I used a 257 wby on a whitetail this fall for the first time. I had built this rifle on a 98 action with a 24 inch barrel. Had a little difficulty getting it to group. Finally settled on 70 grs of RL 25 and the 120 gr Hornady HP. That load will shoot 3 shot groups under 1 in at 200 yds. I was disappointed with partions.They produced a nice 4 to 5 inch group. Most of the group we hunt with had filled their tags and gone home.I still had my tag and was poking around starting to make plans for neck year. Made an evening stand and this big buck comes out. He was about 300 yds away but feeding in a low spot and I could only see the top of his back and his rack when he raised his head. He looked huge compared to the does that were there. Finally he fed out of the low spot and presented me with a shot as he was quartering towards me. He took the 120 slug where the bottom of the neck vertebra and the shoulder bone meet.He was on the ground as fast as the sound of the bullet hitting him got back to me. Field dressed with the heart & liver he weighed 272 lbs. I've always believed in using lots of rifle on big deer with the 270/130 gr combination being the minimum. I was quite impressed at how the 257 wby and the 120 hornady performed. Would be interested in hearing about other experiences with the 257 Wby and/or the 120 Hornady bullet on game

snowman,

I am getting ready to load for a friends .257WBY. I have in hand 120gr. Nosler Partitions and Swift A-Frames. With this velocity, I was wanting to stay with a "tough" bullet.

I am interested in what you recovered of the Hornady bullet? I had not considered Sierra or Hornady bullets for this gun/load.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

SAM

eclemmons@hotmail.com

Sam I started out with the same line of thinking. I wanted to try Noslers and Barnes x bullets. Tried every powder suitable with generally terrible results. Cleaned the barrel again and started over with Sierras. Same bad groups.Had a box of 120 gr Hornady HP's and tried them. Thought the first group must have been a fluke. Loaded some more and shot 3 more groups just over one inch in size.Finally settled on 70 grs of RL 25 which gave the best groups and is near max in my rifle. With the buck quartering towards me the bullet did not make a large entrance hole. It went through the right front shoulder caught the bottom of the neck vertebra and either the bullet or bone fragments tore up the top of the lungs. Almost no meat was damaged.The bullet did not exit and it was not in the carcass when I butchered it.I suspect it was in the guts when I field dressed it.

Twenty one years ago when I first bought my MkV and started to load for it I first tried the Speer 100 gr. bullet, a very light jacketed one. Every deer I hit went down "rat now" if they were within about 100 yds. There wasn't an exit hole, but when the hide was peeled back there was a hole in the off side of the carcass about baseball size. When the deer was farther out the bullet would exit and blow red shtuff for twenty yards. I figured if I were to hit heavy bone just right that bullet may not do so well. Since then i've loaded lots of different bullets in it. 100 gr. Partitions would group nice, but the exit hole was small. The 120 Speer was ok,the old Nosler Solid Base 120s grouped and killed great, and I have a lot left of them. The 100 Solid Base not quite as well in both catagories.
Barnes x's have grouped well, I haven't got much experience on game with them in .257 yet. I came across ten boxes of Remington 122 gr. extended range ammo a couple of years ago. They seem to work like the light Speers, kill well but the bullet doesn't always exit. It is my favorite deer caliber.

You should get quite a few replies on this if you post it on the big game forum at - http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php

Lots of 257 Wby fans there. Me included!

[ 12-19-2002, 13:48: Message edited by: Nebraska ]

Hi Snowman, glad to hear that you got your deer. I've used the 120 Hornadies in my 25-06 with good performance on everything up to elk. When I've hit bone, the bullet came apart, but the pieces all kept going through the animal, so they all died. I'm not saying this caliber/bullet combo is an ideal elk rifle, but it was what I had with me at the time, and it worked. For deer, I think this is a fine bullet. How do you like that 257 Wby, I've been thinking of putting one together myself. Take care - Dan

this is my first year using a 257 mag, two shots, two kills, the first was a neck shot on a 155lb hill country buck, you know what happened to him, second, was a lung shot on a 300lb hog, ran about 50-60 yds, nice little exit holes, seemed to work perfect.

Try the 100 partition, use the velocity, that was the intent of the round from Roy..
mine shoots around .45" of an inch..

I have been using a 257 WBY for about 6yrs. I shoot 115gr NBT over 70gr of R22. It is my favorite Antelope rifle. This year I shot an Antelope faceing me a little over 200yds away. He dropped like a stone. I recovered the bullet just in front of his left hindquarter. This load will also perform the same on a whitetail.

