.264 Win. Magnum

.264 has less factory loaded hunting ammo (I think the 7 Mag is the No 1 magnum chambering of all time);

Faster muzzle velocity (due to shooting substantially lighter bullets),

Flatter trajectory than 7 Mag (higher BC bullets that are substantially lighter than the 7 Mag high BC bullets)

burns barrels/throat faster (barrel life somewhere from 1,200 to 1,500 rounds),

kicks slightly less than the 7 Mag (lighter bullets).

These two chambering essentially share the same 82 grain belted shell casing. With the 6.5, you have a tighter bore and throat, so it burns that surface area faster than the 7 Mag. With the 6.5 you're also shooting lighter bullets from the same shell casing which leaves more room for powder, when combined with the lighter bullets you get faster velocities but more throat burn.

I looked really hard at the .264 as a 1,000 yard+ paper puncher - but ran into the barrel life issue and stopped dead in my tracks. I mean pushing the 142 Sierra MK at 3,100 fps prvides unreal ballastics and virtually eliminates the wind as a factor. Stated another way you could eat 6.5x284s for lunch for 1,000 yards.

The .264 has a big hunting following, as they tend not to shoot too many rounds each year - they are amazing for their knockdown power and have serious penetration (large number of elephants killed with the .264 Magnum - NO BS).

JeffVN

Call me old fashioned

I like the .30-06 for its versatility, reputation and ability. You need to do what you want, but since you asked for opinions, I'll throw my $.02 in.

First, you have nearly 100 years of information and history. With the .30-06, you can go from a 110gn bullet to a 250gn bullet. You didn't say what you wanted to do, whether you just want to punch paper or hunt, do tactical shoots, whatever.

Barrel life. With a good quality SS barrel, you are looking at thousands of rounds with a .30-06. Now if you are not going to shoot that often, that may not make a difference. However, if you are, then it is something you should consider.

If you are going to strictly punch paper, and you are going to sell the rifle, have you considered the 6br? Check out http://www.6mmbr.com/index.html That is accuracy and a proven track record for paper punching. If I'm correct, the world record high power was shot with a 6mmbr. That is if you are looking for an entirely new platform.

Another thing about the .30-06 is you practically cannot go into a store that sells any type of rifle ammo and not find .30-06. Plus match ammo is readily available.

I am not against any other calibers, so I am not arguing about which one is "best". I am only sharing my opinion that-in your shoes-I would build the .30-06 into a rifle that you can do anything with.

The only question I have is what Jeffvn said about the 7 mag being the number one magnum chambering of all time. In his defense he said he thought but I wanted to bring up the .300wm. I believe this is still king of the magnums due to the fact that it is used by the some aspects of the military.
Hope this helps. And if you decide to sell it and your brother falls through, give me a call. I'll give it a good home

WPR,
That's a heck of a bargain for .02

First, with the wooden stock, here's the thing. Is a wooden stock, even pillar bedded, going to be as accurate as a synthetic?-No. However, the difference MAY be negligible. With that being said, there are some incredible wooden stock makers out there that are crafting very nice looking pieces. http://www.accurateinnovations.com/
And addressing the accuracy issue, let's not forget that prior to the M700 coming into play many Vietnam snipers were using M70 rifles in .30-06 with wooden stocks in horribly humid conditions and they hit there target pretty frequently, so it is not as if accuracy is going to degrade that much, if at all. To give you another thought, there is an old hunter here that has a M70 in .30-06 that I am trying to take off of his hands, it's old and probably shot out but the action is good. If he sells it to me I'm going to retro-restore it to one of the Vietnam era type of rifles and see what I can do with it. I'm willing to bet that with a good SS barrel and handloads I'll be able to keep up with just about anyone.
With the Magnum issue, that must be a regional thing because I can buy FGGM in .300wm here for <$22.00.
I think that you if talk with a good gun store and plead with them, they'll see that they are going to get a consistent business and will order it for you. It's no skin off of their teeth. Find a good internet price, find out what the shipping charge will be, cut the shipping charge price in half, add that to the internet price and negotiate with them. This worked for me for .308 FGGM at a local store. He orders it for me and I pay $17.00 a box. He knows I'm good for 2-3 boxes a month except for the few months that I'm shooting one of the other rifles, then it sits there until I buy it. Or, I'll buy it anyway and tell him to not order anymore until I call him.