Thoughts on the status of the .264 Win Mag

Status
Not open for further replies.
citizenconn

citizenconn

Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2022
Messages
1,116
Location
Houston-ish, TX
While doing some shooting at the outdoor range up by my Dad over Easter weekend, I was picking up brass and found a fair amount of just fired .264 Win Mag brass. I kept it even though I don't have a .264 WM and he doesn't currently reload for it.

It's about the first new .264 WM brass I've found in the last 4-5 years, even at the long distance range we used to frequent before it shut down. And I have found just about every caliber imaginable there.

Given the recent rise in popularity of the .264 chamberings, is it possible the .264 WM will make a resurgence? I've recently gotten into the 6.5 PRC, and it seems to have quite a bit of overlap in ballistics with the .264 WM, though I much prefer the case design of the PRCs (6.5, 300, maybe the coming 7) over the 6.5 and .300 WM.

Is there anyone here still shooting the .264 WM or planning to?
citizenconn
 
As Rudyard Kipling wrote “there’s nothing new under the sun”. Of course, that was originally written about 2,800 years ago, which simply proves the point

If you look through a Cartridges of the World, you’ll see that nearly everything cartridge related is a very minor rehash of something dreamed up 50-75 years ago. 6.5-284 comes to mind when discussing the PRC family. Which relates back to the .264

The benefit of the .264 is super way cool looking, accuracy enhancing belt
 
Last edited:
citizenconn said:
While doing some shooting at the outdoor range up by my Dad over Easter weekend, I was picking up brass and found a fair amount of just fired .264 Win Mag brass. I kept it even though I don't have a .264 WM and he doesn't currently reload for it.

It's about the first new .264 WM brass I've found in the last 4-5 years, even at the long distance range we used to frequent before it shut down. And I have found just about every caliber imaginable there.

Given the recent rise in popularity of the .264 chamberings, is it possible the .264 WM will make a resurgence? I've recently gotten into the 6.5 PRC, and it seems to have quite a bit of overlap in ballistics with the .264 WM, though I much prefer the case design of the PRCs (6.5, 300, maybe the coming 7) over the 6.5 and .300 WM.

Is there anyone here still shooting the .264 WM or planning to?
citizenconn
Click to expand...
No, no resurgance. It is a belted magnum, and so is obsolete. But people will continue to shoot it and enjoy as long as there are a few Winchester 70s still chambered for it. You will see a nice run of model 70s occasionally. And Ruger made sone nice ones that are still around. I am thinking about a 6.5 Weatherby RPM myself.
 
Last edited:
It will remain in it’s lane. There are enough every year to keep it around, but I doubt it’ll ever see any kind of uprise. The belted case is a thing of the past, even if the 7mm RM & 300 WM have remained popular. However, they’ve done so for other reasons. While many call for the elimination of the case belts even if those two.
 
Nature Boy said:
Be careful. Things like that are sometimes referred to "rifle seeds"
Click to expand...
I look at things like this as a sign from God. The God of Guns. He is obviously indicating there is an action somewhere that needs a new home. Otherwise why would I have an empty chassis that was gifted to me under fortuitous circumstances. Signs and Wonders.
 
mshootnit said:
No, no resurgance. It is a belted magnum, and so is obsolete. But people will continue to shoot it and enjoy as long as there are a few Winchester 70s still chambered for it. You will see a nice run of model 70s occasionally. And Ruger made sone nice ones that are still around. I am thinking about a 6.5 Weatherby RPM myself.
Click to expand...
I had considered a .264 Win Mag a handloaders round at this point and thus was surprised to see a couple boxes of fresh spent .264 Win Mag cases laying around. I assume most handloaders are like me and treat fresh brass like Gollum treats the One Ring. MY PRECIOUS...
 
I have ONE ROUND of .264 WM. It is my precious! Impressive looking thing.

But my greatest "Left at the range." find is this ; A full box of 338 WM 200 grain power points. Just left there, laying on the bench! A few years old, I would guess, judging from the box!

Rifle seeds? Maybe, but they're a bit too powerful for the whitetails around here. My arthritic shoulders probably wouldn't like them...

Anyhoo... somebody educate me! Aren't the 264 and the 338 related? Both a 458 necked down?
 
tark said:
I have ONE ROUND of .264 WM. It is my precious! Impressive looking thing.

But my greatest "Left at the range." find is this ; A full box of 338 WM 200 grain power points. Just left there, laying on the bench! A few years old, I would guess, judging from the box!

Rifle seeds? Maybe, but they're a bit too powerful for the whitetails around here. My arthritic shoulders probably wouldn't like them...

