257 wby mag loads?

[greenecj]

After shooting a deer at 700 with my rifle, my buddy said he wants to get into the long range game. He wants to set up his 257 weatherby mag.

We are looking for some load options
Thank you

 

[CJS-6.5]

What bullet are you planning on using?

 

[greenecj]

Open to anything. Whitetail sized game

He is shooting the weatherby ammo right now with 115 gr balistic tips

 

[Canhunter35]

I burnt the barrel out of my 257 wby using 115gr ballistic tips and learning to shoot long range. The wby speed buys you pretty good performance even with the lower bc ballistic tip bullet, but the barrel life doesn't really promote the practice necessary for long range.
I found that the accuracy node was very similar between the 115 ballistic tips and 115vlds. I used 67.5 and 67grains of imr 7828 and mirrored the velocity with each bullet. The vld needs a seating depth test the ballistic tips can be seated at saami length.
I'd check out the 92gr hammer hunters and compare ballistics to the 115s, out to 500yds speed gets a lot of performance.
Good luck.

 

[okie man]

I've had good luck with Speer 120 grain btsp and imr 7828.

 

[sable tireur]

He wants to set up his 257 weatherby mag.

Just how does he want to 'set up' his .257 WBY rifle? More information is better than our wasting time guessing.

We are looking for some load options

It is unfortunate that the .25 caliber realm has been ignored in favor of nearly every other caliber and cartridge now. We have the Blackjack 131 grain and the Hammer Hunter 128 grain but even with some additional BC in combination with the velocity capability of the .257 WBY, we often come up short past the 800 yard limit as far as energy is concerned.

Now if 800 is good for him then have at it. The Speer 120 BTSP is good to about 750 as is the Berger VLD but beyond that you only gain about 50 more yards even if your accuracy node is at the top of the velocity scale. A node at a lower velocity reduces the range at which you can attain 1,000 ft/lbs. of energy.

 

[AZShooter]

PM sent

 

[Dosh]

What AzShooter said. We're shooting essentially the same load.

 

[AZShooter]

Dosh,

But I only said PM sent.....<grin>

 

[AHoffart]

While perhaps not as long of range you are hoping for.. I have used the .257Weatherby for years..had 2 rifles built in that caliber..and have taken game to approx 500 yards..

Its an awesome flat shooting caliber-- I am using 100Gr Barnes Triple Shocks.. H1000 powder--Fed215 Primer-- 3670fps---have used that load a lot on mule deer and pronghorn..never more than one shot.. for longer shooting, agree would probably go higher grain for a better bc and sd

 

[cjhunts_alot]

I've killed a lot of animals with 100gr ttsx's out to 500 yards, but damage and wounding past that is really only marginal at best. I even killed a moose with the 100ttsx at 140yds, and his lungs were jelly. Despite killing a lot of critters with that load, I quit using the 100ttsx for long ranges after I had a 2 rounds pencil through a buck a buddy of mine wounded and I was able to get 2 follow-up shots on. Both shots were at 650 and hit through the lungs and killed the animal quickly, but the damage wasn't even as bad as I've seen from a small diameter broadhead. After that I switched to 115 ballistic tips and killed a few pigs and whitetail does at the same distance, but with significantly better results.
I use a healthy dose of imr7977, and have enough powder to burn out the rest of this barrel. I'm going to replace it for a 1:7 twist and run 121 or 128 hammer hunters, or the new 131 blackjack ACE.

 

[AZShooter]

I have mentioned this before. Five of us have semi custom 257 Weatherbys with same mfg barrel and used the same reamer, all shoot very accurately.


We have taken quite a few animals with the 115 Berger VLD. Many of these had the animal dropping when hit and expiring quickly.

24 coues wt longest shot was 520 yds. Most shots were 250- 425 yds
6 elk I will have to ask Dan the distances
4 mule deer " " " " "
2 antelope longest shot was 560 yds