine and see if they will feed up... they won't chamber but you should be able to see if they will feed as is... magazine length isn't a problem... the 700 is longer than many.

Hell - build a 6.5 x 300 Wby and have the hottest 6.5 out there... I built my first one back in the early 70's. They feed just fine. I still have the reamer.

You are going to want a 28 inch barrel in either case...

 

[ekoso]

Thanks, that is some good advice, will only cost 130$ish for a box of rounds I would use if everything goes smoothly.

As for the 6.5-300, I thought about it but feel that if I were to have that caliber, I'd prefer to buy a mk5 chambered in it.

 

[guntech]

Thanks, that is some good advice, will only cost 130$ish for a box of rounds I would use if everything goes smoothly.

As for the 6.5-300, I thought about it but feel that if I were to have that caliber, I'd prefer to buy a mk5 chambered in it.

Why a Weatherby? The best 6.5x300's are custom built with a match grade barrel... We used to re chamber 264's (26 inch barrels) but the fastest and best shooting had 28 inch match grade barrels... none were on a Weatherby that I remember.

 

[Ron AKA]

Here are the SAAMI dimensions for the 26 Nosler and the 7mm RM to see what the change will be. I suspect you will need some careful work done to the feed rails to go to a Nosler. It is fatter and has no belt. The .264 WM would work as is.

26 Nosler SAAMI

7mm Rem Mag

Interesting that you are considering moving to a .264 WM. I have two of them, and I am converting one to a 6.5 Rem Mag because I believe the case is too big and inefficient on the .264 WM. There is also not enough length for the new low drag 140 grain bullets (and my twist was too slow too). You end up having to seat bullets way back into the case.

You will pay a pretty price for the Nosler brass. It may be cheaper to buy loaded rounds instead of just brass.

 

[ekoso]

Why a Weatherby? The best 6.5x300's are custom built with a match grade barrel... We used to re chamber 264's (26 inch barrels) but the fastest and best shooting had 28 inch match grade barrels... none were on a Weatherby that I remember.

Really nothing more than the fact that I would like a mark 5 some day. That and if I didn't like it, the resale value would be better

 

[ekoso]

Here are the SAAMI dimensions for the 26 Nosler and the 7mm RM to see what the change will be. I suspect you will need some careful work done to the feed rails to go to a Nosler. It is fatter and has no belt. The .264 WM would work as is.

26 Nosler SAAMI

7mm Rem Mag

Interesting that you are considering moving to a .264 WM. I have two of them, and I am converting one to a 6.5 Rem Mag because I believe the case is too big and inefficient on the .264 WM. There is also not enough length for the new low drag 140 grain bullets (and my twist was too slow too). You end up having to seat bullets way back into the case.

You will pay a pretty price for the Nosler brass. It may be cheaper to buy loaded rounds instead of just brass.

Yes, it sure looks like the feeding may be an issue. And you are absolutely correct on the brass vs ammo costs, wolverine has boxes ammo for 88$, which is comparable to 100$ for 25 brass.

As for bullet length, I'll have to look into that

 

[redrider]

I would just stay with your original plan with the 264 with a 26" 1in8 barrel.
That case will drive 140s at 3100 with not much problems.
Now if your going to choose the 26 or the 6.5x300 for a hot rod, take the Wby.

 

[guntech]

Really nothing more than the fact that I would like a mark 5 some day. That and if I didn't like it, the resale value would be better

Unless you want to spend the money to have something different...

Buy a 257 Wby... much easier and cheaper and great on that flat land...

 

[ekoso]

Unless you want to spend the money to have something different...

Buy a 257 Wby... much easier and cheaper and great on that flat land...

I have enough quarter bores, and yes I'll have a 257wby some day, but this is going to be my take everywhere pack rifle, the rifle I always grab first. No the 264win is not as crazy fast as a 257wby, but it is no slouch, and the 26 has a significant gain on the win, enough to make it hard to ignore.

I'll buy a box of 26 nosler and see if it will work without much machining, I'll let that decide for me, unless somebody here points out something I am unwilling to deal with.

 

[guntech]

I have enough quarter bores, and yes I'll have a 257wby some day, but this is going to be my take everywhere pack rifle, the rifle I always grab first. No the 264win is not as crazy fast as a 257wby, but it is no slouch, and the 26 has a significant gain on the win, enough to make it hard to ignore.

I'll buy a box of 26 nosler and see if it will work without much machining, I'll let that decide for me, unless somebody here points out something I am unwilling to deal with.

Unless you go with a long barrel (28 inches or longer) you will not really do better than a .264 with a 26 inch barrel... big cases do require more bore length to perform... otherwise a portion of the powder is simply part of the projectile.

