257 weatherby

[head hunter]

just wondering if anyone shoots one and watcha think? My 25-06 wont hold a group any more and was thinking about getting one in the ultra light for my back pack hunts.

[carpsniperg2]

great cal there is nothing wrong with it i have shot a couple and all the ones i have shot have shot well the weatherby loads tend to be a little more money.

[257 Wby Mag]

Awesome shootin iron. Might look at the ULW 240. After packin one last year in 3 states, I was very impressed. Matter of fact, the ol 257 sat in the safe all year, and will next year... 240's a pound lighter as well, which makes a differance.

[bobcat]

Nothing wrong with it at all, but if I were looking for something in that class I'd look at the 270 WSM. Just because they are cheaper to buy than the Weatherby ammo.

[jackelope]

i had one for a short period of time. if you're not a reloader i would seriously consider a different caliber. their ammo is anywhere from $65-80 a box depending on what bullets you want to shoot. with that said it was a dang tack driver and an awesome caliber. super flat and really fast.

[high country]

I would suggest any rifle other then the wby ultralight. I love the round, but that gun was nothing compared to about every other brand I have touched. the vanguard is now my pick over the ULW.

[elkaholic123]

Browning Mountain Ti weigh's less than the ULW and is cheaper!

[head hunter]

I already have a 270 wsm for whiteys, in a browning stainless stalker. just not the tack driver that my 25-06 was. Isn't that 240 weatherby a little light on grains for muleys.

[high country]

what is up with the 06? shot out, dirty as hell, or scratched crown?

[Elk-aholic]

I got a Weatherby UltraLight in 257 Mag, it's coming with me next fall for Elk hunting. I had it out at the range twice now put 30 rounds down the tube and for a "lightweight" mountain rifle I was impressed with its accuracy, the fit and finish are excellent also. I think it was money well spent for what I needed. I put a Leupold Ultralight 3-9x32 on it and I've been very happy so far with the setup. I compared it to a Sako Finlight and a Kimber Montana and the Weatherby felt to be the highest quality of the two so I went with it.  
I own a Weatherby Vanguard and to compare the two is kinda ridiculous, The Vanguard uses a Injection molded stock compared to the MarkV hand laid fiberglass synthetic, the barrel on the MarkV is a Stainless Kreiger fluted and covered with a matte finish. The howa uses a standard factory barrel. If you buy the MarkV ultralight you're basically getting a custom rifle made by Weatherby. Kreiger barrel, Bell&Carlson Stock, a crisp trigger that's around 4lbs and a Weatherby MarkV magnum action. You put all those things together in a package and you have sweet rifle  

[head hunter]

well over a thousand rounds of reloaded 75 grain v-max at roughly 3800 fps, in the off time for yotes, 500 yards it was hard to beat. She hasn't grouped in three years, every spring I try and I'm done I think the barrels done.

[257 Wby Mag]

I would suggest any rifle other then the wby ultralight. I love the round, but that gun was nothing compared to about every other brand I have touched. the vanguard is now my pick over the ULW.

You use to praise the hell outta your 257 ULW. What happened?

[wrangler]

well over a thousand rounds of reloaded 75 grain v-max at roughly 3800 fps, in the off time for yotes, 500 yards it was hard to beat. She hasn't grouped in three years, every spring I try and I'm done I think the barrels done.

1000 rounds is nothin, unless you cooked the barrel by gettin it too hot. there's a reason it went bad and it can usually be fixed. what model is it? also, if you like the gun and you reload you could always keep it and have it rechambered in to a kickass wildcat that will smoke any factory round your considering. thats what i tend to do...

[head hunter]

nice, dont know much about the wild cats out there, but mines a browning abolt medalion

[wrangler]

nice, dont know much about the wild cats out there, but mines a browning abolt medalion

i had an a-bolt stainless stalker in 25-06 and it was ridiculously accurate. i ended up puttin a new hart barrel on it and it's now living out its second life as a 6.5-284. its still ridiculously accurate, but now out to about 900yds... 

[head hunter]

who would i get a hold of if I wanted to do something like that to mine

[wrangler]

Wally Siebert (206)392-3567 is in issaquah and does the best work around, and by around i mean like half the country. give him a call, he's a great guy and will answer any of your questions. there was another thread on here not to long ago where someone was lookin for a smith, lots of names on there too. if your interested in that route try to educate yourself some on the wildcats and whats all involved with rechambering and such, there's a lot to choose from. its pretty addicting, if you're a gun nut like me anyhow...

[high country]

I would suggest any rifle other then the wby ultralight. I love the round, but that gun was nothing compared to about every other brand I have touched. the vanguard is now my pick over the ULW.

You use to praise the hell outta your 257 ULW. What happened?

I love the cartridge, and I have a custom on the way, but to spend that much on a rifle and have it shoot a 1.2 with a good load, then grab a $500 vanguard that shoots about anything I feed it into the .6's or better........well that is most of it. weatherby felt that was acceptable accuracy out of my ULW, me, not so much. I know it is not about the tube weight, my rem ti weighs less and will put 5 into .7 in sucsession. when you wear a tube out on a weatherby, your options of smiths that will build on the action are slim, and better results are had with actions that can be squared.

