Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting .257 high B.C. hunting bullets

Is there a need for another manufacturer of a high B.C. .257 cal bullet for hunting? Reason I ask, is the folks at Whiskey 3 Precision said they would make some if they could get enough preorders to make a run, much like they are doing with the 6.5mm, 7mm, .338 and .375 projectiles. I've been looking for something to tinker with in my .257 Bob, that has a bit better B.C. than your standard available hunting bullets. I'd like to see a line of high B.C. bullets ranging from 110-140 grains.

Thoughts??

You'd likely need a 1-in-9" twisted tube which isn't as rare as it once was but not terribly common either.

Sounds like a nice idea till I remember the Swede & 123/140 AMs !! As much as I like the mental masturbation, my Bob & Better Bob do what I need em to do fine w/o "high BC".

Could be interesting tho.

I think the Bergers have a 115 that is about .470 or so. You get into the same dilemma that you have with the 270; lack of suitable rifles to shoot a bullet any longer. The 1:10 twist that you find on most factory barrels is just not going to get the job done. There is no point in making bullets in 25 cal that require an 8 or 9 twist when the target shooters have already exploited the 6 and 6.5 mm extensively. The good 25s out there are for existing rifles.

What has me confused is I have an older box of Berger 115's. The box said the bc was .523. However the newer boxes I seen at sportsmans have a bc of .466. What gives and why the change? I haven't looked any further into it, but if its .466 and not .523 then all my calculations were thrown off unless they just redesigned the bullet.
If thats the case of the .466 BC, the 115gn NBT have a .453 BC.

I love my quarter bore, but I hate the lack of a higher BC bullet. either way i'm stuck in my ways and won't stray.

Kique

Does your 257 do what you need it to?

If so you have no issues.

For me, if I wanted to run really high BC just because, popping a faster twist barrel on would be a no brainer.

Can't fathom folks that wouldn't do the same, but there are many that won't stray from main line stuff.

How high does anyone think you can get wiht BC and what are the returns vs case capacity? I"ve never looked.

I do know that 100 ttsx out of the wtby, are pretty flat to 300, and that i"m not overly sure of the remaining energy issues much past 400 with that light of a bullet. I know my 243 was a bit iffy at 500 for sure.

BIB makes a 110g with a BC of approx. .525

I have not heard of Whiskey 3 Precision, but if they make a banded all copper HP bullet, I would totally dig on a high BC 25 caliber bullet of about 115 grains or so in .257 for my 28 inch bbl'ed 257WBY.

I have been bugging my freinds at Barnes to make the LRX in 25 caliber, but so far I am using Moly coated 100gr TTSX's at 3800fps and doing well with it. But with a longer, slightly re profiled similar bulllet I would be doing weller

For keeping it simple in for the 1:10 twists, Nosler 100gr E-Tips will get the nod over the Barnes 100gr TTSX

I use 115 NBT in my basic 25-06AI dear rifle and likely won't see that changing.

If I build a 25-284 target rifle, I'd build for the VLDs....


Berger Hunting VLD, .466 bc
Nosler Ballistic Tip, .453 bc
Nosler E-Tip, .409 bc
Barnes TTSX, .357 bc

115 Combined Technologies in my 25/06 do well enough. Doing it over I'd do a 6/06 and will do just that whenever I run out of CT's.

The 115 Berger VLD works very well too. Have seen it do good work from both the .257 Roberts and .25-06, but have never gotten it to shoot all that well from the .257 Weatherby, possibly because of the freebore, and possibly because the velocity is a little much for the thin jacket and soft core.

E tips I've not gotten good accuracy out of yet in anything I"ve tried em in, 3 calibers and guns. So I quit trying them.

Jeff,

In my experience E-Tips are somewhat like the original Barnes X-Bullets, before the shanks were grooved to create the TSX: They're more sensitive to exactly which bores they'll shoot in, probably due to matching groove diameter closely.

That said, I'd guess E-Tips have been very accurate in 85-90% of the rifles I've tried them in. Sometimes you have to dink around with seating depth (deeper often works better), as with TSX's. But in barrels that match up well, they're just as accurate as TSX's, with a higher BC.

Cool. Just have not had luck with em, so back to tsx/ttsx. Where its always worked so far.

I'll keep that in mind just in case.

I've been more then happy with ttsx and accubonds out to 600 from my .257 wby.

Matrix used to make VLD's up to 140 grains if I remember correctly.

One guy I corresponded with purpose built a 25/06 AI for these, I think with a 1 in 8 twist but not sure. He reported good results on hogs out to 600-700 yards.

Standard 1-10 twist rifles start to get marginal with the longer VLD and Mono bullets heavier than 115 grains. Some will shoot them fine others won't.

I wonder if the 100 gr. E Tip BC rating is accurate? If so, that could be a good bullet to try.

Generally Nosler's BC numbers are pretty accurate these days. Bryan Litz recently tested some Long Range AccuBonds and found the BC's to be good--as long as the twist was adequate to really stabilize them. The typical .25 1-10 is plenty for stabilizing the 100 .25 E-Tip--or at least it is in typical Montana conditions. Sea level might be another story. It will still stabilize, but not as thoroughly as at higher elevations.

I found the 1-10 was marginal for the 115 Ballistic tips. IF I were going to build a long range 25 caliber it would be a 9 twist. I really don't see the point so I won't. I have shot all the normally available high BC bullets from a 257 Wby working up loads for a buddy. They all shot good enough- about 1 MOA. This is at 1300' MSL.

Yeah, it would be marginal with a 1-10 at that altitude, especially in a .250 Savage or .257 Roberts.

The lowest elevation I normally hunt in an average year in Montana is around 3000 feet above sea level in the eastern part of the state. Here in the southwestern part the lowest elevation is around 4000 feet, and a lot of hunting takes place at 6000-8000. The 115 BT (and Berger VLD) stabilize fine even from a Roberts, and a little better from a .25-06 or .257 Weatherby.

I hunt that high most of the time but have to work with my rifles at much lower elevations