Who of you who shoot one, can chime in with performance of a 100 gr tsx at about 3700 fps at the muzzle, and how far you feel it will reliable expand.
Been shooting mine a few times the last few weeks, and am liking it more and more.
Switched to a 6-18 Leupold on it with the varmint reticle, and the dots are useless.
Gonna have to go turret.

I saw three consecutive 100 grain TSXs fail to expand on on a bull elk from a 25-06. I would never trust a copper bullet that small again. Never had any problems with 7mm and bigger. Smaller ones are not as reliable.

There are better bullets for hunting coues deer with a 257. I have seen quite a few killed by Ballistic tips with good results as far as 550 yards from a 25-06.

Any consideration of the difference between TSX and TTSX?

Your scope is a notorious bad tracker -

If you are going to be setup for longer range dialing for an out of state coues hunt, the bullet will matter faaaaaar less than a reliable aiming system or even headstamp. Deer are easy to kill but you gotta shoot -

Dennis,

I have a 100 TSX fail to expand on a pronghorn from a .257 Weatherby, and Eileen had one from the same lot fail to expand (or at least not open as much as it should have) from her .257 Roberts on a mule deer as well. The .257 Roberts deal could have been blamed on the lower velocity, but the range was only 50 yards and the muzzle velocity was 3150 fps.

But we haven't had any problems in the .257 Roberts, .25-06 or .257 Weatherby with plastic-tipped monolithics, whether the TTSX or E-Tip. The game taken has included a bunch of antelope, whitetails and mule deer, and one elk. And the elk was taken with the Roberts, not one of the larger 25's.

I only shoot 100 ttsx's in mine and only use it for open country mule deer but have shot many deer between 350-730yds with that combo and only recovered one in a far shoulder.

I have been using the 100 gr. TSX and TTSX bullets in my .257 Wby. for years now, and they are the only bullets I use in my rifle. 72.0 gr. of RL22 pushes them at 3700 fps.

For antelope and deer, performance has been just great. Last elk I shot with the .257 TSX was a cow at 300 yds- a lung hit resulted in a dead elk and bits of lung etc. 15' or so feet on the snow on the off side.

Coues deer are not large animals, and if I were to hunt them, there is no question what I would use- a 100 gr. Barnes. I have taken deer and antelope at ranges of 300+ with these bullets, no problem. I can't speak to maximum range at which these bullets will reliably expand, as I have yet to witness a situation in which they failed to do so.

My MkV is scoped with a Leupold VX3 3.5-10 CDS, btw.

Of equal importance, to me, is the fact that these bullets achieve outstanding accuracy out of my MkV. This target is repeatable....

I have no experience with the tipped versions myself. You will have to defer to Muledeer on his experiences. I suspect they are far more reliable expanders than the hollow points.

I agree with Greg on your scope; great for holding over, not so great for twisting knobs.

The dots are not "useless", if you have a clue.

After load development when drop data is known, all you have to do is apply the reticle subtension information to the drop data.

I think you're talking about a VX2 with the LRVD?

Check the Leupold site or your owner's manual for Reticle subtension measurements at various power settings.

At 18X, IICR the first dot is 1.75 MOA from zero, the second is 4.3 MOA and the last is 7 or so.

A little context bending but you get the point.

Yes they are long , but my rifle shoots them great there.
100 gr ttsx's are up to test tomorrow.
And there are only 2 dots in the reticle.
At dead zero at 100, half way between the center and the first dot, I hit at 400, half way between dot 1 and 2, I was hitting at 500.

