Barrel Life .264WM

Reynolds, I somewhat agree with your comments on bullet technology, but note that the 6.5x55 Swede was a popular big game cartridge in Europe and Africa as well as in the USA for decades. Several good hunting bullets were available at the time. Karamojo Bell used a Mannlicher-Schoenauer 6.5x54mm carbine dispatching many elephants in the early part of the last century.

The reverse is the issue for match bullets. Norma's 6.5mm 139-gr. FMJBT match bullet was popular in Europe for biathlon as well as free rifles in international competition at 300 metres. I used that bullet in my .264 Win. Mag. 1000-yard match rifle for a few years in the late 60's; they shot 1 MOA at 1000 yards. No accurate 26 caliber match bullet was made in the USA at the time. In 1969, Sierra Bullets gave me 200 of their .264" 140-gr. HPMK match bullets' first production run to test; best 20-shot groups at 1000 yards were almost 2 MOA; at 600 yards over 1 MOA. Sierra's ballistic tech told me he couldn't get consistant groups under 4/10ths MOA in their 100-yard test range with them. It wasn't until the middle 1990's that 26 caliber, long heavy match bullets could be made that shot 1/4 MOA in Sierra's test range. Jacket material wasn't good enough to make consistant dimensions for them. They had the same problems with their 28 caliber (7MM) 168-gr. HPMK bullets in the early 1970's when it came out and they didn't get better until the late 1980's.
 
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Any recomendations?
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If your not a gunsmith but a reloader. I would shoot the slowest powder available for that 264 and somewhat lighter loadings not near its cartridge Max. History on 264 ownership has certainly not complemented the caliber in prior times. Every gun writers article I ever read concerning this caliber warned of its short coming. {Throat erosion} as we all know is greater in higher chamber pressure overbore cartridges. This was particularly true in the 1950s to early 1960s, with the chrome moly steels. But barrel advances with stainless steel, especially when cryogenically treated, have extended barrel life considerably concerning the venerable .264 Win. Mag. Being a 70ish model. You would have to judge what is appropriate and what isn't (ammo) for your barrels longevity.
 
A .264 Win Mag is a hunting cartridge, and a damned good one at that. I'm sure that you could put a box of rounds through it every year off a bench and take it afield and never have to worry about its barrel
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And that's probably more what I'm looking at, I didn't get it as a bench/target rifle (besides the cost of factory stuff is pretty high).
 
Bart, when I first started deer hunting with the .264 Win. mag, I discovered very quickly that conventional bullet technology did not stand up to its velocity. At that time, there were only two bullets I could find for the rifle that could stand the velocity. This was before I ever heard of Midway etc. etc. If I wanted bullets, I went the sporting goods store and bought them. The two that would actually stand up to the velocity were the Speer Grand Slam and the Nosler Partition. If I am not mistaken, (venturing back before my time here) I do not think either was available when the .264 Win mag went into production. I do not know if Swift or Norma had bullets for it or not. In those days, no one around here had heard of either company.
 
Reynolds, I've shot 26 caliber bullets made in the '50's by Sierra, Hornady and others in my 1:9 twist .264 Win Mag in the late '60's and early '70's, Several 100-grain HP's were used on pasture poodles up to near 400 yards leaving at close to 3500 fps from the 28" barrel. None of them ever flew apart before impact. Only bullet I shot that came apart was a Norma 139-gr. nickel plated FMJBT match bullet; it did so about 200 yards from the muzzle.
 
I did not have any coming apart in the air. They came apart 1" below the hide and looked like a shotgun pressed contact wound. I was pushing 85 grain bullets just a few fps under 3900 in one rifle with only minor pressure signs. None of the others will get close to that velocity without awful pressure signs.

I have always wanted to build a 28" barrel 6.5 STW, but have never gotten around to it. I guess in the next couple of years I will build a STW or a 6.5 RUM.
 
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