.264 RLB - Anyone with first hand experience?
So I've been toying with the idea of tactical carbine, and loathe the AR chassis and honestly the .223/5.56 as well.
Been looking at the Mini-14 in 7.62x39 (cheap plentiful ammo) and thought about having it rebarreled in 6.5 Grendel but figured the different taper to the case walls would drive me nuts. But then I saw its also offered in 6.8 SPC. Did a little internet wandering and saw that another forum online had been working on a wild cat for it, called the .264 RLB, but there is not a lot of info out there. the little bit I scrounged up numbers wise was....
6.8 SPC case, Akley improved, necked down to 6.5mm
85 grain pill @ 3200+ fps
107 grain pill @ 2900 fps
120 grain pill @ 2850 fps
Very similar numbers to the Grendel with a smaller diameter case.
Keeping in mind that a 6.5x55 can run a 120 grain pill at 2812 fps and 2108 ftlbs of energy, this little wildcat has gotten my attention. 6.5x55 ballistics in a tactical carbine? yes please.
anyone here play with this one or know anything more about its development?
And is this just a crazy flight of fancy??? ;)
Actually? Yes, i *own* a 264-RLB bolt gun. Yes, its for real.
Hello, sorry i am responding to an old post, for my first post here.
I OWN a 264-RLB chambered bolt gun. I am pretty sure its more than 7 now, i dont remember exactly which serial number my personal one carries at the moment? But, its serial number is less than 10, lol.
Blazing speed is not the name of this cartridges game, efficiency is. My own is "throated" for 140grain pills. Its a small-ish looking case, and does LOOK a little odd to see such a diminutive case with such a long 6.5 poking out of it, particularly once i load it close to the lands. Most of the others are set up for 120 to 130 grain pills, if memory serves.
No blazing initial velocity, and the recoil is so mild its almost funny. the long 6.5mm pills, though, KEEP that initial velocity and shed the speed slower than many other cartridges with much larger capacities, and in so doing overtake the "faster" projectiles (if it were a race) a little ways out, and beat it the rest of the way out.
One of the rifles was successfully used to win a f-class long range match. A light sporter with an experienced shooter? trounced all the heavy unlimited "purpose built" rifles at 1000 yards.
Mine shoots 120 and 130 "fireforming" loads into MOA or better from 100 to 300 yards. Ran out of mil dots or i was playing further out at the 1k range i was at in indiana. My 140s with "bargain pill" remington bulk does MOA all day, and i mean ALL day out, again, to 300 or 350 before i "ran out of dots", lol.
the pills fall "straight down" at distance, with no left or right component at increased distance. The range i was at? was the worst wind conditions i EVER experienced in my LIFE. I am no "whisperer of the wind" and i found myself simply ignoring flags and pounding them in there.
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PS - I am "SEDstar", and i am the admin of the "re-booted" reload bench website. The original owner went A.W.O.L. and the site got hacked and never came back up. Myself and "Doc Henley" run it now, and the former "www.reloadbench(dot)com" is now www.reloadbench.NET
we're keeping the basic formula of the popular original parent site, growth is steady, and we finally have begun attracting "new" members, as in members that were never members of the original parent site. RLB is, as originally? a tight knit family... where all members can relax and not go through a lot of the "stuff" you see on some other sites.
Anyone even remotely interested in the 264-RLB cartridge? is more than welcome to stop by and discuss it with the people that made it, own it, and shoot it. Its honestly one of my favorite rifles, and not just for the novelty or for my knowing intimately the developers of the cartridge.
my own? is in a short light sporter stock, fairly short barrel, winchester 70... short light and "handy", making it a joy to lug around the fields from haybale to haybale on g-hog hunts. As accurate as several of my heavier stocked, heavier barreled guns. Its basically my "goto rifle" for anything that isnt going to "hunt me back", so to speak.
PPS - i USED to be a member at this forum, i am pretty sure? back in the say maybe? maybe i am mis-remembering, but i definitely was a member of a savage forum. I am a dedicated "barrel nut" enthusiast, and i look forward to getting a savage barrel chambered in this caliber one day in the near future.
we have a "pet gunsmith" thats officially retired on our site? that has the reamer to chamber rifles in this caliber for us. One gets made now and again.