Just curious if anyone has shot one much.

Yup. My family has somewhere around 5 between my grandpa, dad, uncle and myself. Good all round gun for TX. Would work on muleys no doubt and maybe elk too. But shooting it tends to be $$$. Something like $25/ box.

Actually, I think it's a little more expensive for premium ammo (ie. Nosler).
Appreciate the feedback.

Coworker uses that when he shoots. First time I was on his place I did't have a rifle with me. Took my first deer with his 264. Nice shooting rifle, and that doe dropped DRT.

I was originally thinking of getting a Gunwerks 6.5X284. Then, I got to looking around and compared it to the old .264.
Some difference, but the .264 seems to be able to "do a little more."
So, I was contemplating buying a current Winchester "Supergrade" in a .264, putting a Jewel trigger in it and setting it up with either a Nightforce or Huskemaw scope.
Just kicking ot around in my head.

Great Caliber, BUT you don't see many people shooting them anymore for 2 reasons. 1. Good ammo is expensive and 2. barrel life for a .264 Win Mag is very short due to such a hot bullet.

My suggestion, go with a .300 WSM. All around great for whitails, mule deer, and elk.

The great thing about gunwerks is you are getting a shooting system. If you have the money I would tell you to go with the system and get the G7 rangefinder while you are at it. The combination of the shooting system in any of their calibers and the laser rangefinder and bullet drop calculator is a deadly combo.

You will be hard pressed to put together a set up that works as well as the gunwerks package.

joshwayne and marshall, both points are sound.
However, one of my best friends shoots a Gunwerks rifle, or at least he owns one, and doesn't like it. He is not impressed either with the action or the overall rifle. He also is not a fan of the Berger bullets. He had them build a custom 6.5 WSM several years ago when they still would "wildcat"/ build "your" favorite caliber. He's shot alot of game with it (some out to 604 yds.) and it now collects dust. So, your concept of shooting "their system" doesn't particularily appeal to me. Gunwerks will put one of their scopes on "my rifle" and figure up the "ballistic solution" for my particular rifle ( somewhat more appealin). I am just a fan of a controlled round feed ( specifically Win. Mod. 70).
As far as cost of ammunition is concerned, I'm not plinking with a .22. I'll shoot it once or twice after it's sighted in to check the zero each year. Then I might shoot two or three head of game with it. So, if the ammunition is $40/box that's roughly $10/year in ammunition, conservatively speaking.
As far as barrel life is concerned you've got to put a couple of thousand rounds through one to burn it out. Also, if you avoid shooting a "hot barrel" and take care of it you might extend the life even more. Besides, let's say I do "burn the barrel out." What does it cost to re-barrel one . . . $300 for the barrel (Krieger) and $350-$400 to screw it on and true the action (not that much). So, at age 56 I doubt I'm going to need to re-barrel it in my lifetime.

And also, I've already got a 300 WSM.

[This message has been edited by NW80 (edited 12/26/2012 3:35p).]

[This message has been edited by NW80 (edited 12/26/2012 3:35p).]

My granddad-in-law in Colorado has one, which is his main elk hunting rifle. He dropped a bull at 673 yards with it last year. He talks very highly of the gun.

my favorite for deer hunting. Bullet shoots flat and fast. Bullets are expensive, but yeah a couple of year . This one with a beast scope is great for very long, long or normal shots

oh yeah, i really hating losing it when my car went into the lake

If you get one, or anyone who has one is interested, I've got around 125 loaded rounds and 10 or so fired brass I'd like to part with. Got it as a lot with some other ammo that I wanted, but I've got no use for it.

[This message has been edited by milkman00 (edited 12/26/2012 7:44p).]

ajn!
The recipe is as important as the offer!

Recipie?

For handloads..

NW80 beat me to it. I should refresh more often!

[This message has been edited by Centerpole90 (edited 12/26/2012 6:25p).]

Sadly, I don't know the recipe, the ammo is a mix of factory and handloads from someone else, although there may have been a few loads written on one of the boxes, come to think of it. I'll be glad to put it up when I get back from hunting towards the end of this week.

Milkman, I got your email address, something should be along shortly.

[This message has been edited by ajn142 (edited 12/27/2012 7:22a).]

ajn, as I said the recipe is most important because we don't know what the "other guy" loaded them with. Shooting an unknown load is a recipe for disaster.
Thanks for the offfer though.

You're completely right. The ammo is about 350 miles away right now, so I can't tell you what's written on the boxed reloads, or the factory ammo for that matter. I certainly wouldn't expect anyone to shoot questionable ammo out of their gun, and any ammo of unknown loads would just be sold for components.

Cool, thanks for the thought though!

