Second thoughts on the 257WSM

groundhog devastation

I'm thinking of just using the super barrel and building another 25-06! The barrel checks out superbly for Match Quality and from my posts you all know that the 25-06 would be the one gun I'd have if I could only have one! So why not honor Mr. Neidner and create a superb rifle in his caliber? Sorry for all the wonderings of how the 257WSM would turn out but shot 2 rifles today...A 300Win.Mag and a 300WSM turned out of the same tools and machines I'll use and one thing became perfectly clear! BOTH OF THEM BEAT THE HELL OUT OF YOU, AND THERE WAS NOT MUCH DIFFERENCE IN THE ACCURACY!! .442 VS .453! I think statiticians woud say "that's not a significant difference." How much will I gain with the 257WSM? I already know what the 25-06 will do and it's all I need for the chosen jobs it will be assigned to. The gun writers that write the stuff we read probably have never seen the work that goes into a quality rifle. I would be willing to bet that some of them have never shot what they write about!! If my 17 only shot as good as what the last article I read about it said, I wouldn't be so pleased with it!! GHD

Rafter-S

Isn't it funny how, after all the chestbeating and fanfare, we keep going back to the old standby's--25-06, .270, and 30-06. They've been around for a long time for a reason: because they are darn good.

If it weren't for all these newfangled calibers, gun magazine writers would be out of a job, and magazines would be hard to sell. Furthermore, I think you are right-on about the writers not having the experience they write about. Most are writers, not shooters.

My humble opinion,
Rafter-S

BoltactionMan

GHD,
Stick with .25-06, like you said it is a known product.

Rafter,
You are correct, the reason we keep coming back to the "old timey" calibers is the fact that they work, have worked for a long time, and will continue to work for an even longer time.

I drool for new guns and calibers as much as anybody, but when you boil it down, they do little if any, more than what we already have.

KC

JustC

There is an advantage, however, those who don't handload or shoot lots of ammo in competition give little reguard to it. The new short mags produce the same results as their longer siblings, but with LESS POWDER. Other than that, .........

A great rifle with a junk scope,....is junk.

cowdoc

what i wonder about is, could you push a heavier bullet as fast or faster than a lighter bullet in the short mag cart vs the o6 cart without pressure problems therefore getting a outstanding BC for the bullet?
i understand your reasoning to use that good of a barrel for a proven cartidge.
by the way i got my hart barrel while back just got it to the smith couple days ago, he is going to true it and ect ect .....got an inch of rain while chopping corn so had time to get it to the smith .....i cant wait to get it back and see what it will do :-)
it is a 300 win mag.
doc

25-06

GHD, keep us posted on the results. I guess I am getting old and jaded. I think this new short magnum craze is just another ploy for the manufactures to sell more new guns. After all, they have to do something to keep the dollars rolling in. I never was sold on the idea of short actions anyway. How much weight can you save with a 1/2" shorter action. They brag about this and then hang a 24" sporter weight barrel on the short action. Duh!! A look at the new loading manuals show that they are not getting the velocities they are bragging about and I have heard that the short fat cases cause many headaches with feeding problems. I think I'll keep my M70 300 Win Mag that shoots 180 gr. Nosler partitions into 3 shot clusters at an actual 3190 fps out of its 26" barrel. Good Luck on your project. By the way, have you ever thought about a longer than normal barrel. I have a 25-06 with a 28" barrel and can get a little over 3500 fps out of it with a 100 gr. bullet.