The.257 Weatherby Magnum is the long-range hunter’s darling

When I hear the.257 Weatherby Magnum, I think of a powerful hunting cartridge with a lot of reach. A caliber so flat that you can hold the target dead-on out to 300 yards. It is a cartridge that is easy to shoot at long range. It is equally suited for gophers, coyotes, white-tails and speed goats as it is for muleys, white-tails and speed goats. The Weatherby Vanguard MOA is chambered for the.257 Weatherby Magnum. This cartridge will not jar your shoulder. This cartridge was introduced in 1944, while World War II still raged. The.257 Weatherby Magnum is still popular with hunters today because it does everything right. I’ve heard that Roy Weatherby loved this caliber. The.257 Weatherby Magnum is a great caliber. Roy Weatherby, a wildcatter by nature, developed a range proprietary hunting cartridges that were suitable for everything from prairie dogs to elk. Bob Robb shot this 10-point Coues Deer at 350 yards with the.257 Weatherby Magnum in Chihuahua Mexico in January 2012. Roy used the.257 Weatherby Magnum to take a cape Buffalo on one of his African hunting trips. Roy used a Nosler Partition bullet in.25 caliber (I was told that this was his favorite load), when most hunters would use larger calibers with heavier bullets. Roy’s confidence in the.257 Weatherby Magnum, and his shooting abilities, helped to give the.257 Weatherby Magnum an appeal and reputation that continues today. The.257 Weatherby Magnum has a certain aura in my opinion. Twenty-five calibers or “quarter bores” have been around since late 19th century. Winchester’s 25-35 was the first smokeless sporting cartridge. The.25-20 Single Shot and.25-21 Stevens were also among the first smokeless powder sporting cartridges. The cartridges were weak and lacked power. Most are now obsolete. The.25 35 Winchester is still available and shoots a bullet weighing 117 grains at 2,200 fps. This makes me yawn. It wasn’t till 1915 that quarter bores began to heat up. The 250-3000 Savage, or.250 Savage, was introduced. This was the first commercially available cartridge to exceed 3,000 fps. The.257 Roberts was developed by a wildcatter, Ned Roberts. It spits out bullets from 60 to 100 grains at speeds between 3,800 and 3,100 fps. There are magnums and there are magnums. (left to right:.256 Winchester.257 Weatherby 6.5 Rem..264 Win..350 Rem. The.358 Norma. In 1944, another wildcatter named Roy Weatherby revolutionized the.25-caliber cartridges by introducing the.257 Weatherby Magnum. The.257 Weatherby Magnum sucked the dust out of all other quarter bores by accelerating 87-grain and heavier bullets to speeds over 3,800 fps. The 87-grain bullet has a velocity of 3,800 fps, while the 100-grain bullet is at 2,882 fps. The 120-grain bullet has a velocity of 2,911 fps. The factory loads are powerful. Weatherby created the.257 Weatherby Magnum after shortening a case from.300 H&H Magnum to 2.5 inches, and necking it to.25. The.300 H&H uses a belted casing with a pronounced belt at the base of the case for headspacing..257 Weatherby Magnum. Two other Weatherby cartridges share the same parent casing, the.270 Weatherby Magnum, developed in 1943, and the 7mm Weatherby Magnum, in 1940. Roy Weatherby used IMR-4350, the slowest-burning powder available at the time the calibers first appeared. All of these cartridges feature a double-radius shoulder that is distinctive to all Weatherby cartridges. The double-radius shoulder was marketed as a way to increase the efficiency of the propellant burning. In reality, Roy Weatherby did not want his calibers reloaded easily by handloaders. Since then, things have changed. Weatherby’s has outgrown its original location and moved to Firestone Boulevard, just around the corner. The building housed the original store, as well as gun shops, offices, and even a 100 yard underground rifle range. Visitors came from all over to see Weatherby’s. (Photo credit: Weatherby).Perhaps, the.2506 Remington is the most long-standing competitor to the Weatherby Magnum.257. The.2506 Remington was also a wildcat cartridge in the 1920s. A.O. Niedner snipped down a case of.30-06 for a bullet of.25 caliber. It was a wildcatter load for many years until Remington began producing it in 1969 under the name of.25-06 Remington. This caliber is popular among varmint and medium game hunters. It is a good apples to apples comparison with the.257 Weatherby Magnum. All three calibers perform similarly out to 400 yards, but the 6.5 Creedmoor shows it shoots flatter and drops less than either the.25-06 Remington or the 6.5 Creedmoor starting at 500 yards and farther. The three calibers are similar up to 400 yards. However, the.257 Weatherby Magnum shoots flatter, and drops less, than the.25 -06 Remington or the 6.5 Creedmoor, starting at 500 yards. The.257 Weatherby Magnum has a muzzle velocity of 3,570 fps. The 6.5 Creedmoor clocks at 3,050fps, while the.25-06 Remington produces 3,140fps. This means that the.257 Weatherby Magnum is more powerful downrange than either of these calibers. The