257 Weatherby Magnum..advice please

[mike33]

#1 The wsm calibers will not compete with the wby calibers. The 25-300 wsm will not shoot with the 257 wby safely.
#2 Get remington 270 wby brass and neck it to 257. Same thing but cheap remington brass.

I lost count many years ago of people bringing short mags of all calibers to my range claiming they would shoot with a wby. The chronograph does not lie. I remember one guy just would not give up and sat in my shop loading 270 wsm's all day until he nearly blew his rifle up trying to get near one of my 270 wby's. Two completely different animals. They are not the same in 25, 270 or 7mm. Not saying the wsm's aren't good because I own a wsm and love to shoot it. But it is what it is and it will not duplicate my wby's.

I disagree with you my 25 Bobcat will shoot with my 257 whby. Now we do have to compare apples for applea my 25 Bobcat has a 26" barrel compared to 24" on whby. Im also only shooting 100 grain bullets but both have a 10 twist. In reality im saying it out performs due to less powder ith same velocity. And one major thing it " short action ". I think someone messed up by not factory chambering this due to its just right for seating a bullet with out the wyatt box something most WSM'S lack.
Mike

 

[21buck]

Scotsgun did not say how long the pipe is. I would venture a useable 26-28" Even with a 24" there are possibilities. Mike your comparison is right on the money.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

The 257 wby can gain over 60 fps per inch of barrel. With equal length barrels they are not the same. Your 257 wby with a 26" barrel and proper loads would outperform your 25-300 wsm with safe pressures in each. Been there done that with the short mags when they first came out ten or so years ago. The short mags are great for there purpose to fill the gap between the '06 case size chamberings and the standard magnum chamberings. I wildcatted them years ago. The best shooting one I had was a 6.5-300 wsm. I love the short mags for what they do in a short efficient case. They are a great chambering and I have sung their praises on this forum many times. But still they are what they are performance wise. They do not do well in the short action versions because you can not seat the bullets out for enough to get the best performance out of them with high bc bullets. The short mags shoot exactly the same velocity wise as the Gibbs and JRS wildcats off the '06 case considering safe pressures in all. Got all of those to.

Let me add that the primary niche the short mags fill is in the light backpack style rifle. Because of their efficient design they do very well in shorter barrels using faster burning powders than the standard magnums. As the barrel gets shorter the performance gap between the wsm and standard mags gets smaller because the big mags need barrel length and lots of slow burning powder for best performance.

 

[scotsgun]

Scotsgun did not say how long the pipe is.

Totally unworked, roughly 28" at present:

 

[mike33]

Anyone intersted in a 25 blank Hart #3 finish 26" $300.00 Shipped
mike

 

[21buck]

Long Time Long Ranger, i respect your opinion and the fact that you have shot the various wsm. Scotsgun wants a long action for his rifle, He has the barrel rough 28" with judicious machining he should have a 26" barrel coupled with the long action, I would say that he has more of what he wants than what he doesn't want. His performance should be very close to the Wthby. From there who knows. If the rifle were constructed for all the advantages published in this thread, I suspect that he would have a great rifle. Just consider all the brains that have been working on this project so far. My guess is that Scotsgun should keep us abreast of what he is doing with the project. We haven't talked about the should er degree, my vote is 35 degrees just like the 300 wsm for efficiency and cleaner burn..

Scotsgun, there is a lot of information containe herein. Weigh carefully before deciding. Good Luck. 21buck

 

[436]

