Looking to ad something a little lighter down the road and would like a 25 that really reaches out for predators or deer. The 25-06 I had before was a Browning and needless to say I will not have another of those.

if you really want to reach out, the Weatherby is your huckleberry. I like the Roberts for a nice light deer rifle, and the Roy for the wide open spaces. the .25-06 splits the difference nicely, but what's the fun of that?

The .257 Roy is tough to beat. You're not going to save any real rifle weight by going with the .25-06 Vs. .257 Roy... So why not go with the faster cartridge?

I've got a .25-06, my son has a .257 Wby. They're both great cartridges. The Weatherby is of course a hotter round!

I had the same decision to make a while back. The .257 Wby "is" a bit faster than the .25-06.....but not enough so to be noticed in the field. The Weatherby seems to bring a premium price compared to the average .25-06.

I decided to buy the first rifle of either chambering I found at a price I was willing to pay. For me, that turned out to be a Ruger 77 in .25-06. I would have been just as happy with the .257 Wby, but wouldn't really have gained anything.....except maybe better bragging rights on the internet.

You didn't mention if you hand load. If you don't, then go for the 06.

You can get factory Weatherby 100 grain spitzers (Norma) for around $35.00 a box. That is the cheapest factory stuff around, and worth buying if you want Weatherby stamped brass to reload.

If you keep your eyes open, you can find a .257WM at a reasonable price. I picked up a Rem SPS for $525 new in the box.

I really think the wby is only worth doing in a 26" or longer barrel.

The .257 is about 300fps faster than the 25-06 with all bullet weights, that's a pretty good bump in velocity. If you don't handload I'd not go with the 25-06 as the factory ammo for it is often pretty slow compared to what you can handload, but you'd be hard pressed to beat the Weatherby factory ammo by any meaningful amount with handloads.

..and range, and the ability to shoot heavier bullets fast.

Your answer may be based on how much you plan to shoot. If you shoot less than 100 rounds a year, a 257 WBY. A 257 WBY will scorch the barrel. I know a fellow who is on his third barrel. But it is a decision he is satisfied with and he is an avid shooter and reloader. He replaces the barrels himself and enjoys the bang he gets for the buck

I went Weatherby

Both are great rounds. I'm just partial to the Wby.

although i went with the 25-06 as well, i gotta disagree with the assertion that there is no difference in field shooting...with both 75 and 100 gr bullets the WBY has a clear 50 yd advantage in point blank shooting over the 25-06...

I am not really thinking of a barrel longer than 24" and do plan on reloading in time.

So the WBY really will handle a larger range of loads better then?

I have a 24" barreled weatherby. I am not getting 3500 with 100 gr bullets. I even bought some factory loads to test, and they were quite slow as well. But I can get a 25-06 well over 3300 fps with 100 gr bullets. Not enough difference to justify the extra expense of shooting the wby.

I really think the wby comes into its own with 26" barrels.

Of the two, I would personally choose a 25-06. Here is my thinking. With todays proliferation of range finders, turrets, and long distance reticles, the velocity advantage is not as big an issue as in days past.

In all reality, find a rifle that you really like. The actual chambering is secondary IMO. I do not think you will be disappointed in either cartridge.

RandyR,

You already know the answer. You want the Weatherby but are having a hard time justifying the additional expense. We've all been there. The Weatherby is about the flattest-shooting sporting rifle around - closest thing to a LASER I know of. If you get the 25-06 you will always wish you got the Weatherby. You might as well bite the bullet and get the one you really want. It won't be all that expensive to shoot. Oh, brass is higher and it burns more powder per BOOM!, but you're not gonna shoot a couple hundred rounds per week from it, are you? Get the Weatherby and a couple boxes of TTSXs and the other stuff and go have fun. If you buy everything you need all at once, it won't seem like it's nickeling and diming you to death down the road.

I'm an expert at justifying wants. Let me know the next time you need my services.

Big Redhead hit it on the head!

I've owned several of each, and if I was buying another it would be a Weatherby Ultralite in .257 WM.

Had a MK V that came with a 24" barrel. After I burned it out, I sent it back to Weatherby and had a 26" barrel put on.

If you're gonna be a bear, be a Griz.....

Virgil B.

I share your thinking that with turrets, accuracy is king and super flat shooting is less critical. For long range work, both are nice. The flatter the round the less wind drift and more K. E . is delivered to the target. So I guess it depends on how far and the targets of choice.

DF

Very well said!

Dober

The only realistic rifle loony solution is to get one of each. Since I am truly loony, I have two of each.

Utah708, both of my .257 Weatherbys (a Vanguard and a NULA) have 24" barrels and get over 3500 fps with 100-grain bullets, whether factory or handloads.

