Varmint loads 257 Wby Mag

[Bainbridge Varminter]

I've done a bit of searching on here and haven't found the answer to my question. With the 257 Wby Mag and using varmint bullets how difficult is it to reach the lands while still having sufficient neck purchase? Varmint bullets being any facilitated by a 12tw barrel. Knowing the 257 Wby Mag has a freebore of .3627" raises some concern.

Thanks in advance!

Mike

 

[Albany Mountain]

I am guessing impossible and not quite sure how safe or what is to be gained by it.

 

[FDCaptain]

I've done a bit of searching on here and haven't found the answer to my question. With the 257 Wby Mag and using varmint bullets how difficult is it to reach the lands while still having sufficient neck purchase? Varmint bullets being any facilitated by a 12tw barrel. Knowing the 257 Wby Mag has a freebore of .3627" raises some concern.

Thanks in advance!

Mike

257Wby for varmint, seems to be extreme over kill and a waste of powder.

 

[SD guy]

My 1st solution would be to purchase a 22 Hornet or a 221 Fireball, 223, , 22 ARC, 6mm PPC or 6mm ARC.

Then we all are wired different. Hodgdon does offer loads for some lighter varmint bullets, so, the op is not the first to consider this. Hornady does offer a 95 gr ELD VT. So if your goal is to go down this path, there are options. Should make for some fine acrobatics from the pasture poodles. Yet I ask at what cost, components & barrel life would be my consideration. In this day age I would be strongly looking at a suppressor if I went down this path.

Looking at somewhere between 60 & 82 grains of propellant it would seem..... I would tend to think you could achieve the same effect w 33 grains of propellant or less, in the 22 ARC.

 

[kyotekiller25]

Isn't it about impossible to reach the lands even when using the heavier/longer bullets in a 257 WM with all that freebore?

I would just load up some 85g NBTs long as you can and see how they shoot. A calibers depth is all you need in the case to ensure sufficient tension from what I've read. Maybe a bit less depending on the actual neck tension.

A 257 WM would be a great LR flat shooting coyote rifle, but I couldn't imagine using it for anything else varmint related.

 

[SD guy]

Isn't it about impossible to reach the lands even when using the heavier/longer bullets in a 257 WM with all that freebore?

I would just load up some 85g NBTs long as you can and see how they shoot. A calibers depth is all you need in the case to ensure sufficient tension from what I've read. Maybe a bit less depending on the actual neck tension.

A 257 WM would be a great LR flat shooting coyote rifle, but I couldn't imagine using it for anything else varmint related.

Good point, Weatherby never was a fan of touching the lands with any of there offerings as I recall. The considerable jump to the lands had been their claim to fame regarding higher velocity while achieving the lower pressure than most may expect for the high powder column behind the projectile.

 

[fisherman987]

It is impossible, I've tried just wanting to find touch and it couldn't reach

 

[WV Hitman]

A bullet that does extremely well in my .250 AI XP 100 handgun is a Horn. 110 gr. ELD-X. It's very long. Might work for your Weatherby, but my #1 bullet for varmints is the 85 gr. Nos. BT. If you find they shoot well in yours I have an extreme excess & would be willing to part with 500 unopened boxes.

 

[nmkid]

My nephew uses 95 gr. bullets in his 257, and he was just telling me the other day that he is nowhere near the lands. It shoots under .500 consistently. The coyotes absolutely hate it! The rifle is an ODCR build.

 

[Hal]

.Depending on what type of “” varmint” your after. Sometimes you don’t want the round long if you have to eject a loaded round or the bullet might stay stuck in rifling.

Find a good load with the bullet you like.
Chamber the next barrel with a shorter throat.

Take a few pictures so we know what varmint you’re after.

Hal

 

[Doom]

Weatherby's are designed to be long throated and NOT designed for any bullet to be loaded close to the lands. The freebore is 0.3627" and the throat angle is 67 minutes (extremely shallow). As for varmints the velocity from the 257 WBY is extreme and I would be leary of what the bullets will do on target. I suspect on coyote a hip or elbow hit is not going to penetrate and will result in an injured animal. A lung shot may penetrate and exit before expanding. It just the wrong cartridge for varmints.

 

[Tommie]

It just the wrong cartridge for varmints.

Absolutely

 

[X Count]

87gr speer TNT is amazingly devastating. Nosler 85gr BTs that I tried were accurate enough but very unpredictable with terminal performance. One would blow up and the next would pencil through.

Couldn't reach the lands but still had good accuracy with lots and lots of 4831sc


Are there "better" choices . . . Maybe . . . .but a .257WM with 87gr is a lot of fun.