Reloading .257 WBY

[BOSSGobbler]

I acquired a .257 WBY barrel for my Blaser and began reloading for it a few months back. I bought Norma brass. I have around 4 firings on the brass. I curious how many firing others typically get from .257 WBY brass. I anneal after every firing with AMP annealer. Today for the first time I have crushed the neck of the brass while attempting to seat the bullet. After 2 in a row, I ran the mandrel thru the brass and used a touch of dry lube on the bullets but still am getting crushed necks??? Is the brass just to weak now to do a bullet seating?

 

[MCB]

I had similar problems with my 7mm and 300 Weatherby brass. I have used both norma and hornady brass and had that happen. I get at least 4 when I use petersen brass, but that is 2x as expensive as tthe others. I now just get rid of the brass after a 3rd use. Just by experience.

 

[BOSSGobbler]

I had similar problems with my 7mm and 300 Weatherby brass. I have used both norma and hornady brass and had that happen. I get at least 4 when I use petersen brass, but that is 2x as expensive as tthe others. I now just get rid of the brass after a 3rd use. Just by experience.

Thanks for the reply and info. I had my suspicions but needed validation of my suspicion. I am guessing due to the sharp shoulder? I have a .300 WSM I loaded Barnes factory brass and have 9-10 firings and still going. Disappointed to find my .257 brass won't last as long. Have you tried Weatherby brass or just Peterson?

 

[deewayne2003]

I believe weatherby brass is made by Norma.

You should be getting more than 4 firings from your brass, are you sure your not getting the brass too hot during annealing?

I ask because I was getting at least 6 from mine and that was without annealing.

 

[BOSSGobbler]

I believe weatherby brass is made by Norma.

You should be getting more than 4 firings from your brass, are you sure your not getting the brass too hot during annealing?

I ask because I was getting at least 6 from mine and that was without annealing.

The AMP system is supposed to eliminate overheating. Optimally, resetting the brass to good condition. If you are not familiar, you sacrifice a piece of brass to analyze the correct setting to use and use it to anneal. I have only used 50 pieces thus far so all from the same lot.

 

[Rifleman97]

I acquired a .257 WBY barrel for my Blaser and began reloading for it a few months back. I bought Norma brass. I have around 4 firings on the brass. I curious how many firing others typically get from .257 WBY brass. I anneal after every firing with AMP annealer. Today for the first time I have crushed the neck of the brass while attempting to seat the bullet. After 2 in a row, I ran the mandrel thru the brass and used a touch of dry lube on the bullets but still am getting crushed necks??? Is the brass just to weak now to do a bullet seating?

I reload a lot of 257 weatherby. I usually get 8-10 firings out of weatherby/norma brass, and 10-15 firings out of peterson brass. Usually due to primer pockets loosening although sometimes after firing the necks crack. If you're curious, peterson will be coming out with 257 brass very soon, but they've had 270 weatherby brass for a couple years now, I use that and just size it before the first loading, and anneal every other loading after that. As for brass life, I load a bit more conservatively than a lot of others in order to get longer brass life. Some people run 3800fps+ with the 100gr ttsx, I run 3650. Plenty fast but way longer case life.

4 firings is very low for the brass to be that weak, I would measure the neck diameter after sizing and compare to new brass. If the brass was "weak" it would've been fixed from annealing. If the brass was stretching excessively then you would notice you've had to trim a lot more than normal for reloading. Are you using flat base or boattail bullets? And are you chamfering the necks heavily? I find I need to use a steeper chamfer angle for flat base and really chamfer the inside edge quite a bit to get a good seating.

Some pictures would be nice to reference as well to assist in finding the issue.

 

[Rifleman97]

I had similar problems with my 7mm and 300 Weatherby brass. I have used both norma and hornady brass and had that happen. I get at least 4 when I use petersen brass, but that is 2x as expensive as tthe others. I now just get rid of the brass after a 3rd use. Just by experience.

Peterson brass on midway is only 50 cents more per piece of brass. I mean sure it adds up but it's nowhere near double the price. If you get so few loadings are you sure you're not over pressure? Weatherby's are really good at hiding pressure signs with the double radius shoulder and fed 215 primers don't crater very easily

 

[BOSSGobbler]

I reload a lot of 257 weatherby. I usually get 8-10 firings out of weatherby/norma brass, and 10-15 firings out of peterson brass. Usually due to primer pockets loosening although sometimes after firing the necks crack. If you're curious, peterson will be coming out with 257 brass very soon, but they've had 270 weatherby brass for a couple years now, I use that and just size it before the first loading, and anneal every other loading after that. As for brass life, I load a bit more conservatively than a lot of others in order to get longer brass life. Some people run 3800fps+ with the 100gr ttsx, I run 3650. Plenty fast but way longer case life.

4 firings is very low for the brass to be that weak, I would measure the neck diameter after sizing and compare to new brass. If the brass was "weak" it would've been fixed from annealing. If the brass was stretching excessively then you would notice you've had to trim a lot more than normal for reloading. Are you using flat base or boattail bullets? And are you chamfering the necks heavily? I find I need to use a steeper chamfer angle for flat base and really chamfer the inside edge quite a bit to get a good seating.

Some pictures would be nice to reference as well to assist in finding the issue.

Now that you say that, I use henderson tool that does trim chamfer and deburr all at once but I recall this batch didn't need much trimming. I also run tame loads with 3100 FPS 100 gr TTSX bullets. I will try hand chamfer and see if that helps and I am betting it will.

Thank you.

 

[Rifleman97]

Now that you say that, I use henderson tool that does trim chamfer and deburr all at once but I recall this batch didn't need much trimming. I also run tame loads with 3100 FPS 100 gr TTSX bullets. I will try hand chamfer and see if that helps and I am betting it will.

Thank you.

3100fps out of a weatherby? That is REALLY mild wow! Threw some numbers into GRT and to get 3100 fps out of a 257 weatherby with N560 you would only be reaching a pressure of 43,000 PSI, about 20,000 PSI short of saami spec. You don't need to share specific load data but what are you loading it down that much for? And with what powder are you getting good case fill with that low of a pressure?

 

[JimP]

I'm getting 3300 fps with 100 grain TTSX out of my 25-06 and that isn't even a max load.

On the cases, check the neck wall thickness

 

[BOSSGobbler]

3100fps out of a weatherby? That is REALLY mild wow! Threw some numbers into GRT and to get 3100 fps out of a 257 weatherby with N560 you would only be reaching a pressure of 43,000 PSI, about 20,000 PSI short of saami spec. You don't need to share specific load data but what are you loading it down that much for? And with what powder are you getting good case fill with that low of a pressure?

Rifleman I am using 67.0 gr of N570. I was looking for a bullet /load that wouldn't put such a big hole in a trophy hide and still shoot accurate to 200 yds. I did rechamfer the brass and the bullets dont catch and slide right in. I may have to adjust the Henderson tool for the .25 cal.
thanks again

 

[Rifleman97]

Rifleman I am using 67.0 gr of N570. I was looking for a bullet /load that wouldn't put such a big hole in a trophy hide and still shoot accurate to 200 yds. I did rechamfer the brass and the bullets dont catch and slide right in. I may have to adjust the Henderson tool for the .25 cal.
thanks again

Good choice of powder, glad I could help! The bands on the TTSX seem to need extra deep chamfers in my experience.