Advice? Sure the .257 Weatherby Magnum; is the gold standard for the .25 cal high velocity cartridges. Roy Weatherby got it right the first time out... That's most likely why it was his favorite cartridge of all the cartridges he designed.
I've; hunted, sold, and built many, many .257 Weatherby Magnum rifles over the years. To tell you the truth; an out of the box Accumark with a 26" barrel is very hard to be, both in velocity and accuracy'…, for a hunting/varmint rifle, of which I've done plenty of both using that combo. I've had Lazar Mark, Mark V Deluxe, Mark V Euromark, and a few more; I also had a Remington M700 in .25 06 which was rechambered to .257 Wby mag; man that thing would shoot unbelievable five shot groups, unfortunately it was a 24" barrel and had to go, velocity wasn't bad but just not quite good enough.
Granted, you can punch out the tube with a little more velocity using a 28" or longer, but why? The last load I came up with was using a Barnes 100gr XLC BT a "coated bullet" that would clock at so near to 3900 fps… I just called it 3900 fps. It was 3 shot's in a dime all day, cold barrel shot and add two more, no problem. Earlier I was using Nosler BT's which works fine'.., they were just not quite as quick out the tube as the Barnes.
Today I shoot mostly lever rifles, .30-30, .44 mag and .348 Win with open sights to hunt… white tail; but there was a time {for near 30 years} the .257 Wby Mag was always in the field with me, shooting everything from ground hogs to bull elk. That was just after my Elmer Keith .375 H&H Mag days, another fine cartridge'.., for another thread.
Well good like have fun… I think everyone can agree on one thing; most .25 cal cartridges shoot very well.
436

 

[mike33]

Very deadly on white tail deer also, 1 shot kills.
mike

 

[LRSickle]

I too am a big fan of the .257 Wby. I shoot 100gr TSXs at 3725 using RL22. I think I'd chamber it to .257 Wby if I were you. I've done like LongTimeLongRanger does by running 270Wby through my .257wby except I've used 7mm Rem Mag and 264 Rem Mag brass.

 

[Ark. Trapper]

I just built a 25/300WSM and love it. I'm getting 3600 fps with 110gr Nosler Accubonds, 3800 fps with 100gr Barnes TSX's & Sierra Sp's, 3925 fps with 87gr Hornady SP's, and 4020 fps with 75gr Hornady HP's. All the loads are with Reloader 22 powder. I'm getting 1/2 moa 100 yard groups with the 100gr bullets. All of the loads I shoot in it give less than 1" 100 yard groups. The rifle is a Savage action with a Shilen XX 1 in 10 twist barrel 27" long. I settled on this caliber instead of the 257 Wby because I'd rather buy the more expensive dies once instead of buying the more expensive brass every so often. Good luck with whatever caliber you decide on.

 

[wbygunner]

Very accurate, fast and a hard hitter. I have an Accumark from the Weatherby Custom Shop and it shoots factory Wby 115 grain Balistic Tips into the same hole at 200 yds. It's a laser beam and you will enjoy it, especially for varminting and smaller deer. Good luck!

 

[21buck]

Scotsgun, There is a lot you can do with the 257 barrel. Did you get the answers that gave you the right direction , to make the right choice. You have all the ingredients for the making of a real shooter. Weatheraby has a reputation, a deserved one at that, But what's important is what you want to make of the long action, long barrel, and clearly a definitive rifle. No matter which direction you take, you will need dies, reamer, brass, enlarged bolt head, suitable stock, glass, trigger possibly. access to the right powder, primer, and bullets.

Good Luck Marc. It's fun believe me

21buck

 

[sambo3006]

+1 on what LRSickle said about the brass. I form my 257 Wby brass by running NEW 7mm Rem Mag brass through the 257 Wby full length sizer. Unless you are running a minimum spec chamber you shouldn't have to turn the necks. It comes out of the die looking just like a 257 Wby but with a tad shorter neck. I don't think I would try to use fired 7mm mag brass unless it was annealed. Best of luck on your build!

 

[huntfishnd]

I just built a 25/300WSM and love it. I'm getting 3600 fps with 110gr Nosler Accubonds, 3800 fps with 100gr Barnes TSX's & Sierra Sp's, 3925 fps with 87gr Hornady SP's, and 4020 fps with 75gr Hornady HP's. All the loads are with Reloader 22 powder. I'm getting 1/2 moa 100 yard groups with the 100gr bullets. All of the loads I shoot in it give less than 1" 100 yard groups. The rifle is a Savage action with a Shilen XX 1 in 10 twist barrel 27" long. I settled on this caliber instead of the 257 Wby because I'd rather buy the more expensive dies once instead of buying the more expensive brass every so often. Good luck with whatever caliber you decide on.

Do you have to neck turn this caliber ?