The 264 Win Mag being an early hotrod, one of Winchester's loads was a "double diameter" bullet, where the heel section was 0.264, but a good portion of the bullet jacket prior to the ogive was of the diameter to ride on the lands only. I suppose to lower pressures for the velocity desired.

GSS, the interesting thing to me is that the round seems to have never really reached what it potentially could have in regards to muzzle velocity. With the 6.5 bullet however, it is a very accurate round. It really intrigues me. With a 26 inch barrel it should be more efficient regarding powder burning and maximizing it's velocities.

So someone tell me a little more about the 'hot load wear barrels out' problem. I was looking for something different this year and narrowed the search to a few calibers. I eventually ruled out the .264 because of the barrel concerns. But how much shooting are we talking about here. I may shoot 30 rounds a year out of my deer rifles. And if it is not the rifle I am going to use this year I dont shoot it at all. So, is the concern hundreds of rounds, thousands of rounds, number of shots per a certain time period, or what?



On a side note, I ended up getting a Winchester 70 in 6.5x55. That round is a killer.

Generally speaking of course, if you shoot a "hot" barrel with almost any load you run the risk of burning out the throat and affecting accuracy and velocity.
But, you need to pu a couple of thousand rounds through one to ruin the barrel... see my earlier post.
If you only shoot 20-30 roiunds a year through it you probnably will not have amny issues.
Besides as I said earlier, a new barrel runs "about" $600-800 depending on the barrel you get... not too expensive.

I've got a .264 WM in Rem 700 SF; still working up handloads, but it seems to be capable of avg-above agv accuracy thus far (~1" 5-shot groups @ 100 yds). I haven't had an opportunity to harvest any game with it yet.

As a side note, I suppose it's to be expected with belted magnums, but it seems to be noticeably louder than my .30-06.

One other thing concerning barrel wear is that there is a world of difference between burning out a barrel in a competition rifle and a hunting rifle.

A competition rifle can lose the qualities that make it a competition rifle within a few thousand rounds, and that is when the competition guys consider the barrel burned out. A hunting rifle can easily shoot several thousand more rounds and maintain more than acceptable hunting accuracy.

Take the term "burning up a barrel" with a grain of salt. The average hunting rifle, even in a hot caliber with a short throat, will generally last several lifetimes with average use (20-30 rounds per year).

Thanks schmellba99. If I buy the rifle I'll keep y'all apprised of the number of rounds and if/when the throat is burned out.

Get a 257 or 300 Weatherby Mag

Burnet, I've got a 300 WSM, 7.82 Warbird and primarily hunt with a 270 WSM.
I've never been a big fan of .25 calibers. That being said, if I ever get a .25 caliber it will be a 257 Wby. I've shot one buck with the same profile as the "would you shoot take this shot..." thread at 350 yds.( stoned him). I really liked it. But, I'm more fascinated by 6.5 caliber.

Just to go along with what others have said, one of the .264s Oats05 mentioned has crapped out. With a clean barrel, 2 rounds will drive nails. After that it walks all over the paper. The gun is at least 30 years old as it is the gun my dad has shot all my life I can remember. Probably fired on average 20 rounds a year all factory ammo.

I've got a SAKO .264 mag Finnbear

Years ago, was my number one "rifle of choice". Got 3 trophies on the wall courtesy of that gun.

I have officially retired the gun to pass on to my grandkids (when they come).

Love it!

www.majestyoutdoors.org

The main reason accuracy starts to fall off is throat wear and tear. For those that don't know the throat is the section of barrel that transitions from open chamber passed the end of the neck to the rifling. As this becomes worn the rifling loses it original shape begins to crack. What causes this to happen is heat. So if you take a cartridge like this and shoot 1-3 rounds and let the barrel cool, it will last twice as long as if you are shooting 20 round strings. If you are going to be shooting this in rapid session I would recommend the heaviest barrel you can.

Most hunting rifles will never need a new barrel. The barrel life on this round is probably somewhere between 850-1500 rounds for top level accuracy. As NW80 pointed out, if you shoot 30 times a year it would take just short of 30 years to burn it out and that is the low end.

Now having said all that, anytime you can speed up those 6.5 bullets you are going to be happy. The effect range of a 260 is already much farther than most can/should shoot and if you add 300 FPS you can take even more wind drift and drop out of the picture!!

NW80, I would be happy to help you out with this build if you are lookin for a smith

SSC, where are you located?
I was planning on getting the Winchester Mod. 70 Supergrade and tweeking it with a Jewel trigger ( I shoot a 1-1.5# pull).
However, "WE" might tweek it a little more.

NW80.....Did you know that it takes #1-1/4 to pull the tab on a Miller Lite?

Coincidence I'm sure....