recoil of the.257 Weatherby Magnum, in my opinion is similar to that of a.270 Winchester. Is there anything negative about the.257 Weatherby Magnum? If you don’t let the barrel cool down, it can reduce its life. I usually fire three rounds, then let the barrel cool down. You could easily burn a barrel out by shooting up a prairie-dog town. I zero two-inches high at 100 yards and the.257 Weatherby hits it on the head at 300 yards. As you can see from the ballistic chart, a modern caliber such as 6.5 Creedmoor is able to do almost everything the.257 Weatherby Magnum. Why hasn’t this.257 Weatherby Magnum cartridge been moved to the obsolete section of the Cartridges Of The World? The Weatherby Vanguard MOA in the hunt.My opinion is that there are two reasons.The.257 Weatherby Magnum has excellent performance, even though it was designed back when tail fins on automobiles were standard. The.257 Weatherby Magnum, because it is so flat, is also easy to shoot and forgiving. There is no need to compensate when zeroing in at 300 yards. Even though the bullet is only 3 inches tall at 200 yards, the shot will still be in the kill zone for deer and antelope. It shoots flatter than flat without guesswork. It’s that simple. I don’t need a trajectory cheat sheet on the stock, as most of my hunting takes place under 400 yards. Could I push the Weatherby.257 further? Then I’ll have to compensate. Knowing the twist rate of your Weatherby rifle will be important. Weatherbys made in Germany prior to 1972 have a twist of 1:12 inches. These rifles will not stabilize bullets heavier than 100 grains. The.257 Weatherby Magnum chambered rifles have a 1:10 inch twist rate, and can stabilize bullets weighing 115 and 120 grains. The.257 Weatherby has a longer throat, which makes it impossible to seat the bullet in close contact with or near the lands of rifling. The best solution is for bullets to be seated as long as possible, up to 3.25 inches overall, and with a good crimp. Alliant Reloader 25 is a great powder to use for a variety of bullet weights. If you’re loading 85-grain bullets to kill varmints or other small animals, RL-19 or H4350 will work well. Hodgen IMR4350, RL22 and H1000 are all good choices for heavier 110-grain propellants. Barnes’ 80-grain TTSX bullet is a great choice for varmints. Hornady offers a 75-grain V-Max, and Nosler offers an 85-grain Spitzer Ballistic Tip Varmint. There are many good bullets available for deer. These include 100-,110-,115-, and 120-grain options. I would reload the.257 Weatherby with a bullet which offers good penetration, such as Nosler’s 100-grain E-Tip or 115-grain Nosler Partition. Hornady’s 117-grain Boat Tail Spire Point also offers good penetration. The.257 Weatherby is often overlooked in favor of the newest calibers. Weatherby chambered this caliber originally in the Mark V action, which features nine locking latches. As a young hunter, who could only afford bargain brand rifles, I lusted for the Mark V Deluxe. It had a glossy walnut stock with steel that was so brightly blued it almost sparkled. The Mark V Deluxe has a retro vibe. The Mark V is available in Accumark models, Weathermark models, Carbonmark models, and other models that have lightweight carbon stocks and stainless steel metal or Cerakote finishes. A Weatherby Mark V in the.257 Weatherby Magnum. Photo: Rock Island Auction Company. The Vanguard line from Weatherby offers the same quality as Weatherby’s other rifles, but with a two lug action and a more affordable price. I love the Synthetic series. Weatherby offers just the action for custom builds. You can also build your own rifle. Weatherby offers a standalone builder’s actions and Model 307 rifles. High-end European rifle manufacturer, Blaser, has the R8 and R93 model that are as elegant as they are expensive. Over the years, Remington has chambered the.257 Weatherby into the Model 700. Custom gunmakers such as Cooper Firearms also offer the.257 Weatherby. Custom builds using Winchester Model 70 or Ruger No.1 action have also been mated to new barrels. Weatherby used to have his cartridges made by Norma, but now RWS is responsible for commercial loading. Ammunition is also produced by HSM, Hornady Nosler and Double Tap. Ammo can be found, but it is expensive. A 20-round box costs $5 to $6 each. The.257 Weatherby cartridge is excellent for medium-game. It is best for white-tail deer and mule, sheep, and antelope. It’s also good for varmints with lighter bullets. Is there a good reason to invest in.257 Weatherby cartridges? The.257 Weatherby is a high-velocity, flat-shooting cartridge with mild recoil. Raise Your Ammo Intelligence:NEXT: Download Your Free Storm Tactical Printing Target Pack62 Printable MOA targets with DOT drills – Rifle range in YARDSThis impressive pack from our friends at Storm Tactical includes62 printable targets for rifle and handgun ranges. The target grids and bullseyes are measured in MOA. Subscribe to the Gun Digest newsletter and we will send you your print-at home target pack immediately. Enter your email below.