I agree on the stocks.......kinda. the vanguard stock is a throw away. the B&C on the ULW is where all the weight comes from. if you put a $500 howa/VG into a $500 mc edge...you have a more accurate rifle that weighs about exactly the same for less money and it can be retubed by any smith in the world for a fair price. and don't think that the shorter tube on the VG is a problem. MY ULW would shoot 100gr tsx's at 3500 into the 1.2's......the vg would shoot the same bullet at 3600 into the .6's.

If I had never been a paper shooter it would have been ok, but as a guy who owns a chit load of rifles that shoot better then .75, that is what I expect to achieve in my guns, or I trip em'......that one saw 500 rounds and never could get it right......so off it went. 500 is about 25% of its life anyhow.

[Bob33]

"Wally Siebert (206)392-3567 is in issaquah"

I don't know this for a fact but my guess is that he area code is 425.  It changed from 206 about 10 years ago.

I own a Weatherby UL in 257.  Very finicky gun because of the long wippy barrel.  If you can find something it likes, it's tough to beat the combination.  Ammo is expensive.  The 270 WSM can almost keep up with its ballistics, but not quite in most cases.  Ammo is cheaper and more plentiful, however, and you are using larger bullets.

I have friends that hunt elk with the 100 grain TSX through it.  It's a great caliber.

[bobcat]

It's too bad nobody has come out with a 257 WSM. That would be a good one.

There you go, head hunter. You want to have something different, have a gunsmith build a 257 WSM.

[Elk-aholic]

They got the .25 WSSM The ballistics look pretty good to me just a little more punch than the 25-06 I think.

[bobcat]

Actually I don't believe the 25 WSSM does any better than the 25/06 velocity wise. A .257 in the full length WSM case would be a screamer. But really there's no reason for it, with the 270 WSM. But like I said, if he wants something different, that would be a good wildcat to build.

[Curly]

Actually I don't believe the 25 WSSM does any better than the 25/06 velocity wise. A .257 in the full length WSM case would be a screamer. But really there's no reason for it, with the 270 WSM. But like I said, if he wants something different, that would be a good wildcat to build.

+1

[Elk-aholic]

I like the 270 WSM I own a Model 70 in that caliber, but the 270 WSM doesn't go much over 3,300 fps with a 130gr pill. The 257 can get up to or around 4000 fps with a 75gr or 3600fps with a 100gr. flatter shooting by a good margin I think.

[bobcat]

Which .257 cartridge are you speaking of... the Weatherby

By the way, why not try a Barnes 110 grain in your 270 WSM if you want more velocity.

[Elk-aholic]

I was told by my gunsmith that the barrel on my model 70 wont stabilize anything under the 130gr in the 270wsm, I've read the same thing on the internet about it from guys having issues with anything under 130gr.

[bobcat]

The Barnes, being 100% copper is longer than a conventional bullet, so the lighter 110 just might work.

Of course, at the price of the Barnes bullets, that would be something you'd only want to use for big game, or maybe the occasional coyote.

[Elk-aholic]

http://www.cpcartridge.com/257wbymagballistics.htm

These are the ballistics for the 257 Roy I looked at. I imagine the factory Weatherby ammo might be a little hotter, they always load their ammo to the max for performance.

[Curly]

For comparison, here is a chart for the 270 WSM:

http://www.cpcartridge.com/270wsmB.htm

There is only minimal difference between the .257 Roy 100gr TSX and the .270WSM 130gr TSX.

257Roy:  100yd = +1"; 200yd = 0; 300yd = -5"; 400yd = -14"; 500 yd = -28"

270WSM: 100yd = +1; 200yd = 0; 300yd = -5"; 400yd = -16"; 500 yd = -32"

[257 Wby Mag]

Bobcat, I read a article on a 257 pronghorn once, guy hit 3600 with ease. I can't imagine why they shortened it either, the wsm woulda made more sense...

[257 Wby Mag]

http://www.cpcartridge.com/257wbymagballistics.htm

These are the ballistics for the 257 Roy I looked at. I imagine the factory Weatherby ammo might be a little hotter, they always load their ammo to the max for performance.

I can get 3700 outta mine perty easy, 3750 is doable. Gonna load some 80 TTSX's outta the 257 and 240 this spring. Should be able to get 4000 outta the 257, and 3700-3750 outta the 240.....

[whacker1]

back to the 25-06, why not just put a new barrel on it - if you think it is shot out?

[Red Dawg]

why not just go with the 25-300rum. They are getting 4250fps out of that bad boy with great groups to boot.

[head hunter]

I thought about getting a new barell for it, but a new gun seems to cure the winter blues. I dont shoot as much any more so ammo price isnt that big of a deal. I do have a 300 win TC encore and that thing is a tack driver with 150s. I havent heard of that 25-300 how long has that been out? Thanks for all the input guys this is awsome, I've been so into bow hunting the last 6 years, kinda looking forward to the back country with a riffle.

[Jamieb]

I bought a 257WBY last year. So far I've only put a few hundred rounds into targets but I like the cartridge. Fast and flat, light recoil but it sure heats up the barrel fast.

[high country]

I was told by my gunsmith that the barrel on my model 70 wont stabilize anything under the 130gr in the 270wsm, I've read the same thing on the internet about it from guys having issues with anything under 130gr.

I have never heard of an over stabilized bullet. heard of some poping in the air, but tyically the problem is the long bullets do not stabilize in slow twist guns. imagine a football thrown in a spiral, if you toss it with lots of spin it flies great, no spin it flops. there are problems of over spin, but not till you get WAY out there