Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 257 WBY or 300 Win Mag as the all around western rifle?

found some RL17.....

and bought a 5 pounder

What are you doing wasting time here? Do some loads for the 300 win and 257 and report back to us!

I had to order it from an out of state supplier. It's due into his location by tomorrow.

Don't tell anyone, but it was Bruno's.

I've just caught up on this thread. Is everyone really as sceered of a 300 as they make out to be? Damn! You better bet that I'd be one of those easterners that shows up in camp with a win mag! If you think that'd be a problem then we could shoot for it. I aint afraid of a 300 but a 257 on elk at 600 scares the shiit out of me! (am I crazy or did one of David's original post mention 400-600 yard shots? I know I read it somewhere, maybe another thread? Or has there been some selective editing going on to fit the purpose?)

BTW, those idiots that show up with a 300 WM and can't hit the side of a barn, it'd be the same story if they were shooting a 243. Don't blame the caliber cause it's such an obvious choice that even the morons know to choose it.

I think that what many hunters fail to understand is that with the bullets made today the need or selection of calibers alters quite a bit. When you are putting non cup and core bullets through and through with many smaller calibers that would not have performed the same way with the bullets of yesteryear, the bigger calibers IMO are just not needed. Look at all the guys running 130,150 and 165/168 grain bullets in 30's these days, that just plain laugh at the belief that you need 180-200 grain bullets in the same caliber. I have yet to recover a 165 grain TSX out of my 300WSM and that includes complete through and throughs on our moose which are a wee bit bigger than any big bull elk. I say pick what you want to hunt with but some folks just aint receptive to anything but that which they know. Looking at the damage that a 100 grain TSX did to a 300 lb caribou at over 400 yards , I'd not hesitate to shoot anything in this continent with it, with the exception of intentionally hunting our bigger bears with it. If some guys would open their minds and at least take a look at whats going on around them, they might learn a thing or two. Have never seen any animal I have shot, from a 1400 lb bull moose to a fox that didn't die quickly when shot in the right place, and this has been with a truckload of different calibers, some guys just dont put chit in the right place and feel they need an insurance policy is how I see it. I have never personally killed an elk, but I have seen elk killed first hand and I dont see what all the hoopla is about, they dont die any harder than anything else to me.

Even with the Barnes AC the 257 will never be the correct choice for all western big game hunting.

It may "NEVER" be the correct choice for you but it could very easily be the correct choice for me, thats all I am saying. Theres no right or wrong here.

Bah Humbug

AC-I hear you about the damage the TSX did on your bou. I took a friend for a bruin hunt this spring and he used my 6/06 and the 85 TSX, the damage that bullet did to said bruin was pretty incredible.

My worries here and not to turn this into a will the TSX work or not deal as this thread has already gone all over the place but is if the bullet doesn't work (open) then what. And I can honestly say I've seen more wonky things from X's, XLC's and or TSX's than all of the other bullets ever put together. (this fall alone I've found 3 TSX's, one opened model perfect and the other two didn't open at all (bascially).

Guess if I were really worried about this I'd just run a 115 NBT or a 115 PT or a 120 SAF in the 257 Bee and not worry one iota.

There that should give this thread another 3 or so pages...grin

Dober

Then I shoot again!...grin

I dont remember if you recall some of my uncertaintys after using the TSX out of my 338 WM for the first time when I backed my boy up on a 7ft over 400lb black bear a couple springs ago. Lots of what ifs , coulda shouldas, but if theres anything that Alaska has taught me, its how to rack another shell and stay on target, and thats really not because of ungulates but more because of bear hunting. The what ifs on bullet failure to me exist with any bullet loaded into any case filled with any powder and charged by any primer...cant really control anything past squeezing the trigger, cept I may squeeze it again depending on what I see!

AKcub, I'm not much qualified to speak of the TSX as I've only killed one critter with it, a bull elk at 545 yards from a 300 WM and the 168TSX at 3200fps. Very little bone was hit and look what I found. I hear all the stuff around here about the TSX being a sure pass through I and guess that might be the case at closer ranges. How do you recon a 257 would have faired?

We, my son and I, shot two elk this fall using the 168gr tipped TSXs in our 300mags. His was shot at a lazered 310yds broadside, he hit the near shoulder and bullet did not exit. Never found the slug as it was dark when we dressed it out, but it made it through the chest cavity from the looks of things. Mine was taken from a ways further out and it passed through after messing up the lungs, no major bones hit. I didn;t see nearly as much damage to the internals as I expected. Had better experiences with the same bullets on mule deer...but they're a good bit smaller than a 6x6 bull elk. Yes, they shoot great, but there is still something to be said for a nice big mushroomed slug plowing through an animals vitals. Does Swift or North Fork make any 180gr slugs for those 257s?

Well this gent was shot at about 100 yards with a 180 TSX doing 3300fps out of a 300 Wby the bullet sure wasn�t a complete pass through, stuck in the ribs on the other side and fell back inside when dragging it around never did find it.

Next year I shot a bull at just over 500 yards with a .338 RUM using a 210 TSX it didn�t exit ether and I never found the bullet.

I have also seen a 100gr barnes out of a 257 Wby fail to get past ribs at 350 yards on an elk that was really hard to believe.

That is one amazing photo!

Exactly.........

Utah708 had two "failures" to exit on an elk this season using what I am remembering as 210-gn TSX's from his 338wm. They weren't 225's this much I am sure of. Joecool mentioning 215's has me cornfuzed.

Meanwhile my pard got two exits with AB's from his 338... Go figure!

The ability to hurl a nice big bullet, and NOT have to rely on a TSX, is one thing that slam-dunks the 300 win mag as the obvious choice here- IMHO.

Dober, I sure wish you'd mess more with the AI version of the NBT- the Accubond <grin>...

I've seen a Hornady bullet from a .375 High Energy loading pass through a yearling bull moose at 500 yards, broadside.

It's a bit disturbing to note Joe Cools experience with a 100 gr X not getting past the ribs of an elk; but I'm not shocked by it.That's the kind of crazy shidt that happens when you try to turn small calibers into elk rifles.

Caliber does matter and no, all cartridges are not the same.Similar cartridges are "similar",but no 257 is as good as a 30 caliber as an elk rifle.

Nice elk. I loaded some 180 tsx in my weatherby at 3300 fps. Seemed a little hot but after a box full using wby brass appears to be a good load. Easy to hit out to 500 yds with.

I would say the .30 mag is the best western cartridge for me, maybe not for any one else, although I shoot a wby because it is waaaaayyyy better than any winchester round (there both to short).

Both cartridges are good flat shooting buggers, which doesn't matter if you have dotz or know your weapon.

After a couple pages of this thread I started thinking I might need a .257 wby but after reading the entire thing I might join PETA and take up golf or yoga.

Looking at that picture makes me want a beer.

Strange, as Mule Deer often notes, that you can eat right up to the hole and people opine about bullet failure.

Seems to me, and maybe I read wrong, that all of the TSX "failures" listed were noted on bulls they had killed. No?