257 Weatherby Magnum

[Travis Bertrand]

It's a great round! It is essentially a 25-06 on steroids. Sweet flat shooting gun. You will not be disappointed. My dad just built one in a ruger 77. He is extremely happy with the performance he has been getting out of it. He got lucky with ammo, midway had some weatherby rounds on clearance cheaper than you can buy brass for it. Perfect for him, got to used once fired brass for his load development.

 

[wk93]

Well I'm only considering getting one. I already have my 300 win mag for my hunting, but sometimes I feel it is a little too much for smaller game like deer. Those 6.5's seem nice, but I know nothing about them.

 

[Ryan Avery]

wk93, for deer it's a hell of a gun. Very flat shooting and hits them very very hard! I am a fan boy of the 25 cal. But I have also seen them knock down everything from yote's to Moose and out to 700 yards on Mountain Goat and Mule deer.

 

[Shrek]

Wk93 , get yourself an education in ballistics and go from there. Hope you love the rifle you get. Do a little loading before you buy your next rifle as it may change how you see the world of shooting. Good luck !

 

[HellsCanyon]

Man its gettin hot in here!
.257 is a great round, but if I was starting from scratch I would choose something else with a bit better high BC bullet selection!

Sorry I'm heading out the door now to go hunting for the weekend! Be back Sunday

Mike

 

[wk93]

Man its gettin hot in here!
.257 is a great round, but if I was starting from scratch I would choose something else with a bit better high BC bullet selection!

Sorry I'm heading out the door now to go hunting for the weekend! Be back Sunday

Mike

What would you suggest?
And good luck!

 

[BuckSnort]

You can chase high BC's all you want.. Fact of the matter is that within realistic hunting ranges a critter is gonna be just as dead when shot with either a .40 or .50 BC... Dead is dead...

 

[Shrek]

You can chase high BC's all you want.. Fact of the matter is that within realistic hunting ranges a critter is gonna be just as dead when shot with either a .40 or .50 BC... Dead is dead...

Maybe , but as we strive to drop onces from our gear , droping from a magnum lenght action to a short action with a more effient case design and a higher bc bullet allows you to drop weight , recoil , and still deliver the energy needed down range. In a short , fat case you burn powded better so you can cut barrel lenght. That combined with a short actoin can loose close to a pound when you count the stock savings. With the high bc bullets you can start with less energy ( less recoil ) and still have more down range. For back country hunting I can't find a good reason to buy a new 257 weaterby. It's a handicap not a help.

 

[HellsCanyon]

You can chase high BC's all you want.. Fact of the matter is that within realistic hunting ranges a critter is gonna be just as dead when shot with either a .40 or .50 BC... Dead is dead...

*WARNING; The post below contains an opinion, read accordingly...*

I couldn't agree more, dead is dead. But just to give you an example of real world numbers with only changing factor being BC.
Using the Barn's 100 grain TSX (.257 cal, BC=.37) at 3000 fps, you end up with 46.67" drop at 500 yards from a 100 yard zero (26" Baro, 60*F). Energy = 862 ft. lbs.
Adjusting that same BC to a .6 results in a drop of 39.82" with those same conditions. Energy is right at 1211 ft. lbs

Stretch that distance out to 700 yards and you end up with numbers like this:
BC= .37 Drop is 119" and 591 ft. lbs energy
BC= .6 Drop is 95.7" and 977 ft. lbs energy
Obviously anything under that normal 400-500 yard range is going to be a moot difference. Stretch it out there a little bit and you're setting yourself up at a disadvantage imho.

That's just to give you an example of what a higher BC will do for you in energy retention and velocity. Like you said, dead is dead and most guys won't ever shoot anything over 400 yards. However if down the road someone wanted to stretch their range out there with practice and possibly hunting situations, you would be limiting yourself by starting out with that .257 caliber. Same reason why you hardly see any guys shooting the .270 calibers at distance. Relatively poor bullet selection. There are a few .270 bullets out there with high BC's, but they are expensive and not available everywhere.

168 Bergers, 180 Bergers, 162 Amax all have G1 BC's over .6, if starting from scratch and hunting big game is the goal, why would you limit yourself starting out with a limited caliber? Will it kill game at distance? Sure it will. Is it the best choice? Probably not. In the field long range is all about reducing the margin of error. Between environmental conditions, shooting angles, thermals and winds there are many things that can affect that error margin. Having a high BC bullet will not replace knowledge and practice, but will allow you more wiggle room for sure.

This is only my opinion, and please understand that my opinion reflects my passion for long range shooting and is therefore bias. People can throw numbers out there all day long, but if you can't shoot the gun then it don't mean anything.

If just starting out searching for a good factory caliber that isn't going to break the bank shooting, I would look at a .243, 7mm Rem mag, 7 WSM. Easy to find factory ammo, and great velocity and high BC bullets.

