Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 240 Weatherby or 25-06 Rem for Coyotes, Deer, Pronghorn ?

I have read and heard lots of good things about both cartridges. I'm also looking to buy another rifle :)I already have a 270 Win and 300 win mag that I love and they will be my primary for most deer/Pronghorn. I'm just looking for a dual varmint and deer rifle.

I would prefer to stick with a 24" barrel (rebarrel) a Model 70 for this job.

Which do you prefer and what bullets would you use?

I would be mainly using this rifle for long-range coyotes, maybe some California Blacktails, some mule deer, and an occassional Pronghorn or light gun for Africa (think: Springbok, Impala, Mountain Reedbuck...).

With what you already have I would go with the 240. It would give a little bigger gap than you get between the 25/06 and 270. plus you could accidentally resize a 270 case to 25/06 and realy have a problem loading a case with a 270 headstamp that is not a 270 bullet. Just my $.02 ymmv.

I'd go with the 25 and a barrel fast enough to spin the VLD's and a 24" barrel. You'll have a wider variety of bullets with the 240 though.

Never had one, but the 240 sounds like fun to me.

Do you reload? If so, sounds like you're trying to justify buying a Weatherlee! Otherwise, if you don't reload, why do you want to spend the kind of jack that'd be necessary to feed that weatherlee?

OTOH, if you want a weatherlee, why not forego the .240 for a .257 - that'll make your .270 look slow!

But to toss a further wrench into the discussion ..... in a quarter bore a .250 Savage, .250Sav A.I. or .257Bob or .257Rbts A.I. are ALL sweet sage goat getters.

Of course your .270 ought to be a heckuva pronghorn riffle as well.

The Weatherby Ultralight with the 6 lug action in 240 Weatherby is a nice carry rifle and the reports I hear are that they shoot well also. I loaded for one in a 9 lug lefthand action. Norma brass is expensive some of it developed case neck splits on the 1st and 2nd firings. It obviously had some issues in quality back then. It liked 100 gr Horn SP's and then I had to try 85 gr Barnes XLC's which would copper foul the barrel to patterns by 15 rds.That effectively made me stop using them period.
The 25-06 has a proven track record everywhere on many different uses and even Wallyworld carries the ammo at a decent price. Any action you have that were chambered for 270-30-06 will work as a donor action without magazine work,can the same be said of the 240 Wthby mag? Magnum Man

The Ultra Lightweight Mark V is a VERY nice hunting rifle. My .240 weighs 6 pounds 11 ounces with a 6x36 Leupold in Talley Lightweight rings, aqnd shoots very well with either handloads or factory. I haven't had any issues with the recent brass, and loads are very easily developed. The big game load I'm using now shoots into 3/4" or less with the 90-grain Nosler E-Tip at 3400+.

That said, I have two .25-06's and would suggest that it's more practical--and also available in the Weatherby Ultra Lightweight. It is pretty close to the .270, but with a wider selection of varmint bullets on the low end. Brass is of course cheaper and more widely available.

Years ago some gun writer mentioned running .25-06 brass into a .240 die, and having the case come out perfectly, right down to the belt. I tried it and the reformed case looked perfect, but wouldn't chamber in my Ultra Lightweight, even though the reforming was done on a Redding Ultra Mag press.

John,

I had seen that, too. I haven't tried it, although I did make .257 Wby brass out of 7mm Rem Mag Winchester brass. Cases were just a tad short, but they worked OK.

With the .240's I was a bit concerned about the belt and if sizing the case that much may create a weakness where the case body meets the base/belt. If your newly formed cases looked perfect, where do you think the problem was?

DF

The slight angle on the front of the new belt.

You're just funnin', right? You really wouldn't do that chit.

Honest answer to an honest question. Yes, some do try to make dollar and a half Wby rounds from fifty cent non-Wby brass. Nothing wrong with that, IMHO.

Forming .257 Wby from 7mm Rem Mag or similar is easy. The .240 Wby is more of a challenge. Although the base is '06 diameter, the case body has a smaller diameter, starting at the step down ahead of the belt.

Sizing non belted cases into belted brass is a challenge and JB is stating that the limiting factor is the leading area ahead of the belt where the sizing die, evidently, can't adequately size that part of the case. I was concerned about weakening the case with that much re-shaping at the case wall/base or belt junction.

DF

I never heard of such a thing, forming belted cases from non-belted. Sounds hokey to me.

It's been published, discussed. JB didn't dream it up.

There may be something on line from a word search. I haven't tried it but wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't something posted.

DF

Schit, if it's been published, it's a FACT, then

Steve

Go 6mm Remington and you won't go anyplace else looking for the perfect deer, antelope, coyote gun!

i remember reading where jim carmichel did this very thing in an article he wrote on the 240 wby mag. if i recall, that article was written around about 1973, and i think he used gi 30-06 brass...

Doesn't make it good, just means it's been thought of and tried before.

I'm going to stay with factory brass. I'm not that hard up, yet...

DF

6-06AI and make life easy on yourself, twisted 8.

Yeah I've always thought that a 6-06 or AI would work nicely on a Springfield action w/ an 8 or faster twist...

What could that NOT kill??

Once upon a time I tried to form 240 cases out of 06 cases and it didn't work for me.

I've been running a 6/06 for a long time now and that's the way I'd fly again. Next time I'll go with a quick twist so I can run the heavier Bergs.

Now if elk were on the menu on a consistent basis then I'd go with the 25/06.

Dober