.257 Weatherby Magnum

Fatee · 10-19-2005, 11:38 AM

Hello all,

Newbie here to this exceptional forum, but a 16 year hunting big game member..

I'm seriously thinking about a .257 Weatherby Magnum for medium/light game huntinng. I live in nOregon and hunt everything from the West side rain forest to the eastern high desert. Blacktail deer, Mule Deer, and Antelope. Occasionaly coyotes are in my scope.

Does anyone here have a .257 Weatherby Magnum that they have taken game with? Experiences? Favorite loads?

The rifle I'm all set to purchase is the Weatherby Sub-MOA. I currently have a Weatherby Vanguard (Older) in .300 Win Mag. that has never failed to drop my elk when I my part. I love it, but its just to much for the light/medium game I stalk.

The .257 WM seems to be a fantastic round that has excellent trajectory and energy to handle my short/long range needs (Out to 300 Yards for me), and from what I understand has little recoil so a light rifle is nice to pack around.

The costs of ammunition is not an issue with me.

Your input, advice, and experiences are welcome.

Thank you all,

RedAllison · 10-19-2005, 02:29 PM

Fats the lil "two fitty seven" is one of my favs. I haven't had one but have carried several afield on many occasions, been around them all my life and sold TONS of em. I am in the process of puttin together a Mark V of my own that is a combination of a synthetic MarkV and a Lazermark with rubbed wood. Weatherby called a similar rifle the "Euromark" I'm gonna call this one a "Redneckmark"

. I'm not sure I would call the 257 a "soft recoiler" its the same case as the 270 and 7mm Wby (and essentially the same as your 300Win and the 7mmRem) so it's quite a bit of powder to "torch off". One thing about it, few guns are as flat a shooter as this round. Only the 257 Scramjet from Lazzeroni is a hotter 25 in commerical terms.

Roy Weatherby used it for everything, it was his favorite. He killed many elk. While it wouldn't be my first pick for elk, with a 100+gran TSX Barnes it will certainly put em in the dirt. For your deer and lope it will SMOKE EM like few others. I think you will like the big quarter, it's a neat gun and takes small calibers too the next level. I know I will cause an arguement here, but I had a 25/06 (a Vanguard no less) several years ago and that caliber did NOT kill as fast as the 257s that I have experience with! But again that's just my opinion and experiences.

Good luck,
RA

Vapodog · 10-19-2005, 04:31 PM

I've had two of them and three .25-06s and three .257 Roberts. All I use nowadays is a M-70 .257 Roberts for deer and antelope. For elk and such I still want the heavier 180-200 grain bullets but the .257 Roberts is as good as any of the faster .257s and lighter to carry.

I'm not at all poo pooing the .257 Weatherby...it's a fine cartridge and in the Vanguard it's even better. However you'll not know the difference between that rifle and the .257 Roberts.

That may be hard to swallow but it's my experience. Faster is better.....at least on paper it is...in the field the bullcrap gets lost and what happens is that we often discover that the extra is lost to something we're not sure about.

Simply.....very few of us are able to use the difference to advantage.

James B · 10-19-2005, 06:58 PM

Same here. I never found anything that the 257 Weatherby could do that the 25-06 can't do. I had one for a while and also shoot the 257 Roberts and the 250 Savave. If your not going to use it for elk then IMO you would be just as well served with a 25-06. You will also have better barrel life. Of course I wouldn't discourage a guy from trying something new and different. Its good for the gun companies and the gun dealers of which I was one for about 20 years.

Roskoe · 10-19-2005, 07:54 PM

I think you will like the .257 Wby. I have had several and currently own a .25-06 Ackely Improved, which equals the performance of the Weatherby factory ammo. The new 110 grain Nosler Accubond is a great bullet for this caliber - can bring it to a level of performance never quite achieveable in a bore this small. If you don't reload, there are plenty of good factory loads available - particularly those with Nosler Partition bullets.