257 weatherby best all around

[fatercat]

with out a dought- the 257 weatherby is the best all around cal.  from ground hogs to elk it will do it all. why waste your money on anything else?

[Bigeasy]

Yea, I kick myself in the you know what every time I look in the safe at all those worthless non .257 Wby rifles just sitting there......

Larry

[fatercat]

Larry, its a learning curve. you'll get there.

[Graybeard]

Dunno if I'd call it the "best all around" but I like it a bunch. I finally got my dream .257 Whby. Mag after many years of wanting one like it. No one made what I wanted and I really didn't have the money for a custom so I waited and waited and finally Remington made it in their annual limited edition line.

It's a Model 700 Remington (are there any other types of bolt rifles? ) metal is stainless and stock is gray laminated wood and the recoil pad is that super nice thick soft rubber Remington uses these days. It's exactly what I have been waiting a lot of years to have in every detail.

Oh did I mention it is a super accurate shooter as well? Oh yeah.

All I did was adjust the trigger down to 3 pounds which was very quick and easy to do then started on load development which went quick and easy as well. I have a near book max load for it with both Barnes 115 TSX and Nolser 120 PT that put three right at a half each each time. I think every load I tried getting to those loads came in at or under an inch so it seems to shoot about anything I feed it well.

I picked it up I think in late 2007 or early 2008 as best as I can recall. It was not an easy one to locate as they made very few and I was lucky to get it when I did. The day my FFL guy ordered it they had 30-40 in stock. He called back a few days later to get some to stock in his store and all were gone. I missed the identical gun in .280 Remington the year before because no one could get one for me. I have one in .30-06 that's a twin of it tho.

Barrel is a full 26" to get maximum velocity from the hot magnum. It's the ONLY belted magnum I own and only the second belted mag I've ever owned.

[mcwoodduck]

I have friends that own them and swear by them but....
I am not sold on it as a ONE rifle for everything. 
Kind of like only having one golf club or only one of the Leather man tools as your tool box.  May be easy to pick out what you are going to make the shot with but there are better rounds/ clubs / tools for each job.  And like the leather man it will do the job but there could be better more efficient ways to do it that do not give you the ugly results.
Actually I should not say ugly results.  I shot a deer in MT with my 308 at about 275 yards.  Could tell I hit him and right in the boiler room.
The deer trotted a little closer and just as I was looking at him in the scope to give him a second round I saw a Huge White and pink cloud and thought what did Federal sell me as a shell.  Then I heard my buddies 257 thunder.  I was suprised at how little the meat in the neck where he hit it was damaged.  I expected the whole neck to be jello.  minutes later he shot another deer and again little damage.  It ran to a rock ledge jut under him and stood there and I sent a second round into it to anchor the deer.

[pastorp]

I've owned 3 257 weatherby rifles. I like the caliber but not the rifles it comes in.    I know I'm hard to please. I once saw a Dakota #10 chambered in 257 weatherby. Thats the one I should a bought.

Regards,

[nomosendero]

It's a great round!! I have a 25-06AI that is within 75-100fps of 257Wea. factory ammo so I don't really have an application for one, the 2 are a coin toss for my uses. One gun can do it all, depending on what you hunt, & I did the one caliber thing with 3 calibers in the past, but I now really prefer smaller guns for PD type Varmits & bigger guns for Elk & above. As stated, I did that trick 3 times in the past, first with a 30-06 Groundhogs & upwith 150 gr, then 7 Mag with a 115gr. Speer for varmits & 160gr. Sierra for Big Game & then the 25-06 std. with 100gr all the time & then 115gr or 117 gr all the time. All would work, but not the best at the 2 extremes.

But fatercat I know what you mean, the 257 comes about as close to ideal for all for one round as it gets, if that what a person desires.

However, many miss the 264WM, a logical alternative & arguably slightly better. It has been overlooked, & not as many good loads can be found, but is undergoing a resurgance due to the great bullets. When you look at a 264 vs a 257Wea, as W. Van Z. pointed out years ago, the 264 mirrors a 257 very close on the light end through 125gr in trajectory & velocity & kicks butt at long rang with the 140gr. Accubond or esp. the Berger. For example, the 100 BT in both are very close, the traj. of the 115BT & the 120BT in 6.5 are dang near identical, but the 140 gives the 264 a real edge for big animals, long range flight path & wind bucking. I have one on the way.

[Savage_99]

The Weatherby products are not something that is to my taste.  What with the stock inlays, belts, radiused shoulders, freebore, made in japan and overbore they are NG.

The 257 W. is the worst of them all.

I like the pre 64 M70 Featherweights for game hunting.

To each his own.

