Has anyone given this combination a good try ? Quite a few good .264 rifles seem to showing up on the used racks right now , and at reasonable prices. It seems to me RL-25 would have very good potential in this case . I would be most interested in the 120 to 129 gr bullets ........

I thought H-870 was the hot powder for a .264, and it's cheap too!

sdgunslinger, RL25 is the best powder that I have tried so far, for groups and velocity. This was with the 120 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip. My load was a warm one that chronoed at 3450 with a 24" barrel, eye watering groups. This was out of a Remington Classic, I got a special run Stainless BDL and got frustrated with the short throat, I grabbed the reamer that I had JGS make and off went the BDL SS and my new reamer to my gunsmith, I now am waiting for my correctly throated custom 264 to arrive in a month or so. With the heavier bullets, 140`s, I will give H5010, H1000, and probably take the advise from the helpful posters on this board and try some military surplus as well. WC872, WC860, I was told about a website that had surplus IMR5010, a new one on me. Anyone used IMR5010 instead of H5010, what is the difference???

[This message has been edited by Tim in TN (edited 01-14-2002).]

GSF - H870 used to be one of the best .264 powders . I think the caliber is much overlooked these days and the RL 25 could be the ticket for the lighter bullets and shorter barrels . Tim's results sure sound promising to me .......

what would be a good starting load for rl 25 and 120 grains? I guess I gotta give that a try. I've been using 125 partitions at 3375 with h4831.

I'm trying 100 grain x's right now with 4831. the velocites look promising but I'm having a bit of trouble getting those damn x's to group decent. I don't even require anything impressive as far as accuracy. under an 1.5 moa is fine with me.

it looks if the 100 grain x's dont work out I'll be trying 125s and rl 25

I have a Winchester model 70 with a 26" barrel. I have used R-25 with 140gr Nosler partion bullets and had no problem exceeding 3200 FPS with outstanding accuracy. This powder is much cleaner than H-870. R-25 seems to be temperature sensitive so if you work up loads in cold weather be careful in warmer weather.
Wayne.
P.S. IMR-7828 is also good in the 264.

I've been shooting a .264 for over 35 years and have tried most all of the powders. Except, of course, the one queried about here: RL 25.

H-870 never worked as well for me as H-570 in the accuracy department, although burn rate was very similar, and H-570 was a bitch to meter and load (granules of powder like small fireplace logs, same problem with 5010). But with H570 or H870, I could get 3100 to 3150 with 140 grain bullets from a 24 " barrel.

Then came along Norma 205. The inital lot of it was absolute majic. Low pressure, accurate, and fast loads were the order of the day. Ran out, bought a new batch, and started blowing primers immediately.

I'm now using WC 872 and am very happy with it. It requires a compressed load, but is accurate, consistent, and fast.

Most of my shooting has been with 140 grain bullets, but I did use 120 grain Nosler Solid Base for deer for a while. Original surlus 4831 did a good job, but velocity was not super high, about 3250 to 3300 fps. IMR 7828 or RL 22 or 25 should do well with 120 and 125 grain bullets.

Some people claim that RL 22 is the same powder as Norma 205/MRP. I don't have any idea. But both have a reputation for substantial variation from lot to lot, so be careful with any of them.