 

[ekoso]

Unless you go with a long barrel (28 inches or longer) you will not really do better than a .264 with a 26 inch barrel... big cases do require more bore length to perform... otherwise a portion of the powder is simply part of the projectile.

Interesting, I thought 26" would have sufficed. Original plan was 27" pencil barrel, but have conceded to a 26" barrel #4 contour, I'll try to lose weight with a carbon fibre stock. I would entertain a proof research carbon fibre barrel, but it's like to see one after a few rough hunting trips since I just don't think they can take much abuse associated with hunting

 

[guntech]

One of the problems with really large capacity cases needing barrel length added to wanting it really light weight... accuracy will suffer...

 

[ekoso]

Thanks so much for helping me out, looks like 264 win mag is where I'm at since I don't want to lug around a 28" barrel, not for this rifle anyways.

 

[Dogleg]

Have you considered 6.5-300 Win? Larger case capacity than a .264, no free-bore unless you want it, mag length in a 700 will let you use most any bullet, brass is easier to come by and cheaper, and feeding isn't even a consideration. There comes a point when there is a realistic limit to how much powder should be rammed down a hole. The .264 might even be it.

I should probably pretend to be a disinterested bystander; but I'm in the process of putting together a 6.5-300 right now. As a side note; I just did up a 7-300 Win, and the little bugger is out-performing expectations.

 

[ekoso]

Have you considered 6.5-300 Win? Larger case capacity than a .264, no free-bore unless you want it, mag length in a 700 will let you use most any bullet, brass is easier to come by and cheaper, and feeding isn't even a consideration. There comes a point when there is a realistic limit to how much powder should be rammed down a hole. The .264 might even be it.

I should probably pretend to be a disinterested bystander; but I'm in the process of putting together a 6.5-300 right now. As a side note; I just did up a 7-300 Win, and the little bugger is out-performing expectations.

Being my first time building a rifle, I wanted to keep it simple, the 264 win would be relatively easy. I do not want to deal with wildcats at the moment, just trying to get a good handle on rifle building before I jump in both feet lol. And who knows, once I have the action all trued up, not much is stopping me from chambering another barrel. But I'm fairly certain my first wildcat will be a 22-243 lol

 

[guntech]

Thanks so much for helping me out, looks like 264 win mag is where I'm at since I don't want to lug around a 28" barrel, not for this rifle anyways.

I think you will be very happy with the .264 Magnum... no action modifications required. No expensive brass/ammo. Great performance.

 

[Dogleg]

Being my first time building a rifle, I wanted to keep it simple, the 264 win would be relatively easy. I do not want to deal with wildcats at the moment, just trying to get a good handle on rifle building before I jump in both feet lol. And who knows, once I have the action all trued up, not much is stopping me from chambering another barrel. But I'm fairly certain my first wildcat will be a 22-243 lol

Go with a no neck turn 22-243 and not a pain in the butt for nothing Middlested or similar.

 

[c-fbmi]

I concur that the 264 Win is an outstanding cartridge and that you really don't need a bigger case nor a longer barrel in the 26 bore. I have played with the others and biggers and the 264 is a true winner, even in a 24" barrel. I have owned several and the one I have now is still shooting good at somewhere around 5000 rounds from a custom SS barrel. It was 26" when I started but I got tired of dragging around a pole vault pole and cut it back to 24". Game never knew the difference and I was able to still get wicked velocities from it. Another thing is you do not need a 1-8 twist in a 264 unless you intend to shoot long range match with it and use heavy ULD/VLD bullets. My 1-9 will shoot all bullets up to 140 SMKs with great stability and accuracy.
One word of advice if I may, buy a SS barrel, for many reasons but the main one is they will generally out last a carbon barrel by several hundred to 1000 rounds. Don't heat 'er up with long shot strings and try 130 gn Accubonds, it is one killing SOB on appropriate sized game up to caribou and such and will almost literally tear a wolf or coyote in half with 120 gn BTs. I love my 264s and have taken a lot of small and medium sized game with them and I believe it is one of the most under rated cartridges available. It will already shoot as far as you can see so the advantages of the 26 Nosler or 6.5-300 Wby are rather moot unless one wishes to shoot elk and bigger bears and other tougher game where the bigger cases will deliver more energy on target with the heavier bullets.

 

[guntech]

It is interesting that the 7mm Rem Mag became the most popular magnum cartridge in North America fairly quickly... and the .264 Win Mag never did become that popular although those who owned one usually liked them... perhaps Winchester should have named the cartridge the 6.5 Winchester Magnum. I think the bullet choices at that time favoured the 7mm over the 6.5.