I agree with JB....my 24" Vanguard gets over 3500 with a 100TSX...like mid 3500's.

71 - 72gr of IMR7828 is the ticket in my Vanguard 257Roy.

Tony

hey randy,
i have a roberts and a weebee. both have their place.
i am getting 3300-3400+ with 80 grain ttsx's in the roberts, using imr4064, and knocking on the door of 3800 from my weebee in a vanguard using 100 grain tsx's and rldr 22.

my roberts has an lr dotted scope, and works great sighted in at 300 yards, with the dots lining up perfectly with the 80 grainers trajectory.

the weebee is sighted in 2.5 inches high at 100, and is practicaly a point and shoot laser. at 500 i use my thick to thin, and it's about 5" low off that.

get the weebee, i know you load, use 7mm rm brass if you want, burn the powder, and be happy.

Just had a test article in american rifleman magazine. Shooting a 24" vanguard with factory ttsx 80 grain ammo they were cranking something like 3820fps and accurate.
Put those specs on a ballistics program and with a 300 yd zero it won't get more than 2.7" high and will drop about 7" at 400 yds....that is a laser beam.

You want the hot rod, so get one, get a 7 mm Rem Mag load it with 120 gr NBT's with a full dose of RL 19 and wallah its flatter than the 257 Roy boy. Check out the loads in Nosler #6 for 100grs in the Roy and 120 NBT's for the 7mm Rem. Use the ballistic table in the back and you will see the 7 shoots flatter than the 257 or as flat. Recoil is not bad and groups were great in my 7 check it out yourself the facts are there. Magnum Man ps the facts also spotted the Roy with a 26" bbl vs a 24" on the 7

I hear you, MagMan, but wouldn't a 120 BT at that speed splash like a rain drop on a blade of grass? I know the 120 BT has a "supernatural" reputation, but there has got to be a limit somewhere.

Thomas, you're right, but those are just subsets of "better bragging rights on the internet."

No deer or antelope will ever know the difference.

Sycamore

I'm with JB - get one of each. I guess I've not achieved true loony status yet as I only have 1 .257 - and it simply "electrocuted" the 2 deer I shot with it this past season. Of course with living in Texas, the 25-06 is all but a "must have".

waterbug,

Isn't the .25-06 the official Texas state cartridge?

Thinking somebody should be checking on Safariman... this thread is over 20 hours old, and he hasn't weighed in yet...

Hope he's not back in the hospital....

I was having consistency problems with a .257 Wby., using formed 7mm Rem Mag brass. I became agrivated with that and subsequently converted the Mark V to 7mm Rem Mag using a #2 Brux with match chamber at 24".

Mark (Safariman) ended up with the .257 factory take off bbl. I told him the story and he related that unless I neck turned converted 7mm Rem Mag cases, the neck walls would be too thick, causing inconsistent accuracy. Said he'd been there, done that.

His recommendation: use .264 Win Mag brass to form .257 Wby. cases. The neck wall thickness works fine without the need to turn necks.

Just thought I'd throw that tidbit of info into the mix, before someone else gives up on the .257 Wby.

FWIW,

DF

If it's not, it's awful close. There are a lot of folks shooting them and generally speaking the ammo is pretty readily found. Even though I have mostly hunted with a 700 in .257 for the last 4 seasons, I find it hard to not keep at least 1 25-06 around.

Big Red I don't know yet,I've only got a sample of 2 so far with that load.1 a mid sized mule deer doe at 38 yds,hit behind the left sh blade dbl lunging and taking a chunk off the rear edge of the right sh blade on the way out. 1" exit hole and destroyed the lungs DRT bangflop never took a step. 2. an older whitetail doe at 95 yds dbl lung shot with about the same placement DRT bangflop not one step.More need to be shot for more conclusive data . I didn't need anyone to tell me not to hit anymore bone than ribs at those speeds but those 120 NBT's sure did the trick right now.Recoil not bad, it was like shooting a 22-250 on steroids. Originally I saw it as a flat shooting round for 150-300 yd shots filling meat tags. I was pretty impressed at the first two results and there will be more in the future. Magnum Man

If you are taking stock factory rifles and you hand load, consider this:

270 Win
57.5g of R#17
Fed 215
110g Barnes Tipped tripple shock & 110g Sierra
3550 fps out of a 24" barrel
2" groups at 300 yards with a factory sporter barrel with 3.5x10 scope
Neck size the brass after firing with Winchester brass

Factory 257 Weatherby with standard freebore usually shoots the 100's at 3600, 115's at 3300 fps

25/06 with 100's is in the ball park of 3300 fps
" " 115's is in the ball park of 3100 fps

You can wring a little bit more out of the 257 W and 25/06 by hand loading and custom barrels with minimal freebore in both thes cartridges will add 200+ fps.

not really....my 24 in. Vanguard chronos at 3580 with factory 100s....you can't touch that with a .25-06. If you want velocity, there's no question which you want. But there are no flies on the .25-06 either.