Testing goes on again tomorrow.

look at the ACP bullets, they do expand in the smaller calibers

I use them in .22, 7mm and .35

they are available in different hardness compounds to suit different velocities and animals

https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/70212


expensive but worth it if your shooting trophy's
Sav the guy that designed them is a big Weatherby shooter and these will be designed with the 257WM in mind

The ttsx's shot as accurate as the tsx's did yesterday.
I'm going to back down the powder charge a bit, and generally, start over.
Barrel is going to get a good scrubbing.
Group size went irradict. Was shooting itty bitty groups, now not so ??
Going to check everything.
Lrv reticle is NOT going to work at 3784 fps. Even at dead on at 100, first dot is too high at 400, if I try 500, I can hit the gong, only by bracketing it between the dots. I can't click down to , nor if I go up, will I be able to use the sight in. I'm going to see what the trajectory will look like if I click up enough to use the 1st dot as my 500.
As it is now, I'm only 25 inches low at 500,or 20 clicks with a 3/4" high sight in. That puts me dead on at 200, and only 5 clicks to 300.

What powder are you using? Also if you don't want to use the reticle I'd try the new S1 dial from leupold if your rifle will accept it.

Reloader 22. I have a Kenton turret on it right now.
Scrubbed it real well today, and dropped the powder charge. Next day or 2, I'll try it again.

Sounds like your already setup. Just curious what power were you using the reticle on?

18x
Any opinions on .25 caliber ballistic tips ?

The 115gr nbt shot awesome in my 257wby with IMR7828. They are a hammer!

I use THE 110 ACCUBOND AT 3530 FPS. Works wonders at close and far ranges

The 100-grain Ballistic Tip is a lot tougher than most hunters realize, because the jacket is at least half the weight of the bullet.
If you're not shooting under 200 yards, I'm sure they'd work fine.

You better check your scope adjustments and RT if you might have to take a poke, and with CWT, you better plan on it.

Bullets won't matter if you hit 3 feet low...

Thanks John.
I've got some some 110 accubonds in bound.
Next I'll try the bt's.
What's nice, is where I live, is the elevations, as where unit 23 is.
So that's going to match well.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/10403028/Re:_"Down_&_D#Post10403028


X-VERMINATOR

Link didn't work...

If I had to use a .257" for that kind of shooting, I'd load it with a 115 VLD and call it a day.

Why are you zeroing the scope at 100 yds with a flat shooting cartridge like the 257 Wby? I have the same scope on my .222 Rem Sako L461. It is pushing a 50gr bullet at a leisurely 3000fps so with a 200 yds zero it is about 2.25" high at 100yds. I was able to make first shot kills out to 410 yds on targets smaller than a water bottle using the LRVD reticle. There were misses due to wind, but the elevation was always were it should be. You have to understand the trajectory at long range. No BDC reticle is going to have a dot where you need it at every range. There is going to have to be hold over/under from the dots. If you aren't comfortable with that get a duplex reticle and twist the dial for elevation or zero at 200yds and you will be +/- 2" of zero out to 250 yds. If you zero for 300 yds you are max high of 3" at 175 yds and 7.3 low at 400. You could damn near hold center out to 400.

I have 3 other scopes with a bdc reticle in them.
A b&c, an lrd, and one in a 1-4 ,on an ar.
I fully understand the concept of the hold overs.
This just too fast.
3,000, you say? Add another 784 fps to that, and see how it works out !
Plus the 100 gr, isn't slowing as fast as a 50.
I'm going to twist a turret, when I figure out what bullet and weight I'm going to launch at coues deer.
I'm going to make this a dedicated coues rifle, since I may be able to draw every year.

My point was, using holdover for the 257W is about 5x easier than the 222. With a cartridge shooting that flat, hold over dots aren't useful/needed IMO for game size animals until you are past 500yds because the target are is so large. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you are saying your problem is. Good luck.

Jordan,

There are a couple problems with using the 115 VLD in the .257 Weatherby. The lesser problem is that muzzle velocities are over the 3200 fps Berger recommends as maximum--especially with longer-barreled rifles with handloads that are "leaned on." They might even come apart in the air.

The other problem, which I've encountered in various Weatherby rounds, is the "freebore" (long throat) doesn't seem to help VLD accuracy.

I'm in agreement with JB on the VLD thing. My experience over the years is long freebore Weatherby's don't shoot boat tail bullets very well most of the time. Also slow burning ball powders will and have put large dents in the sides of cases.

