kingofcoues Report post Posted December 11, 2004 Once again I am in the market for a new rifle. I have been looking at the .257 WBY and it looks pretty impressive on paper. Right now I have a 7MM rem mag and I shoot it well, but I'm looking for something that shoots as flat but with alittle less recoil. If any of you guys out there have a .257 WBY let me know what you think about it. KINGOFCOUES Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Ernesto C Report post Posted December 11, 2004 I do not own one but sure I'll like to have one,is a really good caliber for coues but I heard ammo is expensive. Ernesto C. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kwp Report post Posted December 11, 2004 I used to have a .257 Roberts and absolutely loved it. I think that it is about the perfect gun for coues, flat shootin, plenty of power, and light weight enough that you can carry it around without even knowing it. Unfortunatley a couple of years ago some lowlife broke into my house and stole that gun along with two shotguns and a bunch of otherstuff. Out of all the stuff that was stolen that is what I am most upset about. I shot my first buck with that gun, My dad, uncle, and aunt also shot their first bucks with it as well as many other animals. They don't make that model anymore but if I could find one that was exactly like it, I wouldn't think twice about buying it. I would definately recommend that caliber for coues. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hunterdude Report post Posted December 12, 2004 Hey maybe check out the ballisticson the new 25wssm, I know that the other short mags are shooting a little flatter with less recoil. Just a thought. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ScottAdams Report post Posted December 12, 2004 I took a gentleman from California on a Coues hunt with me about 10 years ago and he was shooting a 257 Weatherby. He shot about a dozen times at a rutting coues buck and was hitting all over the mountain. When he ran out of ammo I handed him my 300 Winchester and he took him out the 2nd shot. Turns out the cross-wind we were up against wreaked havoc on that light bullet. The shot was long, don't know how long it was in the pre-rangefinder days. That would be my only concern with that caliber. I have seriously considered that cartridge in the past but the light bullet weight and heavy gun weight always dicouraged me. The 25 WSSM is a nice cartridge but doesn't come close ballistically to the 257 Weatherby. My son has the Winchest Super Shadow in 270WSM and I love it. I'm considering the 270 wsm for my next Coues killer, looking at the Kimber. Scott Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Red Rabbit Report post Posted December 12, 2004 Handloaded, the 115 BT out of the 257 WBY and the 130 BT out of the 270 WSM should both give 3200-3300 fps. Both bullets have about the same BC and SD, thus will drop and drift about the same, with the edge going to the 257/115 . Using the same weight rifle, the WSM will have about 16% more recoil with these loads. If you're limited to factory ammo, the wider selaction is with the WSM. If you handload, you've eliminated the higher cost and limited selection of WBY ammo. The new 25 WSSM is equivalent to the 25-06 (300-400 fps behind the factory WBY loads). Scott, That Kimber Montana in 270 WSM and Kevlar stock would make a nice, light coues rifle. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Benbrown Report post Posted December 12, 2004 I have had a bit of experience with .257 Weatherbys. In the early 1980s, I was thinking about getting one and borrowed one from a rancher friend in South Texas while we were collecting deer on his ranch. As I recall, I took about ten or so deer that day, all with neck shots from a rest, out to an honest 200 yards or so. I was impressed with how flat it shot and with the accuracy with factory ammo. Long story short, within a few days I had an opportunity to buy a .25-06 cheap and acquired that rifle (which I could never make shoot as good as the .257 Weatherby). In 1992, I was guiding a hunter from Cleveland, Ohio, for Coues deer. He was elderly (about the age that I am now!) and had a bout with polio when he was young. He still wore a brace on his left leg and walked with difficulty on rocky, uneven ground. He could only manage moderate slopes and climbing even a small mountain was out of the question. He showed up with a .257 Weatherby with a high-power variable scope with a 50 mm objective lens. I was not very enthusiastic about guiding him, as past experience had taught me that people from east of the Mississippi who show up with Weatherby rifles and high-powered scopes are unlikely to have shot them much, and