Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Help me spec a 257 Weatherby build

The only thing for sure is my action will be a LH Remington 700. I am leaning towards a fluted SS #3 Brux barrel with a 1 in 9 twist, 1-1/4 shank. McMillan Remington classic stock with speckle tone finish. Will an edge balance well with a 26" #3 Brux or should I go standard fill? I will probably stick with factory bdl bottom metal. Thinking a jewel trigger. Eddie or Karl will do a satin mag cerakote finish. Anything I am forgetting or should change?

I have built several full custom 257WBY's, and am having another re barrelled now, but used a completely different blueprint than you are suggesting so will only say, great choice on caliber! You will like it a lot.

It`ll be nose heavy with an Edge. Personally I would do 24" but then I`m not into long barrels.

I would worry about the balance with an Edge, so I would save the coin and go with a standard fill. I also might be tempted to skip the fluting and go with a thinner contour, again to save money. One of the first gunsmiths I worked with told me "barrels are consumables--don't spend money fluting them," so I haven't.

You are smart to go no shorter than 26"; I have had a 24" 257 WBY and been less than thrilled.

Have the freebore shortened to no longer than .070-.080 if you are going to hand load only. 100's at 3800 into groups 3/8" or smaller will be your reward, with the 115's all over 3600+, 26" barrel of course.

I had a muzzle break on my last one, and could see every part of the animal's reaction to bullet impact.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=408776579

this might save you a $100

I agree with Keith on using a reamer without Weatherby's standard freebore.

To me one of the most important details in "specing out a rifle" is the reamer. I'll never use a reamer that a gunsmith has unless I can verify the dimensions and they fit my needs.

I'd also consider using a 1 degree 30 min throat angle. Take the time to talk to Dave Kiff at Pacific Tool and Gauge. He made our 257 Roy reamer so it would shoot the Berger 115 VLDs. To date five rifles have been made and all shoot that bullet as well as others with excellent accuracy.

Does anybody know if Brux will flute a #2? If not I will give them a call today. I could probably live without the flutes but the last rifle I had built for me I didn't flute it and I wish I would have now. Keith and AZshooter I am really leaning towards less freebore. I need to do some more reading on it. I doubt I will ever get rid of the gun so shooting factory ammo in it should be a worry.

I have a Wby Mk.V., .300 Mag., in a Mcmillan Edge, and it balances just fine.

Talked to Ken at Brux barrels today and they won't flute a #2. So the barrel will be a #3. 1 in 9 or 1 in 10 twist? Plan on using 110 grain accubonds or 115 bergers.

Don't give up on the 100gr Barnes TTSX's. They are very, VERY deadly little pills in a 25 ROY. Not as high of a BC as the other two you mention, of course, but out to 500 yards or a bit more they are hard to beat. My longest shot with them was last October, 618 yards on a good sized Mule Deer buck, and the Bullet performed as good as one could hope at that range and a 25 caliber of any stripe.

So far my go to powder has been RL-22, but with my new barrel being a 28 inch job I am going to give RL-25 a shot this year and see if it is an improvement in velocity or accuracy.

Anydody have input on what twist I should use? 1 in 9 or 1 in 10?

Standard fill, edge won't balance.

1/10" in mine stabilized the 115's with out issue, and shoots 100 & 110's very well.

Win,

I did a fluted 26 in, Brux #4 contour, in a B&C Medalist. Couldn't be happier. The idea on the fluted 4 was to reduce weight while maintaining stifness.

Not sure how the medalist compairs to the Edge, but my gun has a very nice balance to it and it's also amazingly accurate.

I agree with the others, a 1-10 twist will work fine. I've never shot anything lighter than 100's, but it shoots 100's-120's, including the Berger 115, just fine.

I went with a reduced freebore, at .250, vs the standard Wby freebore of .378. This gives me the option to shoot factory ammo if ever needed.

Good luck with the build. The 257 Weatherby is fun cartridge to shoot. Plus, it's somewhat unique in most circles.

Here's a pic of mine....

"I did a fluted 26 in, Brux #4 contour, in a B&C Medalist. Couldn't be happier. The idea on the fluted 4 was to reduce weight while maintaining stiffness."

This is a piece of great advise! Barrel whip on the Roy is tremendous. If you are going for accuracy, then the brux#4 fluted is a hands down winner.

I would opt for 0.060-0.080 freebore max, and I had a reamer with zero freebore, cut 5 barrels with it that all shot groups small as a pencil eraser!

While you are designing your rifle, keep in mind what is the accuracy requirement. I have had more than one gunsmith that would tell me that there were no accuracy guarantee's with barrels less than a #4, #5 better if you are wanting to shoot 3/8" groups day in and day out.

Everyone is different, so let me say that I have only shot 5-10 rounds of factory ammo in my life. I never would build a rifle around having the ability to shoot factory ammo, but again, my needs/wants differ from others.

Concerning freebore, remember that a bullet will only jump so far before it gets stated crooked in the barrel with resulting loss of accuracy. If you have got to have freebore, then make your throat dia extremely tight to guide the bullet.

Built this 20 yrs ago,started as a Winchester Mod 70 Winlite in 7 Mag,had it re barreled with a #5 Hart 26" stainless,Canjar trigger .Stock is original McMillin that came with gun,scope is fixed 12 X Leupold.Weighs just a little over 7lb.Use it for varmit and whitetail and just about anything else,it shoots everything .500 MOA or better.

Build for balance..............This one feels lighter than it should and shoots incredibly despite being "hamstrung" by free bore...115 B-tips3425 have yet to fail to impress despite the fixed 6 or the Berger offering!



X-VERMINATOR

Xverminator can I get the specs on your rifle?

Don't take it wrong but if I was building a 257 weatherby, it would have a 7mm Rock 8.5 twist in a #3 contour and have a 7mm remington chamber with a bit longer than normal throat. Been the Roy route, fun, but for longer range stuff the bigger pills served me way better.

I have had several 7mm's of various flavours including the mighty Mashburn (which eats up 7mm RemMags like cotton candy), and could have gone this way or to any other H&H or 404 based case with my FN now being re barreled. I am building another 257WBY. For deer and Antelope with some occasional varmint shooting, it is just very hard to do any better than that round. My last mule deer kill was from 618 yards out. Nothing else would have put more meat in the freezer than what is in there right now, and I do have larger rifles in the safe.

Since you are going WAY off base with your build idea and input from the OP's query (bad form and taste, IMO) I will offer that all of my 257WBY's have been built on either a CRF model 70 or some variation of a Mauser in Chrome Moly steel with nice wood for a handle. Including my now in proccess 257WBY on an FN. And that these various 25 Roys have downed a freight train load of deer from close to quite distant ranges. Sometimes just right is... well, just right! The 257WBY is one of those IMO. Part of the appeal is that the 257WBY does not recoil much. VERY easy for most to shoot really well and with proper bullets and loadings, lazer beam flat. In short, the 257WBY is just plain FUN to own and shoot.