.257 Weatherby Magnum
 

I’ve been rifle hunting since I was 10 years old; I started off with a 30-30 Winchester and moved up to the Remington 30.06, taking big bucks and Elk in the process.
20 years later I switched over to Muzzleloaders, and I love the !!!! out of that!
While I hunt, in Western Washington State with black powder, I am planning on doing some Antelope, Mule deer and Whitetail hunting in the Eastern part of the state as well as other game in the SW States.
I have been looking at purchasing the .257 Weatherby to do my “extracurricular” hunting with.
I know that the .257 was Roy Weatherby’s personal favorite caliber, in fact, He used a 100gr Partition to kill everything in North America, and almost everything in Africa, including a Cape Buffalo! (No easy task, although he did recommend that no one else try it).
I’m more interested in the “surgical” shot placement on my hunts, rather than the brute force knockdown powers of the larger calibers.
I’ve seen Weatherby’s video of them dropping Elk at 800 yards with the .338-378, seriously impressive, but not for me.
I’m looking at the .257 Vanguard Stainless/Synthetic with fluted barrel.
So what are your guys’ opinions? Good caliber? Not enough?

RE: .257 Weatherby Magnum
 

The 25-06, 25WSM or 257 Weatherby would all be fine for deer size game. I have owned the Weatherby and 25-06. I prefer the 25-06 as it drives the 25 caliber bullets to their useful limits cheaper and with less barrel wear.

RE: .257 Weatherby Magnum
 

.257 is an excellent caliber choice IMHO for deer and varmits. The 257 wby is an awesome round andvery flat butcomes with a price ofshorter barrel life. It is a reloader cartridge IMHO, so if you buy off the shelf ammobetter to stick with 2506 rem.

I plan on building a .257 chambering myself butright now am leaning towards 2506AI instead of the 257 wby on the account of availability of brass and longer barrel life.

One of my good buddies has taken both elk and moose with .257 (2506rem and ,257 wby), I don't consider it the best choice. Mine will be strictly a deer sized game and paper puncher rig.

RE: .257 Weatherby Magnum
 

You can't go wrong with a .257 Wby. Mag. Good luck.

RE: .257 Weatherby Magnum
 

weatherby its a good one

RE: .257 Weatherby Magnum
 

I dont have to much expierence with weatherby mags but I havent heard any good things about them, paper thin barrels, accuracy not on par, expensive shells, exagerated ballistics.
I wouldnt reccomend it. If you want a .25 go with the 25-06.

RE: .257 Weatherby Magnum
 

weatherby has been known for years as being a high quality excellent shooting rifle. where are you getting your information from?

RE: .257 Weatherby Magnum
 

Other then the expensive shells point, I couldnt disagree more with that statement. Paper thin barrels??? The guns come with gauranteed accuracy and even give you the target they shot the gun at. Other then then the lower price Vanguards the Weatherby are about as good as it gets.

RE: .257 Weatherby Magnum
 

Like I said I have no exp. with them, all mine is limited to campfire talk.
My cousins stock did break at the trigger grip right in half, while on an out of state hunt, fluke ? probably, but he wasnt happy with it from day one.
The barrels are very thin just by looking at them. I also heard the bore had more play than usuall, giving it those awsome ballistics. True ?
I dont know.

RE: .257 Weatherby Magnum
 

Must have been a lot of drinking around that campfire.

RE: .257 Weatherby Magnum
 

He he he. usually is.

RE: .257 Weatherby Magnum
 

I have a 257 weatherby and a 30/06 and I like muzzleloading also I am suprised that the 30/06 doesnt feel like a 220 swift to you going from black powder I can understand your reason for wanting a 257 obviosly I have one. If I had the option to repurchase I might go the 25/06 route. The reason is I reload and brass for the weatherby is a buck a brass. The 25/06 can be purchased for about 14.00 for 50. If you plan on buying your cartridges it is not all that different. I buy the 31.00 100gr. wby. if you purchased a box of similar quality 25/06 your about 26.99. I hope that is helpful.

RE: .257 Weatherby Magnum
 

Fun pic.

RE: .257 Weatherby Magnum
 

Freebore is the term strapped to wby chamberings. While magnums have freebore wby typically have more. The theory is (to my understanding) more pressure build up.Another reason the 257 wby is fast- case capicity behind the .257 cal bullet. The 257 wby caseis essentially a7mm rem mag except with wby rounded shoulders.

I use to own a 300wby accumark it was a very nice looking/functioning gun but was a tough shooter. It was elk/moose gun for me with 200 gr Nosler Parts. I couldn't get the gun to group under 1.5" at 100. But the real bear was it kicked me like a rented mule. I personally wouldn't pay the price for wby again, I would much rather buiold a custom instead off a 700 action.

I will say a shooting pal of mine has a vanguard .257 wby, if they produced lefty actions I'd have no problems considering them. His shot good right out of the box. The Vanguards come with the same 1.5" gaurantee as the other weatherby models, his had a target enclosed with it that met the gaurantee!

RE: .257 Weatherby Magnum
 

I want a .257 Wby my self bbbaaaddd! Only problem is, I want it in an Encore and I can't find anyone that will make it in 257. :(

RE: .257 Weatherby Magnum
 

If you are getting a .257 wby, you need at least a 26" barrel. 28" would be better. Anything shorter than 26", and there will be little to no difference in performance from a .25-06.

You also can't just walk into any store and buy .257 wby. The .25-06 is a lot more common, so most stores that carry ammo will carry .25-06.

RE: .257 Weatherby Magnum
 

I just posted on the reloading page, Ive heard that you can full length size a 7 mag case through a 257 die and fire form it in the 257 chamber for cheaper brass. does anyone have experince doing this let me know the person I talked to said he has been doing it for years and works great.

RE: .257 Weatherby Magnum
 

savagescout, the guy I mentioned above was told the same thing by a veteran reloader. He fire formed some rem mag brass buy using a small load of fast burning pistol powder and patch in the neckto create a seal. Thecases he showed me looked spot on but hasn't tried themunder load yetto my knowledge.

Sorry for the second hand info, hopefully someone with hands on will chime in on the reloading forum.