# weatherby 257mag. barrel work question



## Levy257mag (Jul 24, 2006)

I recently bought my dream rifle. It is a weatherby mark-v deluxe in 257 magnum. I have tried about every load that I can come up with and cant get a group under two inches.

The best bullet so far was an 85 grain nosler in which in a five shot group, had 4 shots touching and one flyer. I shot more groups with this bullet with same result.

While shooting these groups there was always one shot that would fly either high or low of the other four that would all be touching. This would take my groups from being a half inch, to being about two inches. All other bullets i tried would go all over the place.

Now my next step is that i want to free float the barrel and if that doesn't work i will glass bed the rifle.

I just wanted to know what others thought of this situation and if aanybody has anyothers suggestions or tips they would greatly be appreciated.

Thank you very much.


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## Danimal (Sep 9, 2005)

Levy,

How fast are you shooting your group??? My Mk-V Dlx is a 270wm and I've shot many 1/2" groups by shooting slow so the barrel doesn't heat up too much. Next, how are you seating the bullets?? Have you tried seating them as long as possible???


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## Burly1 (Sep 20, 2003)

I think that free floating and glass bedding is a step in the right direction. Rifles, especially those in the hot cartridges, can be a picky lot. Don't give up. Danimal's advice is good on both counts. But remember, that Weatherby cartridges often do better when the bullet is seated farther off the lands. This is contrary to what happens with most other cartridges. Another thought that probably goes without saying, is to keep the barrel totally clean of both copper and powder fouling. I have seen a few of the hot .25's that would foul in as few as ten rounds, degrading accuracy to a great degree. I know that with such a fine rifle, you will eventually come up with a load that will punch tiny groups. Chuck Hawks website usually has some good-for-most loads listed. You might give him a try as well. Good shooting, Burl


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## People (Jan 17, 2005)

I third making sure your tube is free flooatingI second making sure your tube is free floating. I have a Rem 700 MTN rifle in 7mm STW and if I keep the barrel cool to cold for each shot it would shoot very tight groups. When I would shoot groups of 3 or more it would group about 2 to 3 inches. The stock I have used to have these stupid pads that would apply upward pressure on the barrel at the front end f the stock. I took the dremmel and ground them out. Now the gun just shoots tiny little groups no matter how many rds I shoot in one sitting.

Chuck Norris was actually born a triplet. His brothers were death and pain.


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## DuaneinND (Jan 22, 2005)

First of if you pruchased this rifle new, take it back- Weatherby is always bragging about their accuracy- make them stand behid their product. If that fails, take your trip in the search for a solution in steps. Don't change 3 or 4 things at once, because if all of a sudden you shrink the group size by 50% which change "solved" the problem and because problems have a habit of returning you want to know the correct answer.
Firtst you need to do a complete inspection of the rifle- for loose srews, base screws that touch the barrel extension, is the scope good, etc.
A good barrel cleaning is then in order, iif you use a good rod with a tight patch, you can feel how smooth/rough the barrel is- smooth is good, also clean the inside of the bolt- grease there is bad.
Then start with seating depth- it is easy and requires no modification to the rifle. Generally you won't be able to touch the rifling on a Weatherby and still be in the case, so just start with the bullet seated at the base of the neck. Shoot 3 shot groups allowing the rifle to cool completely between groups. Try moving .010, .020,.030,&.040 longer and also the reverse. You should be able to tell from the groups waht is shooter error an what is rifle error. 
Free float the barrel and repeat.
Bed an repeat
Sell the rifle an use the proceeds for a goos night out to drown your sorrows!
Sometimes it can be a drawn out process, sometimes you get lucky.


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## Taumann (Jul 26, 2006)

Don't give up on the Mark V yet. I've got three Weatherby rifle's a .257 WBY - Ultralight; a 7mm WBY Lazermark and a .300 WBY Lazermark. All of them shoot under 1 inch (4 shot group). The .257 has shot 1/4" grouping but not without tweaking the handloads. Didn't need to do anything to the rifle, but did have the outfitter stock put on it

I found the 115 grain CT Nosler ballistic tip to be the most accurate of what I tried and the Barnes bullets the worst. I would think the Swift Scirocco bullets would perform close to the Nosler's but have not trioed them. What I've found is that the Weatherby's are usually more accurate if the velocities are on the high end of a recommended load - not over maximum recommended but very near. RL 25 is my choice of powders for this one. The other thing is that the 26-inch barrel can be more "touchy" to load changes and after 3-4 shots you can actually see the heat rising off the fluted barrel.

I did have a little problem with the .300 WBY (24-inch barrel no muzzle brake) in that I could only get close to a 2" grouping. I had that one free floated and glass bedded - cost me about $50.00 from my local gunsmith brought it down to near 3/4" group. I do occasionally have a flier but I blame myslef as it's easy to try and anticipate the recoil even on the .257 because it's a sharp hit.

I really like the 257 as my favorite caliber - can be used for deer or coyote or can be loaded up to 3800 fps or down to near 3000fps. The Speer Grand slams 120 grains are my choice for deer - good accuracy and killing combination.

Hope that helps.

Tim


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## jeep_guy_4x4 (Apr 11, 2005)

I have a .257 Weatherby and love it...

Anyhow, I am a computer engineer... if this were a computer, my first question would be... what happened with another user....

The reason for doing this is to this would eliminate user error...

Simple put... if you take a buddy to the range, can you reproduce the same results with the rifle. Are your buddy's group's inconsistent too. Because if he gets good results it may be the shooter...

I would identify the exact problem before I would attempt to solve it...

This would be a good start.

Recently, I had a problem getting nice groups. I would shoot 3-4 nice & throw the fifth...

I asked one of the range staff members to help me....

He noticed that my "cheek to stock well" changed... this caused my shots to go up or down....

He also recommended taking longer between shoots. My Weatherby heats up quickly and its difficult to maintain consistent shoot groups.

After letting someone else who was competent with shooting rifles observer what I was doing, and explaining what he saw & what I could do to correct it. I am now able to get consistent shoot groups....


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## NDTerminator (Aug 20, 2003)

The hot over bored calibers are famous for heating the barrel up fast. You want to errode a throat in short order, the surest way is to keep putting rounds through a hot barrel.

My personal rule of thumb is to let the barrel cool 10 minutes between shots ( more or less time depending on ambient temperature). By & large, if the ambient temp is above 80 degrees, I don't bother shooting for accuracy off the bench.

Lately, that means I'm shooting by 0630 and stop at 0730...


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## jeep_guy_4x4 (Apr 11, 2005)

I shoot my mark v .257 this weekend. My first two shoots were right next to each other. Could put a nickle over them....

Anyhow... the next shot was almost an inch from the first two... the remainder of the day even when I let my barrel cool as long a s twenty minutes... the best groups I had were about an 1" to 1.25"

Every time I am at the range my rifle has been consistant with the first 2-3 rounds being well under 1" M.O.A. Then after the barrel heats up... My groups are generally over 1" M.O.A.


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