I was able to pick up a .264 win mag at a decent price. Has anyone had any experience with the dreaded throat erosion? Is this a caliber whose time has past? I know it is not the current flavor of the month. Anyone with experience please comment. Thanks

swede

I have been around 3 widely different .264 win mags. One is an uncles custom made hunting rifle. He got carried away with speed at the target range and overheated the first barrel. It was rebarreled after aprox 1000 rounds. The second is a clients Winchester model 70. Must be 35 years old, who knows how many rounds. He had me clean it and tune it up. When it arrived the first thing I did was to shoot it with his loads. Those groups were 4+ inches at 100 yds. When I took it in the shop I expected to find horrible throat erosion, but no everything was where it was supposed to be. All it needed was a really good scrubbing. When it left it shot 120gr Noslers into .635 " groups. The third is my new toy. A special run from remington. Model 700 BDL Stainless Steel Synthetic. When I saw it I just had to take it home. I've been working up some 140gr loads for it in hopes of some long range work, but the wimpy plastic stock is holdiing me back from better than 1" groups. The .264 is a fine cartridge with an excessively overstated reputation for barrel burnout. With proper care and not too much heat these guns will last as long as any of the fast cartridges. Swift, 240 WBY, 7mm STW, 300 Ultra.

Good hunting

Dennis

By the way try the 130gr Barnes for an elk load.

.264 is my "meat" rifle. It's an old Mod 70 that my dad won in a raffle in '62. Don't know how many rounds been down the tube but a bunch and it still shoots great, inside an inch all day.
I don't load mine to "boomenshutzer" velocities as accuracy suffers. Don't use anything lighter than 120 gr as I've seen "bullet failure" with this rifle using light pills. My favorite bullets/powders are:
old Nosler Solid Base 120 gr w/ H4831
Nosler Part 125 gr w/ H870
Sierra SP 140 gr w/ H870
Hornady SP 140 gr w/ H870
I hear that H870 has been discontinued but expect my 8lbs to last me a while. And no, I won't share my stash of Nosler SBs.
Components are readily available. I consider the .264 to be "slightly" better than .270, .280, 7mm Mag. IMHO - Remington beat Win to the punch w/ bad press about the .264 "back when" to increase sales on the 7mmRem.

I own two .264's and have experience with 3 more. My original gun, a 1964 model Sako, has had untold thousands of rounds through it, and now has a rough throat, but other than using a grain or two more powder than when new, its accuracy is still excellent. I'm not sure that a .264 will burn a throat appreciably quicker than any other high-intensity cartridge, and for use in big game hunting only, a barrel will last several lifetimes.

My favorite powder is now surplus WC 872. It takes nearly a compressed load of this powder (caution -- each rifle is an individual), but behind a 140 grain Nosler, it delivers impressive ballistics.

I assume that some of the newly introduced super-slow powders like Retumbo and some of those intended for .50 Cal Browning might also do well, but at $3 per pound, WC 872 is hard to beat.

I have a pre-64 mod70 westerner .264 w/leupold 4.5x14. I've shot it a bunch and the throats getting tired but it hasn't had much effect on it's accuracy which is outstanding.

It will shoot 100 and 120gr ballistic tips to the same point of impact with 60gr of IMR 4350. They literally pile one on top of the other with this load.

It shoots 120gr Barnes X's very well. I load 65 gr. of H4831SC. It puts 3 in a nice 1 inch triangle group at 200 yards. I had one of these penetrate completely lengthwise through a pronghorn buck.

It also likes 140gr Partitions and will keep 3 shots under an inch at 100 yards. I load 66.5gr of H4831SC with these and get 3150 fps. This is the only load I've chronographed through this rifle.

I've shot several deer and antelope with this rifle with the X's and Partitions. I've never had one take a single step after being hit,it dumps them on the spot. Load and shoot it,you'll love it.

I don't own one but my best hunting buddy has a pre-64 mod 70 which he uses for deer and elk. I think his rifle is a very fine piece and I am very envious. He shoots only factory ammo which I feel is a mistake. There are much better bullets available which make this round perform like lightning bolts from hell!!!
Sorry , I got carried away with poetic license there.
Really,it is a very good cartridge with premium bullets. Regards Drakeslayer

Buddy of mine has a beautiful old Model 70 .264 which he has used extensively for Montana elk and deer. It's served him well for at least 22 years now. I thought it was a little light for elk, but he proved me wrong long ago. Regards, Guy