25-264 Win Mag

[cwhuntsalot]

I found some of this brass and am going to use it on my display boards. I got to thinking about it and thought "this would be a cool one to build". PTG has a reamer and CH has the dies. All I need is some load data. I'm hoping for 2-3 different powders and 2-3 different bullets, but anything you could help me out with will be appreciated.
THANX
Curtis

 

[Slope77]

Well…..premium 257 bullets may be a little hard to find right now….i have been watching for 120 gr partitions for a while.

I can load 120’s in a 25-06 to about 3150. What is a 264 case going to do - can a 25 use that efficiently/effectively?

I use RL-22, so I suppose you would need something slower than that. The real “governor” on 257’s is twist rates and bullet weights. But there are no flies on the 120. Trajectory is real close to a 7mm Rem Mag with 175’s. Just the next step down.

 

[cwhuntsalot]

I don't really care about efficiency-if it takes a full grain of powder to get 10fps I'm OK with it.
I once had a M70 264 Win Mag factory new out of the box with absolutely nothing done to it except cleaning. Once I found the load it wanted it would shoot a 10 shot 100yd group and cover it with a dime. I ended up burning the barrel out. I sent it back to Winchester for a new barrel and learned they had to put 4 barrels on it to get down to a 1 1/2" group.
If I can get sub-MOA groups with the 25-264 I'd be happy. If I shoot the barrel out of it-OH WELL!! I'll just screw on a new one and start over.

 

[shark_za]

Now this is a caliber I cannot see a use for.
.257 vs .264 is negligible and you are just limiting yourself in bullets.

 

[YL1X]

I just run 7mm rem/264win brass in my 257wby. one pass through at 257wby die and i have wby brass.

 

[cwhuntsalot]

Now this is a caliber I cannot see a use for.
.257 vs .264 is negligible and you are just limiting yourself in bullets.

California has had a lead free hunting ammo restriction since 2019 so I'm pretty limited on bullets already. Luckily I have half a dozen sources for lead free bullets. I have loads worked out for most of the guns I might hunt with.
I would not expect to go shoot 200 prairie dogs a day for a week with it. I know it will have about a 500 round barrel burn out. Perhaps by then I'll have the light recoiling, one hole shooter out of my system and build the caliber the donor rifle was originally slated to become-358 Norma.

 

[Milehighshooter]

Do yourself a favor, buy a barrel with at least a 1:8 twist, there are many great new bullets coming out for higher bc 25 cal. Take a look at what Hammer and Cutting are offering. Hammer recommends some pretty fast twists for some of their bullets, but i think that is based off a growing number of medium capacity wildcats becoming more common (25 Creedmoor for example). A 25-264 will be pretty much a 257 Wby, without the free bore, so possibly a bit behind. You could easily start there with data, or if you can find some lightweight 264 data and work up carefully. I myself, am going to be building a 8 twist 257 soon, looking mostly at the 115-125 Barnes and Hammers.

 

[cwhuntsalot]

I have a Win M70 257 Roberts with a 10" twist that won't stabilize 100gr or more, and a Win M70 25-06 with a 10"twist that will only shoot Barnes TTSX with any accuracy. I like the 25 cal for these little local Blacktail Deer and 200yd+ shots are becoming more the norm than 20 yrs ago when 100yd was a long shot. Since Cal instituted the non-leaded ammo laws every rifle I build I have it twisted to the fastest available. I shop for barrels by- mfr's highest grade and fastest twist. I use a lot of Cutting Edge, North Fork, and Hammer bullets.

 

[Milehighshooter]

ya know... this has piqued my inquest interest vs doing the 257 Wby. I mean either way, I've got a bunch of virgin 7RM brass Ice got no use for, I was going to just run it to 257, but this might be a tad easier. Did CH4D have the dies in stock?

 

[cwhuntsalot]

I did not call to check availability because this build would be #6 or 8 on my list-3 or 4 years out. Figured I had plenty of time to deal with dies and reamer.

I just called CH4D. 25-264 Win Mag dies are out of stock with at least 24 mo. lead time. They have multiple 25-264 Win Mag Ackley Improved in stock for $116 plus shipping. 4D Rentals lists that they have the Ackley reamer.

From the description it closely resembles the .25 ICL Magnum in PO Ackley's Handbook for Shooters & Reloaders Vol II pg 155. Unfortunately Vol I and vol II are out of stock on Amazon. I was planning on replacing both my volumes- I've had them so long they're falling apart.

If I end up going with the Ackley version I would start with that data reduced by 15% to fire form brass, and the ICL data reduced by 10% to start and ladder up for working loads.

Curtis

 

[CoElkHunter]

I did not call to check availability because this build would be #6 or 8 on my list-3 or 4 years out. Figured I had plenty of time to deal with dies and reamer.

I just called CH4D. 25-264 Win Mag dies are out of stock with at least 24 mo. lead time. They have multiple 25-264 Win Mag Ackley Improved in stock for $116 plus shipping. 4D Rentals lists that they have the Ackley reamer.

From the description it closely resembles the .25 ICL Magnum in PO Ackley's Handbook for Shooters & Reloaders Vol II pg 155. Unfortunately Vol I and vol II are out of stock on Amazon. I was planning on replacing both my volumes- I've had them so long they're falling apart.

If I end up going with the Ackley version I would start with that data reduced by 15% to fire form brass, and the ICL data reduced by 10% to start and ladder up for working loads.

Curtis

Build the AI improved. Fire necked down .264WM brass through it and it will fire form to .264AI. My father in law does this with his 6mm Remington AI. Better yet, just build a .264WM factory or AI and forget the .25?

 

[cwhuntsalot]

I got an answer back to my email in less than 15 mins. 4D Rentals does have the 25-264 Win Mag Ackley die.

 

[cwhuntsalot]

Build the AI improved. Fire necked down .264WM brass through it and it will fire form to .264AI. My father in law does this with his 6mm Remington AI. Better yet, just build a .264WM factory or AI and forget the .25?

The 264 WM is too common. I'm in to obscure, obsolete, unusual, and uncommon for my display boards, but once in a while one catches my interest and I build it.

 

[Milehighshooter]

I've got the PO books, I'll go look for that. I too, enjoy pulling my hair out and spending way more money on oddballs and obscures. My 257 bbl should be in route from the classifieds on another forum, now I've just got to get my 1909 actions off to Utah for heat treating them i can move forward with the build. This might be kinda cool

 

[cwhuntsalot]

I got an answer back to my email in less than 15 mins. 4D Rentals does have the 25-264 Win Mag Ackley die.

My mistake, I meant to say 4D has the reamer