257 Weatherby Magnum:
The 257 Weatherby Magnum was introduced to the public in the mid 1940’s by Roy Weatherby as one of his original cartridges and his personal favorite as well.
The 257 Weatherby Magnum cartridge case itself is the 300 H&H magnum case that has been necked down to 25 caliber. It was blown out the full length of the case which then sports a double radius shoulder and then shortened to 2.545″ with a long neck.
The 257 Weatherby Magnum is an extremely flat shooting, dual purpose cartridge and is the fastest of all commercially available 25 caliber cartridges. It sends an 80 grain bullet out of the muzzle at 3,870 feet per second for varmints and able to send a 115 grain bullet out the muzzle at 3,400 feet per second for deer sized game.
The 257 Weatherby Magnum, with the power it offers downrange, will also recoil somewhat to the shooter’s shoulder but is still manageable to shoot.
It definitely needs a 26″ barrel length for a more complete powder burn as the muzzle blast and flash are fairly high for any shorter barrel length.
Any decent rifle will need a good scope. Check out this one from Bushnell.
To achieve maximum accuracy from your 257 Weatherby Magnum rifle there are several things you need to do correctly that will help increase your rifle’s overall accuracy capabilities.
First: Properly mount your riflescope.
Second: Properly break-in your rifle barrel.
Third: Properly sight-in your rifle.
.257 Weatherby Magnum Ballistics:
This first 257 Weatherby Magnum ballistics chart shows Hornady 90 grain GMX Outfitter with a ballistic coefficient of .290.
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | 300 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 3,625 | 3,252 | 2,911 | 2,596 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 2,626 | 2,114 | 1,694 | 1,346 |
| Drop (Inches) | -1.5 | 0.9 | 0 | -5 |
This next 257 WBY Mag ballistics chart shows a Weatherby 120 Grain Partition with a ballistic coefficient of .391:
| Muzzle | 100 YDS | 200 YDS | 300 YDS | |
| Velocity (FPS) | 3,305 | 3,046 | 2,801 | 2,570 |
| Energy (FT/LB) | 2,910 | 2,472 | 2,091 | 1,760 |
| Drop (Inches) | / | 3.0 | 3.7 | 0.0 |
To see a more in depth rifle ballistics chart for many more calibers, click here.
