anyone loading for a hawkeye in 264 mag

[Lloyd Smale]

mines giving me fits. Dont know if its the thin barrel heating up or a bad barrel but it will shoot many groups with 3 into a half inch and flyers open the rest of the group up to around 2 inch. Some even worse then that. Ive tried bedding and floating it but its still doing it. For bullets ive tried nos parts. in 140 and 125. 120 ballistitc tips. 140 sierras 140 hornady interlocks and 140 speer hotcores. Powders ive tried are h1000, re22 re25 and 7828. Primers ive tried are ww mag rifle and fed match mag rifle. All combos ive tried pretty much shoot the same. Anyone else having this problem? Any load suggestions? If you dont want to post loads on line send me a pm.

 

[NCsmitty]

I believe that the thin barrel is the problem, as you mentioned. You're burning 60-70gr of powder, and that will heat a light sporter barrel in a hurry. The heat stresses the barrel and they can sometimes walk the bullets all around.
If you focus on a load that hits your desired zero from a cold barrel, and limit your groups to 3 shots or less, that should do the job for you.
I'm sure you know that the rifle is not a benchrest rifle, but makes a great long range hunting rifle.
You have a good selection of powders and bullets, so work up the most consistent combo, and go with it.
I recommend not using the lighter ballistic tips on large game due to the possibility of fragmenting at 264 Mag velocities. I like the newer bonded style bullets which have a better BC than the Partitions.



NCsmitty

 

[supercalvin56]

I agree with NCsmitty. I think you have found the rifles strengths and weaknesses. If you've tried that many bullets and powders you already know the rifle's capability. Now, enjoy it! Three shot groups is all I require of my big game rifles, varminters need to shoot four shot groups and benchrest/competition rifles need to shoot five shot groups