Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 257 Weatherby bullet recommendations?

Hi folks,I just got a new rifle, a Vanguard S2 in 257 Weatherby. Im looking for bullet testimonials to help me decide which bullets to load up. Ill be hunting deer and elk at ranges, close to 450ish. Im hopin to find a bullet that kills well while not ruining half a deer on closer shots. Whats worked for you? what didnt work too?
Im ok with having two loads if need be but Id rather not.

100gr Barnes TSX or TTSX

100gn tsx has killed 3 deer for me in the same gun with weatherby factory ammo. Two were drt, the third went 15yds. Will be reloading 100gn ttsx for next year as I'm down to 10 shells. Have heard good things about that bullet and rl-22 or 7828. I have both in stock, when I get back from my deer hunt next week I'm going to get started on developing a load. Factory stuff was about an inch at 100 for three shots, if I can match that with the same speed I will be happy. Not sure bout elk, haven't shot any with that combo.

120 gr Nosler Partition.

I've taken a number of animals with both the 100 TSX and 120 Partition from the two .257 Weatherbys I've owned. Both bullets killed very well, with the exception of one TSX that didn't open much, if at all. It was one of several TSX's between .25 and .30 that didn't expand right, guessing either by the size of the wound channel (and how far the animal went) or in some instance, by actually recovering the bullet. After that I made the switch to tipped monolithics, whether TSX's or others, and haven't had one fail to expand yet. (My guess--and that of some other people--is that smaller-caliber TSX's tend to get their small hollow-points battered by recoil while in the magazine box. This is based on never seeing or hearing of non-expansion with .22 caliber TSX's, where recoil is very light, or TSX's larger than .30, which have larger hollow-points.)

The 100 TSX tends to drift in the wind more than other bullets, including the 120 Partition, due to the relatively low BC. The Tipped version's BC is higher, but I recently switched to the 100-grain Nosler E-Tip, which has an even higher BC, since it doesn't have several grooves along the shank. It groups just as accurately as TSX's in my NULA .257 Weatherby, and while I haven't taken any game with it yet (hope to this fall) I've seen a bunch of other E-Tips at work in calibers from 6mm to .30 on animals from coyotes to big bull elk. They have always expanded very well.

Never have had any problems with 120 Partitions in the .257 Weatherby, even as close as 80 yards, and accuracy has been similar to the monolithics. Haven't noticed any major difference in meat damage between the 120 Partition and the 100-grain Barnes bullets, either, probably because the 120's started about 250 fps slower. They all chew up some meat if they hit bone at .257 Weatherby velocities.

When hunting elk on a nearby ranch in 2012, one of my hunting partners took a good 6-point with his .257 Weatherby with one 120-grain Partition factory load. The bullet was placed just behind the shoulders broadside, and exited. The bull ran down the steep mountainside about 75 yards before running head-on into a big Douglas fir, obviously dead on its feet.

I had outstanding accuracy from the 100 gr ETip & RL22 in my Vangard.

Thanks guys! Seems to be pretty clear cut preferences so far. Thats about what I was thinking as well. I figure a number of the tougher cup and cores would kill well but meat damage would/could be substantial even on broadside shots with no major bone.

For powders I keep seeing H1000, IMR 7828, and RL25 in the manuals I have. So thats what I have been looking for, so far havent found either locally tho. My local Ace has Accurate Magpro tho. Anyone try it?

I killed a pair of bull caribou last year with 85gr Ballistic Tips over 7828. Surprisingly enough they held together really well and didn't ruin much eating, even on a shoulder shot that broke both and exited.

I didn't intend on using that load but found myself north of the arctic circle with the wrong box of ammo and it worked out fine. They weren't huge bulls, probably 375lbs on the hoof, but bigger than any deer I've ever shot.

100 grain Partition.. They have been working for 60 years..

I have shot quite a bit of stuff with the BTBT, but 100 instead of 85.. Ok for deer, but I would prefer the part. for elk..

WB,

I mostly used RL-25 and Ramshot Magnum in my early years of shooting the .257 Weatherby, but Magnum is unonbtainium now, and RL-25 not much better.

More recenly I've been using H1000, plus IMR7977, which performs almost identically with grain less powder than H1000. Have lately seen H1000 showing up a little more, but 7977 is pretty available.

Have had mixed results with Magpro over the years. Oddly, perhaps, in my tests the cartridges that have really shot accurately with Magpro have all been magnums. In magnum rounds the velocity has usually been great, but accuracy not so much.

Anyone have much experience with Nosler Ballistic Tips (100 or 115s) at 257 Weatherby speeds?

Sample of one.

Bought a 257 Weatherby from Noslers Shooters Pro Shop on Thursday. Along with it I bought 100 grain BT bullets, brass, and powder. Loaded, tested, and sighted in on Friday. Killed black bear at 40 yards on Saturday. Broadside shot, perfect mushroom. This happened many years ago.

For the record, Nosler specifically told me not to shoot that bullet at game at close range in the 257 Weatherby, because the bullet would explode.

Moral of story, if not Nosler themselves, who can know the things a Nosler bullet does?

I have used Barnes TSX and TTSX 100 gr. bullets in my .257 Wby for years now, on a variety of game, with great results. Accuracy is sub-MOA with either bullet, pushed at velocities of 3700+ fps. I prefer the TTSX nowadays, because of its somewhat higher BC.

RL 22 is my powder of choice.

Thanx Mule Deer, that Imr 7977 info is very good to know. I am not opposed to switching all my loads to the endurons.

WyocoyoteH... How does the 100 Partition do in wind?? I really like Partition bullets and the 100 grainer velocity is a big part of what made me want this caliber.

Bighorn, Im guessing your 257 has a 26" barrel ya? 3650 out of my 24" would be SAWEEET!! Whats ur powder and charge?

DITTO...........

+1

One other thing I been wondering, has anyone checked the capacity of the Hornady cases in relation to the weatherby/norma cases?

100 ttsx, 110 accubond

have shot a lot of deer with 100 ttsx and RL22.

Have 80s here, never found the need to test yet.

Good news to hear about Etips... I bought a bunch for a 7 mag once... and they shot for crap... I figured no grooves same as old X some just would not shoot...

Maybe I can use them in the 284 now if it maybe wasn't the gun.

Or maybe they've changed a bit.

RE case capacity, don't know that, but do know that 257 brass was HARD to come by but having a bag of 7 Rem Mag brass handy just ran it into the 257 die and life has been fine...

Jeff,

I've encountered a couple of rifles that simply would not shoot E-Tips, and assumed there was some problem with bullet/bore diameters. But usually E-Tips shoot very well, and if initial accuracy is OK but not spectacular they can often be made to shoot well by seating 'em deeper.

Nosler did add a single groove at the front end of the shank a couple-three years ago. I haven't shot enough of those to come to any firm conclusions, but so far they have been accurate. But so were the non-grooved E-Tips in the vast majority of rifles I tried them in.

The E-Tips I'm loading in my .257 Weatherby are some of the originals without the groove, as I got a bunch of them early on. When they run out I'm sure the single-groove bullet will also shoot well.

I believe a lot of the problem with the early Barnes X's was caused by inconsistent copper, along with inconsistent manufacturing--which could also be affected by inconistent copper. During the last few years of the solid-shank X's I was getting good to to spectacular accuracy from 'em in my rifles.

Have also encountered the occasional rifle that would not shoot TSX's.