.257 Weatherby Magnum

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The .257 Weatherby Magnum was introduced as a wildcat during the mid 1940s when Roy Weatherby was building custom rifles around war surplus '03 Springfield and the '98 Mauser actions. It was always his favorite cartridge.

The .257 Weatherby Magnum cartridge case itself a shortened version of the 300 H&H magnum case necked down to .257 caliber and blown out the full length of the case which then sports a double radius shoulder and 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, sending a 75 grain bullet out the muzzle at 3,900 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. It is perfectly adapted for mountain and plains hunting where very long range shooting is expected. A high quality, high magnification telescopic sight is a must for such shooting.

On the other hand, it is very poorly adapted for brush, heavy timber or close range shooting. Telescopic sights are very clumsy for such shooting, the light bullets will easily deflect and shatter if they hit a leaf or twig, and a hit on a game animal at close range with this cartridge will destroy much edible meat due to the projectile's high velocity.