[nomosendero]

The Weatherby products are not something that is to my taste.  What with the stock inlays, belts, radiused shoulders, freebore, made in japan and overbore they are NG.

The 257 W. is the worst of them all.

I like the pre 64 M70 Featherweights for game hunting.

To each his own.

It was that way 30 years ago, you can get a Weatherby in many forms now & the 257Wea. cartridge in other brands, such as the Remington M700, Shaw & others.

[Brithunter]

Dunno if I'd call it the "best all around" but I like it a bunch. I finally got my dream .257 Whby. Mag after many years of wanting one like it. No one made what I wanted and I really didn't have the money for a custom so I waited and waited and finally Remington made it in their annual limited edition line.

It's a Model 700 Remington (are there any other types of bolt rifles? ) metal is stainless and stock is gray laminated wood and the recoil pad is that super nice thick soft rubber Remington uses these days. It's exactly what I have been waiting a lot of years to have in every detail.

Oh did I mention it is a super accurate shooter as well? Oh yeah.

All I did was adjust the trigger down to 3 pounds which was very quick and easy to do then started on load development which went quick and easy as well. I have a near book max load for it with both Barnes 115 TSX and Nolser 120 PT that put three right at a half each each time. I think every load I tried getting to those loads came in at or under an inch so it seems to shoot about anything I feed it well.

I picked it up I think in late 2007 or early 2008 as best as I can recall. It was not an easy one to locate as they made very few and I was lucky to get it when I did. The day my FFL guy ordered it they had 30-40 in stock. He called back a few days later to get some to stock in his store and all were gone. I missed the identical gun in .280 Remington the year before because no one could get one for me. I have one in .30-06 that's a twin of it tho.

Barrel is a full 26" to get maximum velocity from the hot magnum. It's the ONLY belted magnum I own and only the second belted mag I've ever owned.

GB now I know your a died in the wool Remington fan and you know I am not however this takes the biscuit:-

are there any other types of bolt rifles?

You know darned well there are and a lot of them are not brazed up bits'n'pieces too.

Now I understand that the Rem 700 came out in 62 with the vaunted three rings of steel. Did the previous models use the same three rings of steel chambering?

I ask because BSA used this method of breeching up on their Hunter model which was introduced in 53.

As for Weatherby's I have no time for them really have shot a few but never been really impressed. The std 25-06 does what I need as does the original 270 Winchester. Later this year if it goes well I will be having a .280AI barrel fitted to a mid 60's BSA Monarch action. If the dreamed of Elk hunt ever happens either the .270- or the proposed .280AI would be well up to the task 

[BBF]

Not everybody lives on the lone prarie where deer and antelopes are a long way off


BTW The Missus had a Win 70 rebarreled in 257 Wby. Was pretty finicky  getting it to shoot

[Graybeard]

Wal Brit I knew I'd stir someone up with that comment which is perzackly why I added it. I was just wondering who'd be first.

But yes you are correct I really am a died in the wood Remington fan and their Model 700s and Model Sevens are about the only bolt action rifles I even consider if looking for a new bolt gun. I expect about the only thing that might change that would be a Cooper.

I'm also rather fond of their Model 870, 1100 and 11-87 shotguns. Now if I'm gonna shoot skeet it's gonna be with a Browning Citori White Lightning as really nothing fits me better. The Remington guns tho fit me just as well but I'm not able to bend to pick up hulls these days and the range I go to requires all hulls to be picked up if they hit the ground.

[shot1]

I could have had a 257 Weatherby. It was a (blue) Rem 700 action with a brand new SS fluted Rem Sendero 25-06 barrel that was rechambered to 257 Weatherby. Some guy bought the Rem Sendero to get the SS action to build him a rifle on and my buddy got the barrel and had the 257 Weatherby made. He also had a Rem 700 (blue) with a 27 3/4" Shilen barrel in 264 Win mag. I chose the 264 mag in a trade we did. I already have a fast 25-06. His 257 Weatherby is a shooter and will really reach across a bean field and smack a deer but it will not out do my 264 Win mag.

[Brithunter]

Ahhh GB,

             You like what you like and I cannot agrue that point. If we all liked the same it would be a boring world indeed  . I was hoping for a little info on the breechign method, the three rings of steel, Oh well I will have to search the net and see what I can did up. Such things I find interesting  .


Sadly for me not many NEW rifles interest me although i could be persuaded to go of one of the limited production run Ruger No1A's in .303 British. It won't happen unless I win the lottery or sudenly fall into a sum of cash as the Importers here by the time they put their mark up on it and the duty brings the price up to around $2000 US which I think is a triffle steep and as they are not due until the end of the year the price here will only go up  .

[Graybeard]

I'm no historian. My knowledge of the legend of three rings of steel is basically nothing. To me it's a non issue and has no bearing on my choice of a rifle.

