25 WSSM bullet selection for hunting

[Pugh26]

New member here, but I was hoping to get some insight on bullet selection for high speed .257 cartridges ( 257 Wtby, 25-06 or 25 WSSM). I bought a used 25 WSSM last year in a Browning A-Bolt II and I love the rifle. I bought what bullets I could find in stores and several brands of used bullets from and estate sale. I settled on loading Barnes 100gr. TTSX and shot a decent buck with it at the end of the 2022 season. I purposely made a length ways shot so that I could recover the bullet and inspect it. The deer was DRT and bullet penetration was great almost going the full length of the deer. My concern was that the Barnes bullet had shed all of its petals and what was left was a .257 sized projectile with no mushroom. Had the bullet exited, I would have not have had a blood trail If the deer had ran. I think it would be better to sacrifice some penetration to gain expansion and create a larger wound channel. Thinking of trying a bonded bullet like a Nosler AB, Swift Scirocco II's or maybe a Nosler partition. Anybody have any experience, suggestions or recommendations?

 

[FEENIX]

New member here, but I was hoping to get some insight on bullet selection for high speed .257 cartridges ( 257 Wtby, 25-06 or 25 WSSM). I bought a used 25 WSSM last year in a Browning A-Bolt II and I love the rifle. I bought what bullets I could find in stores and several brands of used bullets from and estate sale. I settled on loading Barnes 100gr. TTSX and shot a decent buck with it at the end of the 2022 season. I purposely made a length ways shot so that I could recover the bullet and inspect it. The deer was DRT and bullet penetration was great almost going the full length of the deer. My concern was that the Barnes bullet had shed all of its petals and what was left was a .257 sized projectile with no mushroom. Had the bullet exited, I would have not have had a blood trail If the deer had ran. I think it would be better to sacrifice some penetration to gain expansion and create a larger wound channel. Thinking of trying a bonded bullet like a Nosler AB, Swift Scirocco II's or maybe a Nosler partition. Anybody and any experience or recommendations?

Welcome to LRH, and enjoy! We all have different intended purposes/preferences. My .257 WBY is specifically built to propel heavies. I have 131 BJ, 133/135 Berger, and 134 Hornady, but I jumped directly to 145 Black Hole instead.Good luck!

 

[Phil Rizzo]

110 AB has been stellar for me, at short-medium distances.
match type accuracy and a lot of DRT, started out about 3400mv.
im sure it would do fine at less velo also.
Look me up in Cleveland if you need a few to try.

 

[choprzrul]

90gr Absolute Hammers in my 25-06 at over 3600 fps have been stellar on my small sample of deer. 4 shots, 4 dead deer. None of them got more than 40 yards from point of impact with one bang flop.

Speed kills. Shedding those petals and leaving a blunt face creates a bigger/ better wound channel compared to a rounded lead core traditional mushroom shape IMHO. Also, in my experience with the Hammers, I am seeing way less bloodshot meat compared to lead core. I've seen a far side shoulder that I didn't need to trim any meat around the bullet hole.....quite literally eat right up to the hole!

Lastly, through all of the recent shortages of reloading equipment, the Hammers have always arrived in my mailbox about a week after placing the order....availability is a big factor for me. No sense doing load development only to find that your choice of bullet is no longer available anywhere :-(

 

[Pugh26]

Thanks, Phil. I've got 50 or so 110 AB's I was thinking of trying. I just felt like I was on the gas too much for the Barnes. I think I was pushing them a little under 3300. If you pushing the 110 AB's at 3400 with good performance then I think that's what I'll try this season if I can work up an accurate load.

 

[Pugh26]

Black Hole, Absolute Hammers, y'all are speaking new lingo to me. Looks like I've got to get with the times and start trying some of these new manufacturers.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

What range are you killing? What type of gun?
Anything other than Wby freebore seems to like .010 jump or less

 

[Phil Rizzo]

I don't think there is too much gas for a Barnes. I've got some video to prove it, with a 100gr TTSX at 3670. It's instant and complete death.
Dad uses.257 STW

 

[FEENIX]

Thanks, Phil. I've got 50 or so 110 AB's I was thinking of trying. I just felt like I was on the gas too much for the Barnes. I think I was pushing them a little under 3300. If you pushing the 110 AB's at 3400 with good performance then I think that's what I'll try this season if I can work up an accurate load.

No, you do not have to. There is nothing wrong with what you have/ have been using.

 

[Hoss50]

115gr HLVD from Berger had not problems killing a cow elk for me years ago with my 257 weatherby before I rebarreled it to shoot the 130gr class bullets.

