.257 cal 1:12 twist...

[Guy Miner]

Will it stabilize a 110 gr Nosler AccuBond?

Or stick with the 100 gr bullets?

Old .257 Wby with the old style slow-twist barrel.

 

[Oldtrader3]

The Weatherby Mark V has enough MV to stabilize a 115 grain bullet. I think that the newer 120 grain Partitions may not be accurate in this rifle but the 110 grain AccuBond should be fine. I have a .257 Roberts with the 1 in 10 twist and it shoots the 110 AccuBond very accurately, despite having a much lower MV than the Mark V.

 

[FOTIS]

http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmstab-5.1.cgi

do not think is gonna happen guy.....

 

[Oldtrader3]

According to that calculation it is pretty close to being stable. I would try a couple of 110 Accubonds before buying a bunch of Accubonds for the Weatherby. Maybe they shot the old 115 round nosed bullets in that rifle?

 

[CatskillCrawler]

The 110 ABs are slightly longer than the 120gr NPs. Roughly the same though if I remember correctly. If they'll shoot one, they should shoot the other. The 115gr NPs are shorter than both but you lose some BC with them.

 

[Guy Miner]

Interesting. Thanks for the input guys. Greatly appreciated!

My .25-06 has the standard 1:10 twist and of course it shoots the 115 Ballistic Tips & Partitions real well, even the long Berger VLD's shoot well from it.

This old Weatherby - I haven't tried it much with bullets longer than conventional 100 gr bullets. It's a real zinger with them, high velocity and adequate accuracy. Shot a few 115's through it, but only at closer ranges to check on velocity. It's got velocity. Yup.

Got some 110 Accubonds on a sale at SPS - figure if nothing else they'll work great from my .25-06 if I ever run out of 115 Ballistic Tips!

Guess I really ought to just load some 110 Accubonds up for the old Weatherby and see how it does. Maybe a go, maybe not.

Great excuse to order up a new tube for the old rifle I suppose... :grin:

Guy

 

[SJB358]

Great excuse to order up a new tube for the old rifle I suppose... :grin:

Guy

That's all we really need anyhow, a good excuse!

 

[R Flowers]

Guy, if that old Weatherby has a 1 in 12 twist I doubt that it will shoot anything over 100 grains unless it is a roundnose bullet.

I messed with an old German made Weaterby Mark V that a guy had inherited and it had a 1 in 12 twist. It did not even shoot 100 grain bullets real well, and keyholed with anything over 100 grains that I tried. As someone else mentioned, that is why Weatherby loaded 115 grain round nose bullets.

The standout bullet in that .257 Weatherby turned out to be the 80 grain Barnes Triple Shock.
With that bullet that gun shot quite well.

But it never hurts to experiment a little.

 

[FOTIS]

Burn the tube out with 100 gr partitions for big game and 100 bt for varmint and order a krieger 1:10 later.

Start saving $$$!

 

[JD338]

Guy,

It is doubtful if the 110 gr AB will stabilize in the 1;12 twist.
The very reason Weatherby offered ammunition loaded with a 117 gr RN bullet.

I agree with Fotis, rebarrel it with a 1:10 twist and don't look back.

JD338

 

[Guy Miner]

Dad used to shoot it with the 117 gr Round Nose Weatherby ammo.

I've shot it with handloaded 100 gr standard bullets - they shot reasonably well.

I'll see how this goes. Slow project, but showing promise again.

Thanks, Guy

 

[gerry]

Guy is it possible the barrel is torched already? You would think an older 257 Wby could burn out a barrel fairly quick. Like the others have said when you can do it a new tube would be great and you should be able to find a really good load quickly.

 

[Guy Miner]

Yes... Given the nature of my Grandfather, Father and Uncle... All of whom had their turn at this old rifle - I'd say a new barrel is likely overdue! :grin:

Dad told me stories when he and his brother put the rifle in a vise and used a cheater bar on the bolt to open it! :shock: Am thinking waaaay too much powder crammed into the case.

Also handloading 25 cal pistol bullets in it and being amazed when they broke up before hitting a target 25 yards away...

And of Grandpa clobbering a blacktail buck with it, dropping the buck like lightning.

And of shooting many ground squirrels with the rifle...

Yeah - it likely deserves a new tube - which will also solve some problems we've got trying to use modern brass, instead of shortened, necked down .300 H&H brass, which the original barrel & dies were set up for. There was no factory Weatherby brass avail in those days.

Most recent change was to go to a Tubb Speedlock firing pin for reliable primer strikes. This made it a cock-on-closing rifle, to which I'm still trying to become accustomed. Shoots every time now though. That's an improvement! And the new Timney trigger & safety work much better than the old setup.

Guy

 

[gerry]

That does sound a bit scary a new tube would make the old gun sing again. Lots of neat family history with that one.

 

[JD338]

Guy

Sounds like it is indeed time to rebarrel the ol girl and bring out the beast in the 257 Wby.

It will make for one flat shooting deer and antelope rifle.

JD338

 

[cloverleaf]

Guy,
I dont know much about this kind of thing, but that never stopped me from venturing an opinion . IF the slow twast would be better with lighter/ shorter bullets would the 90 Gr Sierra be an option. If I recall you were a Sierra shooter. Maybe the 90 Gr bullet is a varmnt bullet. Dont know. Barnes used to make a bullet in that weight too.... Barrels aint free... I could be way off base but... CL

 

[Oldtrader3]

I would buy some BT Nosler 85 grain first and shoot them at the rifle range to evaluate the throat and the barrel accuracy. You may need a scope to check the throat but it would be worth a few bucks to know. Just my $.02 worth.

 

[257 Ackley]

Guy -
My 257 Ackley (pre-64 with original barrel) shoots the 110 AB very well. I would try them before you go through the expense of rebarreling.