257 Weatherby Mag

Sounds like you got a great deal! Congratulations, and enjoy that rifle.

I have actually just finished testing mine for accuracy. Although mine is the vanguard series 2 it is still a very, very nice gun. I will post a picture of the group to this thread asap. Just so you know the load is the 117 grain hornady sst over imr 7828. The group is a 100 yard group that measures about a half inch for five shots, including an operator error.

ok here it is

Weatherby says it's the most powerful/flat shooting varmint rifle in existence.

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Congrats! Quarterbores are fun. I opted for the .25-06, though, in a 700 BDL. Handloading can bring it within a couple hundred FPS of the .257, with much lower brass/ammo cost.

You're gonna want to get into handloading, if you aren't already. Weatherby ammo is brutal on the wallet, but once you have the brass, it's only a few pennies more per round than the .25-06. That said, don't expect to duplicate Weatherby's velocities with homebrew loads; A friend of mine has a .257, and he never could squeeze that much out of it with available powders.

With the high velocities of these larger .25's, you're gonna want to use heavier bullets with good construction on game animals. I like Sierra 117's at 3,195 FPS personally, though I'm itching to drill a critter with my 100 Gr. TSX boattails that clocked higher than expected at 3,585 Avg.

Weatherby says it's the most powerful/flat shooting varmint rifle in existence.

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Powerful? Yes, unless you're in the camp that includes .338's and the like as "varmint rifles". Flattest shooting? Not so much. Excluding wildcats like the 6mm-06 AI, the .220 Swift is still king of trajectory in the .257 and under class, with the .204 Ruger barely behind it. Getting those pills out at 4,300+ FPS makes a difference. 75 grainers out of the Weatherby should see ~3,900-4,000; I get 3,760 with the .25-06, loaded heavy.

Congratulations on your new rifle.

I've also got a Wby Vanguard in .257wby.

I have gotten factory velocities and faster with my reloads. The powder to use is Reloader 25. With my 24" bbl I'm getting 3,600fps with 1/2moa accuracy from the excellent Hornady 100gr Interlok. I've shot a number of deer with the 100gr Interlok, and the only bullet recovered worked as advertised with a beautiful mushroom and no core slippage.

Don't be tempted to over-scope the rifle however. Mine wears a Nikon "Buckmasters" 3x-9x and I consider it a well balanced rig. I did have to replace the cheap factory trigger with a Timney and free float the barrel in the stock.

If you decide not to reload, the best deal on ammo for the .257wby is the Norma factory load in 100gr. It is $2 more than just the empty Weatherby brass from www.midwayusa.com The one box I bought chrono's at 3,450fps from my 24" bbl which is 2" shorter than your MkV barrel which will get the advertised 3,550fps. The Norma ammo shot ~3/4" 3-shots at 100yds so is quite accurate. FWIW Norma makes the brass for Weatherby and loads the Weatherby ammo for Weatherby. However, the Norma ammo has a Norma bullet whereas the Weatherby ammo has either a Hornady bullet Barnes,Nosler or Swift-A frame, or whatever the box states.

I have found the Hornady Interlok bullets as loaded in the Weatherby factory ammo to be up to the task of the high velocities of this and other Weatherby cartridges. I however, have found that the Nosler Ballistic Tips are too frangible for this cartridge as I had a 115gr Ballistic Tip "blow up" on a doe and lost the deer due to insufficient penetration. I did however find shreds of deer hanging from nearby brush......

I think that you'll enjoy you new (to you) rifle....

P.S. FWIW: Most of my brass is reformed 7mmRemMag brass that I pickup at the range. Neck is a tad shorter than factory Wby brass and is slightly lower in case capacity. Otherwise no "issues" with reformed brass. Also, I "snagged" my .257wby at a pawn shop for $250 because factory ammo is so expensive, no one would buy the rifle.....One of my better aquisitons...

Great aquisition! The .257WBY was supposedly Roy Weatherbey's favorite cartridge. I've wanted a Mark V in .257WBY for years, but could never really justify the cost for either the gun and the ammo. Hope you enjoy it!

I have a Mark V deluxe in 257 WBY with a zeiss conquest 3x9 scope. So far it's only shot paper with both factory and reloads. I like it alot and had debated about scope choices.

In the end I figured a 3x9 was the most practical due to its range.

I too thought that the 257 wby was the flattest shooting factory cartridge out there. I could be wrong, but it's got to be in the hunt for the flattest trajectory.

LW

PS I bought ten boxes of the norma ammo referenced by GG to shoot and reload. As far as reforming 7mm rem I thought it was a busy process...two stage resizing + fire forming. Am I wrong? Is it worth it? At the range I shoot the 7mm mags are usually reloaded...so it may be a moot point anyways.

To the original poster-dont let the talk of high priced ammo scare you off. You have over $200 worth of ammo and brass with the gun. Just save every piece. If you dont reload-consider it or find someone to help you and use their equip.You can always buy some equip to add to the guys/gals equip as payment for the use of his stuff.

