Peterson vs weatherby/norma brass for 257 Wby

[Philward]

I prefer Weatherby head stamped brass for my 257 Weatherby. I can consistently run 115 Bergers at 3600fps in a 25" barrel and still get multiple firings from it and print consistent 1/2" 5 shot groups as well.

Pretty cool to punch clean holes through 3/8" AR500 at 200 yards too.

View attachment 637830

Your steel plate was bleeding...

 

[Lapuatom]

Following

 

[just_jon]

I have used the Weatherby/Norma brass in 6.5-300 and 300 Weatherby with no complaints. I've run the 6.5-300 really hard and after five firings, primer pockets are still tight. I've used both Peterson and ADG in other cartridges and found them to be likewise excellent. I plan on using Peterson in the future.

Pricing on 257 Wby brass is all other the place. Midway charges $94 for 50 Norma cases and $125 for the same quantity of Weatherby head stamped brass. Go figure. They are showing $109 per 50 Peterson cases with an availability date of 8/7/25. If you can wait until August, I'd go with the Peterson. If you are looking for some factory ammo to shoot for brass, Scheel's has 100 grain Interlock SPs for the same price ($65) as 20 prices of unprimed brass. That seems like a no brainer to me.

 

[Wilderness Blacktail]

Somethin seems up with the 3.7-3.9.. numbers there. The bullet would be hangin out of the case for those lengths enit.??

 

[Wilderness Blacktail]

I ran Weatherby n Norma stamped brass in my 257 n got 10 loads on all before pockets got too loose.
Also ran them in the 6.5-300wby and had good life there as well.

I hear/read now weatherby gets brass from whoever and wont say who makes what so this may affect things for the factory stuff.

 

[snox801]

I'm running weatherby brass in mine and it's ok but would definitely do Peterson if or when it comes out. I have one that's running 3886fps with the hammer 90gr
Have one that's running 4160fps with the same 90gr both with h4350.
26-28" barrels

The 90 has been great for everything I've hit with it. Not thing goes far usually straight down like it was struck by Thor.

 

[Rifleman97]

My .257 WBY has a 1:7" barrel specifically built to propel the heavy/high BC bullets. I am experimenting with different powders (pressure testing) with the 163 Chinchaga. I am currently using Norma but will transition to Peterson when they become available.
View attachment 637831

Holy smokes I didn't know chinchaga made such a long quarter bore!

The gun I bought is used and I plan on re barreling it in a year or two to a fast twist so any info you get on that would be useful to me in the future. For the first barrel I'm gonna push my limits of velocity with some of the light weight bullets, but once I get a new barrel I'll be switching to the heaviest I can find. Before you mentioned them I figured it would've been the 130 ish grain Bergers. But 163 sounds awesome!

 

[Jbumblebee]

Awesome that's great info. Can't see the top labels but I'm assuming that the 3.795 and 3.957 is COAL. That seems really long given the short bullets and long neck of the bee, is that just chasing the lands with the long freebore, or was there another reason you had for seating so long?

Here are pictures....

 

[FEENIX]

Holy smokes I didn't know chinchaga made such a long quarter bore!

The gun I bought is used and I plan on re barreling it in a year or two to a fast twist so any info you get on that would be useful to me in the future. For the first barrel I'm gonna push my limits of velocity with some of the light weight bullets, but once I get a new barrel I'll be switching to the heaviest I can find. Before you mentioned them I figured it would've been the 130 ish grain Bergers. But 163 sounds awesome!

Yes, and the 180 is coming out soon.

 

[MagnumManiac]

I didn't vote because I can ONLY source Weatherby brass, all of mine, to my knowledge, are Norma made. I do not have any ammo/cases with the new Weatherby address on them. My cases are all Norma brand.
This brass is VERY consistent, I have it in 257Bee, 270Bee, 300Bee, 340Bee & 375Bee, it's only drawback is that it has thin webs, doesn't like high pressures and lots of sizing movement.
I would like to get some of the Weatherby 257Bee brass made in-house to compare web thickness, wall thickness and neck thickness.
If I could get it, I would give ADG a try, it is top line brass I hear.

Cheers.

 

[6.5x300 WBY]

Just a FYI on weatherby brass. Not all weatherby brass is norma. They use 4 different manufacturers of brass for weatherby. It's not only 1.

 

[Rifleman97]

Yes, and the 180 is coming out soon.

HOLY mother of…

Do they plan on using any sort of bore rider design for the 180? Seems like you might start to get a LOT of friction and pressure issues if they don't with such a long bullet

Let me know when they come out if you remember, my next barrel will be a 7 twist so as long as that stabilizes it I plan on at least giving them a try and see if my gun likes them

 

[Rifleman97]

Here are pictures....View attachment 637977View attachment 637978View attachment 637979View attachment 637980

Ahhh I wasn't sure what you meant by the comparator but that makes sense now. Thanks for the pics and update!

 

[Philward]

Here are pictures....View attachment 637977View attachment 637978View attachment 637979View attachment 637980

Did you forget to subtract the 1" for the comparator, so actually 2.795 cbto.