I took it as you were complaining about too much gun for whitetail, and made a suggestion. I completely understand about using what you have with you. It is too much gun for whitetail, but it can be throttled back. The .257 cannot be throttled up.

Yea but for whitetails the .257 does not need to be throttled up. It's already perfect

Go with the 25-06, 270 or 30-06 and forget the magnums. You will be glad you did when it comes time to pay for ammo or components and the game of Texas doesn't need any more killin' than you will get from these.

We call it "Thors Hammer"

If you plan on chasing elk with it, I'd go the 300 route. I like 30cal pills for larger game for an improved chance at a blood trail. Not saying the 257 won't kill one, just saying I like larger calibers for bigger game.

No it does not need to be throttled up for whitetail, but calling it perfect is a reach. I've got several rifles to choose from, for whitetail. Two I wouldn't use .223 and .22-250, two are in a close tie 6.5 Creedmoor and 7mm-08, one is overkill 7 Rem Mag. But he metioned 500 yards. If my hunting pard tells me to expect 400 yard shots on does next month (like he suggested would happen) I'm taking the overkill rifle, 7 Rem Mag.

Comparing these two is two chamberings that are pretty far apart on the spectrum. For 300 and in whitetail, I'd rather use a short action in 6.5 mm, 7mm, or even .308 Win. But that's not the two he brought up.

I much prefer short actions for carry and follow shots (pack of hogs, coyotes etc I have short stroked a long action). I will follow with this. I used to carry a bolt 223 all the time, and supplement it with a 25-06 or a 270 during deer season (2 rifles). If I was going after long shots I would add a big bore (300 ultra or 338 Lapua) 3 guns at this point. I now carry a 6.5 creed only and about 40 rds of ammo. I don't shoot as many down range as I would with the 223 but I am sure not afraid to shoot it. I will stop and put 10 or so into rocks at distance and not give it a second thought like I would with a hot long action or magnum load. It's made me a better shooter and I am planning another creed goto style semi custom to wring out a little more accuracy. I'm about half way through my stash of factory ammo, looking forward to loading for the creed (it is almost as cheap to shoot factory hornady ammo as it is to reload just a few cents difference and the factory ammo shoots really well).

Get the one that turns you on the most and shoot the crap out of it.
You know you're favoring one over the other and they'll both do the job.

Those are two outstanding calibers! I think you should just buy both of them! That way you ca n satisfy both camps! Lol

For Texas hunting I'd go with the .257 but if there's a legit chance you will need an Elk rifle then I might go with a 300...but then again I'd probably go with the 257...and if I was going to go Elk hunting in the future it'd be the perfect reason to buy the 300...then I'd own both!

I have done this with several magnum cartridges and found that it generally works well.

Starting loads from the manual usually do just fine... Starting loads for a .300 WSM for the bullet weight of choice will generally give same performance as top 30-06 loads.

You can also drop that 300 to 30-30 levels if you want with some powders like 5744 oy perhaps h4895

In my opinion running big heavy bullets that slow is throttling it back.

You're entitled to your opinon.

I like the factory's opinion on that bullet also.

That's fine. There are plenty of us that have done lots of killing with them.

But the hot rod is a 7 Rem Mag loaded with (as you say throttled back) 180 gr bullet. But that bullet is a Berger VLD Hunting.

Oh, and the MV of that 180 gr is a pitifully slow 3040 fps that delivers a whimpy 2000 ft/lbs at 600 yards.

the name explains that

Some of you guys are just overly besotted with big old high BC bullets. For Texas, that 257 Wby (or even better, the 6.5 Wby) is close to perfect. With a 115 gr Partition, it shoots about as flat as my laser 220 Swift. What in the world would anybody need with a 300 Wby for TX hunting? As for me, I'm perfectly happy with the 260 and the 270, but if I wanted to sendero hunt out to 400 or 500 yards, I really can't think of a better round than that 257 Wby, though my fanatical sendero hunting neighbor of many years was a very vocal 270 Wby fan.

And, colt45, sure Roy Weatherby shot a Wby cartridge, but his favorite Wby round was the 257. Reasonable recoil, extreme range capability for hunting, great down range penetration and performance. I'm just guessing that he preferred it because of: reasonable recoil, etc, etc. I think his preferred bullet was the 115 gr Partition.

I love those wood and stainless Sakos but $2k is allot of money for a factory rifle. I like the custom and 300 Win mag choice. I am a fan of the 257 Weatherby but I think the 300 shines for your criteria.

Hell I'm fixing to load up some 130's for my 300 Roy. A 130 grain TSX hitting 3700 or faster makes a damn fine deer round. Hell the slowest rifle I shoot is my 300 and its shooting 3550 with 150's.

30-30 level loads in my 270WSM using AA5744 and 130 grain spitzers were quite accurate, and allowed recreational shooting without any detectable wear on the barrel.

Probably be a good coyote or pig load, but I just used those loads for target shooting and occasional plinking. I found the loads listed in the Speer book.

My question is if you wanna shoot 4-500 yards why did you get a 4x12 scope?

I would want a higher magnification than that.



My long range rife is a .257 wby with a 4x16 on it

500 yards is plenty do-able with 12X

Never felt like I needed anything over 12x for anything under 600 yards myself.

I routinely shoot 500 yards on 5x with my S&B 5-25x56 because its just that easy and I enjoy watching vapor trails when I can see them. 12x magnification with quality glass is more than enough.