I shoot a .257 Wby, and have for three years, and I am still amazed at what it can do. My top four bullets are the 100 grain Barnes XLC with one inch groups, the 100 and 120 grain Nosler Partition with .5 inch groups, and last and best 115 grain Nosler Partition with one hole groups on my good days. I have shot all powders, but the most accurate by far is RL-22 with Fed 215M primers. My best load is the 115 gr. NP and 70 grains RL-22, chronographing at 3450 fps. My 13 year old grandson shot a 180 pound whitetail buck with this load last year. The deer was facing him at 180 yards, he hit it in the neck between briskett and shoulder. He recovered the bullet at the rear of the left ham, just inside the hide, mushroomed to the partition. He and I were quite proud of the shot and performance of the load. I mounted a Burris 6 X 24 Signature scope on the Weatherby Accumark rifle. I shoot several larger chamberings regularly, and consider this my fun gun to relax with after shooting the big boys. I am glad my .257 likes the tougher bullets, as I am sure the velocities obtained are better served in the field with them. I can get the one hole groups with Berger 110 grain moly bullets and Nosler Ballistic Silvertips, at phenomenal speeds, but I am uncomfortable with possible results on game. I have actually had the Bergers come apart before reaching the target. This is my experience, for what it is worth. Good shooting.

I know this is an old string, but I'm having some problems with my 257 WBY that I'm hoping you guys can help with. Mine is all over the paper using the 100gr Nosler Partitions, IMR4350 powder, and 9 1/2 Rem Primers. When I say all over the paper, I'm talking 5" groups at 100yds. The only thing I've done to it was lighten the trigger. I'm seating the bullet as far out as the magazine will allow and have tried charge weights of 62-66gr with no luck. I hate to go any lower because I think it defeats the purpose that this gun was made for, to go fast. Am I using the wrong powder? Have any of you guys had luck with 4350 or is the consensus on RL-22?

Jethro......I think you may have better luck with a slower burning powder .

Go with 4831 or slower......RL 25 maybe 7828 or also H1000 ......something pretty slow is called for with the big case and the small bore........

[ 07-21-2003, 19:49: Message edited by: sdgunslinger ]

I'm already getting a huge fire ball out the end of the barrel using the 4350. Will I have even more unburnt powder outside the barrel using the slower powder?

How long is your barrel?? If you are getting a large muzzle flash with 4350, you are indeed likely to get more of the same if/when you go to a slower powder. What you may do is to move a tad up in bullet weight, since you are down at 100grs at the moment.
- mike

I'd tape another 2" to your barrel so that 257 Wby could really shine!

That would be use number 14873 for duct tape. Boy, that's some great stuff.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's got a 26" pipe on it, but I have to check when I get home to be sure. I'm not sure the slower powder will work, but I'll try it. I like the idea of the heavier bullet though. Maybe the 115gr Nosler BT or the 117 gr Sierra. Anybody have experience with these on deer at long ranges (200-400yds)?

Well, I just measured the barrel and boy was I mistaken. It's only 23" long (from the end of the action)! This puzzles me. When I went to Weatherby's website, my gun looks exactly like the Mark V Deluxe, however none of their calibers have a 23" barrel. Maybe I measured wrong and it's really 24", but they still don't offer the 257 in that length. So the question is, with such a short barrel on a magnum rifle, do I change powder or bullets? I will probably end up trying both, but what would you start with? At this point, I really don't think I'm getting anywhere near the potential of this rifle.

Barrels are usually measured from muzzle to the mouth of the chamber. Your extra inch of barrel is threaded into the action.

9.3

Snowman,
Anything would have dropped that deer on th spot with that shot...

My take on the 257 wby is it shoots flatter than a flitter, kills like the hammer of thor, it kills with velocity and it bloodshoots them from ear to tail, very messy stuff...same with most hi-vel calibers..

That is a good reason for the 30-06 and 180 gr. bullets..but thats a personal thing with me and does not apply to everyone.