 

[The Badger]

My buddy's son has been shooting the 110 accubonds in his 25WSSM with great results for a few years now. Most the deer have dropped in their tracks. The rest don't go far. Years ago I had the same results with them in my 25-06.

I also shot alot of Sierra 117gr Pro Hunters in 25-06 back then with great results too. I believe they may be discontinued now. Lately, I've worked up some 92 gr hammer hunters in my 25-06. Super accurate but not tried on game yet.

 

[del2les]

New member here, but I was hoping to get some insight on bullet selection for high speed .257 cartridges ( 257 Wtby, 25-06 or 25 WSSM). I bought a used 25 WSSM last year in a Browning A-Bolt II and I love the rifle. I bought what bullets I could find in stores and several brands of used bullets from and estate sale. I settled on loading Barnes 100gr. TTSX and shot a decent buck with it at the end of the 2022 season. I purposely made a length ways shot so that I could recover the bullet and inspect it. The deer was DRT and bullet penetration was great almost going the full length of the deer. My concern was that the Barnes bullet had shed all of its petals and what was left was a .257 sized projectile with no mushroom. Had the bullet exited, I would have not have had a blood trail If the deer had ran. I think it would be better to sacrifice some penetration to gain expansion and create a larger wound channel. Thinking of trying a bonded bullet like a Nosler AB, Swift Scirocco II's or maybe a Nosler partition. Anybody have any experience, suggestions or recommendations?

Well, it sounds like you had great performance from the Barnes 100 TTSX. I have used those, the 110NAB, 115 Berger, and a host of cup-n-core bullets with good success. It doesn't get much better than DRT, and when hunting Southern Whitetails or other at ranges under 300 yds, the 100 TTSX is hard to beat. I drive them in my 25-06's in the 3,400 fps range, and while I prefer the 110 NAB for its accuracy, both are very deadly.

 

[Calvin45]

All I have experience with is the .257 weatherby AND STILL NO GAME TAKEN with it. Was out all last weekend, hardly saw any deer at all! Gonna try again, last day of the season is December 2 here.

Here in Saskatchewan we've had two brutally long, cold winters with deep snow too, at least up here in the middle/northern part of the province. I've heard multiple reports of the same thing I've seen (or not seen) especially from nearby locales. It would seem the winter kill rate on fawns has been worse than we thought and that's starting to show up now I'm comfortable in my heated house and vehicle but it's a sober reminder that those animals really do have a harsh life for half of the year, in nature ya gotta be tough and well fed to make it through winter here (I'm well fed anyway…)

Anyways, it's actually been a very non-picky rifle so far, no matter what weatherby haters with freebore-phobics might tell me.

I have experimented with loads with the 100 grain Nosler ballistic tip, 100 grain Barnes tsx, 75 grain hammer hunter, anr 115 grain Berger hunting vld. NOTE: I treat all my bullets and bores with hexagonal boron nitride. That does affect things. Anyways, my Weatherby vanguard stainless keeps all 4 of those under an inch with no need to fiddle around with depth, I honestly just load to mag length or in the case of the hammer up till all the grooves are in the neck and figure out charge weight.

 

[Bghunter338]

New member here, but I was hoping to get some insight on bullet selection for high speed .257 cartridges ( 257 Wtby, 25-06 or 25 WSSM). I bought a used 25 WSSM last year in a Browning A-Bolt II and I love the rifle. I bought what bullets I could find in stores and several brands of used bullets from and estate sale. I settled on loading Barnes 100gr. TTSX and shot a decent buck with it at the end of the 2022 season. I purposely made a length ways shot so that I could recover the bullet and inspect it. The deer was DRT and bullet penetration was great almost going the full length of the deer. My concern was that the Barnes bullet had shed all of its petals and what was left was a .257 sized projectile with no mushroom. Had the bullet exited, I would have not have had a blood trail If the deer had ran. I think it would be better to sacrifice some penetration to gain expansion and create a larger wound channel. Thinking of trying a bonded bullet like a Nosler AB, Swift Scirocco II's or maybe a Nosler partition. Anybody have any experience, suggestions or recommendations?

My kids both hunt with a 25 wssm for the last 10 years and taking a mule deer or two some years and a couple antelope along the way. It's a very curious round indeed. I used my sons one year on a whitetail doe hunt up north Idaho and worked beautifully. So this year we used my 27 Sherman mag with the bullet I'm getting to which is a trex by maker bullets. The one in the picture with my daughter is a 160gr T-Rex. You can see there would have been a blood trail if she was able to run but instead she dropped right there.

So I'm thinking about building me one and run the 115gr trex. Been trying to decide on a short action 25 for some time. I'm not dead set yet but here is what I got so far.