My new toy is arriving tomorrow: a Weatherby Vanguard rifle in .257 Weatherby Magnum.

Almost everything is in place in order to start playing with it: RCBS dies, Norma brass, 90 grains Barnes X and Sierra GK bullets, 120 grains Nosler Partition and Sierra GK bullets.

And I say almost because I am missing the recommended powders for developing these loads. Powder is something difficult to come by in my country and the closest I could find was some Vihtavuori N160 and Vectan Tubal 8000.

Has anyone ever used these powders on load development, for this caliber? And if so would you mind sharing?
Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

B.Martins

P.S. – I decided to post here instead of the “Reloading” forum as I believe most of the members posting regularly on that forum are not very familiar with these European powders.

I suggest that you buy " Guide pratique du rechargement" by Alain Gheerbrant, éditions Larivière (ISBN : 978-2-914205-72-6)
It lists loads for Tubal 7000 and 8000

Following your advice I have just ordered it!

Merci,

B.Martins

Hi Bernardino, after reading your post, I've realized that there are few reloading data on the 257WM. Anyway, the last Hornady manual suggests the following:

Vith. N160

87 gr. bullet/min 59.3gr, max 64.9gr

120 gr. bullet/min 52gr, max 57.3gr

Unfortunately, no data available for the T8000; the SNPE reloadig chart is really poor. Anyway, according to the Vith. data, the T8000 is barely slower than the N160 so, the above starting loads should be safe with the T8000 too. Of course it's only a guess.

P.S. I would not trust the 90gr Sierra bullet at 257WM velocities (1000/1050 m/s).

Chèr Benardino,

voilá ici les charges pour la .257 WM et des poudre Vectan:

Vectan pour .257 Weatherby

I load this caliber for a friend of mine with 115 grains Barnes TSX. He likes it a lot and shoots even red deer and big Turkish wild boar with it. We use Norma MRP2 powder.

DUK, where did you find those reloading data?

Amazing but there are still little known places to be discovered on the internet...

LHS a German powder dealer

Thanks, great link! I quite often use Vectan powders.

P.S. I've ordered the book too.

Thank you all for your information and advice.
I will start load developement during next week and will let you know about the results.


Dirk,

Next time you come to Portugal remember to bring some of that MRP2 with you.


B.Martins

We are doing an update on our 257 Weatheby data, and the following is a works in progress results.

Powders Velocity Group Bullet OAL

68.0 H414 3910 78 Brawand Match 3.317
70.0 Reloader 19 3691
71.5 3757
73.0 3832
74.0 3962
75.0 3974
72.0 WMR 3628
73.5 3828
75.0 3876
76.5 3968 75 Hornady V Max 3.240
78.0 4090
79.5 4148
74.0 3821 Nosler 85 BT 3.333
75.0 3899
74.0 VVN 165 3716
75.0 3832.0
70.0 3478 Nosler 100 BT 3.375
71.5 3584
73.0 3649
75.0 H1000 3659
70.0 3332 Barnes X 115 3.380
71.5 3400
66.0 Reloader 22 3261
67.5 3351
70.0 3483 Barnes X 100

Martin
Hope you're well, what do you plan on using this rifle for? I imagine the 90 grain Barnes bullets will be fantastic for any mountain game.
Best wishes

Gabriel

Thank you Saeed.
Unfortunately we only have acess to some Vetan and Vihtavuori powders. I would love to put my hands on IMR, Alliant or Norma powders but that it is almost impossible in this country.


Gabriel,

I am planing on using the rifle for stalking deer in the north (red and maybe some roe)and also for chamois and thar next year.
Keep well.

B.Martins

quote:

Originally posted by b.martins:

....Unfortunately we only have acess to some Vetan and Vihtavuori powders. I would love to put my hands on IMR, Alliant or Norma powders but that it is almost impossible in this country.....

Same here; some US and Norma powders are sometimes (seldom) available, but they cost as much as 90/110 € per lbs