Hi guys, I am wondering what the biggest game people have taken with their .257 Weatherby's and at what yardage?

Just curious, after reading a article on suggested yardages for different calibers on impeticular game species.

Thanks,

FMP

Oryx- 100 yards DRT

Mulie buck- 235 yards DRT

Black bear 200 yards.

The yardage per cartridge, energy blah blah blah stuff is funny.

Put a bullet where it belongs, and assuming enough velocity for proper expansion, [bleep] will die.

My Father has taken tons of moose a few elk and some deer with a bear inbetween.Watched him poke a moose at roughly 400yds when I was 10 or so.

Cow elk, 250ish.

Caribou Bull, 425 yards.

I just shot whitetail with mine, but I have a buddy that has poked a few Nilgai with his they are bout 500-700lbs he uses 100grn TSX barnes bullets. It works fine. I have seen 257 Wby kill axis, Nilgai,barbdoes,goats,deer. It works on all kinds of stuff

Well,

In consideration that I do have chance to shoot a moose, I figured I would ask. On top of that, I think this would be a good cartrdige for my girlfriend. I don't hand load- but I dont shoot 3 boxes a week either.

Narrowed it to the roy or the .270wsm

FMP

270 WSM is more commonly available, but the Roy is more classic. Roy ammo is more $$ by far.

I used to have a 270 WSM, now I have a Roy.

Moose and a 7' black bear at 100yrds each. My 257 has 3 moose,a 7'bear and about 1/2 doz blacktails. It has enough for the bigger stuff but is mild enough in recoil to head shoot the blacktails which requires an accurate gun,especially when the distance starts to get long. It is my favorite rifle by far.

Cow elk, 300 yds
Bull Caribou, 200 yards

If you asked the same question about the 25-35, 30-30, even the .22 L.R. then you would get the same answers, My pap shot all maner of moose with the 22 and never had any problems!

I personally have shot many elk and deer with the 25-35, I have shot many deer with a .22 long rifle and 222...

All that said, they are not ideal hunting rifles in todays world. Elk hunting has changed and at the first shot they head for the black timber and its swampy holes, there you need a big bore with all the pentration you can get. I use a 338 or 375 as shots are going away...

Is the 257 Wby an elk rifle, not in my opinnion unless you are one of the priviledge few who get those broadside shots at up to 200 yards, and remember at 400 yards as some proclaim you shooting the 25-35 once again and that shot has no room for error..Your lucky to see one legal bull in todays elk country and you may have to take a hard shot, considering the cost of elk hunting I wouldn't want to be under gunned and I don't like the apprehension that goes with tracking wounded elk for miles and I have done this on more than a few ocassions, and it each case it was from the hunter being undergunned for the shot he took.

After 65 years of big game hunting I am of the opinnion we owe it to the game to use "enough gun"..Elk rifles start with the 30-06 and go up IMO...

Not to steal the thread but what bullets are you all shooting animals with?

The reason I ask, I've been looking at the 120 gr Barnes, 0.284 bullet out of my 7mm RM at warp speed. The trajectory is comparable to the 257 wea. I've had issues with Barnes but at 3500 they should hold together better than about anything else.

FullMetalParka: I have witnessed several of my Hunting companions harvest Bull Elk cleanly and humanely with their 25/06 Remington Rifles. And I have two friends here in SW Montana that have now killed Elk with their newish 270 WSM Rifles!
I think either of the three would suit your girlfriends needs. The three being the 257 Weatherby, 25/06 Remington or 270 WSM.
Good luck with whichever is chosen.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

With my 25'06 and 100 gr. bullets I've taken 4 moose(longest 300yds), and 1 bull elk(255 yds), and I dunno how many big bodied Alberta deer(up to 500 yds).

Like it was stated earlier, just put the pill where it counts, and provided you've got a bullet up to the task Chit dies.

Next question........

Was it JB that posts of a bison being killed with a 100g TSX from a .257 Roy with full penetration?

With all due repect ....what does that even mean?? Whats changed?

My father in laws go to rifle for elk and mule deer is a 25-06, and this is after 40 years of hunting them with many bigger rifles. He has had zero problems filling the freezer with elk meat year n and year out with the 25-06!

I tried that exact combo as an antelope rig a couple years ago and found out quick that the wind out in the sage brush really blows those 120 grainers around. Now I'm back to longer heavier bullets that buck wind better. I'm a lot better at figuring trajectory than I am at doping out how far to hold into the wind.

Biggest was a bull tahr, longest was a bull tahr at 530 yards, both taken with a 100 gr. Barnes.

With regards to the 120 gr. Barnes: the biggest animal I shot was a cow buffalo with a .284 Winchester, in the head. It was a follow up shot for someone else that was using a MUCH larger rifle.

I got to agree with Ray, it has changed today. I've been hunting out west for about the last 30 years. I remember when I first started going I rarely saw other hunters, now days lots of areas look like back east on opening day a pumpkin patch. I guess its do to shrinking habitat and access to private property. Never use to have any trouble getting permission to hunt private ranches just for the asking, most are leasted now. I guess this is just a long winded way of saying taking a bull Elk on public land consistently is tought today. You have lots of competition not many chances. Sure you can kill an Elk with a .257, but why not use the best tool for the job. If you're a non resident you've spent a small fortune just on the tag, let alone all your other expenses. So after you've been hunting for a week and you get 1 maginal shot you'll probably take it. My hunt this year was over the first morning. I hiked early into the high tree line and my chance came at about 50 yards facing straight at me. I used a .350 rem mag & 200 Barnes straight in the chest. The bull went straight back on his ass and fell over on his side and was done. I don't have any other point of reference as all mine have fallen to that .350 or a .338, and I really don't like recoil.