So I shoot flat based bullets with extruded powders.

Interesting. I've mostly used the target version of that bullet out of a .25-06, so that thought hadn't crossed my mind.

I hear you on the long throat thing, although I've managed to achieve pretty darn good accuracy in rifles where mag constraints required VLD's to be seated quite a ways off the lands. As such, I might be tempted to try the 115 in this case, but in general I would agree that those long throats aren't doing many favours for precision shooting.

While I've made some long pokes with .257" bullets, they certainly wouldn't be my first choice for a rifle that I knew was going to be used for hunting where a long shot was probable.

Jordan,

The freebore doesn't seem to hurt accuracy with other bullets, for what reason I dunno. My first .257 Weatherby was a Vanguard Sporter (walnut stock) that would group three 100-grain TSX's (the TTSX wasn't around back then) into 1/2 MOA out to 500 yards, as far as I ever shot it. It also shot flatter and with less wind-drift than any ballistic program predicted, probably because extra velocity tends to increase BC, and I was running them at 3550 fps from a 24" barrel.

Replaced that rifle with a NULA Model 28 that shoots even flatter, with less dift, using with 100-grain TTSX's or E-Tips, but weighs two pounds less.

I've used them from my .25-06, at only about 3120 fps mv on several mule deer and a couple of pronghorn. Instant death. Complete penetration broadside. Good expansion.

Recovered one bullet from the rear quarter of a pronghorn I shot in the chest at roughly 160 yards. It was well expanded.

Very accurate also...

Not a .257 Wby, but it's doing fine and likely that I'll keep using the 115 gr Ballistic Tips for my .25-06 rifle. Did use the 115 Berger VLD's, happily, for two or three mule deer as well.

Tried the 100 gr TSX at 3340 fps. Two mule deer. One at about 20 yards - that bullet expanded for sure! The other was at about 120 yards, and I never was sure if the bullet really expanded at all, but it did kill the deer.

FWIW, Guy

If the load is "for coues deer" I wouldn't choose a mono or a bonded bullet.

As Mule Deer said the 100gr. NBT is a tough bullet -I've dropped 4-5 hogs with that bullet , matter of fact not one has taken a step. The range is close [feeder] at 65 yards but I've killed coyotes/deer/badgers quite a few critters with that bullet from a 25-06.
Never tried the 115gr. NBT because the 100gr. worked so well.

Good luck on the hunt .
Mike

Why wouldn't you use a mono? We run only mono, some of our deer are not larger than a large coues.

Kills em damn quick and they travel very short distances with almost no meat loss.

I'm sure if we bone shot em they would mostly all be DRT.

And then if you have to angle shoot one you have insurance.

Whats not to like?

I'm thinking, why not a mono, is I would like a bit more dramatic expansion to cause dramatic tissue damage to anchor the little guy in place, or leave a decent blood trail off into nether canyon land that easy enough to follow.
I left all values the same on JBM, and only switch between a 100gr ttsx and a 100gr bt, and the bt flies a bit better.

110gr Accubond, or 100gr Ballistic tip ?

You do know that these bullet discussions are about #200 on the list for killing a coues deer?

What's your glass setup? Base camp or packing in? Bringing in water? Better have super boots and tough pants. Better be prepared for heat or cold. How's your pack? You going gutless method? How's your scope track? You good from field positions as a bipod is seldom able to be used? You glassing all day or missing the important 10-2 period? You better be able to judge and be ready to shoot in seconds...

I could go on for hours...

Camping, 4 wheelers, and am use to shooting sticks, or whatever.
All I'm worried about is the bullet.

I may just scrap the Weatherby, and still use my 7 mag with 160gr Accubonds.
I'm good to 900 yards with it. That's the furthest plate at the range.

Sounds like you've got a great plan!

Going with 2 guys who have done this the last 2 seasons.
They are learning, and I'm playing catch up.
Have 99.9% of everything I need, from boots, to clothes, to a truck, to 2 different campers, etc.......
Just concerned about the bullet at Weatherby velocities.

