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Why I wouldn’t consider hunting with a .264 Winchester or 6,5x68 today?

Please forgive this a bit provocative title, I just made it for the fun of it!

I have dream in my late-teens of owning a .264 Winchester Magnum when I started briefly with a .270 Winchester before engaging on an almost life long love affair with the 7x64 (and the like); this was in the mid-seventies, we were at the peak of the “magnumite” period, all standard calibres that had properly dispatched game for more than 50 years were then considered obsolete and the most common appraisal was that there was no future outside of magnum calibres.

I have almost 50 years later had enough time for refining this youth assessment and do not anymore dream of hunting with a .264 or 6,5x68 owing to cost and ballistics reasons - bearing in mind that I do not reload but buy factory ammunition, as well as for the associated rifles’ weight and recoil ones.

Ballistics reasons
Fifty years ago, the shelf choice for factory ammunition was quite limited compared to what it is today, and ballistic performances for standard calibres had not made much improvement since the post-WW2 period; the .264 and 6,5x68 offered then much better ballistic performances than standard calibres such as the .270 and 7x64 did.

This is not anymore true today for European ammunition: the RWS 7x64 with a KS 8 grams/123 grains has a MRD of 195m and a drop of 22,6cm / 8,8in at 300m (I know this is not only marketing data for using this ammunition widely) is now on par with the 6,5x68 with same bullet, which MRD is of 197m for a drop of 20,9cm / 8,2in at 300m.

This is probably also true for the US counterpart. I had a quick look at www.hendershot.net, which gave muzzle velocities of 3100 ft/sec for the .264 and .3000 ft/sec for the .270, both using 130 grains Barnes TSX bullets.

Cost reasons
RWS (box of 20): 7x64 KS 8 grams @ Euro69 vs 6,5x68 KS 8 grams @ Euro110 – Price difference +60%
Hendershot (box of 20): .264 with Barnes 130grains TSX bullet @ USD80 vs .270 with same bullet @ USD58 – Price difference +38%

Weight reasons & associated recoil
Magnum calibres require stronger actions and longer barrels, hence heavier rifles, which is not always compatible with long hunting days, moreover in difficult conditions; unless being as fit as Sylvester Stallone in Rambo III, who could afford carrying a M60, a RPG7 and an AK47 plus associated ammunition over the Afghan mountains without apparently noticing their weight. My Mauser 66 in 7x64 weighs 3,1kg unscoped while her sister 66S in 8x68S (6,5x68 has similar weight) weighs 3,6kgs; 500 grams or c. over 1 pound make a huge difference when every gram/ounce counts when packing!

Last, recoil may also be an issue for some hunters when shooting magnum ammunition, mainly if the rifles are light.

So, while I must reckon that the .264, the 6,5x68 and the like are really excellent calibres, they do not me dreaming anymore due to the fact that alternatives offering similar ballistics at more palatable cost and rifles’ lower weight with less recoil are now available on the market.

Louis

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"Everything that doesn't kill me makes me stronger"

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