I would hold Weatherby to their 1.5" garantee . Send the rifle back and ask them to shoot a group with the type of factory ammo you prefer ( 100 or 120 grainers ). Then have them send you the target . After all you bought it under the promise it would be capable of that level of accuracy , if there is anyone from Weatherby reading this please deliver , future purchases could be compromised if you dont .

Stubblejumper; Was your's an ultralight? Whose barrel did you use? Who did your work? I am surprized that you had all that work done for a rifle that shot 1-1/4", that beats the factory guarentee. I might have tinkered with it a little, but not much. You must be picky (no dis-respect intended). Did you free float the barrel? Do you get 1/2" with store bought ammo or have you developed specific loads for it?



1/2" at 100, 1 at 200, 2" at 300, 4" at 400. I could live with that!!!

Just a suggestion have you tried RL-25 or RL-19 with 90gr Sierra boat tail hollowpoints or that matter Sierra bullets. From what the other guys have suggested it might be more than bullets and powder selection. I had a 284 made using a synthetic stock I tried powders that everyone said would work great in it nothing it shot horrible. So I went and looked in the manuals and saw that they used IMR 3031 so I loaded some 154 Flat Bases Hornady's it wouldn't shoot boattails worth a darn and IMR 3031 wow less than 1/2 inch groups. So you might want to try a powder that usually isn't used. Maybe there is some one out there with a proven load for the 257 Weatherby. My 25-284 I just had rebarreled I tried the powders I used in it before same groups as before with the old barrel, So I tried RL-25 with 90gr bullets quarter size groups I never used these powders with the old barrel. It also shot RL-19 and H-1000 with 100gr Sierra boatails real well to. It doesn't like Flat bases at all.

My own 257wby did not shoot as well as expected.Despite a great deal of load development it averaged around 1-1/4".I had the barrel replaced with a heavier contour aftermarket barrel with much less freebore and had the action properly bedded and the barrel free floated. The groups then dropped to 1/2" or under.

I used RL-22 for all loads as three different manuals suggested it as the most accurate.

Good insight from my AR brethern. I appreciate your taking the time to help me out. I had a nice conversation with Vapodog this afternoon and he encouraged me to file off the nipples in the forend to free float the barrel and try it out. If it improved, then he suggested bedding the rear end of the action and the recoil lug. Sounds like that recommendation has been confirmed from others.

With the aluminum bedding block, is there considerations that I will have to take into account in bedding that I wouldn't of had to otherwise?

Although if I mess with this, Weatherby will wash their hands of the whole matter. So, possibly I should send them a copy of my original post and see what they say first. Then go from there.

Happy holidays and God's blessings to all.

MJ

Like already stated by Mike and Mr. Pursell I think your only hope is to glass bed the thing. I have seen a couple of Weatherby Ultralights that came through David Christman�s shop. Both of these rifles shot �patterns� as you say. One of these rifles Mr. David finally rebarreled and glass bedded for the gentlemen He used about the same contour barrel but not fluted and it shot very well after that. The other rifle, after a lot of tinkering, never really paned out. This guy was not willing to put that much money in to what he thought was a lost cause. I will admit it would be hard for me to fork out the dough for a rifle that is supposed to have a 1 � inch guarantee as well. I will say that on this particular rifle every thing definitely pointed to the bedding. The stock fit and bedding block fit were terrible. The action actually teetered on the bedding block. Had the gun been mine I would have glass bedded it and if that didn�t work I would have full length bedded it before I gave up. Sadly I saw the rifle on consignment in a local gun shop a few weeks later at a cut rate price I should add. First thing though, give Weatherby one more chance. Tell them what a disappointment it has been and let them know that you will go out of your way to let other people know what a lemon you got from them. Be cordial but firm. If this doesn�t work I would be willing to bet a little Acra Glass will go a long way. One more thing, I would be willing to bet there are way more Weatherby Ultralights out there that shoot than ones that don�t and we all end up with a lemon or two in our life. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Shawn

Yep, I saw you guys several times. I was there Dec 8 - 12th. I had my wife with me and drove a blue Blazer. We were about 6 doors west of you.

