I'm looking to cook up a really fast varmint load for my Mark V .257 Wby. I've heard good things about the Vmax bullet. What concoction have you guys put together that really screams?

Thx,
Chris

No "pet" 257 Wby loads out there?

You might try the reloading forum. I know there are quite a few 257Wby shooters around.

Hopefully most .257 shooters will point out the way to build a "safe" varmint load for "your" rifle is to start low and work up slow out of the book. Getting someone to give you what they have developed as a "hot load" for "their" rifle and then just using it is a fast track to "shards, splinters, eye patches or worse".

Thanks, montdoug....I know the in's and out's of reloading and how to do it safely. Just wanted a starting point.

I dont know much about the .257Wby but I do have a 25-06 and dearly love it. My rifle loves a max load of H4350 and the 75gr vmax bullet (load listed on the can). Chronoed average of 5 shots was 3810fps from a 26" Hart 1:10 barrel. Be prepared for acrobatics and start saving for a new barrel.

If it was me I'd get several of the varmint weight .257 bullets and see which one the rifle likes best, in a perfect world it would be that 75 grain Hornady V-Max. I'd then focus on one of Hodgdons "Extreme" powders that is more resistant to temperature swings, probably H4350 or H4831 with a magnum primer. Most of the big magnum cases seem to be happiest up close to the wall but I'd get there slowly.
In the 2006 Hodgdon annual magazine manual using that bullet they start at 71 grains with H4831 and end up at 75 grains for 3,841fps. With H4350 they start at 65 grains for 3,715 and max out at 70 grains for 3,905fps, that is indeed wicked hot!
They are using Federal 215 Mag primers buy the way, they are the hottest of the mag primers and developed special for the Weatherby mag rounds.

I like the sounds of the data on the 70 grains of 4350! Would love to touch that 4000 fps mark!

Anxious to try them out!

I won't be shooting this enough to shoot out the barrel anytime soon!

Thx,
Chris

Running 70 grains of powder at a time down a .257 caliber hole a guy could eat up a throat at an amazing pace if he's not careful. Just don't get that barrel hot enough to brand cattle with and it oughta be fine. If the barrel is too hot to keep hold of stop shooting, not to difficult to figure out huh?