Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 257 Weatherby Barnes too fast?

My father hunts and shoots a 257 Weatherby Magnum. Hand loads Barnes bullets at max velocity. He is a very good shot. A few years ago in Arizona he had to shoot a bull elk that was about 120 yards away 5 times!! So my question is are those Barnes petals shearing off and the slug acting like a solid? Because when I butchered it they were all exit wounds. At what, 3300 fps or so are those 115 grain slugs that did zip right thru that bull just act like solids? I also hunt with a 257 from time to time. I use the now discontinued Federal Premium 257 Weatherby Magnum 115 grain Trophy Bonded Bearclaw. An uber awesome bullet IMHO. And I have never had crapass performance like my fathers results. Just doing some wondering. I've never got stellar groups when I tried using Barnes bullets so I don't use them. For elk I'm a Swift A-Frame guy.

What did the insides look like and where did he hit him? A lot of times Elk refuse to believe they are dead even when hit very hard

I have had the same experience with a Barnes 127 gr LRX in my 264 WM last fall. Knocked a cow Elk off her feet and ten minutes she got up and run off. I'm done with Barnes bullets!

You grazed her spine.
The problem was not with the bullet design, the problem was with where the bullet was directed.

Shot a nice 8 point Whitetail from about 175 yards four times in the heart/lung area and all four icepicked (270Win). He took all four shots and finally laid down right there, still breathing as I walked up on him to finish him off. Shot another doe at about the same distance, taking out both lungs. Found her after a long long search, with zero blood trail, 310 yards away. The 310 yard distance was a straight line distance measured by waypoints on my GPS. Another 10 pointer shot the same way traveled about 150 yards through some moderately heavy brush, finally giving up the ghost. Shot him with a 165 grain TTSX out of a 300 Win mag. My statistical sample is not just these three instances, but they do represent a microcosm of my Barnes events.

I'm your biggest fan if you have them work for you....they just don't make my propeller spin. Your mileage may vary.

Hunters up the hill killed this cow Elk and we helped gut and pack out the cow. Bullet had entered three inches below the spine and broke a rib on entrance and nicked one going out. As this was Ranching for Wildlife (Blue Sage) you need to report all wounded animals to the Game Warden. He told us that the bullet went through what he called No Mans land or the Zip Zone. He said that when Elk are standing there is a space between the top of the lungs and the spine and that is where the bullet passed. I had never heard this term before. He went on to say that he has had to put down Deer and Elk that have arrows protruding from this area.

I'm thinking that a cup and core bullet may have acted differently on the broken rib and put holes in the tops of the lungs from fragments. Just saying but I will not use the Barnes again just because!

Yep, that's pretty a pretty common result when you hit animals in that area, and a different bullet would have likely resulted in similar results. Been there before, unfortunately!

Now, when I see an animal immediately drop at a hit, I put another round into it for insurance.

Also, from what I understand the top of the lungs have very little blood pressure; I know that animals can go a long ways with such hits.

I've shot a bunch of critters from coyotes to elk with various tipped versions of Barnes , never shot an animal a second time with them.. they just died. Just like they continue to do with the "target" bullets I'm using now.

Just lucky I guess...

I actually wouldn't be using 115's in a 257 either, go lighter. Think twist/length and rpm/speed.

I have had good luck with the100 TTSX's from 75 yards to 650 on mule deer.The one at 75 yards was a neck shot and dirt if not quicker.The longer shot behind front shoulder and stumbled then just fell over.They just shoot good out of the gun.My 300 wsm like the 168 Bergers and have had good luck on coyotes,antelope,deer,and one 375" bull.
I know everyone loves partitions but my results have varied with them- but most likely it was me.

I shoot only Barnes 100 gr. TSX or TTSX bullets out of my .257 Wby, pushed at 3700 fps MV. I have never needed a second shot on anything, from coyotes up to and including elk. I also have never recovered one of these bullets from game, so I honestly can't tell you what the looked like, but I can tell you they kill things dead!

Not a .257, but a .240 Wby, 80 gr. TTSX at 3,600 fps. Slightly smaller version of the above. Chest shot a doe at a hundred yds. or so. She ran over a hundred yards, had to find her in the woods at night with flashlights.

LOTS of superficial damage to rib cage, small entrance and exit wounds in chest. Not enough internal damage to suit me.

