.257 Weatherby Magnum

[Good_Steward]

I've been browsing around, looking for something a little different. Anyway, I have been looking really hard at the ballistics and energy produced by the .257 Weatherby magnum. They are astounding, just to be quite honest, which leads me to my question: Can anyone give me any real world info on this caliber? The gun in question is the Weatherby Vanguard chambered in the aforementioned caliber. I'm looking at such things as handling, accuracy (WBY promises a cold 1 1/2" 3 shot group), barrel life, and reliability.

Hell, for that matter, just educated opinions on it!

Thanks!

[Rightwinger]

I own a Vanguard in .300 Wby Mag and a Mark V in .340 Wby Mag. Go ahead and plunk down on the Mark V or better yet the accu mark if you can. The Vanguard is their entry level rifle yet of much higher quality than the standard big names. You get the nine lug locking bolt with the Mark V and even better tolerances than with the Vanguards if you choose the accu marks.

I have never shot the .257 but i do like the ballistics on that caliber. If you reload, you can save some big dough after throwing down on a couple of boxes of factory.

I think Reloaders Bench in Mt. Juliet has some factory brass for the .257 on the shelf right now.

In a nutshell, I love the Weatherby product and as time and money allows I will continue to collect them in different calibers. .270 or .257 are probably next since I got the upper end of magnums pretty well covered.(thanks for making me look at that one again!)

[Good_Steward]

Yeah, I knew it was the entry level gun for Weatherby, but I thought the price to value ratio was pretty outstanding on the Vanguard compared to (as you said) a lot of the other "Big Name" manufacturers. I may look at the Mark V, though. Anyway, the caliber is very impressive to me. I hadn't ever paid much attention to the 25 caliber guns until now.

[Rightwinger]

I wouldn't worry about the "entry" level thing. Rolex, Porsche and Dell all make entry level models of their products but they the entry level there is still better than your Timex, Ford and E machines that kind of do the same things.......

I have a Vanguard, courtesy of Kahrman to go along with the Mark V and both shoot very nicely. You won't be dissappointed either way.

[Good_Steward]

Another thing I've looked at is the reloading data. It shows bullet weights ranging from 75gr to 120gr. Is this caliber like most others, where the "sweet spot" for the bullet weight is really somewhere in the middle? Just curious as to how the gun reacts with bullets from both ends of the scale. The rifling is a 1-10" twist, so I think it would support the heavier bullets a little better, but, once again, I have no hands on experience with this caliber.

[Rightwinger]

Thats why reloading is so great for off caliber and the belted magnums. Every rifle has little differences that effect the bullets going down their bores. Put two .257 mags, side by side and bolted down bore sighted at the same target and start putting rounds through them. How tight the bore is, where the bullet starts to touch the free bore or lands and grooves, burrs in the barrel, to many to list just in the rifles. Add to that a few grains difference in powder, variations in bullet shape from the manufacturing process, dings from shipping and loading in the rifle, crimp....add it all up and you will see wide variations of the same two rifles using even the same lot of factory ammo.

What you want to do is start to eliminate the variables. When you reload your using one die. Same lot of powder, same measureing units and hopefully your getting it to .0x each time on the measure. You start to get everything to be the same and adjust your scope to meet it.

Once your there the differences are things you either can never control, temperature and wind, and your shooting techique, flinching, pulling, etc.

Sorry for the long winded post. Reload to remove the variables is what I was trying to say. Then you will find that sweet spot with a certain bullet and powder that will make you buy it in bulk!