Refresh my memory on the .264 Win Mag

So all I know about the 264 is what I've read. I shot a few of them but never had the opportunity to own one as of yet, getting there, getting there.....

From my understanding Winchester did use a stepped bullet, and I believe it was to reduce bearing surface which in turn reduces pressure and allowed them to load the higher velocity.

Modern VLDs do pretty much the same thing as a side effect of having that much longer pointy nose and longer boat tail been a similar weight older style hunting bullet.

I actually managed to equal the velocity of a 70 grain ballistic tip with a 95 grain Berger VLD from my 6x47 with similar pressure signs.
In an email conversation with Walt Berger, I related this occurrence and he was unsurprised and explained the effect of the reduced bearing surface which I hadnt thought about at the time.

The stepped bullet also allowed a longer OAL without freebore.

I have always wondered about the "short magnums" .264, .300, .338, and .458 Win and 7mm Rem. They had already made rifles in .300 and .375 H&H, so there was room in the actions for full length magnums, comparable to Weatherbys but without the pretty round shoulder.

The .264 Win Mag appeared sometime about the late 1950's. I remember the time because I was reading everything I could find about guns instead of the school books I was was suppose to be reading. Winchester advertised the .264 as the "Westerner" which created in my imagination the image of hunting antelope on sage covered western plains. So I made a note in my must-have list (Along with hundreds of other must-have guns on my secret list.) to have a .264 M-70 Winchester and take it hunting as as soon as I finished growing up. Meanwhile, the .264 Mag had not turned out to be the superstar of my imagination. Often repeated rumors of the .264 Mag. being a "barrel burner" appeared in print so often that gun writers of the time seemed unable to write the name without adding a warning about its short barrel life. Which is somewhat amusing in the text of some of today's super scorcher calibers that by comparison make the aged .264 Win seem like a maiden Aunt with gentle disposition. Anyhow, after the passing of time I kept my boyhood promise to myself and hunted the sage dotted plains of Wyoming with the Model-70 .264 Mag.shown here, which I've shot so much without ill effect that I have to wonder how the "barrel burner" reputation got started, except possibly by gun writers repeating what other gun writers had written. Actually, the .264 now has more to offer that ever before because of the tremendous variety of. 6.5 (.264") bullets now available to reloaders. The rifle was stocked by the late Al Bieson and it shoots as good as it looks..

dang that's pretty...

Only 4 posts to get my daily dose of inadequacy.
Beautiful rifle @Offfhand

It amazes me how often the "latest and greatest" fall by the wayside in short order. Sometimes they re-appear to show the newest/latest/greatest that they were only ahead of their time.

Didn't the Remington 7mm Rem Mag kill the 264 Win Mag when it was first introduced?

loadedround said:

Didn't the Remington 7mm Rem Mag kill the 264 Win Mag when it was first introduced?

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It certainly helped, as did its availability in the remington 700.

Pre 64 in 264 showed up at my LGS last week. Was there today.

The cartridge is kinda neat, am no fan of the M70 even though as a kid I read O'connor a ton.

Man I want one!

horsemen61 said:

Man I want one!

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Same here.....specifically, @Offfhand ’s example would do me just fine

Nature Boy said:

Same here.....specifically, @Offfhand ’s example would do me just fine

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Indeed!

My grandfather had one in a Model 70. He was never one to spend money on guns and never met a ratty 22 he didn't like, but that was one he did splurge on.

It's with my uncle now. I've never shot it, from what I've heard from family members who did, it's ear-splitting loud and kicks much harder than the 120gr bullet would have you think. Probably similar to a 7 Mag.

loadedround said:

Didn't the Remington 7mm Rem Mag kill the 264 Win Mag when it was first introduced?

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I shot my first brown bear with a M-70 chambered in 264 Win. mag...

I later switched to the 7mm Rem. Mag., it was/is miles better as a big game round, it is a pretty good bigger big game round, if it's properly loaded....

DM

"Actually, the .264 now has more to offer that ever before because of the tremendous variety of. 6.5 (.264") bullets now available to reloaders. The rifle was stocked by the late Al Bieson and it shoots as good as it looks.."

It doesn't get any better than an Al Bieson rifle ! Glorious ! Yes the .264 Mag is wondrous then and more so today. I have a Westerner from 1960 which was "full length glass pressure bedded " in Prescott Az. in a pre 64 Winchester 70 class I took 10 years ago. It is amazing, an since the late 70s was my go to long range rifle , especially for antelope hunts. I also have a super Grade Feather weight 1962 Model 70 that is very pretty and I don't want to sell yet. I ruined the collectability of the Westerner, so the Feather weight is original and pretty and very valuable as few Featherweight Supergrades were made and only a hand full in .264.