Dont get a whole boatload of bullets-get one heavy one, probably premium, for game and one lighter one for target/varmits-or just one. That way you wont have to be screwing around resighting all the time.

Get a good 100 or 115 and buy a bunch.

PS I looked at that Midway site and you prbably have $300+ worth of ammo/brass with that deal.

Man this thread really makes me want a .257 Weatherby. I want to get started in reloading first and need to let things settle a bit first on the home front. Congrats, BigN, can't wait to get a range report. You've got exactly the rifle I'm hoping to pick up when the time comes.

I too thought that the 257 wby was the flattest shooting factory cartridge out there.

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Flattest quarterbore, unless you include the .257 STW or .25-300 Ultra.

The 257 WBY is a real flat shooter no doubt about it, but for my money the 270 WSM is a real tough act to follow, factory fodder pushes 3300fps with 130gr bullets and costs less then $40 a box for the premium stuff. I handload mine to about 3400 fps with a .460BC run the ballistic calculator on that, it is just as flat as the Wby with 115gr according to my Nosler manual + it burns slightly less powder with a lager bore so barrel burn is not as much of an issue.

The 257 WBY is a real flat shooter no doubt about it, but for my money the 270 WSM is a real tough act to follow, factory fodder pushes 3300fps with 130gr bullets and costs less then $40 a box for the premium stuff. I handload mine to about 3400 fps with a .460BC run the ballistic calculator on that, it is just as flat as the Wby with 115gr according to my Nosler manual + it burns slightly less powder with a lager bore so barrel burn is not as much of an issue.

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the .257 WM can hit 3,400 FPS with 120 grainers. Even the .25-06 can pull of 3,250 without being improved, and still at lower pressures than the WSM's.

I won't argue that the WSM's aren't slightly more efficient than the longer magnums, though. That said, I personally don't care about a few grains difference when talking 60+ grain charges. Just not significant.

Oh I am sure you could hit 3400fps with a 115-120gr bullet, but the BC of 130gr .277cal bullets tend to have a slightly better BC (though they are close) The selection of .277 bullets is better then .257, the short action WSM does seem to burn a little less powder, I can find brass anywhere reloading supplies are sold, the WSM factory ammo costs much less then the Wby, and the .277 cal can use noticably heavier bullets when larger game is on the menue. I don't see any downside of the WSM but that said the Wby does not have any dust on it either.

and the .277 cal can use noticably heavier bullets when larger game is on the menue.

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This is true. However, bullets like the 115 Gr. X-bullet and Speer "Deepcurl" 120 Gr. (which has a .462 B.C.) have really brought the fast .25's into the big game realm with deep penetration and controlled expansion that bullets of yore designed around the .250 Savage and .257 Bob couldn't match at .25-06 and .257 Wthby. velocities. I still love my Sierra 117's, but if I were going after anything larger than cow elk, I'd be using the Speers. If I go after anything that has sharp teeth, sharp claws and attitude, I'll skip the 6mm, .257", 6.5mm, .277", 7mm & .30 cal stuff and use my .45-70 or .375 Ultra

Don't get me wrong, I have seen the devestion a .25 cal pill can cause. They really are a meat grinder at speeds over 3200fps. More experenced hunters then myself swear by their 257 (Chuck Hawks and Roy Weatherby for example) so far be it from me to say a bad word about it. I am just stateing that on paper and in my experence the WSM will match it with no downsides (except for maby 5% more recoil)

sorry but a 120 grain 257 bullet is going to have a better bc then a 120 grain 277 bullet unless your comparing a round nose 257 to a bt spitzer 277

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I lost my first two deer with a 257 Weatherby mag. You've got to use tough bullets for up close shots if you are going to the body. I would recommend Barnes TTSX or Nosler Partition. I don't believe I would even trust a bonded polymer tipped bullet. I would go solid or partition. The 257 Weatherby mag with standard 100 gr spire points is deadlier at 250-400 yds than it is at 100 yds.

ive shot a few with ballistic tips, sierra spitzer, partitions, speer hot cores in weights from the sierra 90 grain hp to a 120 partition and have yet to loose a deer at close or long range with any of those bullets when i put the bullet where it belonged.

Lloyd Smale said:

sorry but a 120 grain 257 bullet is going to have a better bc then a 120 grain 277 bullet unless your comparing a round nose 257 to a bt spitzer 277

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I said that the 130gr .277 cal tend to have better BC then the 120gr .257 cal. Look through the selection on Midway and see for yourself.

Weatherby makes a 270 weatherby...wouldn't that be a better comparison to other .277 cartridges instead of the 257?

the 257 wby easily pushes a 120 to 3400 without undue pressure. Ive never loaded for a 270 wsm but have for the 300wsm and common sense would tell me if your getting 3400 out of a 130 in that small case your pushing the envelope for pressure and im sure brass life is non existant. I could probably get 3500-3600 out of the weatherby too if i didnt value my brass and my eyes. I know the 300wsm will give about a 150 fps at the most safely over a 3006 so i just cant see the 270wsm safely giving 500 fps more speed then a 270 win.