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I have a rifle chambered in .257 Weatherby Magnum, and no brass for it. Everywhere I checked online, the brass is out of stock - many show 'no backorder.' So, if I'm going to shoot this rifle any time soon, I'm going to have to form the brass. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to start with? Can this be formed from 7mm Rem Mag, or something similar? How involved is this going to be - neck down and fireform, or just what?
Any suggestions are appreciated!
If the case is long enough 264 winchester mag might be a better choice less work on case neck thickness.
I had the same thought right after I posted. .264 Win brass is sometimes impossible to find, though. I see that Graf's has some in stock, so I'll probably go that way.Quote:
Originally Posted by DocSavage
Case might be a bit short when reformed due to the double radius shoulder on the Weatherby case .
I use 7 mm Wby Brass no neck turning req'd. (Frontier Head Stamp - Hornady's ammo before they made rifle brass, these cases were mfg'd by Rem in early 90's) Super simple just lightly lube outside of case and inside neck and run into FL die. I have used an old Pacific Dura-Chrome 257 Wby Neck die as well. Guessing 7 mm Wby Brass is difficult to find now, I would experiment with 7 mm RM range brass.
If using 7 mm Rem Mag brass you may end up a little short. You will however gain some length compared to the original 7mm RM case length since you are necking down.
The necks on WBY cases are easily pushed into the case if you are not careful due to the double radius shoulder on the WBY cases. I would try to push the shoulder back on the 7 mm Rem Mag (headspace off of the belt) and fire form the shoulder. You may be able to form the necks with a LEE 0.285" push thru sizing die.
Attachment 297640
Attachment 297641
When I bought my 257 Wby I had the same problem. I had hundreds of 7mm Rem brass so that is what I used. I ran them into a 264 win mag trim die then the 257 sizer with the stem removed. I then annealed them and resized with the stem in place. They were a few thousandths short but have worked just fine.
Take a tiptoe through this thread:https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...harpe-amp-Hart.
May give you a few pointers on reforming Weatherby brass. I've gone from various Weatherby calibers to other stuff, 300 H&H, 375 H&H, 7x61 S&H* and 280 Ross. And one that entailed lathe turning off part of the belt before forming, sitting here, I can't even remember what the caliber is on that one.
Never loaded any Weatherby calibers.
I know the straitening of the shoulder with the 300 H&H before forming in the final die did seem to help reduce case loss.
And there might still be some 257 Weatherby in the brass pile, there's a green box of loaded 264 Magnum's taking up space on the bench.
*not green stamps:groner:
Thanks for everyone's suggestions. They give me a starting point, for sure. And a BIG shout out to Shell70634, who donated 50+ pieces of .270 Wby brass to the cause! They will become .257 Wby brass very shortly! Just to err on the side of caution, I plan to run them through a Hornady 6.5mm neck sizer before they hit the .257 FL die.
Success?Quote:
Originally Posted by nicholst55
I have necked the .270 down to .257, but haven't found the appropriate powder to load it yet. And then when I was sorting through some of my 'stuff,' I discovered a bag of virgin Norma .257 Wby Mag brass!
Roberson Cartridge Co … 257’s for sale …
https://www.rccbrass.com/product/257-weatherby-magnum/ 5 bucks and change per case
They must be gold plated, for that price.Quote:
Originally Posted by John Boy
Shooting and reloading calibers rarely sold can sometimes get expensive…
But as they say, if one wants to dance, they have to pay the piper
6 bucks and twelve cents today! .......... Inflation you know!
Three44s
Hope you started low on the powder charges when using other than Norma/Weatherby cases.
I’ve found that with my rifle and reformed Remington 7mmMag brass that I had to drop charges 3-4gr or close to 5% due to reduced capacity.
I bought several boxes of Norma 100gr factory loads back when they were less expensive than New Unfired Weatherby brass! ~$33.00/20. Good, ACCURATE loads @3,400fps from my Vanguard 24”bbl.
I also have a couple of pieces of reformed .270 and 7mm Weatherby mag brass. Just ran them through the dies...
For excellent inexpensive powders, go to gi-brass.com. Jeff has pulled down .50BMG and 20mm powders that work excellent in the .257Roy (Roy Weatherby ��).
I’ve been using WC860 since buying 16lbs in 2005! Still on 1st 8lb keg. But getting low...