.257 Banshee

Mccurter, I watched a good friend build a 257 Banchee in the early 90's. He used a 30" Hart tube, his own custom reamer made for the 100g Bullets.

He was hard pressed to reach 4000 fps with this cartridge which was his goal with the 100g Bullet.

I had a reamer ground for a 257 Weatherby with a shortened neck made for 7 Mag brass that had been ran through the Full Lenght sizer on the 257 Weatherby(the 7 Mag brass ends up with about .050 less neck than a standard 257 Weatherby). I wanted to use Winchester 7 Mag brass because the Weatherby (Norma)brass is soft. I also had the reamer ground with zero freebore, 1 1/2* leade angle, .002 over loaded case dimension so that I would not have to turn necks.

I had a Pac Nor 3 groove, Ten twist barrel installed 26" long. First trip to the range, I was shooting the 100's at 3800-3850 using R#22, Fed 215's, and Nosler BT with the bullets touching. I let my buddy borrow the reamer and he put on a 30" hart barrel with a 12 twist, his first trip to the range he was shooting the 100g Sierra's at 4000 with the bullets toucing at 100 yards.

You may want to mull this idea over. You just use standard 257 Weatherby dies and Winchester brand of brass...saves you a bunch of bucks all the way around, plus you are shooting much less powder than the Banshee. I don't believe that you would see an advantage in the banshee until you went to the extremely heavy bullets that are 125+g in weight, and at the cost of 20g+ in powder charge.

Good luck!
 
Wow, 300-500fps faster that the .257 Wby with the 100gr. bullet. that is pretty amazing. Roughly how much R-22 are you using?
 
The load for my rifle with this custom chamber was 71.5g of R#22, bullet seated to touch lands. Work up to this load if you try it in your custom gun.

I know of 6 other custom 257 Weatherby's with zero freebore that shoot this same velocity with extreme accuracy.

I can't take credit for this idea, a gunsmith in San Diego let me shoot a Mauser that he had installed a Douglas Stainless match barrel on, 26" in length with zero freebore.

We killed a bunch of yotes that weekend along with a few of crows...glory, you out to see what a mess this cartridge makes of a yote...crows are just a PUFF!

My rifle had a Vias muzzle break installed, and you could see the instant the bullet impacted the animal, and the animal's reaction to the bullet impact.
 
There was a big writeup in Precision Shooting some years ago about the Banshee. It used a big hard-to-find case that held a lot of powder. I wouldn't mess with that one. Performance was about the same as a well-put-together .257Wby. Ackleyman is exactly right about what the .257Wby with a good chamber will do and how it'll equal the Banshee (and the .257STW) while using less powder. Mine does.....it's very effective on rockchucks. But still you wouldn't believe how many go rounds we've had with naysayer/non-believers who just know, even though they've never had the cartridge.

If you ever build a .257Wby, have your own reamer made. And then whatever you do, don't talk about it on the longrangehunting board. There's a self-styled big kahuna over there who'll jump all over you.....say your gun really isn't doing what it's doing or that you're way over safety limits and flirting with disaster. Also that his high performance .257's - modestly named after himself - are the ultimate and the only way to go.
 
I think it would be an interesting project, but I just wouldn't shoot it too much. Imagine that for a deer rifle!

I read the P.S. article at my friends house one day.

My friend told me he hunted 1000 yard rockchucks with a guy who was shooting a .257 Banshee. Don't know any details.

I looked into the aspects of building one, but the plan never took off. I can say I've heard real good things about the RWS brass, that is used to make the cases 6.5X68 RWS . And the fact its a beltless magnum is cool, and blown out shoulders.

Mccurter, You might get ahold of Dave Kiff at Pacific Tool and Gauge. He would probably be a good source of information on reamer specs.
 
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Over on accuratereloading.com you can contact Idahosharpshooter (Rich Kayser) the Banshee was his baby. He was writing for PS when several articles were written.
 
Flybuster, you mentioned that this combo would be very interesting for a deer rifle, yes sir! I worked up a load with 100g Nosler partitions at 3830 fps out of my 26" barrel shooting 1/2" groups which shocked the dickens out of me...must be that 3 groove Pac Nor barrel.

I was hunting a power line one day with the 257 Weatherby. A doe stepped out at 340 yards, I waited for her to turn broad side, and shot her right through the shoulders. 15 minutes later, another doe walks out and comes over to the first doe that is on the ground, I pop her and she fell on top of the first doe.

I sight in my 257 W 1/2" high at 200 and I am 3 1/2" low at 300. All I do is aim at a crow's head at 300 and he is a powder puff.

