264 win mag precision round?

I had a 264 built in 1983 with a Shilen 25.5 inch barrel, it copper fouled like a bugger, but I think that was a barrel issue though. Aside from that, it was very accurate. About 3080FPS with 142 Sierra HPBT with H870. Can't remember the charge though. I am planning a 6.5mm of some sort in the future though.
 
Thanks for the real live data Wookie316. Was that a max-velocity load, or was that simply what you settled on? (I would have thought that with H870 one could perhaps get a bit more speed than that, hmmm).
 
I could have pushed it more for sure, but when you can basically shoot bug eyes at that speed, what does it matter. Too bad they quit making H870 though. RL25 gave very similar results in my 264 also, and was my powder of choice. I wish I had charge rates for you, but the ammo went out the door to another fellow, and the barrel is sitting in my closet. The RL25 might of been a bit faster than the H870 too. 3140 FPS with 142gr HPBT comes yo mind. I have decided to build another one after reading this post though. I just miss it too much. A new match grade barrel that won't copper foul as bad will make me want to shoot a 264 again. I look at it this way, if it's the caliber you truly want to shoot, who cares about barrel life. If I was concerned about barrel life, I'd shoot something slow like a 308. I have a 308 that shoots awesome sitting in my cabinet, to me it just leaves me cold though. Many love the 308 with good reason. It is accurate, barrel life is exceptional and there is so much in the form of reloading for it. Even with all that said I still just can't bring myself to shoot it. I guess I am one of those difficult ones.
 
OK, nice to know that there's more velocity available (I was worried that perhaps my SWAG that 3350fps in a 30" bbl might have just gotten tossed out the window).

Higginson's has "H-50 BMG" and "US-869", which are probably appropriate here. I had bought a bunch of WC867 a number of years ago from them (it seems to no longer be listed) for my 6.5-06, but it was too slow for that - it might work well with the ~15 grains extra powder capacity in the .264 Win case.

All other things being equal, a cartridge ought to be loaded to its maximum potential, IMHO. Intentionally downloading is false economics - don't download a .300 Win Mag to .308 Win performance in order to save barrel life or to get something more pleasant to shoot; rechamber it to .308, and use a fully-loaded .308 Win.

W.r.t. barrel life, most people would be well served to get over the thought that a barrel is sacrosanct, and that a gun is "ruined" or "used up" when the barrel is worn out. Barrels are like mufflers, brake pads and rotors - they are a consumable, replaceable parts, and you will go through several during the life of your rifle/car. And just like it might take me $10,000 worth of gasoline to wear out a $400 muffler, it'll take far more dollars worth of ammo, gas, travel, lunch, and match fees, to wear out a barrel than the $700 it might cost to replace.

Heck, I live 18km from our 1000m range, I daresay that's closer than the majority of people live to their shooting place. If I drive there and burn up $4 in gas, and fire 40 shots (say $20 of ammo, but that's probably unrealistically low even for handloaded ammo these days), does it really matter if I'm shooting a .308 with a lifetime of 3500 rounds ($8 of barrel wear) or a .264 Win with a lifetime of 800 rounds ($35 of barrel wear)? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't, but it ain't necessarily so that the "barrel burner" is unaffordable or unjustifiable.
 
For the last two years I have used a sendero sf 11 for my target shooting out to 1300yds. With the factory barrel, 123 scenars, 3150 fps, it grouped 10 shots into 3/4 inch.Could be better if there was another nut behind the trigger. This year I upped the powder charge to max giving me 3270fps. I could hit a seven inch wide plate at 980yds consistently if I did my part and a 21" plate at over 1300 if it were not for the wind. The .264 winmag is a good target round with a good barrel, the only thing I have changed is the trigger it is now a timney, the barrel has never been off the action and fouling has not been an issue. I now have around 900 rds. through my rifle and I have to seat the bullets out .070 thou more than when new. Hopes this info helps a bit.
 
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