257 weatherby

**bigred94** · 07-07-2013, 08:58 PM

Guys I want a 257 weatherby on a savage action. First can it be done? I was thinking start with a Stevens 7mm. If anyone out there has done it or knows how to please help me out. What do I have to do to the bolt head to feed and eject? Anything have to been done to the mag box?

**scope eye** · 07-07-2013, 09:18 PM

First let me just say you have excellent taste in chambering, I have one, and was the first that I know of and the first that McGowen had chambered in a pre fit, and it is by far my favorite rig and nastiest for that matter, and that is exactly what mine started as a 7mm REM,
my barrel is a 26" 12 twist and my most devastating load is, 75gr of RL17 combined with a 70gr Sierra Blitz King can you say 4500 FPS+, any load that has more powder gr that bullet gr gets me all hot and bothered, feeding is not an issue look at a 7mm and a 257 side by side and you will see why, there siblings separated at birth, feel free to continue this thread or PM me with any questions you may have, in a nut shell I screwed the barrel and the Boyd's on and sailed off into the sunset, they end.

Dean

**Rooster 50** · 07-07-2013, 11:44 PM

Originally Posted by scope eye

First let me just say you have excellent taste in chambering, I have one, and was the first that I know of and the first that McGowen had chambered in a pre fit, and it is by far my favorite rig and nastiest for that matter, and that is exactly what mine started as a 7mm REM,
my barrel is a 26" 12 twist and my most devastating load is, 75gr of RL17 combined with a 70gr Sierra Blitz King can you say 4500 FPS+, any load that has more powder gr that bullet gr gets me all hot and bothered, feeding is not an issue look at a 7mm and a 257 side by side and you will see why, there siblings separated at birth, feel free to continue this thread or PM me with any questions you may have, in a nut shell I screwed the barrel and the Boyd's on and sailed off into the sunset, they end.

Dean

Dean have you tried forming .257 brass fron 7mag. Looks feasible to me but the necks come out really short!

stangfish · 07-08-2013, 02:55 AM

Why does no one like the 25-300 win mag?

**scope eye** · 07-08-2013, 05:57 AM

Originally Posted by Rooster 50

Dean have you tried forming .257 brass fron 7mag. Looks feasible to me but the necks come out really short!

Yes I have but did not feel I needed to, since Hornady has 257WBY brass for $50.00 for fifty of them, which is almost the same price as 7mm brass and 264 WinMag for that matter.

"Why does no one like the 25-300 win mag?"

I looked at and considered that round, and if I had they intention of shooting anything heavier than 87gr I might have, but you can only get so much threw a 1/4 inch hole, and the 75gr of RL17 that I use is a full case and max pressure, so to add more volume that the 25-300 has would of meant going to a slower powder and would not have seen any gain in speed from a 70gr bullet, RL17 is the perfect balance between volume and burn rate for 70s and 75s.

I also have a 270WBY that I shoot Barnes 85gr and Sierra's 90gr to the tune of 4400FPS + a little extra freebore is something to be reckoned with. that also started life as a 7mm Stevens

**bigred94** · 07-08-2013, 07:17 AM

Thanks for all the info. Will the 257 feed and extract with the 7mm bolt head? I want this to be a hunting rifle so It must hold more then one round. Does the mag area havd to be modified any

**scope eye** · 07-08-2013, 07:38 AM

Originally Posted by bigred94

Thanks for all the info. Will the 257 feed and extract with the 7mm bolt head? I want this to be a hunting rifle so It must hold more then one round. Does the mag area havd to be modified any

No mods none what so ever, once you have fired this thing and your jaw retracts, I find it highly unlikely it will only be a "hunting" rifle. if ever you got those 70 or 75 grainers going even "only" 4000 Fps you would know and see what I mean.

Dean

**bigred94** · 07-08-2013, 09:07 AM

Thanks very much dean. Would you share some reloading date. I have never had a 257 before and what data I can find does not even come closed to weatherby's specs listed on its web site

**scope eye** · 07-08-2013, 09:23 AM

http://www.reloadersnest.com/frontpage.asp?CaliberID=35
A good start

Dean

**scope eye** · 07-08-2013, 09:33 AM

http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp

Also good as a base line, there max is my min.

Tanks Dean

stangfish · 07-08-2013, 11:45 AM

Do you mean " their max is my min" ? It seems strange if you didn't.

**scope eye** · 07-08-2013, 11:57 AM

Yes that's what I meant Hogdon's maximum load data, is my starting load data, now let me cover my posterior, I do not recommend you or anyone else use that as a baseline it is dangerous, and you know what, so is getting out of bed, so in they immortal words of my buddy Red Green, careful out there and keep your stick on they ice.

Dean

stangfish · 07-08-2013, 12:53 PM

...and if they don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy.

**bythebook** · 07-08-2013, 01:56 PM

My Son had one built on an 03A3 action and it shoots 90 gr. HPBT like a lazor. It has done this since day one and it is the only load he will let me load for it.

**bigred94** · 07-08-2013, 09:03 PM

What twist are you using?

I'am sorry I see where you have a 12

**scope eye** · 07-09-2013, 06:12 AM

Just to show you how to tell that you are at or near bore capacity, I have a 25-06 also with a McGowen 26" 12 twist, and the most I can squeeze out of that rig is, with 63gr of RL17 which fill's it to the very top of the case, and then compress it with the same 70gr Blitz King, and that will yield 4200 FPS, so it takes 12 more grains of the same powder to gain 300 more FPS for the Weatherby, so by far the 25-06 is more efficient and the 257 is at or near the 25 cal's max, but without fail it will bring a bigger grin to my face to grab the 257 over they 06 out of the safe because Jimmy crack corn.

Dean

**bigred94** · 07-09-2013, 03:51 PM

Dean

Can you explain to me what they mean minimum freeboar or extra freeboar

Thanks

**scope eye** · 07-09-2013, 04:09 PM

Here you go

http://www.gunnersden.com/index.htm....free-bore.html

**scope eye** · 07-09-2013, 04:12 PM

one pic is worth a thousand rounds

**scope eye** · 07-09-2013, 04:26 PM

My 257- 270 and 300 Weatherby's are all chambered at the maximum spec free bore, you can debate all day long whether it or not it is more or less accurate, but you cannot debate the speed that it produces. Lynyrd Skynyrd even wrote an awesome song about it.

Dean

**bigred94** · 07-11-2013, 09:31 PM

One more question, can you form 257 brass from 7mm brass?

**scope eye** · 07-11-2013, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by bigred94

One more question, can you form 257 brass from 7mm brass?

Yes you can they will end up a bit shorter, but as long as they are all the same your fine, you can also use 264 win mag, the way I resize 7mm rem is first run it though my 264 winmag die and then the 257 WBY dies, you can go from 7mm to 257 but they don't come out as nice, but nothing a good fire forming won't cure.

Dean

**scope eye** · 07-12-2013, 07:33 AM

Just an FYI once I worked on a piece of 300 WinMag, for over an hour sizing triming and what not, I finally got it to chamber, but definitely not worth it time wise anyways, although I probably could have cut that time down to 15min, after a couple under my belt, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

Dean

**Rooster 50** · 07-13-2013, 02:15 AM

Dean thanks for the info. I have some great RWS 7mm brass that is once fired that i will try it on..

**bigred94** · 07-15-2013, 01:53 PM

dean I hate to keep brothering you but I have searched and searched and no where can I find any load data using r17. I would like to used this powder because its what I use in my 300wsm but just not sure where to start. I will be using 75g to 90g bullets only for this rifle. any info or clues would be very appreciated

thanks
Dan