The 257 is my favorite deer caliber. I guess I must have shot some 80 plus deer in my life with calibers ranging form the 375 H&H to the 250 Savage. In my experience, nothing, but nothing smacks deer harder than that 257 with the factory 100gr Spire Points ( Hornady). I have a couple of old Weatherby Guides, in it they have all kinds of neat loads including a "factory equivalent" load using Norma MRP ( the clone of RL-22 BTW). I can duplicate factory ballsitics with my handloads. I've loaded some 100gr Swift A Frames but have yet to try them. Those little 100gr Hornadys are something though. It's even piled up a few hogs, I mean like bang! they drop dead. It's a great cartridge! jorge

Barrels are measured from the muzzle to the bolt face. Take your rifle with bolt closed (on an empty chamber of course) and insert a cleaning rod or wood dowel in the muzzle until it hits the bolt face. Make a mark on the rod then pull it out and measure it. That's your barrel length.

Ray Atkinson I agree that in most cases lighter high velocity bullets do end up with a lot of bloodshot meat.I was actually surprized at how little meat damage there was on this buck. I might make a similar shot and find that the 120 Hornady blows up and makes a mess.It will take a lot more than 1 or 2 shots to form any conclusions.I was disappointed that I never recovered the slug and was hoping to hear from others who had used the 120 Hornady HP in one of the hot 25's. Same rifle may be going on an antelope hunt in Montana this fall. I suspect it might be a better choice on antelope.

Just curious...does anyone know if the 120gr "Positive Expanding" bullet that Winchester loads in its 25/06 rounds is the Hornady 120gr HP?

By looking at them I would say no. The Hornady comes to a finer point (hollow as it may be) than the WW bullets does. \

9.3

I am on my 3rd 257 Wby. It's a fantastic deer gun.I use it on blacktails and mulies. Shot my largest 4 pt. blacktail at 35 yds broadside behind the front shoulder and the bullet exited the opposite side clipping that shoulder.The deer weighed 184# ready to cut-up.The cartridge seems to kill out of proportion to it's size, even on less than perfect hits.I've tried partitions, ballistic tips,hornadies.Ballistic tips are marginal at times, but the hornadies work absolutely great. My favorite load is:

100 gr. hornady interloc spirepoint
Weatherby cases
72 gr. RL-22
Federal 215 primers

Vinnie, what kind of groups are you getting with that load? I've tried every combination of IMR4350 and couldn't get anything less than a 4" group. I didn't have any RL-22, so just for grins I loaded some RL-25 and bumped up my bullet to the Sierra 117s. Groups came in to just under 2". That's workable. Looks like it just doesn't like the 4350. Pressure must be all over the place. I'll have to pick up some RL-22 and give the 100gr bullets another try. I originally thought it was the bullets, but the 4350 wouldn't shoot the 117s either. I'm slowly narrowing it down though.

Jethro,
I'm not the world's best shot. I am not the worst either. This load will shoot consistent 1/2" 3-shot groups.On a good day, it will shoot in the .3" range.

I have a Weatherby Ultralight in 257 and usr the Nosler 115 BT with 70gr of R-22. Agreat load for Antelope and Whitetails

The only thing better than the group my dad shot with his 257 Weatherby , is the elk steaks . Yes this gun is a meatpole. I belive he shoots Hornady 117BTSPs with abunch of AA8700 . He has smacked a couple of nice mule deer bucks with it also.

I just came back from an antelope hunt in Montana. Using the same 257 that I was talking about when I started this thread. One shot at about 375 yds with the same old 120 gr Hornady HP's. A nice 14 inch buck. The bullet took him broadside in the lungs and pretty much wrecked his whole day! He just collapsed. When I dressed him lungs were just a lump of jelly. I am really starting to like this rifle!

The .257 Wby. has been my favorite caliber for around 40 years. Most of the mule deer I've shot with it were shot with 87 grn.hollow point bullets. If you hit them right behind the shoulder the bullet will never exit and when you dress them out all you'll find is mush in the cavity and flakes of copper on the other ribcage. I once killed a mulie buck with an 87 grn. bullet at something over 400 yds. with a hit in the right rear. He dropped in his tracks. I prefer light bullets moving at extreme velocity because they destroy the nervous system. I personally have always liked the 87 & 100 grn. bullets best for the .257 Wby. Now accuracy! Most of the factory guns are known for not shooting small groups. One reason was that the early guns had 3/4's of an inch freebore and the bullet had to jump that far before entering the lands. I have since gone to a zero freebore .257 Wby. custom with a Lilja 3 groove SS barrel and Canjar set trigger in a Ruger #1 that will shoot good groups. You can't shoot factory ammo in it but you can reload your own which is even better. Some of those barrels that aren't shooting too good may have copper fouling up the groups also. I like this caliber even better today than ever. Good luck with yours.