My load is 110 Ab. 69gr rl22

Thanks Fotis.
My gun does like rl22.
What velocity you gettin ?

I would strongly advise that you pay close attention to Greg, a certified, card carrying, coues deer freak. Having hunted mule deer with him just below coues country, I can say that he is absolutely correct. There are far more critical stuff than bullets to worry about.

Check out this link.
http://www.24hourcampfire.com/coues.html

That was a nice read Rick wrote.
I'm not saying or trying to imply I know everything, but, I am an old guy, have stuff, and will learn what I need to trash, upgrade, or buy new, by being there.
Was told, it's like walking on softballs.
My buddy says, I may not want to put in for this hunt again ?
I'm trying to read, understand, and learn all I can, so I can have a good time.
I've got @7 months til the hunt.
Will I be in shape ? After my toe is now fused to my foot, walking is different. What I lack in mobility, I'll try to make up in endurance. Slow and easy, if I have to walk.
Going over everything from thinking my bumper pull camper, 5th wheel, or tent.
If tent, air bed !
Which clothes. Which gear, etc.
I need to buy new boots. Toe is rubbing in regular size, will see if a wide boot will work.
I'm just trying to be prepared, so I can have a great hunt.

I would suggest that you get the boot situation worked out ASAP and get hard miles on them before the hunt. I know you are well aware, feet will completely shut down a hunt. Coues country is murder on the feet and boots. This is what I'd be focused on, front and center, with pack and its load not far behind. Then you've got to be able to spot them. Glass and setup is absolutely critical. Even when it comes to the shot, the bullet is way down the list. We're talking about a thin skinned 100 lb critter.

Gotcha.
Danner proghorns, 2 pair, we'll broken in.
Just still gettin used to the non flexing toe.
Glass is covered. Will be getting a new tripod.
Pack is an old elk hunting friend. Bladders for water.
I'm good with most everything.
Thank for your thoughts, it helps to think of all things needed.

100Gn TSX via 257Wby. Avg velocity, 3825, ES/SD 27/8 as measured via radar.

602yd Mule Deer taken on the point of the onside shoulder and slug found under the hide of the off-side rear quarter:



Weighs just over 100n now w/deer goo under the petals.

If your scope has the Varmint Hunters reticle, using a 100 TTSX at 3700 fps, just sight it in at 300 yards. It won't rise more that 2 MOA at the high point, and gives you a point blank hold out to 375 yards.

Using the large triangle setting, your actual trajectory fits the reticle subtension "minute of coues deer" out 500 yards no problem.


Range ActualDrop Subtension
400 Yards 1.74 MOA 1.81 MOA
500 Yards 3.79 MOA 4.13 MOA
625 Yards 6.85 MOA 7.02 MOA

I used the VH Reticle on my 6.5 WSM to take a couple of good coues deer in Mexico before things go dicey down there. One at 375 yards and one at 480. The reticle worked great.

Range day !

110gr accubonds, mirage was terrible by the time I started shooting the 257 today.

1, 100gr ttsx, and 3, 100gr ballistic tip.

What's interesting, is all 3 bullet types, and 2 different charge weights, went about the same point of impact.
All loads were very hot, even thought the ttsx load was reduced from what I had been shooting.
The ttsx's and accubonds were seated only to the bottom of the neck.
I call my vanguard Linda Lovelace !
Next batch will be lower charge weight and shorter oal.

3540 fps somewhere there

If RL22 isn't working well Id look at ramshot magnum or RL25. Both shot extremely accurate in my 257wby and my dads.

+1. I have killed whitetails out to 300 yards with it and a Black Bear at 60 yards. Never caught a bullet and they have preformed well as far as I can tell from the wound channel.

Use 69.5 grs of R-22 @ 3400 fps.

Mine really likes the100ttsx and the 7828sc and with my buddy shooting all the holes are touching- me not so much!