most are a bit afraid of them. We hunted hard for three days without being able to get him in range of a decent buck. In mid-afternoon of the fourth day, we drove over a saddle and I looked up the slope to the east and saw a deer stand up about 700-800 yards away. I grabbed the binocular and glassed the slope. There were three bucks that were getting up out of their afternoon beds and moving slowly across the face of the mountain. I got my hunter out and got him as far up the lower slope of the mountain as I could. When we had gone as far as he could go, he asked me how far away the bucks were. This was before the days of lazer range-finders and I mentally projected football fields up the side of the mountain. I told him that they were at least 450 yards and probably closer to 500. He sat down and rested his forearm hand in the crotch of the carcass of a fire-killed oak. When I realized that he was going to shoot, I said, "It's a pretty steep uphill. Hold for about 350" He nodded and the rifle went off and I heard the sound of a solid hit. The largest buck took about three steps backward and his rear end went down before he rolled over and never moved again. It turned out that the gnetleman had a farm down in southern Ohio and a ranch in Wyoming and his passion was shooting coyotes with that .257 Weatherby. I have friend that lives in Jackson, Wyoming, that has shot a .257 Weatherby for as long as I have known him (over 30 years). It is the only rifle that he owns and he has used it to shoot carloads of Texas whitetails and Wyoming mule deer. He had taken several elk with it and also a Shiras moose. I guess the moral to this story is, if you have to have the flattest shooting factory rifle and load, the .257 Weatherby is a good choice. However, you have to shoot it a lot to develop the skills to utilize its full potential. Both of the gentlemen referred to above are independently wealthy and the cost of factory ammo was no deterrent to doing a lot of shooting. If you handload, you of course afford to shoot a lot more cheaply. Like Scott, my next acquisition will be a .270 WSM. I am an avid handloader and think that I can cook up an accurate load that won't be far behind the .257 Weatherby in terms of long-range trajectory. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ScottAdams Report post Posted December 13, 2004 Ben & Doug, I really do like that 270 WSM. When I was sighting in my son's using factory 130 gr. loads the average muzzle velocity was 3322! That round really smokes. With the Kimber I really like the lightweight and accurate rifles they produce. These days I'm looking for the lightest gun I can find to pack around the mountatins. I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks this is an excellent choice for a Coues round. King of Coues, the recoil on the Super Shadow was nothing harsh, of course those rifles have a very nice recoil pad system. My oldest son who only weighs in at 120 lbs had no problem shooting this rifle. My youngest son killed his Coues this year with his own Super Shadow chambered to the 300 WSM. Scott Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deljack Report post Posted December 13, 2004 Once again I am in the market for a new rifle. I have been looking at the .257 WBY and it looks pretty impressive on paper. Right now I have a 7MM rem mag and I shoot it well, but I'm looking for something that shoots as flat but with alittle less recoil. If any of you guys out there have a .257 WBY let me know what you think about it. KINGOFCOUES <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deljack Report post Posted December 13, 2004 Why so much gun for Coues Deer? After 30 years as a Gunsmith,Custom Gun Builder and knowing the guys that that like to burn lots of powder, shoot Bullets at the speed of light,Burn up Barrels like cord wood have been my Bread&Butter, I have not forgot that the sport is called hunting. If you cannot get within range of a standard cartridge rifle your not hunting your shooting (killing) . If you want a rifle that is fun to shoot with little recoil and plenty of horse power to kill 80lb. deer look into Cartriges like 243 Win. 6mm Rem. 257 Rbts. if want a little faster ? 25/06, 240 Wby mag. 270 Win. 280 Rem. If you are a hunter that walks not road hunts you can have one of these put together that loaded weights between 5 and 6 pounds and shoots in one hole and still easy on your sholder. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