There was a story years back in an NRA publication where the author described his witness of an Elk culling by a game dept employee. If I remember correctly 40 elk were to culled. The shooter killed 20 with a .30-06 and 20 with a .375 H&H. The authors impression was the .375 killed Elk about the way the .30-06 kills deer, and just about everybody has that point of reference.

There's nothing like walking up to your first Elk, why chance it, the animal deserves for you to use the best tool. Anyone can finance a second rifle just for Elk hunting.

No, it was a .270 Winchester with a 130 TSX. It was a cow bison, but fully grown and close to 1000 pounds nonetheless. My wife shot it through both lungs just over the top of the heart, and the cow went about 40 yards and keeled over.

I suspect the same thing might have happened with a .257 Wby., though we might have recovered a 100 TSX under the hide on the far side.

I remember that article. It appeared in the American Rifleman.
I was very disappointed in the performance of the Winchester Silver Tip bullets in the '06. Even on broadside shots, well over half of the 220 gr. bullets were recovered. Many of them had shed their cores. Very few of the 300 gr. bullets in the .375 were recovered.
Nowadays we have much better bullets from which to choose. That does make a big difference.
As far as the .25-06 and the .257 Roy on elk class stuff, it wouldn't be my first choice. But if that what I had, if it's all I could really shoot well, and I wanted to shoot an elk, I'd use it. Just based on what I've seen do on other animals of that class. But I'd make darn sure I used the heaviest premium bullets I could get for it. E

I've got a buddy running a 25'06 in a Ruger #1, he uses Barnes 100gr. TSX's in his reloads that approach 3500fps (tell me about it!)
His Father in'law, raises wood bison, and my buddy gets to help out with the slaughter of a few of them. He has yet to recover a bullet from any of the head shots he taken, in the skull just above the center line between the eyes, and usually out the back of the skull just above the Axis bone.

His wife even intentionally shot a bull moose at 250 yards right through both front shoulders, yup you guessed it, that shot even exited. Oh ya the moose dropped dead on the spot.

I remeber that article having a slightly different outcome. It did mention the superiority of the 375 but said that while both did well, the chief difference was in the distance traveled after the shot. I think they said it was about 40 yds with the 220gr 06. Does anyone have the article handy to check the facts?

i hit a possum once...
at least i think i hit 'em. i couldnt see thru the red cloud.

A .257Roy will handle anything in Vermont, and at ranges you're VERY unlikely to shoot up there (hunted there for a number of years).

Don't try this at home folks:

WDM Bell killed hundreds of Elephants with a 7mm Mauser and a 6.5mmMS

Roy Weatherby killed a Rhino with a 257 Weatherby

As I said, "don't try this at home"

well not a weatherby, but my uncles all purpose rifle for elk and mule deer is a 257 roberts. He has taken plenty of mule deer and elk with it

its all about good bullets and placement

Not a big animal at all, but a coues buck at 571 yards.

Too far. Last .257 Wby Mag I owned I loaned to a great old friend and rancher neighbor in southwest Idaho when we hunted mule deer in 1988. It was an old Southgate gun on an FN Mauser, Lyman All American 6x scope, shot like a house afire. I watch him get off his horse, pull the rifle out of a scabbard (I'm several hundred yards away on my horse), kneel, and shoot. By now I'm dismounted, and glassing, see no game. One shot, he observes through scope for a moment, gets up, replaces the rifle in his scabbard, rides over to me.

"What were you shooting at?", I ask. "That buck lying dead under that juniper on the ridge.", he replied. We ride down a small draw to the top of what I believe is the ridge in question, about 250 yards from where he had shot. He sees me looking around the scrub junipers there. "No, the next ridge.", he says. We ride over there, down a draw, up the next small ridge, every bit of another 200 to 250 yards. Sure enough, under a smallish lone juniper is a very dead buck, shot through the lungs.

I had sighted the rifle carefully at 3" high at 100 yards (100 gr Nosler Partition), just slightly low at 400 yards (about 6 inches), told him not to aim high on any shot. If it was REALLY long, hold on the backline at the most. He said that's where he held, bullet hit about foot below that hold. If I hadn't been there, seen it, I wouldn't have believed it.

"You're not getting this rifle back," he informed me. He still has the rifle, the orangatang horse he traded me for it is long gone, it's accounted for untold mule deer, antelope and elk.

I still banter him about the stolen rifle.

I agree with what Steelhead said. Hit anything in the right spot with a proper bullet it, and it will die. I also think that just because you can see an elk 500 yards away, doesn't mean you have to shoot at it. You should try to get close enough to make a killing shot with any caliber you shoot. I shoot a .257 Roberts and have had good success with it on whitetail deer in Wisconsin, and would not be afraid to use it on elk out west with the proper bullet and shot placement the elk will die. You need t remember they don't have steel ribs.

There's a big difference between what we can do and what we should do. I have a beautiful custom 257 Roberts. It is my favorite rifle. However, if I have an apportunity to take a nice bull elk, I will have "more" rifle in mmy hands. We just never know what shot we will have.

The wind blows in the mountains too--especially through the canyons........

That wind moves even the high Sd bullets enough as it is......


Casey

A friend hunts elk with the .257 in Idaho - has for several decades. Here in Alaska, he took a goat, a sheep, and a black bear with it. One shot each. out to 250 yards.

this guy at about a hundred yards, and several of his bros and sisters. I bought my .257 as a deer and pronghorn rifle, although I'm sure it would do elk just fine with TSXs.