Winchester 70 264 win mag just doesn't shoot well

[spencerhenry]

i thought i already mentioned, but maybe not.

the rifle is like new. the barrel is not shot out.

if the previous owner shot it more than a box of shells or two i would be surprised.

when shooting it, i did not find that it heated up any faster than my 270.

 

[Barlow]

Try 140's or heavier and I'll bet it improves. Just my 2 cents. Barlow

 

[M14AMU]

Had one of those in 1963! Sumbeech wouldn't hit due east!!

 

[holl]

Life is too short. There are too many rifles that shoot very well. Send it down the line.......

 

[JRS]

Life is too short. There are too many rifles that shoot very well. Send it down the line.......

Agreed Send it to me I've been shooting them for what seems like forever, and have another being re-stocked and bedded by my gunsmith right now 8)

 

[Dans40X]

Clean the bore verified with a bore scope.
Inspect the crown for defects.
Re-crown if defective.
Confirm that the twist is a 1:9" twist,if twist is 1:10" twist-

Send it down the road!!

 

[johara1]

Yea that's right send it down the road…….. send to me and i will dispose of it properly……… If it is bedded right and the barrels is floated and the crown is descent and it isn't shot out i have never saw one that wouldn't shoot in a 1/2" even with Nosler partitions ………. jim

 

[MagnumManiac]

Can I please suggest you take the action out of the stock and check the barrel channel for a pressure point, if it has one, get a wooden dowel and some wet and dry and sand it down, then glass bed that action and free float the barrel.
It WILL improve.
I have a 264 at present on a Win model 70 switch barrel, soda straw contour, it shoots lights out free floated.

Cheers.

 

[RJ338]

I think Dan 40X is spot on, most "shot out barrels" are fouled. Get some Bore Tech Carbon Cleaner and
Copper Cleaner and use as directed, especially if you are using pulldown ball powder. These leave a burned in carbon coating that most (Hoppes) won't begin to touch. A bore scope is your friend when you are doing this.

 

[Pepper]

My father has one and it only likes to shoot 140gr soft nose hornady bullets and there BTHP

 

[savagedasher]

Like I said don't buy a bore scope and use on your hunting gun.
In your case I was wrong . Larry

 

[msinc]

I have had two 264WM's come into my shop that had a strange chamber...the 264WM headspaces off of the belt and that part was correct. But, the shoulder of both chambers was way too far forward. The only way I found it was to measure resized brass vs. fired brass at the shoulder. I just used the datum line tool that hit roughly in the middle to get a reading. I had to order a Clymer reamer and rechamber both rifles. Accuracy was sub MOA after I did that.
Cleaning the bore first is a good start. Try shooting Berger bullets and get the crown recut if you do try a re-chamber. The simple fact of the matter is that factory barrels are usually not too good. Passing on this rifle in favor of just another one with another factory barrel is probably not going to accomplish much...you might get lucky, but it's a 98% chance you will just get another less than stellar barrel.

 

[fourpower]

I have always been a controlled round feed model 70 fan. I got this rifle as part of a trade deal, blued with walnut stock, 26" light contour barrel, warne rings and mounts. Good looking rifle in excellent shape with pretty good wood,. BUT, I cannot get it to shoot well enough for my liking. I started out with new winchester brass, i ran all the necks into the size die to make them round, the trimmed them all for length. The 1st firing definitely moved the shoulder forward, so I attributed the lack of accuracy to the fire forming. Since then i have tried 129gr hornady bullets, 120gr sierra bullets, 107gr sierra bullets, imr4350, imr4831, and military surplus pulldown powder. I can get nowhere near minute of angle, more like 1.75 moa at best. Shooting from bags at 100 yards with a 4.5-14x zeiss scope (also used 12x leupold). The throat on the rifle is very short, if I load to max length listed in the manual for some bullets, the bolt will not close. My test loads were all loaded to just touch the lands.

I had a kimber 84 300wsm years ago that I tried several powders, several bullets, different primers, and different seating depths and could never get it to shoot better than 1.5", so I sold it. It too was a good looking rifle, but 1.5 minutes is just not good enough for me.

I am thinking that this Model 70 just will not shoot, so I am wondering what to do with it. I could have it rebarreled in the same caliber, rebarreled in some other caliber, maybe have the chamber recut and recrown it, or just sell it.

I did not seek out the caliber, but I do not dislike it. If it were to be a great shooter, I think I could really get to liking it for longer range coyotes, marmots, and maybe the occasional deer or antelope.

Before someone asks if I can shoot well enough to know the difference, the answer is yes. I bought a bone stock CZ model 3 to replace the kimber 84. It shot 7 different loads into one group smaller than the kimber shot one load. I got it to shoot .75 moa with almost no effort. It was not bedded, and the trigger was so-so.

we had the same problem but finally went to 140gr bergers with imr-4350 and then made sure we had zero headspace and oboy does the gun shoot now!! make sure you headspace on the shoulder not the belt!