I’m not really a “speed freak”, not with the .25-20, .25-35, .30 M1, .300 Savage, .38-55 and .45-70s in the gun safe, but I have owned three .257 Weatherbys - and still own two. (One is an Accumark, the other a custom on a Jarrett-tuned Ruger Number One with no freebore (I will not divulge the accuracy, because even I cannot believe it). The cartridge just does it for me. No elk, kudu, big bear or bison on the menu anymore, but I have other rifles for those anyway.

For long range varmints the 87 Speer and 100 BTip are supreme, but my ‘go to’ game bullet is the 120 Hornady HP. Yes it is discontinued, but I laid in a supply which will outlive me. Very accurate in long freebore barrels due to the lack of a boattail, it was designed for big case .25s and its terminal performance is stellar. A full load of IMR7828 pushes the HP to over 3325 fps with sub-moa accuracy (0.70” in the MkV actually). Full ribcage penetration on caribou and almost end-to-end on deer, it delivers an awesome wound channel along with the deep penetration.

I have no doubt that a more “modern” bonded bullet will work great too, but really no improvement. Is the .264 WinMag a better cartridge? Is 20 grains of bullet weight meaningful? Depends on the bullet of course. Regardless, I will have at least one .257 Bee in the safe the day I depart this veil of tears....


.

So I finally settled on the load for the year. Nosler 110 Accubond at almost exactly 3400FPS and my last three shots on Sunday had an outside spread of .65". I am not sure where Weatherby rifles got the bad accuracy rap, maybe from warped walnut. I have had over a dozen or so ULW and predator masters and super big game masters and they have all been lights out. Just hard not to like in a hunting gun.

MOst of the wbys Ive shot were accurate as could be..a long throat gets a bad rap for accuracy but again Ive not experienced that and have long throated guns so I can seat bullet out as far as possible..

If I had a 257 Wby, Id load it with 120 gr. Accubonds or partitions and be happy as a church mouse..but I would be concerned about blood shot meat..and I live on venison to make my heart doctor happys, I fudge from time to time however..

Is there a 120 Accubond now?

quote:

Originally posted by Dogleg:
Is there a 120 Accubond now?

Pretty sure Accubond has topped out for now at 110 grain in the .257" variety..

quote:

I am not sure where Weatherby rifles got the bad accuracy rap, maybe from warped walnut.

It just falls in with the many Weatherby myths that get perpetuated especially on the Internet.

Not necessarily a .257 but I notice just about every manufacture has fallen all over themselves to copy Weatherby's cartridges over the years.

I think bullet choice depends on how and on what your using it on. I like the 120 Partition and have thought about trying the 100 grain Barnes mainly because of the possibility of close range shots.

I recently used my .257 on a kudu, 2 impala, bontebok, black wildebeest and a red hartebeest. All were one shot kills with all animals dropping in their tracks. Ranges varied from 100m to just over 310m.

A few friends shot two zebra with the same rifle at distances of about 25-30m. Both animals barely made it 45m.

All animals were shot with the 110gr factory loaded Accubond. The ammo shoots 1/2” groups in my rifle and the bullets performed very well.

As in most of these caliber discussions I find most posts are justification of owning one!! to wit I have no problem with, we all know the kill like canned lightening, shoot out barrels if abused and on an on..My take is if you like the caliber it needs no justification, just use it and enjoy...I put little interest or faith in caliber, most all of them work fine, bullet selection is primary in a hunting rifle, first is penetration, second is cross section of bullet and bullet performance..I don't like meat ground into black hamburger...Bottom line is to each his own.

With a caliber like the 257 Wby, it can be handloaded from a 25-20, 25-35, 250 Savage, 257 Robts, 257 Ackley, 25-06, and a host of others, that's fantastic, it will do it all..Needs no justification.

Thanks Ray. While getting decent accuracy at .25-20 velocities may be a challenge in the big .257 case, I haven’t tried it. I have achieved moa accuracy at .250/3000 velocities though. As far as long throats go, I have several SSK Contender barrels with very long throats (not Weatherbys), and all will agg below moa at 100 yards. Just because benchrest shooters like to seat their bullets into the lands doesn’t mean that a jump to the rifling will give poor accuracy. I have owned three .257s, a Mark V, an Accumark, and a custom Jarrett Ruger No. One. Still own the last two, which group well under moa (I won’t disclose the Jarrett accuracy, you won’t believe it anyway). The “common knowledge” about long throats published by gunwriting hacks is far from gospel.


.