Mike

 

[Ryan Avery]

So what your saying Mike, is that you love the 257 Wby.... right!

 

[HellsCanyon]

So what your saying Mike, is that you love the 257 Wby.... right!

EXACTLY! lmao

You figure out plans for next week yet?

Mike

 

[BuckSnort]

Mike, I agree with you 100%... I just feel that for the majority of hunters it's almost pointless to chase them high BC's... Especially folks who never plan to put adjustable turrets or custom reticles on their scopes... But I guess I will put my foot in my mouth a little cause you're right, if I was just starting out and looking for a rifle I would probably not get a 25 or 270..

I will put even more of my foot in my mouth and say that I wish my T3 was chambered in 6.5 WSM

 

[HellsCanyon]

Mike, I agree with you 100%... I just feel that for the majority of hunters it's almost pointless to chase them high BC's... Especially folks who never plan to put adjustable turrets or custom reticles on their scopes... But I guess I will put my foot in my mouth a little cause you're right, if I was just starting out and looking for a rifle I would probably not get a 25 or 270..

I will put even more of my foot in my mouth and say that I wish my T3 was chambered in 6.5 WSM

Thats the thing about giving advice over the net... you never know what kind of person you truly are dealing with and what kind of expectations they have out of their setup... Glad we can agree on this and I hope I didn't come across and trying to put up a "once and for all" argument or opinion. Simply stating things from my point of view. I'm working on a questionnaire that will hopefully allow anybody in the market for a custom rifle to fill out to help meet their goals with what kind of rifle they are wanting. Could be anything from a .223 to a .338 Edge! Until you get a chance to feel someone out and see what THEIR needs are, its tough to give advice!

Mike

 

[tstowater]

I shoot a 300WSM for about everything. I wouldn't recommend this unless you have absolute confidence in your gun, but I only shot it 10 times this year before I went sheep hunting to make sure things were on. They were. I do a lot of other shooting, prairie dogs in particular, so I don't feel I need to shoot the 300 that much. I have a .25-06 in the safe and want to use it more, but I look at it as being a deer, antelope and coyote gun. Thinking about taking it mountain lion hunting later this year. I have always been intrigued by the 257 Weatherby. I think it is a really neat caliber. I wouldn't get hung up on cost of shooting unless you are going to use it for high volume shooting, because as a hunting gun, you are not going to shoot it as much as you would think. Maybe I am wrong, but I have other guns in smaller calibers that don't cost as much to shoot and I shoot way more often. Don't let the cost of a shot be the driving factor on the purchase as that shouldn't be a deciding factor of anything other than a higher volume gun. My opinion only.

 

[BuckSnort]

I hope I didn't come across and trying to put up a "once and for all" argument or opinion. Simply stating things from my point of view.
Mike

Not at all Mike...No worries..

 

[Shrek]

After spending a few min. on 24hr campfire I was reminded why I didn't join there and almost never visit there. It made me think of my own post here...so....I must say that I regret the reference to phallic symbol and compensating. I stand by my argument but I should have kept it to that. To those I have offended with my tone and words I am sorry. Thanks.

 

[idig4au]

After spending a few min. on 24hr campfire I was reminded why I didn't join there and almost never visit there. It made me think of my own post here...so....I must say that I regret the reference to phallic symbol and compensating. I stand by my argument but I should have kept it to that. To those I have offended with my tone and words I am sorry. Thanks.

That is a class act right there. You do have a good argument with some of the modern cartridges designs and updated powders etc.

 

[Ryan Avery]

Dave, I was on Monster Mulies today and was thinking about this thread and how nasty people get on other forums. It's hard to get one's point across with text, so people get emotional and the insults start flying. We have all done this on the forums. The moderators and I will try like hell not to let that happen here!

Thanks for the post above.

 

[Jlorsun]

I own a few fast calibers 25-06, 257 wby, 300 wm, 300 wby, 270 wsm, 6.5 creedmoor, I can tell you the .257 is a lazer deathray for deer. 3" high at 100 puts you 8" low at 400. shooting 115 gr nosler bts at 3400 fps at the barrel and .453 bc. You wont find a better deer rifle inside 600 yds. if you cant get closer than that take up target shooting.

 

[notchfir3]

I recently acquired one. I wasn't really looking for one but a buddy couldn't pay back a loan so I have one.
I'm going to use it as a porch gun in East Tx where shots on deer & hogs can go 450 yards. It'll take the place of the 300 WM. But in the woods I use a short barreled 308.
I just acquired the brass & dies & doing some load testing. It is not an economical round. I'm going to keep it as that cartridge is the only 25 caliber that I haven't owned & Roy W really liked it; was his favorite.
Since you already have it, might as well try it out.
Good shooting!