Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles I went and did it, got a 257 Roy!

I have been planning a 257 Wby build and even had my action, stock and barrel. Krieger heavy stainless that was going to go to Kampfeld in January to be fluted and screwed on to a LH Rem SPS action. But, you know how it goes. I got to snooping around and I found a LH Weatherby Ultra Lightweight for a good price and got to doing the math. I figured by the time I paid for all the smithing it would be a wash on $, plus I figured the Weatherby would hold its value as opposed to a niche market custom LH. Got the action and barrel sold and got the Mk V the other day. Haven't got the chance to shoot it yet but the bore looks pristine and supposedly it only had 2 or 3 boxes of shells through it. Topped it with a silver Leupold Vari x II 4-12 and I have a bunch of 110 gr Accubonds plus 100 rounds of new 7mm mag brass resized in my 257 Wby die. I figure on using IMR 7828 and from the loading data looks like it should do 3400-3500 fps. Ought to be a death ray on deer with a 300 yard zero. Sorry no pics, just use your imagination. It is the older style gray stock with the stainless barrel and black flutes. Looks just like the Accumark with a skinny barrel. Our antlerless deer season starts tomorrow so I need to get to the range and work up a load. Can't wait!

yes they do a great job with the right bullet 117 gr for deer a other critters

You might also try the 100 TSX--a match made in heaven.

72 grns. RE-22 is the std load w/100TSX'x.....Start low and work up.....


George

Sounds good to me and 7828 is where I'd start as well.

Dober

I've been shooting 110 grain Accubonds and Reloader 25 out of my 257 wby. This load shoots a bug hole at 100 yds. 3" high @ 100, dead on @ 300....awesome!! Good luck with your early antlerlss season.

you're going to like that rifle a lot

It ain't hard to make the 257 Roy shoot. 100 gr TSX and RL25 or 115 BT and 7828 works in mine.

H1000 is good to try.

I load mine with 74 H1000 under a 100 TSX. 3580fps from my rifle.

Sambo, Your first choice might have looked like this. This is a fluted #4 Hart with Black T in a Mickey Sporter. It fills my long range antelope and deer rifle niche. Never do the math on custom builds.

Mine is shooting the 110 accubond just shy of 3500 using RL25. The lefty Weatherby is a more economical way to get there, but I sure love this one.

You are going to love it! Good choice of scope for that rifle too. I use the 4X12 VXII on my 25-06 and my 270.

Good grab there.

+1 on the 100gr TTSX and R-22. My go to load for a long time now.

CAUTION on using 7mm RemMAg brass necked down. Most of the time the necks end up REAL THICK which can cause pressure and accuracy problems, big time. Measure your loaded ammo diameter vs chamber dimensions. Most of the time you will need to inside neck ream or outside turn the necks to make that work well. Starting with 264 Win Mag brass eliminates this problem if one is trying to save money vs Weatherby/Norma brass. BTDT, good luck and good hunting.

Your gonna like it. I have had mine for 2 years and it has never dissapointed at the range or in the field. RE22 and 100 gre TSX's makes it a lazer beam........

My .257 Roy is fast becoming my favorite after taking two Pronghorns, a pig, and my biggest whitetail. Used 80gr TTSXs at 3700 on all of them. So far, so good.

John

safariman,
Didn't measure outside diameter of the loaded rounds but the bullets seated easily and the rounds chambered easily. Layman's method but I believe it will be okay. Thanks for the heads up on that, though. That is an important consideration.
I loaded up a couple rounds ranging from 70 to 72 gr of 7828 with a Fed 215 primer and chrony'd them this morning. 70 and 71 had nice round primers and easy extraction. 72 gr had some slight flattening of the primer but certainly not excessive. No shiny marks on the case head and extraction was easy. Velocity gain appeared uniform and the 72 gr load tripped the clock at 3597 fps! Does that velocity and powder charge sound excessive for a 26" freebored barrel? I would have been satisfied with 3500 fps and still might back off to that velocity level if warranted.
I figured the 4-12 would be a good scope for this rifle. I have a couple of ballistic plex reticle scopes but this one should shoot flat enough that I can zero at 300 and use the lower plex on 12x for my 500 yard reference (or whatever it works out to be based on actual shooting). No need for the ballistic plex.

Sambo, My 26" 257 runs the 110s at 3490 or so. The Weatherby ammo is listed at 3450. Every rifle will vary, but 3597 is about 100 fps past my comfort level on that bullet. It has a nice bc and even 3490 makes it a pretty flat performer. You might see if you can hit an accuracy node at a lower velocity. They arrive at the 550 yard berm very quickly!

SAMBO30/06, I assume you are speaking of 100gr bullets right? I am running my 100TSX's at 3800, but that is with a very smooth custom barrel that is 28 inches long and using Moly on the bullets. Still, 3597 is not really all that hot in a 26 inch barrel using such a slow burning powder.

RE the cases fitting in the chamber OK.... Cases with too fat of a neck WILL chamber just fine. The problem is they do not release the bullet easily or well enough or consistently shot to shot. I predict that if you run that same load through re-sized 264 WinMag brass or WBY/Norma the pressures and velocity will go down and accuracy will go up. Safety will go up as well. My experience based on owning and shooting several rifles in this caliber over a period of about 20 years.

4-12X is good. I have a Loopy Vari X lll in 4.5-14x40 gloss on mine.

Don't much need fancy reticles or dots or such here either. Do use a Leica Geovid 10x42 rangefinding binocular.

Mine's a plain old Vanguard Deluxe that I load with RL22 and 115 gr. Partitions. First deer I shot with it was last week. A big 350# mulie buck at 160 yards and he was thumped where he stood. I'm sold on the .257 now because it's accurate and it shoots like a laser. BT

I am loading 110 gr accubonds. Even though the cases looked fine I backed off to 3500 fps. Thanks again, safariman for all the info. Sounds like you have been around the block a time or two with the 257 Wby. I'll have to grab a couple 264 cases from a buddy and see what they chrony at. Worst case scenario I can outside neck turn the 7mm mag brass. A PITA for sure but worth it if the accuracy and consistency would improve.

Would be worth the effort, IMO. Could be, though, that your factory chamber is large enough to handle and shoot well with the 7 Mag brass necked down. My 257 WBY's have all been match chambers and barrels save for my Lazermark (wish I had THAT one back!) which I never tried the 7 mag brass necked down in as I already had a large supply of Weatherby brass layed in by the time this rifle came to me. Good luck and good hunting!

PS DO try the Barnes 100gr TTSX. Wonderful bullet in this caliber.