.270 Report post Posted December 13, 2004 the .257 wby is just like a .25/06, only better. one thing to remember, .25 caliber is real barrel twist sensitive. seems to be more so that most other calibers. make sure you have a barrel twist that will stabilize whatever bullet you want to shoot. anything over 100 gr needs a fairly quick twist, in the .25. the longer the bullet, the quicker the twist needs to be to stabilize it. i have an old .250/3000 savage. it will shoot 100 gr and smaller great. shoots super groups, especially for an old lever action. but 115's will keyhole (hit sideways) out of it. twist is too slow to stabilize the longer bullet. that's my only gripe about any of the.25's. a twist that will do a real good job stabilizing the heavier bullet might not group real well with the smaller bullets. most new rifles have a fairly quick twist and anything you buy off the rack should be ok, but make sure. and the real quick twists don't work real well with shorter bullets, like 85's. sort of a catch 22. never owned a .257 wby, but know several guys who do and they all really like em. real fast and flat. Lark. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coach Report post Posted December 13, 2004 I long considered the .257 wby as the ultimate coues gun. As many above have pointed out cost of shooting it may be a major factor. I've found Weatherby rifles/ammo to be accurate, but since they are generally overbored, tend to be much more finnicky than std. cartridges, and take more practice to get consistently accuate - both shooting and reloading. If you are going to reload and put a lot of time into getting it just right, I think this would make an excellent coues calliber. As for being "too much gun" I respectfully disagree. With long shots the norm, you need to look at the downrange energy. According to Weatherby's ballistics pages you'll see that the .257 wby has just under 1400 foot pounds at 400 yards and 1138 at 500 with a 100 grain bullet, and 1656/1419 with the 115 gr. bullet at the same ranges. Compare this with 917/745 with a 100gr bullet from a .243 and there is no doubt it has a LOT more punch when a long range shot is required. I personally shoot a .300 Wby, and think it's the ultimate all around rifle, even for little coues deer, so if a .257 is too much gun, I'm definately overgunned A great site to get lots of good information about just about any caliber is accuratereloading.com. You'll find a wealth of information there about just about every caliber. When I posted regarding the .257 wby, I got a "split decision". About half of the folks out there who had owned them absolutely loved them. The other half considered them too finnicky and generally significanly less accurate than the other quarter bores. However, everyone pretty much agreed that the ballistics and energy of that cartridge set it apart from the other .25s Jason Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coueshunter Report post Posted December 13, 2004 I have a .257 wby mag and love it. I wont get into all the squabble, just letting you know the caliber with a 115 ballistic tip works fine for me. p.s. you can buy the gun from walmart in the Mark v for around 725.00. The only thing I would do different is buy the super big game master because that stock is so much lighter than the regular kevlar Mark V stock........Allen....... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deljack Report post Posted December 14, 2004 Well i can see that i did not get my point across , so let me put it to you in another way.!! The modern rifle hunter is playing right into hands of the Anti hunt Groups, They claim it is not the sport of our forfathers because it is not fare chase and they have a point, With the modern firearms and amunition of today if you can see it you can kill it. I build rifles that with a competent shooter behind it have the accuracy and energyto kill deer size game at 1000 yds, This is not hunting its shooting, if you think thats hunting your sport is in trouble. I have killed almost every species of big and medium game in north America and never had to shoot over 400 yds. my average is less than 200 yds Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Ernesto C Report post Posted December 14, 2004 deljack, so that time you had to shot over 375 yards you weren't hunting ha?You were killing? Why you did not get closer that 200 yards? Ok next time (here we go again) to make it fair chase,I will not use binoculars,I will not use cover scent,I will not use a range finder,I will not use camo,I will not use a rifle, I will not ................ I will be hunting naked,I will be one on one with the coues I will run after them,chase them and once I get one I will choke him to dead. Is ok if I use a knife to field dressed?? Will it be fair chase? Why I feel that over posting or posting twice the same thing?? Isn't the topic we talked again in the past?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
