Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles .257 Weatherby - West German - Shorter than normal barrel

O.K.,

At the suggestion of Fishhead I am goint to modify my approach to acquiring advice about where to go with load work-up.

I am going to have the barrel "slugged" to see where I am at on the integrity of the tube. I am going to review the bedding job, remount the bases and rings and remount the scope. At the completion of that, and assuming all turns out well I will start load workup again.

The barrel was cut back some as was referred to in another post, so now we have a barrel that was 24 inches that is now 22.8 inches long. That will cut back on performance somewhat, but the fact that it was a 24 instead of a 26 never made me super excited. Bottom line, we will lose some performance.

It is a West German manufactured Mark V and from what I can gather those rifles had a twist that would not reliably stabilize bullets greater than 100 grains. That is per the Nosler reloading manuals.

This gun will be utilized mainly for mule deer here in the west with the occasional bonus coyote or wolf if we hit the jackpot

There aren't alot of options out there for cases, so I will just use what we have (Weatherby branded .257 Wby Brass).

As far as powders go I have the following:
IMR 7828
IMR 4831 (mucho)
IMR 4350
RL 19
RL 22
RL 25
H1000
I am also willing to purchase additonal powder if there is an overwhelming concensus to lean a different way.

Bullets I would like to hunt with in order of preference would be:

100 gr. Barnes TSX
100 gr. Nosler Partition
100 gr. Hornady SP

So, I would greatly appreciate any suggestions, proven loads, and general advice before I get started on this.

Thanks.

Because of its construction the TSX will be longer than the lead cored bullets, a possible source of trouble with the slow twist.

with that barrel I would go with a little faster powder and a lighter bullet like the 80gr TTSX and RL19...IMO...
link: http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=993159

I'd use 7828 and the 100 Horn, used the combo on deer/yotes/lopes/elks/bruins never had a complaint from the volunteers.

Dober

I had one for a few years that had a 24" barrel. I don't know the ROT, it was a custom that I traded for and I never bothered to check. I got the best results with heavy loads of IMR 4350 and IMR 4831 and 100-grain Partitions. Looking at the most recent Nosler Reloading Guide (No. 6), it looks like they haven't found anything that works better.

The Noslers were the only bullets that I used with it, and the 100 grainers shot marginally better than the 115s. You might want to try the 110 AB. If your rifle will stabilize them, it will probably shoot them pretty well.

+1 here

I believe a faster burning powder would be best served here.

YOu need short bullets for that twist.

If I recall I want to say I read somewhere that they loaded teh 117 gr round nose for those guns because they had les bearing surface thus allowing them to stabilize better.

You can also try 87 gr softpoints or the 90 gr hollowpoints!

Good luck

Any one of the powders you list will work. It has been many years ago but have owned 2 of the older 12 inch twist 257's a MK5 like yours and one on an FN action. Can't comment on the TSX as they didn't exist at the time. But both the Nosler and Hornady shot great. Used the Nosler the most as the Hornady's were pre interlock and pretty soft, they didn't put up with that kind of velocity at closer ranges. I used H4831 almost exclusivly, did run a little 4350 but I had one of the little barrels of H4831 so it got the nod. The shorter barrel may not hurt performance as bad as anticipated but she should bark pretty loud. Can't speak for the Weatherby,never tried them, but some 20+ years ago had a 25-06 with a 12 inch twist and presently own a 257 Robts. with a 12 inch twist. Both rifles were, are capable of good hunting accuracy with the 117 Sierra flat base bullet and the older turned Nosler 115 (still have a small stash) but I have to lean on the throttle pretty hard. So possibly a slightly longer or heavier bullet will work. Just have to try them to find out. I shoot more Nosler 100 partions at game than any thing else with the Ballistic Tip running a distant second.

I have a WG .257 Wby that had a 24 inch 1 turn in 12" twist factory barrel I had good luck with 115 partitions. I think you should have good results with your 22.5 inch barrel as well.
Good shooting,
Marcus.

With a 100 gr Interlock, work up to:

66.5 gr IMR4350
69 gr RL19
73 gr RL22

I don't know what the IMR4831 would do, but these three have served me well w/ 100s of various configurations.

If it were me I'd see what Weatherby would charge to rebarrel. There is a good chance they'd do you right w/ a proper length tube w/ 1-in-10" twist.

Sweet cartridge. I'm falling in love w/ mine...

Wow, at 22.8 inches, you are really robbing yourself of the performance a .257 Wby. was meant to deliver.

I'd get the thing rebarreled, preferably with a 26" tube, and feed it a diet of 100 gr. Barnes TSX bullets at around 3700 fps....

Don't sweat the shorter barrel, it will still be plenty fast, 3500 fps with the 100 grainers is very do able.

Start with the slowest burning powders and work towards the faster burning powders till you get the grouping you want.

It has been my experience with the barnes ttsx & tsx that seating around 3.170(tsx) works best for the 100grs. 3 different rifles was the proof for me.