what gr bullet for white tail useing a 264 caliber

[longhorn1]

i am shooting a 140 grain ...but it goes right through a white tail with out exspaning..what grain do i need for white tail that will exspand..an do some damage.

[Graybeard]

You don't tell us what cartridge you are using, what bullet or at what velocity.

But most 6.5mm bullets are designed to expand at .260 Remington or 6.5x55 velocity. So you really shouldn't be getting failure to expand. Exits yes. But failure to expand no. Since they are exiting what are you basing your comments on about failure to expand? Are they not doing massive damage inside the deer?

This caliber has made it's reputation primarily on the shoulders of the old 6.5x55 Swede and 160 grain bullets. The various 140s should be ideal for deer really. But you might want to give the Hornady 129s a try as well as the Nosler 120 BT or 125 PT. I'm kinda thinking that latter one might be the absolutely most ideal of them all that are made today. I hope to give it and the Hornady 129s a go in my R700 LSS Mtn. Rifle in .260 Rem.

[safetysheriff]

I would expect that the sectional density of the 140 gr' bullet in the .264 caliber bore is a clue to the problem.    It's a bullet that is really meant for much stouter game than the average White Tail.    I'd say it would be good on Black Bear up to maybe 400 lbs or a little more.....but can't say so from experience -- yet.

I'd go with a bullet in the 120 gr'  weight range to pick up the velocity a fair amount, and to more closely match the bullet's construction to the lighter structure of the White Tail species.     That combination of greater velocity and lighter bullet construction should bring you success.  

In other words, 120 grains in a .264 cal' bullet = .247 sectional density, which is the same as the 165 grain bullet in the .308 cal'.     You can possibly see from this that the 120 gr' bullet is reasonably heavy in the .264 cal' cartridge for deer.    

Incidentally, 140 grs' in the .264 corresponds to about 192 grains in the .308 diameter!      Too much for a light-weight animal with thin skin and relatively soft structure.     Those bullets don't open up!

Take care, and good hunting.  

SS'

[TNrifleman]

I hunt with a 6.5X55 and handload Nosler 125 grain Partitions. This bullet has worked very well on whitetails for me.

[Buffalogun]

Longhorn1,

I use the Hornady 129g at just over 2,900 fps from my M70 and it works very well.

Buffalogun

[longhorn1]

thank's all of you..on here for the info....

[Danny]

I shoot a 20" .260 with Sierra 120 grain bullets and have had no problems. A friend shoots a 6.5 Swede with 140 grain bullets and has had no problems either. Nice expansion, with exit holes in most of the deer we shoot, and short blood trails, or drop in thier tracks.

[Leftoverdj]

One of the local characters swears by 100 grain bullets in the .264 Mag. He gets massive meat damage, but he doesn't lose any deer. We have a long season and liberal limits, and he and his son have surely killed over 100 deer with this combination.

That approach has always sounded a bit extreme to me. I'd be a lot more inclined towards the 125 grain Nosler.

[260 AAR]

Try the 129 Hornady bullets in your 264 over about 73.0/H 870. This`ll give you about 3150 fps depending on your barrel length. I have likked quite a few mulies and elk with this combo. Good luck with a great cartridge.
Aloha, Mark

[MGMorden]

We have a long season and liberal limits, and he and his son have surely killed over 100 deer with this combination.

We have a long season and liberal limits too.  August 15th to Jan 1st, and only limit is 2 per day.   So if taking deer everyday you could legally kill almost 275 per season.  I have an Uncle who, while not hitting that 275 max, has killed over 100 in a season (he "only" got 37 last year though).  He works for a plantation and because they (the deer) eat a lot of the crops, he is encouraged by his employer to kill as many as possible.  So he usually just takes his rifle to work and sits for an extra 1.5 to 3 hours after he knocks off.  Because they're coming to the crops anyways, he, more often than not, comes home with a deer or two nearly every day.  After filling a few freezers full of meat he just starts giving the rest of them away to poorer people in the area.  As to rifle he uses a 6mm Remington.  Nor sure of bullet grain.  Unfortuneatly I am not able to get out to the stand quite that much, and only got 6 deer last year (all with .30-06).

Anyways, back on topic.  Myself, I have loaded up a lot of 140gr bullets for my 6.5x55 Swede (sporterized m96).  Just wondering though: I have heard that the 129gr bullets don't stabilize well in a Mauser (as opposed to a newer 6.5x55 like a Tikka, Ruger, etc).  Any truth to this?