338L; Yes, I was hunting a ranch ajacent to the Black Mesa state Park, which is 26 miles Northwest of Boise City. We stayed at the Townsman Motel in Boise City and I saw quite a number of pheasant hunters there. Probably passed you in the parking lot.

here's a fun read.....IMO the very same applies to Weatherbys.
http://www.accuratereloading.com/ubbthre...;gonew=1#UNREAD

Joe, my experience with Weatherby, Remington or any other rifle with an aluminum bedding block has been if it won't shoot, glass bed it. The aluminum block usually doesn't fit the action worth spit.

I know you may be reluctant to try it because the aluminum block is suppose to be THE thing. And don't ask Weatherby what they think of the idea. Just do it.

An amazing coincidence. We stayed at the Townsmen Motel. We were there from the 7-10 Dec. We had the dog trailer parked in the grass and BBQ'd in the parking lot.

What a small world!

Jim

MJ,

Were you up around Boise City for your Antelope doe hunt? I was up there doing some Pheasant hunting during the doe season.

On the 257wby, sincw you have already invested so much, I would send it back to Weatherby and have them send a test target back with proof of the 1.5" guarantee.

Jim

As noted in my original post, the barrel doesn't get too hot as I waited several minutes between shots for the barrel to cool. The loads I worked up took all day long to shoot. I kept meticulus notes. I worked with other rifles in between shots. Three shot groups would have made little difference in this case, unless cleaning after every third shot instead of fifth would have made a difference. Regards,

Here is my NM pronghorn, which I harvested on the Davis Ranch, 4 miles north of Gladstone, which is 42 miles west of Clayton. We were probably less than 40 miles from each other.



I also harvested a pronghorn doe in Oklahoma this month. Great meat. Pronghorn tags in Oklahoma are once in a lifetime. My wife and son want to hunt pronghorn so I think we'll take a trip to Wyoming next year. They are a blast to hunt.

Good grief, Joe, that is one sad story. I imagine you are plenty pissed with Weatherby.

My dad owns an Ultralight in 25-06 and it shoots pretty darned well. He has killed more wild hogs and deer with it than you would believe.

But, I always suspected that the Ultralight in the .257 Wby Mag was too much of a good thing. That is just too slim of a barrel to shoot that high intensity cartridge, I would think.

I guess I would send it back to Weatherby again and hope and pray they can do something with it. They are SUPPOSED to shoot 1.5 inch groups, as I recall. If it won't they should do something about it.

You have certainly done your part, they should come through for you.

If they won't I guess you have to bite the bullet and sell it. I had to do this recently with a new Winchester Model 70 in 223 WSSM. That thing shot like crap!!! I sold it to a guy with just what you are talking about-full disclosure of how bad it shot. I took a beating on it, believe me.

Where in New Mexico did you hunt antelope? Three of us hunted right close to Raton, New Mexico in August and we collected three really nice bucks. Sounds like you made a heck of a nice shot on yours.

Good Luck R F

Firstly, I agree with M Pursell on bedding the rifle. Everyone seems to forget that it does not matter how accurately the aluminium is made each action varies. Quite often rifles will shoot OK on the aluminium blocks for a period of time and then the accuracy falls off.

Secondly, I think you have a dud barrel and also a chamber where the diameter of the freebore section is too large. Then to compound the problem is the very long thin barrel.

Mike

I am at my wits end. I bought a new Weatherby Ultralight in 257 Wby Mag in May of this year with a New Mexico antelope hunt coming up in August in mind. Cost was around $ 1,400. Weatherby/Beuhler SS bases & Rings $ 75. Nikon Monarch UCC 6.5 x 20 x 44 AO $ 420. Three boxes of Weatherby, 120 gr Nosler Partitions @ $ 42 box. Out the door I'm looking at two grand. I'm thinking that in open country sighted in at 300 yards I'll have one flat shooting antelope get'in machine.

