257 weatherby

I've shot the 117 grain sst, dead deer, 120 grain partition, dead deer, 120 grain Speer hot core, dead deer, 120 grain Speer btsp dead deer! The Speer btsp is the highest bc 257 bullet I can find
 
Thanks Bob. I do believe I will be starting with 110 or 115gr to get started. Gonna check out the bullet views you're talking about. Do you think the 110 or 115 will shoot a little further than 200 yard flat?

BD the ballistics on the 110 NAB and H1000 or RL22 near maximum loads are within 1.5" at 100 and 200 in my rifle. Your results may vary a bit Check out the attached.

I have shot the 115 TSX in my rifle and H1000 with it is pretty sweet. I started at 69.5.

.257 Weatherby Magnum

Good luck and shoot straight

Bob
 
From personal experience and observation of use of the 257 Weatherby with most any 100 to 120 gr cup and core non bonded bullet inside 300 yards if you hit the scapula on a deer you will have to throw both shoulders away. Total destruction and usually bang flop. Through the ribs, usually bang flop with sometimes total destruction of off side shoulder. With bonded bullets like the Accubond same results if you hit the scapula but it will exit most of the time. With these bullets there is less off side destruction through the ribs. I like the Accubond bullets in the fast magnums for deer. I shoot the 130 AB in my 264 Win mag at 3350 fps. They will not blow up on those close shots and give you the penetration into the vitals you need and usually will exit even through both shoulders. When I was shooting some deer with my buddies 257 Weatherby bonded bullets were not made yet. 115 Partitions and 117 Sierra was what we mostly used. He now uses the 110 Accubond with H4831. If you will only be shooting out to 200 yards it really does not matter what bullet weight you use because they all will only shoot 1 to 1 1/2" high at 100 yards with a 200 yard zero. Just a little heads up if you ever hunt over a green soybean field. Know exactly where that deer is at before you shoot it because it will be on the ground swallowed up by that sea of green before the rifle even gets to it's full height of it's slight recoil. That bullet gets there fast and kills them dead before they hit the ground. :D I walked the rows of a field for an hour before I tripped over a buck once that I shot and I thought I knew exactly where he was at before I shot him. He died so quickly he fell straight down with his legs folded under him and never moved. :D Good luck and good shooting.
 
Used my 257 on numerous white tails Mulies and Antelope over past twenty years in several different states and to this day it's been nothing but bang flop from 40yds out to 525. I know it's not a favorite bullet but I shoot 100gr NBT over a stout charge of H1000. It flattens them...

Now I have to go knock on wood.
 
Baydog,

Typical shots for our coues wt are well over 200 yds. Longest shot I have done with the Roy is 580 yds on an antelope and 525 on a coues deer. I set my rifle up so I have don't have to do any compensation till I am past 500 yds. See chart at end of post.

RL-25 or RL-33 will yield more velocity with the 110 accubond or 115 Berger VLD than H-1000, Retumbo or even RL-22.

I currently am using RL-33 with a moly coated 115 VLD in a 27.5" 3 groove Lilja. The velocity is the fastest I have ever experienced with the 257 weatherby and I hesitate to mention it. The velocity is a stunning 3680 fps with 83 grains of powder. This was measured with a magneto speed chronograph and verified at the Tucson Rifle Club's silhouette range. Trajectory/comeups matched perfectly for the 300 M javelina and the 500 M ram.

I was one of the first to work with RL-33 was when it first came out. I posted results with several chamberings here. I had to do some testing to develop the load data as Alliant doesn't mention this powder with the 257 Weatherby, still doesn't. RL-33 is slower than RL-25 so I started the mid range loads of RL-25 to begin with RL-33 and worked up from there.

When we used RL-25 we used 74 to 75 grains which is a bit over what Nosler's suggestion of 72 gr for their max load data with the 115 ballistic tip. The ballistic tip has more bearing surface than the 115 VLD and isn't coated. The velocities with RL-25 were running a bit over than 3600 fps with all five rifles . This combination of custom reamer, longer 3 groove barrel, VLD, and moly coating has shown itself to work with six lilja 3 groove barrels. The sixth rifle is using H-1000 and velocity is a bit over 3300 fps.

Flat? You bet. We shoot our deer at 4000-5000 ft. Here is trajectory for my rifle at 4000 ft

100 2.8
150 4.0
200 4.4
250 4.1
300 2.9
350 1.0
400 -1.9
450 -5.6
500 -10.4

Wind drift at 500 yd in a 10 mph crosswind is 8.7"

If I were to zero the rifle for 100 yds here is how flat it would be:


100 -0.0
150 -0.3
200 -1.3
250 -3.3
300 -6.1
350 -9.9

You asked......
 
AZShooter, that is very impressive ! I have a Lipsey #1 with a 28" tube that shoots better than a Number 1 is supposed to. I have some RL 33 & some 115 Bergers & 115 BT's, I will give it a try. I hear alot of good reports on the new RL26 in the way of velocity & accuracy & will check that too. It is not set up as a range, click up & shoot rifle but rather I need to be able to shoot quickly out to a max range of 450, as far as I can shoot where I Whitetail hunt here in AR. I doubt the 115 would ever be lacking for Deer or Hogs to 450.
Thanks for the info
 
Just wanted to thank everyone for all the great load data and opinions on how flat the .257 weatherby would shoot. I ended up buying a Remington model 700CDL with a 26" stainless fluted barrel. This is a awesome little gun! I asked the question.. "Will the 257 shoot 200 yards flat" ...Well I'm here to tell ya everyone was right. The gun shoots as good at 200 yards as it does at 100 yards..I bought a box of 100 grain store bought weatherby ammo when I picked the gun up just so i could get started with the gun quick, and it shoots great. Only mistake I made was I really don't feel like I put enough scope on the gun. 3x9x50mm vari-x-2 leupold ...I have a range set up at home where I can strech out to 260 yard and it shoots as good at 260yrd as it does at 100yrd. So like the rest of my eyes ain't one of my strongest points anymore and this gun will shoot further than I can see with the leupold 3x9x50mm ... Never have gone wrong buying any Leupold product and nothing wrong with this scope just didn't expect this 257 to shoot as good as it does but that's ok...Looks like my son is gonna be getting a scope upgrade for his Little .243 And i will be stepping up for this great little .257 gun. . Wow what a great caliber! Now to start working up a load that the gun likes is my next step..
Thanks again
Baydog
 
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