+1

My 24" Vangard is doing almost exactly the same speed w/ RL22 & 100 gr Etips.

I used to have similar issues w/ the shorter tube, but checked out Charlie Sisk's recent thread on the subject.

for me, if rifles were the ultimate thing in my life, i suppose i'd have to have the biggest/fastest/bestest available...

the 257 Weatherby is one beautiful, fast shooting rifle cartridge...
But i remember the .44 magnum shooters crowing about their "most powerful handguns"...

Now, the .44 magnum is as good a round today as it ever was, and maybe even better...
but if you want the "mostest", you need still more than the .44...


for what i do with a rifle, the 25-06 can not be beaten...

I went 25-06 AI. Should have just gone Roy and saved a bunch of hassle. I have tons of 7 mag brass that can easily become 257 Roy. I like fast cartridges and the Roy did Ole man Roy great and it would also for me. But then again I'm not finished yet and a 257 Roy might just make it into my locker!

Just for all of those who like to look at things a little more, ah, scientifically:

According to the 4-to-1 Rule, the .257 Weatherby has about a 6.5% advantage in muzzle velocity over the .25-06, everything else being equal (barrel length, pressure, etc.). This means a 200-250 fps increase in muzzle velocity in bullets from 80-120 grains, depending on the weight of the bullet.

Of course, for the really obsessed, there's the .257 STW, .257 RUM, etc.

Can't argue with success! Forge ahead.

It is not needless to say...why won't you have another on of those?

Rifles aren't the ultimate thing in my life, and I'd never even had a belted mag before trading into a Roy. I've got a 257 AI that is pretty darned close to keeping pace w/ the '06 (mine does 3250 fps w/ 100s) which'll do anything I need doing w/ a rifle, but as you say, that Roy is an amazing cartridge that does things that somewhat defy numbers.

And no, rifles aren't the ultimate thing in my life...

I have never owned a Weatherby, and won't. Too expensive to shoot, pretty expensive to reload.

The OP is looking for something for varmints, I thought. A few fps isn't going to make up for the price of Weatherby ammo, to me at least.

And, I just don't like Weatherby rifles. They look Japanese to me, like a 1968 Datsun.

I really like the beauty of the Browning but I could not get consistent groups with the 2 factory loads I tried. I did not bed or do any work to it but I have never had the same issue with the m700's I have. Really a shame because it seemed like a very good quality rifle. I have since learned a lot more about my m700's and feel comfortable sticking to them. I might look at a Vanguard for the next one though.

thanks, just asking why you seemed to have bad luck with your browning. I have several XBolts and are totally pleased with all of them. I shot one of my best bucks this year with an XBolt in 25-06.

I have two 257 Roys and a 25-06. I have shot perhaps a dozen deer and antelope with each rifle. The Roys are much faster, but in my experience spanning almost 30 years the 25-06 is the better field rifle. Both kill very well, the roy a little more spectacularly, especially with TSX bullets. Most of your shots at game will be under 200yds and one could not tell the difference in field results. The 257 Roy will be a little harder to find ammunition and quite a bit more difficult to sell or trade. But scratch your itch. I decided several years ago that my collection would never be without one of each.

7 Rm or 264 WM brass can be run through the FLS & fireformed for perfect function, so unless one is buying factory ammo the difference isn't as great as it might otherwise seem.

The Vangard doesn't look to me any different from a Remington 700 (which I don't care for at all, but which has a cult following). My Vangard is UBBER accurate, though.

If I were looking for a deer/varmint rifle to shoot a lot I'd go '06. If you want a hunting rifle that gets a few rounds each year first to verify zero and then to kill stuff like lightning, the Roy is a good candidate.

Which means a 26% increase in powder volume and muzzle blast. My 25s start with the .250-3000 and end with the .25/06. Have not found any of them wanting. That said, if I ever decide to get a magnum chambered rifle, it'll probably be the the .257Wby. Had an urge for a .264WM a couple years ago, but it passed. There's just something about .25s...

Wasn't it Frank Gorshin, a.k.a. "The Riddler" in the original Batman series, that coined the phrase "Riddle me this...?"

Take a look at the Rem 700 CDL SF in 257 Roy. 2 of them in my hunting camp, they shoot amazing and are purty too.