Just wanted to get some opinions here. What would be your choice of barrel length for a .264 Win Mag? I will be shooting around a 125grain to 130grain bullet around 3400 FPS. Also, what twist rate would you go with. I'm going to have a barrel built very soon, and I'm thinking about getting a medium contour, 24" fluted barrel. Just wanted to see what everyone else would choose.

I would suggest you go to a 26 inch; more velocity, less muzzle blast, simply nicer to shoot. It's not a brush gun, the extra two inches will never be a bother.

All magnums deserve a 26 inch barrel. They are more efficient with the longer barrel.

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Vote for the 26", also.

Of late, all my wildcat and mag chambered rifles are sporting 27" fluted bbls. Don't seem to notice the extra length when carrying or sitting.

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The standard 1:9 twist will work fine, and still give you the option of using 140's (or the RN 160's as they are about the same length as the 140's). Could get by with less twist for 125's but believe it won't make much differnce...the 1:9's I've shot work fine with 120's.

Getting 125-129gr. bullets up to 3200-3300 fps happens...may be a bit difficult to get an honest 3500fps and stay within sane pressure limits. To give yourself a fighting chance to reach you required ballistics, would hang the longest tube I could stand on the action and work carefully with the slower powders (better hope for a "fast" barrel).

Lots of folks like a 28, or 29 incher for the 264 and 7mm STW. Most factory offerings come in 26 for this calibre.

For the bullets your talking about 1-9 works fine. If your target shooting with heavy bullets 1-8 seems to work better.

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Bob from Idaho

Well, I havent even been able to find anyone that is chambering the .264 in a facotry rifle anymore. But however I did find one in a shop the other day, and I think I might snatch it up. Its a Remington 700 BDL SS, it has the 26in barrel. Would make a perfect open country deer/antelope rifle.

About 30 inches, to preserve what's left of my hearing... ... and that leaves a couple of rechamberings, to clean up the throat after it's torched

Seriously, good luck, and don't cook the barrel working up loads.

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MikeG

If you havn't bought a rifle yet and you want super flat shooting you might look at the 7mm RUM. The 264 seems to be a bit harder on barrels and in not available in a new rifle. It's not that it isn't a great round, but there are some newer ones available that do slightly better now.

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Bob from Idaho

I put a 26 in krieger on a p-17 enfield a few months ago. I'm very pleased with it. Built another one as it seems like evrytime I get one shoot a coupla of deer with it somebody talks me out of it. Can't seem to argue with more money than I have into them.

I agree with others here.....26 inch. Any shorter and a magnum round will likely lose quite a bit of velocity - it requires a long barrel to burn all of that powder. Noise and muzzle blast are other considerations. 26 inch is the standard factory test barrel length for magnum rounds now, as well. So, with a 26 inch barrel, it is likely that the velocity numbers published for factory magnum cartridges are (about) what you will see from your 26" barrel.

I can tell you that you will be disappointed in a 24 inch barrel for the .264 Win mag! ALL MAGNUMS in a rifle, need at least a 26 and I wish I had gone the 28 inch in my wildcat .264 (6.5/300WSM) instead of the 26 inch. You will like the fluted medium barrel barrel. The twist is usually a 1 in 9, also a friend of mine has an oringinal model 70 .264 and he has never been able to do 3400fps with a 129grn Hornady bullet. His top velocity is around 3310fps. Lots of recoil and cases don't last but 3 reloadings. Good Luck!