.257 Weatherby Magnum as an all around deer cartridge?

S

Smith and Wesson

New member
Sorry for all the questions about Weatherbys, buy I like to make informed decisions. But to get to my question, would the .257 Weatherby Magnum be a good all around cartridge for deer where shots would be from 50 yards to 300 yards? I was wondering because I thought the velocity might be to high for 50 yard shots, and I also want to know the overall performance of it on deer-size game.
 
You'll want a probably want to make sure you're using a tough bullet like a TTSX /TSX , Swift A-Frame, or Nosler Partitions. For shots out to 300 yards and a little further I'd be perfectly happy with the plain old .25-06 for deer. .257 Weatherby sure isn't a rifle I would consider for only a deer rifle.
 
It throws bullets very fast and because of that the bullets very often break up into small fragments upon impact and penetration is a bit less than we'd like. It's also very hard on meat.
However if you use tough bullets that don't break up you will find it's a super fine all around deer rifle. It's very flat shooting and has light recoil. If you look up the trajectory tables you will find that the drops of a 257 Weatherby with a 120 grain spitzer and a 270 Winchester with a 130 grain spitzer are almost identical.
It also has a fairly short barrel life, but that doesn’t matter much if you only fire the rifle 20-30 times a year. It would give you about 30 years of use before you need a new barrel.

I have made many of them and they do best with 26” barrels to get top velocity.
 
For 50-300yds a .270 Win launching a 130gr Accubond will do everything you need it to do. And be easier on the barrel and cheaper more available ammo.

But if you wanted a .257 Weatherby Mag...go for it but use premium bonded bullets to prevent bullet "blow ups" at close range.
 
Weatherby. Excellent rifle. 257 mag great cartridge. In close 100 yards or less its a little to much caliber for the purpose. But if your proficient at making head or neck shots. Then its doesn't matter now does it. Anything out beyond 100 yards the 257 Weatherby is well suited for that application no doubt about that. I don't own a Weatherby product. I always wanted a Mark 5 Laser but had to settle for a 25-06 Rem Mtn. model instead. I'm happy. But I would be (happier) owning that Mark 5 yesiree.
 
The Weatherby line of rifles never appealed to me. They have a Hollywood reputation with their extreme style with inlays, worn out throats from their freebore and excessive recoil and blast.

The 257 w is the worst of them.

No thanks

openguns.jpg
 
I think that the .257 Weatherby Magnum would be a great all-around deer rifle but, as others have said, due to the higher than "average" velocity when shooting game at relatively close ranges, due dilgence must be paid to the type of bullet you use. Though I have and like the .257 Weatherby, it wouldn't necessarily be my first choice as an all-around deer rifle. I'd go with a .308 or a 30-06 or one of the .270/.280/7x64mm Brenneke trio.
 
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Depends on your deer

Open country mulies ought to be great. Closed in Eastern White tail maybe not so much.

It's very flat shooting and ought to be enough for any deer on the planet.
 
The 257 Weatherby is a superb long range cartridge, but there's nothing "all around" about it. You'd be better off with a 270 Winchester and avoid all the problems the super high velocity brings, the cost of brass, ammo and dies, the barrel life, etc, etc.
 
All around, not even close. It is a good special purpose cartridge if you like it. I don't really care for any of the 25's, but that is just me. Doesn't mean it won't work.
 
Well, a lot of people say that they buy the magnums because they are "flat shooting" and therefore don't have to account for hold over or range.

Assuming that you want to sight in your rifle with a max point blank range zero, let us compare the 257 Wby and 270 Win. A max point blank range zero is one where your bullet will impact within the calculated radius of the vital area of your intended game. I used a 10" circle for deer, although if you have small deer it might be a smaller circle.

257 Wby Mag
120gr Nosler Partition at 3,300 fps muzzle velocity.

Vital radius 5 inches.
Max point blank range 384 yards.
Energy at max PBR 1482 ft/lbs
Sight in 3.6 inches high at 100 yards.

Cheapest box of 257 Wby at midwayusa.com 37.49 US per 20 rounds.

270 Win
130gr Nosler Partition Boat Tail, 3,000 fps muzzle velocity.

Vital radius 5 inches.
Max point blank range 355 yards
Energy at max PBR 1425 ft/lbs
Sight in 3.9 inches high at 100 yards.

Cheapest box of 270 Win at midwayusa.com 17.19 US per 20 rounds.

Based on this comparison with the known reputation of the 270 Winchester as a proven game taker, the 257 Weatherby should perform adequately as well, I don't think any deer would be able to tell the difference. If you just want "something different" to hunt with then the 257 Wby is as good as anything else out there, but if you just want to hunt you can't really go wrong with a 270 Win (or any of the other popular calibers).

