A buddy of mine owes me a couple hundred bucks from a previous deal and offered me his Remington 700 in .264 Win Mag instead of the cash. I saw the rifle a year or two ago when he picked it up used and I seem to remember it being in decent shape with a 24"-ish barrel. He hasn't shot it since he bought it, but there are an unknown number of rounds through the gun. I don't know much about the .264 Win in general except that it has the reputation of being a barrel burner and has pretty much been overshadowed by the 7mm Rem Mag in terms of performance and popularity.
On paper, I like the idea of the .264; with 120-140 gr., bullets, it should have pretty mild recoil (for a belted magnum) and shoot pretty flat. There are however, some problems... factory ammunition options are extremely limited and expensive. Brass isn't the easiest thing to find either. Also, I'm pretty sure the twist rate is 1:9 so I'm probably not going to be able to take advantage of the super-high BC bullets available in 6.5 like the 140 gr. Berger VLD. Additionally, everything I've read says that the 24" tube is likely too short. Further complicating things is the fact that CA will soon ban the use of lead bullets for hunting in the state and I can't find any factory lead-free loadings.
I don't reload, but I have a buddy that will help me get some rounds loaded up if I buy the dies and components. I plan to purchase 5 or so boxes of Nosler ammo and use the fire-formed brass for load development. So, I'm eyeing a couple of bullets in particular to get started but I'm having trouble coming up with any load data as the manuals that I was flipping through looked pretty old...
- 123 gr. Lapua Scenar: because what's the fun in having a flat shooting 6.5 if you can't sling long, skinny high-BC bullets at the range?
- 120 gr. Barnes TTSX: this would be the go-to hunting round. I've seen a few animals shot with the TSX/TTSX bullets and I'm pretty impressed with the penetration and the weight retention in the bullets we recovered. Additionally, I'll have a couple years to hoard the things ahead of the upcoming lead ban.
I'd really appreciate it if someone could point me towards a manual that might have load data for these bullets. Additionally, if my scheme is totally harebrained, please feel free to let me know.
I realize there is a slim chance that the throat is already torched and I might be wasting my time. If that's the case, I'm getting a Remington 700 action for $200 that I can use for a future project so it isn't a total loss.
Thanks in advance,
Matt