I have a 22-250 and a 7mm PRC I love. I like flat shooting rifles.

Would you buy a 25-06 or 257 Weatherby or maybe a different caliber like a 6.5 PRC to fit in between the two I already have?

Please tell me why you would do what you suggest.

I'm all ears.

30-06

I have 2 25.06’s and love the round. Light recoil and is wicked on deer and pigs, and aoudad as I found out a couple months ago.

I'd go .257 Weatherby. That's what my wife shoots and very flat shooting and manageable recoil. She shoots it well and loves it.
I saw her smoke an antelope at 400 yards and it piled up like a rag doll.

This one.

6.5-300 weatherby. Some will pile on against me on that, most of them would also say no to 257 weatherby and 25-06, And probably recommend 7mm-08 or something.

They are gonna tell you it is over bore, barrel burner, hard to load for, etc and it is all probably very true. But 6.5-300 shoots as flat as a 257 weatherby inside 500 and beats the crap out of it past that. And beats almost everything in the wind.

I had a .257 wby in an Accumark that I liked very much.

My opinion on it, is a bit different than a lot of folks. Very flat shooting round, without a ton of recoil. Mine was extremely pleasant to shoot. Costs about $5 every time you pull the trigger.

It’s not quite the hammer that people make it out to be, I shot two mule deer, two aoudad, a bull elk plus a few whitetail with it. It made the whitetails fold up, the other stuff not so much. Both aoudad and one mule deer, plus the elk took multiple shots in the kill zone. None ran far, but the fact they were still up on their feet had me a bit perplexed, with the exception of the elk; they are big and you kind of expect that.

They are flat shooting but still fall within a few inches of most other rounds at normal hunting distances, so the flat shooting part is a bit of a non issue.

What I found was that it didn’t kill any better than my .270, so I sold it off when I got my .300 win in a very similar rifle.


My end take is that it’s a cool round but there is nothing magic about it. I would go 6.5 prc in a modern build.

As HWY_MAN says, “yes a Weatherby kills the deader.”

I love the 257wby.

It would be a nice fit between those two

.264 Win Mag

A .25 makes sense for sliding some kinda "tweener" in there. Personally, I'd go with .25-06 for my own reasons, but the .257 is wicked, wicked, wicked.

Roy Weatherby's favorite cartridge gets my vote here. 257 WBY

257 Bee!

You better be a reloader. A nephew bought one, not knowing much about rifles and then got the ammo cost shock. He calls me to whine about it, and I think it was a hint to get me to reload for that poor boy. Well, he lives in Austin, is liberal, and drives a Tesla. He can buy his own ammo at $5 a shot.

I have both and have killed a fair amount of stuff with both. Countless deer, hogs, and a few coyotes between 3 25-06’s most of everything fell where it was shot, nothing has went more than 30 yards. The 257 weatherby has accounted for 3 whitetails. Two of which folded up and one ran about 40 yards (heart shot), it’s also taken three aoudad, one hard quartering towards me at roughly 125 yards, she ran about 30 yards and piled up, the other two were at 200 and 250 one quartering hard away and one perfectly broadside both of those were dead before they hit the ground. I like them both equally, I shoot 120 grain partitions out of the 257 weatherby and 100 sierra pro hunters or 117 grain sierra game kings.

If I had to pick one one or the other I’d go with the 25-06, lot more factory ammo available as well as factory rifle choices. Glad I don’t have to pick though, you’ll love either one

Owned both, sold the 25-06, really like the 257.

I started with a 25-06. Loved it and shot it for a while. Then went to 257 Weatherby and 25-06. Sold them both then had to buy another 257. Either one will work. I wouldn’t feel bad about owning either. If ammo is a concern then 25-06 gets the nod.

I am playing with a 25 PRC right now with a 1/8 twist shooting 134gr bullets and it’s been shooting really well but I haven’t pushed it very hard yet.
Been running N565 powder and I am about 1.5gr below what others have said are Max in their rifles and my velocity has been 3025 fps from a 22 inch barrel.
Talk about bucking wind with a G7 of .315 it does that pretty well.

Thanks everyone! Right now I'm still undecided. I don't reload. I'm just a hunter though so ammo is not going to cost me a lot either way. To get a 257 now I can only find it in Weatherby and I don't like Monte Carlo stocks because I'm a lefty. I shoot all right handed guns, I just don't like stocks with a cheek hump. Leaning more towards a 25-06.

I do like the Weatherby's and the 257 is my favorite. If you like fast (And I do) the 257 delivers and is a blast to handload for. I can run 87 grain bullets over 3800 fps or 120's around 3350, swings a pretty broad brush. When it comes to elk size critters I'd probably carry a little more gun, but if it's all I had I certainly wouldn't feel under gunned.

When you looked back at when it was developed and why, you get a better idea of how much of a game changer it was. His was a simple concept, get the bullet there as quick as possible. Optic's back then were prehistoric to todays scopes and wind and elevation was simply guessing, the speed it develops helped remove some of the guess work.

Weatherby makes left handed rifles. I’m left handed my Accumark and ultralight are weatherby rifles

Yep, but out of my price range now. I am income challenged. LOL

I had a .257wby, used for a season and then sold it to fund something else. Dad absolutely loved his .257wby and it's now my "go to" rifle. However, if you don't reload or have a buddy that will load for you it's expensive. I haven't "actively" looked for 25-06 ammo but don't really remembering seeing much at Scheels or Academy. You could always work with Chad at Dallas Reloads and buy enough ammo the gun likes to last you several years.

You have a small, you have a large, you need a medium.

6.5 Creedmoor
7mm-08
7mm-08 A.I
.308

^^One of those.

X2 on Dallas reloads. I have lots of brass thats on it’s 4th reload. When Im at 150-200 spent, I box up& send. He reloads for a fraction of new.

OP I have owned both. 25-06 was probably the best TX WT caliber until Hornady popularized the 6.5 CM and people rediscovered the 7-08 .

I think everyone should own one or the other. The only down size to those two qtr bores is if you want a shorter barrel to run suppressed, it kills the velocity on the lower BC 100-117gr bullets. they 25/o6 snd 257wby are 26” barrel calibers

if you want a shorter suppressed and dont reload go 6.5 CM if you do go 7/08 ai

my 257 wby is close to needing a new barrel, I not even sure how many animals its killed but its triple digits easily = oryx, elk, aoudad, mule deer, WT, pronghorns, hogs, axis, yotes, etc. Doesnt discriminate.

I've got a 240, 2-257's and 2-300's, if I ever run into a 6.5-300 I'm pretty sure I'd have to add it to the list.

Let me add that if I ever get one it won't have a 1-8 twist 1-10 minimum, which means I'll probably have to build it. 125's is the heaviest bullet I'd shoot through it with 100's and lighter being the norm.