In 1944, Roy Weatherby was spending a lot of time in his basement designing new cartridges which, unbeknownst to him, were about to become serious contenders in the budding Magnum craze.

Although Roy’s refrain could be summarized as “speed kills,” one could also suggest he believed confidently that “speed sells.” As we see the .270 and .300 Magnums are as popular as ever today, it’s no secret that his personal favorite, of all the cartridges to bear the Weatherby name, was the .257 Weatherby Magnum.

Ken Waters, a well-established gun writer and respected ballistician in his time, once wrote of the .257 Weatherby Magnum: “It does at 400 yards what the .257 Roberts does at 200 yards!” While disconcerted due to the barrel-burning effects of overbore and suffering — originally, at least — from the slowish twist of 1-12 inches, it would seem the .257 should’ve been less successful, but it’s been the exact opposite. Its mild recoil and laser-like trajectory have endeared it to novice and veteran shooters alike. Just to prove that he could, Roy himself used a .257 Weatherby Magnum to kill a Cape buffalo, a potentially dangerous stunt to be sure.

The allure of fast-moving, flat-shooting smallbore cartridges was pivotal in the time period of cartridge development known as the “Magnum craze” of the 1940s and ‘50s. The .257 Weatherby Magnum, as well as other similar cartridges, quickly found favor in the hands of Western deer and antelope hunters.

After Weatherby increased their standard twist rate to 1-10 inches from the previous 1-12, .257 Magnum shooters could load with premium bullets like the Barnes X or Nosler Partition. They discovered that, loaded thusly, their favorite antelope rifle also made a dandy elk rifle.

When the Nosler Accubond was introduced in 2003, a .257 caliber 110 grain bullet was included in the lineup. I know of one young huntress who killed her first Alaskan moose in 2005 with one shot from her .257 Weatherby Magnum flinging that exact bullet. Maybe it’s a stretch to consider anything .25 caliber as an ideal moose caliber, but it did the trick!

These days, high b.c. bullets of 130 grains are being made in .257 caliber, just right for the “long-range craze.” But as seen with the original slow-twist Weatherbys, you’ll need an even faster twist of 1-7.5 or 1-8 to take advantage of these new designs. It is my guess that, in the near future, rifles chambered in .25-06 and .257 Weatherby Magnum will likely come standard with fast-twist barrels. Until then, we’ll have to be content with regular hunting bullets or get a custom barrel.

Don’t get me wrong — you can do a lot with regular hunting bullets in a standard twist-rate barrel. Loaded up with any premium bullet of at least 100 grains, your trajectory will mirror that of the large-case .22’s yet be packing a lot more punch when it gets there.

Is buying or building a .257 Weatherby Magnum going to change your life? Probably not, but it will be one more reason to get to the range and out into the field. And that, folks, is reason enough to give it a try.

Do you shoot a .257 Weatherby Magnum? Write to us at shootingthebreezebme@gmail.com and check us out on Facebook!