Now I suppose you can to some extent blame my parents for my choice in bolt guns. Way back when I was at best barely a teenager my cousin who was my shooting partner in those days got a new pre-64 M70 in .30-06. I really liked it and that was my request for CHRISTmas that year.

But being the cheapies they were what I got instead was a partially sporterized mauser. I think it was a '93 and I seem to recall something about Argentina on it. That was one butt ugly gun with bolt sticking straight out and cocking on closing. It was a 7x57 and I guess started my long time affair with the 7mm bore tho I've never again had a 7x57 and have mostly stuck with the 7-08 instead.

Had I gotten that M70 that year I'd likely be using nothing but Winchester M70s to this day. But I didn't and I sure didn't like that mauser nor the type safety it had. So when I finally got around to buying my own first bolt gun it was a Remington 700. The die was cast and ever since the Remington bolt gun is my first choice. What could have been never was. I've owned other bolt guns even to include one Winchester Model 670 and some Ruger 77s, Brownings, Springfields and other mausers but nothing for me matches the Remington.

As much as you tend to dislike them I like them. Now I'm not like Swampman and I can see beyond Remington and Marlin tho I do tend to like both.

[Brithunter]

Well my search is not going too well on this  . So it's now time to hit the books and see what I can come up with. Need to see what the 721 and 720 bolt faces were like and whne they came in.

If it all goes well I will be having another 7mm bore rifle ............................ a .280AI. Hopefully will know later this coming week if it's doable or not.

[RWK]

It's a great cal. but the ammo and brass cost to much,

[Brithunter]

Ahhh GB, I finally came up with a date of 1948 for Remington using that particular type of breeching.

[tuck2]

The best all around rifle caliber and action depends upon where and what one is hunting.  Any long barreled rifle is not very handy hunting deer or elk in the woods. A old pump action  short barrel Remington 30-06  or  35-06  with a 2 1/2 or 4 X scope is handy  in the woods.  For the wide open areas a accurate rifle and knowing how to shoot it is more important than what big game round is used.  Knowing how to dope the wind ,estimation the distance, and the bullet path will get a person more game than what cartridge is used. There are a number of cartridges that will put out a bullet that has  plenty of energy to make clean kills at 350 yards. A good 4-12 X scope on top of a accurate rifle are best for open country hunting but is that more important than haveing stalking skills?  I shot my first mule deer with a 270 Win back in 1952 and over the years have used various and have seen hunters use various cartridges for big game hunting . Not one cartridge is best but there are a number of fine cartridges for big game hunting.  P.S.   One of my wide open country pronghorn and mule deer rifles is a 264 Win 26 inch barrel bolt action with a 4-12X scope but the rifle for elk is a Weatherby 340  with a 2.5-8 X scope. This fall I,ll be 75 years old and plan on using a Remington pump 270 Win with a 2-7 X scope.

[nomosendero]

Ahhh GB, I finally came up with a date of 1948 for Remington using that particular type of breeching.

Good, I can get some sleep now!

[Brithunter]

Ahhh GB, I finally came up with a date of 1948 for Remington using that particular type of breeching.

Good, I can get some sleep now!

Hmmm it's obvious that you although declaring to be a Remington fan don't really have an interest in them at all  which is a pity as if more people actually learnt about the old models and the company history perhaps pressure could then be brought to bear on the current lot who are mis-managing said company to get their act together and produce the quality of firearms that they once did  .


Some of us care about the quality and do not live in the throw away age as much as we can despite those trying to force us to accept shoddy goods and workmanship as the norm  it's not and never has been 

As an example I'll mention that on another forum someone was braggign about how well their Remington 700 shot but when questions were asked abut the specs of his super performing rifle it appears the only Remington 700 left is the tubular steel bits of the bolt and action everything elses was junked  so how they heck he can say his Rem 700 shoot superbly is beyond me. There is a company here in the UK called "Riflecraft" who build accurate rifles for sport and hunting mainly based on the Rem 700. On their website is a list of the new take off Remington barrels they have on hand as in most cases the only way to guarantee the accuracy is to junk the Remington barrel and fit a decent barrel and whilst doing so fit a proper machined lug etc..etc

Now the "Three Rings of Steel" idea of breeching was used by Remington, BSA and I believe Winchester on some models  Remington started in 1948 BSA's Hunter model was put into production in 1952/3 but was in development at the end of WW2 it seems and pre-production samples sent to Elmer Keith amongst others for their comments in the late 1940's early 1950's and as a result the stock style was changed slightly as was the bolt handles shape. I was hoping to find out for certain who used the idea first but have so far been unable to just like noone seems sure who used the twin front lug bolt design first.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  I have had at least three or four .257's..while they are fast, none were what I call super accurate, All shot the throat away very fast, and none hit at long distance with the punch of a 7mm or .30 cal. we have been this road before...while the .25's shoot super flat, as an all round caliber I go with something heavier....One question I would ask, Fatercat, how many other calibers have you shot in addition to the .257 Wea...

