All Spun Up

I experienced something this weekend I had heard and read about, but I had never personally experienced.

I'd been wanting a .257 Wby No. 1 ever since they became available and I finally got one a couple of months ago (at a good price, too, and with nice wood).







I was shooting 87 gr Hornady bullets working through different loads with IMR 4350. The rifle was grouping okay (nothing great; I haven't found the perfect load yet), when I got to the last load to be tested. It was a max load. None of the loads showed any pressure signs, including the max load, but when I fired the first shot I saw that it was tumbling when it hit the target. After firing the next four, two more tumbled and, not surprisingly, the group had opened up significantly. Here's what the target looked like...



I was really surprised to see the bullet at the lower left (the target was mounted on its side). Here's a closeup of that bullet hole...



The dark roostertail you see above, I believe, is the lead spraying out of the jacket as the bullet was disintegrating in flight.

Like I said, I had heard of this before, but never actually experienced it firsthand. The muzzle velocity, according to the manual, should have been about 3700 fps. Just for grins, I calculated the bullet rpm at that velocity, and by my reckoning, it works out to 266,400 rpm.

You can make a standard .22-250 leave a smoke trail......

Considering that the 87 gr. Hornady bullet was designed for the 250 Savage decades ago, it's amazing that they shot as well as they did. I don't know what the twist is on the #1 257 Weatherby, but it's probably not 1-14 like the original 250's. My notion is that the 257 Weatherby really excels with 110 to 120 grain bullets. If one wants to shoot the lighter bullets, he may have to go to the lead free designs such as Barnes. With so many bullets on the market, the right load is just around the corner. Bob! :mrgreen:

The twist is 1/10 on the Ruger .257 Wby.

Regarding the 22-250 mentioned above, I've got a couple of those and I never had this occur with my 22-250s. I've been told about this happening with the 22-250 and the 220 Swift, but I always thought it was urban legend and I had never seen or experienced it until this past Sunday. (Granted, not too many 22-250s or Swifts are fired in urban settings.)

I had a 240 Gibbs years ago and on a cool damp morning you could see a contrail out to the 300 yd target. Would only do it on damp mornings. Pretty hot loads with an 85 gr Sierra. 4831 powder thru a 28 " Douglas barrel . Wish I kept that rifle and dies

I'm trying to get a Weatherby Mark V (made in Germany) bought in that caliber. If I get it bought I hope you'll share your reload data on what shoots best.

Hi,

Once upon a time, I read/heard something about 180,000 rpm bullet rotation speed. It's been so long I don't remember if that was supposed to be some kind of an optimum, or just a calculated number from a particular gun/load combo.

So I fired up the calculator and worked backwards a bit, to find that a bullet flying at 2500 fps from a 1:10 twist barrel is spinning at that "magic" number. Sounds an awful lot like a .30-06 M-1 Garand (or maybe an M-14) load with a 147/150 gr bullet would be very close, doesn't it? So maybe that's where the number came from. I just dunno...

Hmmm... have we introduced yet another factor to do some mental fidgeting with in our loading?

BTW, if you can get that rifle shooting as good as it looks, Joe, it's a definite winner!

Rick C

Thanks, Rick. As I'm sure you know, there's not much correlation between looks and accuracy (that seems to be true for a lot of things). I'm working to get the .257 to shoot tiny groups, but that rifle is taking a back seat to my 200th Year 7mm Remington Mag load development efforts. One lesson so far...stay away from Hornady .257 Wby Mag brass (it's horrible).

Greg and I have the same rifle (both 200th Year No. 1 rifles in 7mm Magnum). His is both better looking and more accurate. I'm working the problem, though, and I'll be out there tomorrow trying a few more loads. This is my 7mm No. 1...

On any warm to hot day on the 300 yd line and to the 600 and 800 yd. All the 308, 3006 and 5.56 calibers I have shot leave a trail in the air seen by your eyeballs and through scopes. At 300 if you blink you miss it. But the 1.5 second fight time of a 168gr 308 at 600 yds allows you to see the bullet to the target.

Really interested here to see what that No.1 does with a bit heavier bullet or less velocity with the one in question. A follow up will be appreciated.

Will do.

Blackhawk -

Not sure what your usage is, but I'd try a sturdier bullet. I've had excellent results with a 75g VMAX @ 3600fps, 100g TTSX @ 3233fps and 110g AB @ 3163fps in my .257 Roberts with +P loads and brass.

The 87g spire point is discontinued so working up a load for long term use is probably an exercise in futility unless you have a hoard of them.

Good luck whatever you choose. Beautiful rifle.