257 WBY with or without Freebore

[scope eye]

It is a toss up on which one is more fun but I also have a 270WBY it is an 11 twist 30" barrel, and my go to load is speer 90gr value pack 650ct for the price of 500 a bargain. with 80gr of Hybrid 100V those launch well over 4200fps 90gr Sierra HP also work well gotta love that freebore.
70 to 75 grains of RL17 also works well with only a slight decrease in FPS.
Dean

 

[AckleymanII]

These custom weatherby's with zero freebore shot in the 2's with three shot groups, usually 19-21 shot load development, Max!

12 twist of course would shoot only 85-90g bullets and the 100g Sierra. I ended up shooting the 100g ballistic tips on everything. Most would think that the ballistic tip would be too explosive for deer, but I dropped a bunch with them. 100g Hornady flat base and bt, speer BTSP, and Sierra btsp all did very well.

This round is flatter shooting than a 220 swift, and hits like a mac truck.

It is no wonder that the 257 Weatherby was Roy Weatherby's favorite round.

 

[biggun2869]

All good info, all I know is I have an Vanguard in a cheap stock that would make a lot of people cry. I have only shot weatherby ammo 100 gr and am absolutely amazed at how well this shit shoots! I bought this thing cheap back when gunbroker was new. It had a Japanese Tasco on it that I got a little better than $130 from it on ebay. I bought a bunch of reloading componets from w boggs but I have never loaded for this gun. I bought 100 rounds when I first got it and have only used about half. I seriously doubt I have over $200 in this gun and am very proud of it!
Bottom line this is factory and a person would be hard pressed to get to that level even w/factory loads

 

[scope eye]

I guess you can only push so much powder though a 25 caliber barrel,
my 257 RUM holds 30 more grains of powder than the WBY, it is faster but not as fast as as you would imagine it would be with that much of a powder increase.

Dean

PS: On the same note my 257WSM with a 70 BlitzKing with 70gr of RL17 is good for 4100FPS, and yet the WBY with the same load is good for 4250fps both 30" 12 twists go figure. BTW The RUM is a 14 twist and I can shoot 115gr though it

 

[snoopy001]

I started out shooting factory Mark 5's, then met a gunsmith from San Diego on a jack Rabbit shoot. He had a zero freebore 257 W shooting 100's at 3850, 100g ballistic tips.

We traded off rifles and made a couple of coyote stands. I shot a large male, and hair floated down for 5 minutes.

The next Monday, I was ordering a zero freebore reamer. Prior to ordering, I played around with running 264 Win mag and 7 mag unfired brass through the 257 Weatherby full length sizer. A perfectly full formed case was the result with a tad shorter neck. So, I sent that case in to PTG and had them order a reamer off of the New Winchester brass that was formed to the 257 Weatherby spec, my reamer is on file with them, possibly.
........................

Sorry just a question regarding your freebore "0"
ordering reamer.
Why did you formed a case from 264 WM and 7 MAG
which you send PTG to obtain a zero freebore reamer ?? Where is the difference of the original
.257 Wby case with a specifyed freebore length and your formed case with the shorter neck ?

regards
snoopy

 

[AckleymanII]

Winchester brass rockwell hardness is harder than Weatherby brass, plus the cost of winchester is much less.

The neck ends up shorter than the std Weatherby brass.

You specify freebore you wish when you order a reamer or you can get factory spec.

 

[scope eye]

"The neck ends up shorter than the std Weatherby brass."

It ends up about 50 thou shorter, one maybe two firings depending on how aggressive the load is will bring it up to specs.

I have always extracted more firings from WBY brand brass than any other.

Dean

 

[AckleymanII]

PMC brass tops them all of you can find any

 

[Ironworker]

Old thread that I started way back when the world was normal. My 257 has a factory Freebore,and I am happy. 73.5 grs of N570 pushes a 117 Sierra BT at 3350 with 3/4 MOA groups at 12 feet LOL

 

[Ackman]

These custom weatherby's with zero freebore shot in the 2's with three shot groups, usually 19-21 shot load development, Max!

12 twist of course would shoot only 85-90g bullets and the 100g Sierra. I ended up shooting the 100g ballistic tips on everything. Most would think that the ballistic tip would be too explosive for deer, but I dropped a bunch with them. 100g Hornady flat base and bt, speer BTSP, and Sierra btsp all did very well.

This round is flatter shooting than a 220 swift, and hits like a mac truck.

It is no wonder that the 257 Weatherby was Roy Weatherby's favorite round.

This is an old post, but......
Ackleyman knew exactly what he was doing with this and was right about it. My .257Wby is chambered with that reamer, ZERO freebore and .050" short. Hart 12Twist barrel, 29" long on a long Savage single shot action. It was built for rockcucks and is very nicely accurate with 100gr. Sierras......at 4000 fps it's just brutally effective on them. The .050" short chamber was done to be the right length with easily available / cheaper 7mag or .264 brass which fireforms perfectly to Wby in that chamber. About PMC brass.....the best, and we used to could buy that stuff easily, but unfortunately no longer available. Back then Ackleyman had a few .257 cases, including Wby., hardness tested. The PMC came out several Rockwell points harder than the others. It handles loads that blow primers in factory Wby brass. Even .050" short, the Wby neck is plenty long enough, and the case design eliminates donut problems. This thing just works.

 

[Ironworker]

This is an old post, but......
Ackleyman knew exactly what he was doing with this, and he was right. My .257Wby is chambered with that reamer, ZERO freebore and .050" short. Hart 12Twist barrel, 29" long on a long Savage single shot action. It was built for rockcucks and is very nicely accurate with 100gr. Sierras......at 4000 fps it's just brutally effective on them. The .050" short chamber was done to be the right length with easily available / cheaper 7mag or .264 brass which fireforms perfectly to Wby in that chamber. About PMC brass.....the best, and we used to could buy that stuff easily, but unfortunately no longer available. Back then Ackleyman had a few .257 cases, including Wby., hardness tested. The PMC came out several Rockwell points harder than the others. It handles loads that blow primers in factory Wby brass. Even .050" short, the Wby neck is plenty long enough, and the case design eliminates donut problems. This thing just works.View attachment 1749376 View attachment 1749375

How many rounds were fired? How's your bbl now? I'm thinking of having a fast twist barrel twisted on mine?

 

[Ackman]

How many rounds were fired? How's your bbl now? I'm thinking of having a fast twist barrel twisted on mine?

It's been years since I've used this. The barrel has about 130 rounds, more or less, it's just fine. With these 100gr. bullets the 12 tw has worked quite well for me. I wouldn't go any quicker than 10 twist.

 

[AckleymanII]

Correction: Ackman said .050 short, which means that the neck length is .050 shorter so you can form brass from 264 Win Mag or 7 Mag brass. One stroke on the press with the full-length sizer and you have a perfectly formed case...perfect.

 

[scope eye]

264 Win Mag and 7mm Rem Mag will work fine. But can not be loaded to WBY pressures without severely reducing there life span.