Not too unlike the .257 Wby scenario, seems most of the K.E. was expended BEFORE the bullet entered the chest. I think these fast monos do best busting bones, shoulder shots, head shots on hogs, etc. Maybe 3,600, 3,800 fps has reached the realm of diminishing returns. Terminal ballistics is an interesting study. Matching bullets and velocity for optimal performance on game animals is an art more than a science. IMO...

Now, my .257R, shooting 100 TTSX's at 3,250 fps, seems to do better on WT chest shots, is my go to bullet in that gun. BTW, sub MOA accuracy over max H100V loads.

My current go to bullet with the .240 is a 100 gr. NPT. Not as fast, but terminal performance on chest shot WT's and Pronghorns is much better, usually knocks their nose in the dirt. And, in that gun the NPT shoots half MOA or better, shot one group of 1.7" at 400 yds. Can't say I can do it again, but the gun did it once...

DF

Note entrance wound and chest exit wound.

No bullet is too fast.

True in principle.

But sometimes common sense needs to step in, selecting the most appropriate combo.

Almost everything is a compromise one way or the other.

You really don't know how a load is going to work until you try it.

DF

Federal Premium Trophy Bonded bullets are now available other than in loaded ammo. I just bought 160's for my 7RM.

Maybe they'll offer them in .257. Those should work well in the Wby.

www.midwayusa.com/product/369466/fe...grain-polymer-tipped-boat-tail-box-of-50

DF

www.midwayusa.com/s?userSearchQuery=Federal+Premium+Trophy+bonded+bullets&userItemsPerPage=48

.308, .270. 7mm, no .257 (yet).

DF

I don't have a .257 (yet) but I shoot 150 gr. TSX out of my 99 in .308. I have yet to recover a Barnes from 50 to 150 yard. The last one at 50 yards was 1/4ing towards me right to left. Hit him in his left chest and exited behind his right leg/shoulder. He stood there like nothing happened. I almost put another round in him but waited. He took one step, then another, and finally what seemed like forever he dropped and did the death kick/spin. Went through both lungs and hit the heart. From what I can remember the exit wound was a perfect 4 pedal cross. I have not had any bad luck with the Barnes 150 TSX. That is all I shoot for deer or elk in my .308. Some areas in AZ are lead free so that is my choice of bullet for all of AZ.

I had a similar result this year with180 grain Barnes TTSX from a 300 Weatherby on a cow in brush to mid chest, I put 2 in her at 280 yards, didn't find a blood trail but she climbed up to the ridge after a small circle and 1/2 an hour again behind brush facing the opposite way so the 3rd round through the same area fron 75 yards finally dropped her. The bullet placement was "in between" spine and lungs and the rounds were probably close to 3,000 fps or greater for the last shot.

You could cover all 3 holes with a cigarette pack but they were all too high in the chest to be effective compared to spine or lower lung. My fault for not putting one through the neck instead. The TTSX works best when you catch a rib going in and break the shoulder on exiting. With better placement 2 years ago a larger cow did a back flip and died on the spot with a shot from 550 yards. I prefer the Barnes slip through effect over the NBT blow up on the outside ribs but next time I'll probably take the neck shot rather than high chest, I got lucky retrieving that cow.

My buddy shot a 370 bull with a 257 wby mag with 100 gr. TSX at about 60 yards. 1 shot bull walked 20 yards and tipped over. Got both lungs and they were soup. Hard to believe he stayed on his feet for 20 yards even. No such thing as too fast with a mono bullet. YMMV

I shoot a 25 WSM. While on a New Zealand hunt I shot 36 head of game with the 100 TSX, at 3450 fps, a very accurate bullet in my rifle. The bullets performed poorer than I expected with pencil size exits. My hunting partner used an 06 and good old 150 grain Remington Core-loks and blew out big exit holes and all his game died right there. My best bull Tahr required five hits and finally died hanging off a cliff by a horn requiring a helicopter retrieval. I spoke with Barnes and they requested I send a sample of my bullets, which I did provide, but I didn't receive a reply. I switched to the old cup and core Hornady 100 grain Interlock and see much better performance and even better accuracy, Hornady has stopped making this bullet.

The 140 gr TSX worked great in my .284 on several deer and elk. The difference between the hole in the tip of the 25 caliber bullet is noticeably smaller than a 7 mm sample. I see the hole in the 25 caliber TTSX is even larger than my 7 mm TSX sample. I suspect Barnes addressed the failure to expand issue by increasing the hole size in the tip of the bullet.

Boise: Is you 25WSM the super short WSSM, or the 270WSM necked down to 25? thanks