Anyhoo... somebody educate me! Aren't the 264 and the 338 related? Both a 458 necked down?
Click to expand...
I have a 5 gallon bucket full of picked up .338 Lapua Mag that was pristine back when I picked it up. It was right after Ruger came out with the Precision Rifle in .338LM and there were a bunch of range commandos doing mag dumps and just leaving the brass.

I have no plans now to ever get a .338LM (got a couple .300 PRCs instead), but the greedy troll in me could not leave all that precious, expensive shiny goodness just laying there. All I could think to myself every time I watched those guys shoot their 338 RPRs was "$5, $5, $5, $5...."
 
I would love to find a Winchester Model 70 Extreme Weather in 264 Win Mag, but I’ll admit to being a fan of oddball and uncommon chamberings just for the sake of being different. The 6.5 PRC does everything the 264 WM does and does it in a non-belted, short action, but there’s just something cool about Winchester’s 6.5mm step-child.
 
It was never popular enough to have a resurgence.

By the time the 6.5 craze kicked in it was never important enough for anyone new to the party to learn about without some more in depth study.

Most of the 6.5s of the last few years had, at least conceptually, already been invented.

Without drudging into the mud about the improvements made in recent times for longer bullets, the cartridge development part was already outlined.

Just a few of the more well known ones:

260 = 6.5 CM
6.5 Rem Mag = 6.5 PRC
264 Win Mag = 6.5 Weatherby

None of those that came before were ever that popular. Reintroduced with some modern day improvements and new marketing towards modern bullets and long range target shooting instead of hunting created a resurgence in all things 6.5mm. None of the oldies have taken off really though because of that.
 
There won't likely be a resurgence of the 264 Magnum per se,but for those who have them,there are some newish slow burning powders and some nice bullets that could breathe new life into some old guns that are still very capable hunting rifles.Funny story-back last fall I had two rifles I was working on for customers,one was a 264 and the other was a 6.5-300 Weatherby.I cleaned up a sticky extractor on the 264 and mounted a scope on the 6.5.The customer told me to make sure I left his muzzle brake on the 6.5-300 because according to him it would tear my shoulder off if I shot it without the brake.The 264 was a M700 CDL and the 6.5 was a Vanguard.If either of those rounds in those particular rifles is that scary,I would suggest a 6.5 Manbun.The CDL was very pleasant even though it had no brake and the Weatherby?It was shooting 123 grain TTSX's that chronographed 3175,not the 3400 they were advertised to be turning.
 
tark said:
I have ONE ROUND of .264 WM. It is my precious! Impressive looking thing.

But my greatest "Left at the range." find is this ; A full box of 338 WM 200 grain power points. Just left there, laying on the bench! A few years old, I would guess, judging from the box!

Rifle seeds? Maybe, but they're a bit too powerful for the whitetails around here. My arthritic shoulders probably wouldn't like them...

Anyhoo... somebody educate me! Aren't the 264 and the 338 related? Both a 458 necked down?
Click to expand...
I actually consider the .264 wm, 7mm rem, .308 norma, 338 wm, and 458wm to be a family of cartridges.
They fit perfectly in a 3.2-3.5" action.

The .300WM is a little long for a 3.3coal..


Actually the .264 is also when using heavy vlds.
 
tark said:
I have ONE ROUND of .264 WM. It is my precious! Impressive looking thing.

But my greatest "Left at the range." find is this ; A full box of 338 WM 200 grain power points. Just left there, laying on the bench! A few years old, I would guess, judging from the box!

Rifle seeds? Maybe, but they're a bit too powerful for the whitetails around here. My arthritic shoulders probably wouldn't like them...

Anyhoo... somebody educate me! Aren't the 264 and the 338 related? Both a 458 necked down?
Click to expand...
I had a couple of boxes of those .338 loads and the 225 gr PP loads that I sold with my A-Bolt Medallion .338. That gun kicked me something awful.

And yes, the .264, .300 (shorter neck with a slightly longer 2.62” case), .338 and .458 were all introduced around the same time by Winchester.

Stay safe.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

T
  • Locked
Favorite Loads for the .264 Win Mag ?
Replies
3
Views
2K
Gordon
Gordon
Bill1225
  • Locked
264 win mag
2
Replies
30
Views
2K
Flintknapper
Flintknapper
RugerOldArmy
  • Locked
.260 Rem vs 6.5x55, or the .264 Belted Mags?
2
Replies
27
Views
9K
rangerruck
R
W
  • Locked
Win Model 70 pre 64 .264 mag Featherweight
Replies
11
Views
3K
WYcoyote
W
B
  • Locked
6.5mm / .264 magnum loudenboomers
Replies
11
Views
1K
ftierson
F
Back
Top