New .257 Weatherby

[Colorado Cowboy]

Just got back from the range and got some intersting results. The first 3 rounds at 50 yards with factory loads were touching each other. Got out my reload candidates and the groups went to crap!. I am going to wait until I get the scope back from Leupold and then start over. I am going to pull all the remaining loads and relook at some different powders.

Did take my trusty ol Ruger M77 25-06 and shot a 3 shot group with my antelope loads at 100 yds that was about .7 dia. Sure love that rifle, always shoots great!

[rossman18]

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Just got back from the range. Shot the new Wby 257 mag and my 220 Ackley Imp Swift. Swift chronos a little over 4ooo fps. It is a custom I built a few years ago, did the stock work myself. Has a 6 x 20 Leupold on top. The Wby shot real good, chrono 3200 with factory 120 grs. The 3 shot group is from my 25-06, Ruger M77. Thats my antelope load.

Now I need to work up some reloads for the Wby 257.

The caption on the 3 shot group is labeled wrong, not from the Swift, is from my 25-06.

Try the 110 grain accubonds, the factory rounds shot great, it took me a while to match the factory round's speed and acuracy due to the free bore. the factory 110 accubond and my 110 accubond shoot the same, except I can not match the speed without going way over the max powder recommendation. I inspect all my cases and there not cracking, getting stuck and the primer pocket is fine. My .257 weatherby accmark is my most acurate 1000 yard gun with minimal wind.

I found Weatherby's are the hardest rifles to load up cause the free bore eliminates seating the bullet against the lands.

If I run out of hand loads I buy the factories and with some minor adjustments they shoot pretty much the same.

good luck..

[Colorado Cowboy]

You are right about the factory loads. I had the same problem with my .300 Wby, but it went away after I rebarreled it with a Shilen match ss barrel. My smith chambered it the way he does non Wby calibers with almost (or none) no free bore. It shoots great.

Got the scope back from Leupold yesterday and I'll be back at the range on Monday.

[Colorado Cowboy]

Been back to the range several times and finally hit gold today! After looking back at all the loads I've tried, I decided to raise the ante a little. None of the 100 gr stuff shot very well for me, so I loaded up some 115 gr Nosler Bal Tip Boattails with RE25. Tried 10 different loads of 3 rounds each starting with 68 gr of powder and going up in 1/2 grain increments, highest was 72.5. Found 3 that shot pretty well. One (69 gr) got me a 3 shot group that measures .55 center to center, all touching at 100yds. The other 2 are close to this also. They are 69.5 & 70 gr. I am going to load up some more of these and take the chrono with me and see what they do. Looks like I will get a load for antelope after all!

[MOHunter]

Way to go. Persistence pays off!