[fatercat]

556,243, 257 roberts,25-06, 257 weatherby, 7mm. mag,270, 280 rem,30-30, 30-06, 300 weatherby mag,338 win.mag, 45-70. may have forgot some. killed elk with 270, 7mm rem mag, and killed last elk last year with 257 weatherby--both shots complete pass through with 120 gn. nosler partitions.300 yds +/-.  only 257 weatherby had pass through. see pic. mine shoots as it should@ 100 yds. 

[fatercat]

how about you wyo. coyote hunter---???

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  Getting Pass though shots with a nosler bullet is pretty much accepted...While you seem pleased with the .257 and it is a good caliber, after shooting all of the .25's for more than 45 years...I find they are good they are not a wonder caliber capable of performing super feats...If you are impressed so be it...I like the 25's, but they are not a perfect caliber...most experienced shooters like something with more bullet weight, myself included...one or two or even five kills with a caliber does not always tell the true story of a caliber performance...

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  As far as calibers I have used, on game and varmits, the 17 HMR is the smallest, 17 Rem. 22 hornet, .222, 223, 22-250, 22-250IMP. .220 swift, 243, 6mm, 250 sav. 257 Roberts, 25-06, 257 Wea. 264mag. 270, 7mm08, m Rem. , 7mmwea. , 7mm Stw, 30-30,.300 Sav., 30-06, 300 Win. 300 Wea., 338 Win. 340 Wea. 32 spl.358 Win., 375 H & H, plus some handguns, and other calibers I have forgotten...and I am still learning about calibers, and bullet performance....

[fatercat]

"""one or two or even five kills with a caliber does not always tell the true story of a caliber performance"""   Just how many kills does it take in your book?  i am sure you believe what you say,  but i don't!!!      PS. i left one out M14 (308) HOW COULD I HAVE FORGET THAT.  regards, richard

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  fatercat, whether you believe me or not is nothing to me, I just know from experience that while a caliber performs very well on one animal under a certain set of conditions, it may not perfom well underall condiions equally well.I have had some outstanding performance from my .25 calibers, but as range lenghtens, their performance was not nearly as great...but I am sure you know this...so I will let this drop...

[nomosendero]

Ahhh GB, I finally came up with a date of 1948 for Remington using that particular type of breeching.

Good, I can get some sleep now!

Hmmm it's obvious that you although declaring to be a Remington fan don't really have an interest in them at all   which is a pity as if more people actually learnt about the old models and the company history perhaps pressure could then be brought to bear on the current lot who are mis-managing said company to get their act together and produce the quality of firearms that they once did  .


Some of us care about the quality and do not live in the throw away age as much as we can despite those trying to force us to accept shoddy goods and workmanship as the norm   it's not and never has been  

As an example I'll mention that on another forum someone was braggign about how well their Remington 700 shot but when questions were asked abut the specs of his super performing rifle it appears the only Remington 700 left is the tubular steel bits of the bolt and action everything elses was junked   so how they heck he can say his Rem 700 shoot superbly is beyond me. There is a company here in the UK called "Riflecraft" who build accurate rifles for sport and hunting mainly based on the Rem 700. On their website is a list of the new take off Remington barrels they have on hand as in most cases the only way to guarantee the accuracy is to junk the Remington barrel and fit a decent barrel and whilst doing so fit a proper machined lug etc..etc

Now the "Three Rings of Steel" idea of breeching was used by Remington, BSA and I believe Winchester on some models   Remington started in 1948 BSA's Hunter model was put into production in 1952/3 but was in development at the end of WW2 it seems and pre-production samples sent to Elmer Keith amongst others for their comments in the late 1940's early 1950's and as a result the stock style was changed slightly as was the bolt handles shape. I was hoping to find out for certain who used the idea first but have so far been unable to just like noone seems sure who used the twin front lug bolt design first.

I like them fine & if I know when the 3-ring started or not, my opinion of the Rem. 700 will remain exactly the same, what is important to me is not the same for you, nor should it be.

However, I do know the riddle of steel, so let's move on.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  nomosendaro, earlier in this thread, you mentioned you had a .264 on the way.  What kind? I have seen several nice Remington's in this caliber  around the state...I think one was a Sendaro....I have thought with the number of new bullets for the .264 it would be nice to revisit this caliber...the last one I had was the classic model Rem. brought out in the 90's....I eventually had a 26 inch barrel put on, but the models I have seen here all had the 26 in. std....