kyotekiller25
Well-known member
Picked up a new, ok so its a 1982 or so, (still never been fired, so its basically new) Winchester Model 70 XTR in .264 WM w/24" bbl from an old family friend a few weeks ago. I was actually in the market for a heavy barreled 243 for a coyote rifle, but after thinking about it for a few days, I had to have the 264!! Not everyday you come across an old winchester thats never been fired in a 264. Had to really think about it though since it only has the 24" tube, really really really wanted/like the 26" but really, 2" of bbl is only gonna give at most 100fps less and that only equates to an overall loss of about 25 yards of maximum killing range. It'll still reach out and touch somethin, I guaruntee no deer or coyotes gonna notice the 2" barrel loss, so I guess I can live with it. Its gonna be shot out in 5 years or so anyways and then get rebarreled with a 28" tube for a more serious LR platform.
Going to be my new coyote rifle for now since all I was down to was a 222 remington and 338 EDGE.
So I robbed my Leupold VX3 LR, 6.5-20x50 w/SF, 30mm tube, fine duplex, w/scope level off my 338 EDGE since its the only scope I own with target knobs as of now. Set it on top of some warne 2 piece weaver style bases and locked down with Leupods PRW rings. I worked the trigger down to lightest it would go safely which is around 1.5# Did not float or bed it as of yet, want to see how it shoots with serious load development with AMAXs before I mess with it to much.
Had a fresh bag of 100 Remington 7mm RM brass laying around and after doing a bit of reading and research, figured out I could indeed use them instead of shelling out extra cash for regular 264 brass. Real truth was I was in a hurry and didn't wanna wait a week, lol. So I ran them all through the RCBS FL 264 sizing die, trimmed em to 2.490", deburred the flash hole, chamfered inside/outside neck, and everything seems to be doing good so far, no split necks out of about 75 rounds I think so far down her. So must be working ok.
Bought some 95g Vmax, broke her in doing the shoot 1 and clean/scrub after every shot, for first 10 shots, then moved to 3 shots and clean/scrub for next 20 rounds, then did 5 shots clean/scrub for another 20 rounds which equals a total of 50 rounds for my process of barrel break in. It cleaned up real well, little copper fouling, more powder fouling then anything it seems. H1000 at 73g doing 3300fps and .75" at 100 yards was what I came up with for a quick coyote hunting load, went up to 77g for 3550fps but accuracy was ho hum at 1.5" Anyways its a mild load with decent accuracy, didn't really care at the time, breaking in the barrel and trying to find a load in 10 degree weather with snow and wind was not my idea of fun for the weekend, even with a new rifle... Although after a weekend of break in and very little load work with H1000/95g vmax, the next weekend I managed to kill 2 coyotes with it, first was a good size female at 475 yards, second was a smaller male at 100. The exit on the female at 475 was golfball, hit her really low in the shoulder, the male I hit at 100 was on point of shoulder and was about a 6" exit. Missed about 3 or 4 others as well, wont talk about those to much, haha.
I've been looking at all the LR bullets and I've narrowed it down to 2 pretty much, the 123g and 140g Hornady AMAX's. Im leaning more towards the 123g. With the 24" bbl, the 123g is a good bullet with its .510 BC at 3200fps. I think I"ll only be able to push the 140s to about 3000fps. There really really close out to 1K with the edge in wind drift and energy, remaining velocity goes to the 140, only edge the 123g has is drop, but its right on the heels of the 140...I'm worried about my factory twist stabilzing the 140g amax, I'm thinking I shouldn't have a problem, but I would like to see if anyone would like to sell me a few before I buy a whole box of the 140 amaxs. I think I'm going to order me about 3 or 4 boxes of the 123g amaxs from Graf n Sons, they are $25.50 per 100 and they have a deal goign on right now that you get free shipping on orders over $50. I've got some AA4350, IMR4350, H4350 AA3100, RL22, RL25, and H1000 to try with the AMAXs, probly concentrate with H4350 and H1000 as I like the hodgons extreme series of powders, very consistent and not temp sensitive.
I've always wanted a good 6.5 of some sort once I got into LR shooting. You just cant beat them...I'll be stretching her out to 1K soon once I get some AMAXs dialed in. Will keep ya posted on how she does.
Going to be my new coyote rifle for now since all I was down to was a 222 remington and 338 EDGE.
So I robbed my Leupold VX3 LR, 6.5-20x50 w/SF, 30mm tube, fine duplex, w/scope level off my 338 EDGE since its the only scope I own with target knobs as of now. Set it on top of some warne 2 piece weaver style bases and locked down with Leupods PRW rings. I worked the trigger down to lightest it would go safely which is around 1.5# Did not float or bed it as of yet, want to see how it shoots with serious load development with AMAXs before I mess with it to much.
Had a fresh bag of 100 Remington 7mm RM brass laying around and after doing a bit of reading and research, figured out I could indeed use them instead of shelling out extra cash for regular 264 brass. Real truth was I was in a hurry and didn't wanna wait a week, lol. So I ran them all through the RCBS FL 264 sizing die, trimmed em to 2.490", deburred the flash hole, chamfered inside/outside neck, and everything seems to be doing good so far, no split necks out of about 75 rounds I think so far down her. So must be working ok.
Bought some 95g Vmax, broke her in doing the shoot 1 and clean/scrub after every shot, for first 10 shots, then moved to 3 shots and clean/scrub for next 20 rounds, then did 5 shots clean/scrub for another 20 rounds which equals a total of 50 rounds for my process of barrel break in. It cleaned up real well, little copper fouling, more powder fouling then anything it seems. H1000 at 73g doing 3300fps and .75" at 100 yards was what I came up with for a quick coyote hunting load, went up to 77g for 3550fps but accuracy was ho hum at 1.5" Anyways its a mild load with decent accuracy, didn't really care at the time, breaking in the barrel and trying to find a load in 10 degree weather with snow and wind was not my idea of fun for the weekend, even with a new rifle... Although after a weekend of break in and very little load work with H1000/95g vmax, the next weekend I managed to kill 2 coyotes with it, first was a good size female at 475 yards, second was a smaller male at 100. The exit on the female at 475 was golfball, hit her really low in the shoulder, the male I hit at 100 was on point of shoulder and was about a 6" exit. Missed about 3 or 4 others as well, wont talk about those to much, haha.
I've been looking at all the LR bullets and I've narrowed it down to 2 pretty much, the 123g and 140g Hornady AMAX's. Im leaning more towards the 123g. With the 24" bbl, the 123g is a good bullet with its .510 BC at 3200fps. I think I"ll only be able to push the 140s to about 3000fps. There really really close out to 1K with the edge in wind drift and energy, remaining velocity goes to the 140, only edge the 123g has is drop, but its right on the heels of the 140...I'm worried about my factory twist stabilzing the 140g amax, I'm thinking I shouldn't have a problem, but I would like to see if anyone would like to sell me a few before I buy a whole box of the 140 amaxs. I think I'm going to order me about 3 or 4 boxes of the 123g amaxs from Graf n Sons, they are $25.50 per 100 and they have a deal goign on right now that you get free shipping on orders over $50. I've got some AA4350, IMR4350, H4350 AA3100, RL22, RL25, and H1000 to try with the AMAXs, probly concentrate with H4350 and H1000 as I like the hodgons extreme series of powders, very consistent and not temp sensitive.
I've always wanted a good 6.5 of some sort once I got into LR shooting. You just cant beat them...I'll be stretching her out to 1K soon once I get some AMAXs dialed in. Will keep ya posted on how she does.