Off to the range I go. Now I'm doing the clean after every shot for the first 10, then after every five for the next 20 shots. Allowing time to cool for a few minutes between shoots. And I get verticle strings up and to the left in 5 shot groops. After blowing about $ 80 in factory ammo I go down to my local smith and ask him to look at it. He takes the action out of the stock and we see to two support nipples at the forend tip that are uneven and the stock is tight against the right side of the barrel. He calls weatherby and asks if he can file the nipples to even them out. They say no cause they need the height to provide clearance for cooling. So my smith puts some tape on the lower nipple to try to even them out. Back to the range, no better.

So, I go back to the store where I bought the rifle and they suggest trying a different bullet. I buy three more boxes of Weatherby ammo in 120 gr Ballistic Tip ($ 126). Back to the range. No better.

I take the rifle back to the store where I bought it. It is now early June, about 2 months till my antelope hunt. The smith at the store looks at my shooting notes and says they will ship the rifle back to Weatherby and while I'm at it to send the scope back to Nikon for good measure. ($ 25 shipping charge for the rifle).

So in August I go antelope hunting in New Mexico with my Win Classic Featherweight 30-06 and get a nice 14.5" buck at 410 yards. No Weatherby.

I get my Nikon back in about 10 days with a note that they disassembled, cleaned and reassembled the scope. No problem - No Charge. That's the only thing that hasn't cost me money in this deal, except shipping.

Call after call and I get "in another week or so". Finally in mid-November I'm in the store and check on my Weatherby. It arrived that day. 5-1/2 months!!

I take the action out of the stock to see what they did. Yep, they modified the stock so there was no pressure on the right side of the barrel and the two nipples were evened out in height. Put the action back in the stock and checked clearance with a dollar bill, free and clear up to the forend tip. Reinstall the 6-20 Nikon scope and off to the range I go and now in stead of stringing, I get patterns with no discernable trends. Aaagggghhhh!!!

Ok, so possibly this rifle doesn't like 120 grain bullets. And I now have a nice supply of brass. So I go buy a box of 100 grain Triple Shock, a box of 100 gr Nos ballistic tip and a box of 115 grain Partitions. (Bullets and powder $ 90). I load five of each bullet make/weight in three different powder charges each with five round per combo (starting with one grain under max and then in one grain lower increments). This gave me 15 different combinations and five rounds per group. I cleaned between each group and figured the first would be a flyer , leaving four to test for group. Also waiting several minutes between shots for cooling.

Before I go to the range I decide to change the scope out just in case and put on a Nikon Monarch UCC 4-12 x 42AO. Check all bolts for tightness....

So, now I go back to the range and spend most of a day shooting my test loads. I saw improvement in the lighter bullets at reduced powder charges. I went from patterns to 6" groups. The first was always a flyer after cleaning. The next two would appear to group together then the last two opened it up, in almost every case.

I have now pissed away so much money and time on this rifle that I am at my wits end. I just don't know what to do next.

1. Send it back to Weatherby again. Only God knows for how long and with what results.
2. Have the wippy 26" ultralight barrel cut back to 24" hoping to change the resonance.
3. Send it to a smith who specializes in doing rifle accurizing. (Hill Country in Texas??)
4. Rebarrel it to either a thicker contour in 257 Wby or possibly go to a 25-06.
5. Sell it to some poor unsuspecting soul. Sell it with full discloser for pennies on the dollar.
6. Look at it sit in my safe.

So gentlemen, What would you do? Joe is singing the Weatherby blues.

Your first mistake are the five shot groups. No high-stepping cartridge, especialy with such a thin barrel will hold any accuracy with a 5 shot group. You'll do better with less overbore rounds, but I'd be willing to bet your 3 shot groups are acceptable. If they are not, send the gun back to Weatherby. Incidentally, did it come with a test target? jorge

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