I got lucky and won a weatherby vanguard 257 weatherby mag

J

je4bowhuntin

Active member
So i enter a raffle last week and made a donation last week for the local senior citizen center my mother in law helps out in. And i won the gun! I get to pick it up tomorrow! I already order 3 boxes of the factory weatherby ammo 100gr spitzers but my questions are when it comes to reloading what is everyone liking out of the vanguards?
 
Sounds like fun. I've wanted a good quarter bore of my own for a while now and sure wouldn't say no to a Weatherby. Do let us know how it shoots.
 
I have a vanguard in 257. It is a great rifle and caliber. I load 115 bergers and it is a tack driver. Cant rember my exact load but I use a Remington 9 1\2 mag primer and imr 4350. Hits like a hammer!
 
The 257 Weatherby is at it's best when loaded with 110-120 gr bullets. Every 257 Weatherby I've owned has produced the best accuracy and velocity with RL-25 and either 110 Accubonds or 115 Ballistic Tips/115 Berger VLD's. If for some strange reason RL-25 doesn't produce results, H-1000 would be my next choice.

Great cartridge, btw. When used for what it's inteded for, it just absolutley hammers game. Of all the cartridges I own, the 257 easily has the most DRT kills.

This target is from one of my 257 Wby Vanguards. I literally bought the gun, had a scope mounted and bore-sighted and went to the range. These are the first 3 shots ever fired from the gun(100 yds.) Ammo was Weatherby Factory 115 Nosler Ballistic Tips. Group was .63 in.
 

Good win there.

I have owned (still have one) Vanguard. All three are very accurate. Two were 7mm mags and the one I currently have is a Sub-MOA .338 Win. Mag. I love the Weatherby actions. They are smooth, and I like the Weatherby style stocks too. The triggers leave a bit to be desired, but I replaced the .338 trigger with a Timney that is nice.

Enjoy your new rifle.
 
I get to pick it up this afternoon. Talley rings should be here today 3 boxes ammo by end of week in mail and i grabbed a scope for it last night burris c4 plus 4.5-14x42. May have her all put together tonight and waiting on ammo if i get home early enough!
 
Hope you reload. I was tempted to buy same rifle that was in clearance section of a LGS for a darn nice price. Then I looked at cost of Weatherby 257 ammo that happened to be on sale in the LGS, and told myself, no way. Passed on the rifle. And yep, I reload most cartridges I shoot.
 
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I reload. I dont mind buying a little factory ammo for a few guns. I order 60 factory rounds then i will start reloading for it after deer season. I have a 264 win mag im shooting factory hsm berger loads through to build up brass that get pricey!
 
nice score.I have a rem 700 cdl in the 257 and love it. knocks the snout out of deer and totes waaaaaaaayyyy out there. My load is the 110 accubond
over a pile of RL22. I was told by a very knowledgeable guy at the range you can reform 7mm rem mag into the 257 and though just a bit short works fine. I haven't tried it though.
 
Originally Posted By: NWShooter69nice score.I have a rem 700 cdl in the 257 and love it. knocks the snout out of deer and totes waaaaaaaayyyy out there. My load is the 110 accubond
over a pile of RL22. I was told by a very knowledgeable guy at the range you can reform 7mm rem mag into the 257 and though just a bit short works fine. I haven't tried it though.





Use Winchester 264 brass if you can find it, it forms perfectly just running it through the F.L. sizing die. I use Lee Sizing wax as a lube. I had a reamer cut for using the 264 brass with it's tad bit shorter neck and zero freebore. 100g at 3850 shooting 3/8" groups and smaller were the norm, and R#22 rules the day. Loads may be different between Win 264 brass and Weatherby brass, so don't assume anything work up and be safe.

I had great luck with 100g Partition, 100g Hornady Flat base, 100g tipped triple shocks, and 100g Nosler ballistic tips on deer, with all these bullets shooting sub 1/2" groups in my zero freebore chamber. A zero freebore chamber will of course not Chamber factory ammo.

The zero freebore chamber also shot the 115's at 3630 fps into groups .300-.375 using R#22.

Recoil with this cartridge and a muzzle break is wonderful, seeing the bullet impact on the deer. How many times have you ever seen the water fly off a deer and a bullet hit the dirt on the off side at the bullet's impact.

I thought that I would upgrade to a custom 7 STW shooting the 120 tipped triple shock at 3850 but recoil is much more, not so much of the fun factor.
 


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