I should have clarified my post. I was talking about hunting rifles not shooting targets.

I'll never shoot a game animal at 500 yards much less 1000

BC is the very last thing I'd look at if I don't intend to shoot over 400 yards or so.

I have a friend coming down from up north for a hog hunt in a couple of months and he's probably bringing a 7mm Allen Mag. We have room for about a 1200 yard shot, max, so I may get to play with it a bit.

If 500 yards and under is the name of the game, then most any modern centerfire cartridge would do.

Within 500 yards there are very few that are flatter than the 257Wby, but there are a few

BC is not everything. I just ran the numbers comparing my 257 wby to my 300 win. The 257 ( 100 gr matchking) has 7 moa less drop the the 300 with a 208 amax. The difference is 850 fps at the muzzel (3600 vs 2750).

If you want flat shooting to 400 yards load the 257 with 85 to 100 grain bullets. That'll give you a muzzle velocity of 3600 to 3800 fps.

This all seems rather silly to me.

You are splitting hairs between most of these cartridges inside 500.

The way I set up my hunting rifles is dirt simple. zero wind at 100, zero elevation at 300.

Target is at 100 yards, old under 1 mil. Target is at 500 hold over 1.5 mils. Hold wind accordingly.

Some uber fast low bc cartridge would only make a few 1/10's of a mil difference either way.

Yeah we are splitting hairs but we have to argue about something. Using your 300 yard zero, you would only have a one mil holdover at 500 with the 257. A 9 inch difference.

My other post should be a 3.5 moa difference not 7. I looked at it wrong.

My advice would be to buy a good quality range finder from swarovski, zeiss, leica, bushnell, etc.
Range it, dope it, and start putting meat in the freezer. Just about any modern centerfire cartridge will work for this, inside of 500 yards.

It seems to me that the typical user of something as silly as a 257 weatherby, is just hoping his flat to 500 cartridge is going to make contact with the animal.

What is the barrel life on a 257 weatherby? Ammo cost? Reloading cost? It sounds like a cartridge for people who don't want to put in the work at the range.

American hunters got by for hundreds of years without range finders and A-Maxes.

Maybe refusing to recognize and accept the fact that folks have their own unique perspectives on the entire subject is the very pinnacle of silliness.

I'm not real big on Amax's. Just haven't been able to get them to shoot in my rifles.

Tell me RiverRider, what is it exactly that makes the 257 weatherby so great?

Is there magic in the funky rounded shoulder? Barrel life? Or maybe it's the fact you are using 60-80 grains of powder to shoot a ballistically inferior 100-120 grain bullet.


I would think any ethical hunter would want a way to verify range before sending the bullet. Range finders are a real help in this regard. Keeping my fingers crossed that the bullet is still in point blank range is not an acceptable gamble I'm willing to make.


Silliness abound.

Seeing how ill shoot it 3-4 times a year barrel life isn't important. Neither is ammo cost. It's useful to people like me who hunt by using a cartridge that is more forgiving when judging distance and still dumps a ton of energy into an animal

Looks like I nailed it then.

Just looks to me like you are another condescending rifle nerd.

The .257 Wby. is a great TX hunting cartridge. In many opinions the greatest.

Nailed what? That I spend my time behind a gun killing animals instead of punching paper and developing loads

Call me crazy, but I wouldn't want to be in the same county as someone who is looking to kill animals at 500 yards with a rifle they only shoot 3-4 times a year.

Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

I never said I'm gonna shoot them at 500 yards.

And I've killed an ark load of animals so rest easy

Call me crazy but I don't like being in the same country as folks who purposely have a goal to shoot (mostly shoot at) animals at 500 yards+ and call it hunting. It all too often is a recipe for disaster. It certainly isn't hunting.

But there ain't much I can do about it.

I will and some rifles I may take to the stand may not have been shot in several years. I wish no one else would hunt my side of the county.

Oddly enough, with the only exception being pigs, I agree with you.

No way do I apply what I've learned on the range to hunting that would be silly. I mean I've only killed Javelelas at 510 in December, elk at 200 last year, W.T. does 125 and 150 this week (seated resting the rifle on my pack) two Rio Grande turkeys both at 200, a coyote this morning at 710. So yeah I guess I only shoot steel.

This is what I was talking about. All this flatest shooting cartridge this, magical curved shoulder that, and none of it makes a difference.

I stand by my statements. Get a range finder and practice, practice, practice. The 257 weatherby is a cartridge for guys who don't put in the range time, and who don't pull the trigger often. If you want to shoot a deer inside 200 yards with a 257 weatherby, sounds great. But touting it as the greatest thing ever is silly at best.

The cost of ammo and barrel life simply will not allow for ethical hunting at medium ranges.

I don't plan on shooting mine much (accumark), I don't like the only load I found that it likes.

It costs me $3.30 every time I pull the trigger. I don't see how it plays into ethics the price of ammo

I pull the trigger enough to matter. I've killed over 100 big game animals why would need to shoot more?

try the nosler trophy grade line

The 257 Weatherby is for people that like the 257 Weatherby.

Tell us, what calibers are acceptable to the discerning hunter? I may have been killing animals all wrong this whole time. Goodness, my 7 STW could be a complete work of the devil, now that my eyes have been opened.