Re: Rem 700 /257 Weatherby Loads
I found with the Weatherby rounds that you need to seat bullets deep and they need to 'make the jump'. Two reasons. First, you increase your velocity because you increase the initial pressure and the bullet gets a run at the lands. Second, it keeps the bullet truer during initial push to the lands than hanging it out close to them. You are never going to even get close to the lands in a properly throated Weatherby. So don't try it. Just load the bullet to make the jump.
Another thing I found, and this shouldn't appear to be your issue, is I had thinner jacketed bullets coming apart in flight between 100-200 yds. I thought I got a total POS at first. Until I realized Sierra's, Hornady's and Berger bullets were all coming apart. Nosler's held together and gave me great groups. I never tried the Barnes, but they should be along the same lines as Nosler, as they are a tougher bullet. I'm not saying you can only use Noslers. Just that they were tough enough to hold together in the high-velocity/high rotational forces through that rifle. Which all .257 Wby's inherently have.
I actually had a great load of VV N150 behind a 110 Accubond/115 BT. I don't have it handy, but I believe I worked it up to 63 gr. of VV N150. H4831 should be a pretty good powder for that as well.
<span style="color: #3333FF">Edit:
FWIW, the Weatherby concept/system is not an inherently accurate one. All they still guarantee is 1.5" new. They don't expect it to get any better. Once in a while you'll get a true 'shooter'. Mine was a custom and when the loads were right would shoot 5 shot groups of around 1/2". That isn't the norm for that system. All they expect is hyper-velocities @ normal hunting ranges. For this reason, an off the shelf Weatherby cartridge isn't necessarily a good choice for long range hunting. If you were capable of getting a handload to give you the kind of accuracy necessary for long range hunting then by all means use one. But, I wouldn't purchase one based on that being a need for the rifle.</span>
