257

[DLEB]

Anyone have any range and whitetail hunting experience with Weatherby 257 87 grain factory ammunition?

[wink_man]

87 grain bullets in .257 caliber have light frangible jackets designed to be explosive on impact for varmints. I'm sure they'd work under perfect conditions with perfect shot placement, but I think if one is hunting deer, they ought to do the game a favor and use at minimum a 100 grain bullet in the .257 Wby.

[pastorp]

I agree with the above poster. I will ad that this is one round that will benefit from the use of premium bullets. Simply too much velocity for some bullets.  Regards, Byron

[smokepolehall]

It was designed as a varmint bullet. Vel. is great but do the game and yourself a favor. Use a bullet heavy enough to penetrate deeply or thru body! 100gr. min. on up!

[DLEB]

The weatherby site is listing the 87 and 100 grains as hornady spire point interlocks. Weight retention is suppose to be 70-80%. That's what got my attention. It seems that have change from regular spire points to the interlocks fairly recently.

[Catfish]

I`ve kill alot of groumdhogs with my .257 AI and the 87 gr. Serria bullets and would not shoot them on deer. I did loan it to a friend to hunt antilope and sent 100 gr. Serria sp bullets. He fired 1 shot at 400 yrds. and his hunt was over. Said it went down like it was hit by a train. I did head shoot a deer that had been hit by a car. From 75 yrds. with a 75 gr. HP it took off the far side of it`s head.

[jro45]

I saw this TV show hunting sheep and the shot was 400 yds and this guy decided to use the 87 gr bullet out of his WBY 257 at 3800 FPS. He killed that sheep with one shot. I don't beleave I would use the 87 gr bullet on DEER either.

[DLEB]

Think I am fixing to order a trigger for this rifle and will probably buy some 87s to see if they will group like the 115 ballistic tips. Could use the extra brass because I have a friend that will reload for me once I have figured out what bullet/bullets this rifle likes. By the way, free floating helped my groups go from 1 1/4" to 7/8" but still have some trigger creep. Still have just put about 15 rounds thru it, so it probably isn't broken in just yet. I am encouraged though.

[jro45]

I'm gonna shoot a couple of those 87 gr bullets to 100 yds and see how they group tomorrow. I post it then.

[jro45]

Well I shot those 87 gr bullets at 100 yds and got a 1" group. I thought they would be a tighter group. They were the tightest at 200 yds out of the other 257 gr bullets.

[DLEB]

Thanks for the report, 1" is not a bad group though. Of course if you know the gun will shoot better than that with another load then I guess it is. All relative. Knowing how I am, I will probably try some myself. Thanks again...

[nomosendero]

87 grain bullets in .257 caliber have light frangible jackets designed to be explosive on impact for varmints. I'm sure they'd work under perfect conditions with perfect shot placement, but I think if one is hunting deer, they ought to do the game a favor and use at minimum a 100 grain bullet in the .257 Wby.

Good advise in my view.

I have a new Horn. catalog & they don't show the 87gr 25cal to be an Interlock. The web site doesn't either. It is a Varmit bullet. And even if it had an interlock, the Sectional Density would be a woeful .188. It will work in rib cages, but forget about angle shots to be safe.

It looks like with both the 115BT & the 87Horn loaded to max, you will be a little over 2" flatter at 500 yards with the 87gr. bullet. Beyond that range & the 115 will become flatter & beyond that range the 87 will not have sufficient energy. Under 500yds. & the diff. in traj. is easy to plot & quite minimal. The slightly flatter curve out to 500 yds. makes it a little easier to hit Groundhogs & PD's because they are smaller animals (except for wind) & the recoil is less, hence Varmit Bullets. But wind deflection is much harder to plot & therefor is a bigger problem. And for that reason I would rather use a 100BT or heavier in a 257Wea. case for Varmits as well.

I just don't see the advantage of the 87 for Deer, but if you dead set on it, good luck!!!!

[Lone Star]

Nomo is right, Hornady Interlock bullets have a cannelure (Manual #6, pg. 40) which the 87SP does not.  The 87-grainer is a varmint bullet in the .257 Weatherby - RTFM (pg. 238).  I find even the Hornady 100SP Interlock bullet too soft for close range shots in the big .257.  Out a ways it seems to perform very well.  If I just had to use a bullet lighter than 100 grains on deer, I'd load the Barnes 90XBT.  It groups well in my MkV but I prefer heavier bullets.


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[DLEB]

Have been convinced not to try the 87s on deer, but would like to shoot some and see point of impact and groupings compared to the 115s......Thanks guys

[Coyote Hunter]

Just a personal preference, but there is no way I would use a cup-and-core bullet at .257 WBY velocities except for varmints.

North Fork doesn't make a .25, but A-Frame, Trophy Bonded and TSX are readily available.  Any would work for me.  Or a Partition if you must.

I wouldn't use a 87g bullet either - I'd go 100-120 depending on the game size.  Not that you have a choice with the bullet types I prefer...

Hunt with the good stuff, practice (mostly) with the cheap stuff.  Works for me.

Again, just my opinion.

[Ahab]

I have to agree with the other posters and only use 117gr Sierra Spitzer boat tails or 115gr Noslers. Both do .5MOA in my Mk 5. Darn, they shouldn't do that with the long throat and all!