Jimro
 
Jimro, that's a fairly conservative MV you used for the .270, IMO, especially if you wanted to keep it apples to apples and compare equal barrel lengths.

I think it should be noted that there are both factory and hand loads, for the .270 win with 130 grain projectiles, which will measure roughly 3200fps from a 24'' barrel.


IMO the .270 win or .270 WSM (if you reload), are the best all around deer cartridges. They'll do everything the .30's can, with a flatter trajectory and less recoil.
 
Well said Jimro. But if the OP wants a 257 then go for it, both the gun and the ammo are pricey. Just use premium bullets and know that there are a number of non-magnum cartridges that will get you same results. I wouldn't turn one down if it was under the tree at Christmas!:)
 
Jimro, that's a fairly conservative MV you used for the .270, IMO, especially if you wanted to keep it apples to apples and compare equal barrel lengths.

I think it should be noted that there are both factory and hand loads, for the .270 win with 130 grain projectiles, which will measure roughly 3200fps from a 24'' barrel.


IMO the .270 win or .270 WSM (if you reload), are the best all around deer cartridges. They'll do everything the .30's can, with a flatter trajectory and less recoil.
Click to expand...

I picked a published velocity from a commercial load (Federal Premium with 130gr Partition) and rounded down to 3,000 fps. I rounded down because not every rifle will have the same length as Federal's test barrel, and in my experience published velocities are generous for advertising purposes.

But to put it simply, even the 30-30 will have a max PBR over 250 yards, and over 1k ft/lbs energy out to 160 yards, which is still double the range most deer are taken at. If you have a bolt action 30-30 to use spitzer bullets or use the LeveRevoltuion spitzer bullets, you can push the max PBR of the 30-30 to 280 yards and keep over 1k ft/lbs to 300 yards. Now I consider that ideal deer round performance.

Of course you can push a 270 Win faster than 3k fps. But honestly I wouldn't bother for deer or antelope. Once you get accuracy, velocity doesn't matter too much as long as there is enough to do the job, and as long as there is 1k ft/lbs energy on impact, you can bet your bippy there is enough energy to do the job.

Jimro
 
The .257 WBY is pure awesome on deer. Bullet selection really does not matter too much. The little explosive pills do much more damage than the fancy bonded or gilded ones. I found that out when my wife grabbed up my coyotee loads and shot a deer with them. Bloody mess. Simply a bloody mess. Deer dropped like 15 tons of bricks fell on him. Bullet destroyed shoulder blade and drove bone chips and minute pieces of bullet throughout the vital cavity.
 
I load mostly out of Nolser manual and 270 with their 130gr bullets max loads vary 2928fps to 3158fps (24" barrel). Same manual for the 25-06 with 120gr bullets max load vary 2870fps to 3175fps (24" barrel) and same bullets for the 257Wby max load vary from 3090fps to 3285fps(26" barrel) but they did have one max load at 3402fps.

If you like 25 cal and don't like the 257Wby you should look at 25-06.
 
The question of barrel life is separate from whether or not it's a good deer cartridge.

Cost of ammo? If you're shooting enough that the price matters, you should be hand loading and the price difference will (basically) be zero. If you don't shoot enough that it matters... it don't matter. 2 boxes of ammo a year, cost $40 more than another? If that matters, you can't afford the other $400 (or $1000 or more) your hunting is costing you.

There's no such thing as "too much velocity". Any given bullet may not be able to handle an impact at any given speed but that just means that you shouldn't be using that bullet. Use the Barnes TTSX and it will never matter if it's 50 inches or 500 yards.

I personally wouldn't PICK the .257Wby as my first choice but that's me. If you like it, do it. Personally, .243Win(AI in my case), .25-06 or 7mm-08 is where it's at for deer.
 
I consider my 257Wby as a "specialty" deer rifle. I use it when hunting areas with expected shots in the 300+ yard ranges. My 2012 buck was a one shot kill at 385 yards. The 2014 buck was shot twice at 340 and 365 yards(backup shot only to prevent him from jumping a boundary fence).
I've shot deer closer but meat damage was significant even with tough bullets. Lately, I've been using Nosler Accubonds which seem to hold together well enough.
The 257Wby is just "too much" to be considered a general use deer cartridge in my opinion. I shoot lots more deer with a 257 Roberts simply because it has less recoil, noise, expense, and meat damage.
 
Barrel life is not an issue for me with my .257 WBY. At the rate I shoot it, the barrel should be good for at least 30 years. Load develop and build the dope sheet. (30 -50 rounds) Shoot 5 rounds a year to verify dope sheet. Kill 5 critters a year. Barrel will last many life times.
 
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