I have a custom 7 STW with zero freebore also, and it is very flat shooting. Nice thing about the 257 Weatherby with no freebore with a muzzle break is that there is no recoil. I saw the water vapor fly off those doe's hides when the bullet hit them, and the bullet hit the ground behind them after the bullet passed through the body. You instantly know where to hold over on your next shot if you need one due to range or wind...kinda neat!

I know of two guys in NC that hunt gas lines with the 257 with zero freebore and they shoot the 85g Nosler Combined tec bullet at 4130 fps. They say that they have killed a lot of deer with their rifles and have never had a deer move from it's tracks, DRT! They claim that the 85g CT bullet is much tougher than the 85g Ballistic tip. These same two guys used to shoot a 6.5/7mm Remington Mag ackley Improved with the 120's Match King going 3650-3700, but they claim that the 257 Wea with zero freebore is a better, deer just do not run off with the 257.
 
I remember those articles in the day. That was the time of Boyd Mace and Rich Kayser shooting RC's and PD's at long-range with the 240 Badger, 22 Valkyrie, and Rich's big 25. That was when PS was my favorite mag. Man i studied every word those guys wrote, They were my heros of LR varminting in those days. I'd get ahold of Rich if i were u. Bet he'd send u some fun-reading articles sir.
 
I have a Rem 700 in 257 STW with a little over 25" barrel on it that will get over 4000 with a 100 Nosler BT and RL 22 powder. I have shot a few deer with it, but could have done the same thing with a 25-06.
 
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And then whatever you do, don't talk about it on the longrangehunting board. There's a self-styled big kahuna over there who'll jump all over you.....say your gun really isn't doing what it's doing or that you're way over safety limits and flirting with disaster. Also that his high performance .257's - modestly named after himself - are the ultimate and the only way to go.



LOL! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I would do it just to get a rise outta the guy. But thats just me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
Wow, I just did a ballistics chart.. Shooting a 100 grain bullet with the B.C. of .395...Velocity 3950fps....Elevation 4000....Temp 59....Zero 300 yards....Using G1.

Your bullet drop at 400 yards is -5.8
500 yards is -15.5
600 yards is -29.8
700 yards is -49.5

At 600 yards the Banshee has 14.6" less drop than my 25-06 shooting the same bullet..Yeah the 25-06 will kill them just as dead though, just have to aim higher or dial up more. And account for more wind, because the time of flight is longer.
 
This is an old thread. I found it on a search. But I am hoping someone will pick up on it and reply. If not I will start a new one.
I have a .257 Weatherby with freebore. I have full length resized some R-P 7mm mag brass with a .257WBY FLS die. Looks great but the brass ends up about .050" shorter than the recommended trim length for .257 WBY after the FLS. Is there anything I should be worried about in that rifle firing loads with the short brass? Seems like I would get a lot more gas escaping around the bullet before it hits the lands. Should I expect more throat erosion? Or am I worrying about nothing? Thanks for your help.
 
Nothing I've ever seen or read would lead me to think that you'll have any major problem. Weatherby and Free Bore kind of go together. However, I think I'd tend to shoot the longer >115 grain slugs until the brass stretched a bit to be on the safe side.

I also wonder if a lubricating Case Filler like Pufflon
http://www.pufflon.com/
wouldn't reduce throat erosion in any of the over-bored cartridges--like the 220 Swift, 25-06, 257WBY. I just read their site as I found it again, and they make that claim. I haven't tried it in my 25-06 but I've thought about it.
 
From what I have read you might have some erosion and or fouling accumulate in the chamber void where the brass neck would normally extend. I have no personal experince with it.

I've also heard of rifles being chambered in 257 and 270 Wby. with shorter neck chambers to better utilize the Rem. 7mm brass.
 
A friend of mine in San Diego built a 257 Banshee. We all got a bug under our saddle to build some 25 Caliber hot rods. A fellow gunsmith of ours wanted to play. He had an old Mauser action, ordered a ss Douglas Barrel, el dirt cheapo Brown Precision stock (company had only been around for a year or two then) and a 257 Weatherby reamer with zero freebore. We all shot at the range together.

The friend with the 257 Banshee had a goal of shooting the 100's at 4000. He got his powder charge up to 96+g of some kind of powder thinking it was cool as heck. My gunsmith buddy, started off at 69.0g of R#22 with a fed 215 and got 3800 on the first shot. Working his way up to 71.5, he was shooting tiny groups at 3875-3900 out of the 26" barrel. Later on, another friend put a 30 inch, 1-12 Hart using my 257 Roy reamer and he is getting 4000+ shooting tiny, tiny groups with the Sierra 100's.

My friend with the 257 Banshee was mad as heck. He had ordered special German brass, 30" Kreiger barrel and the old 257 Roy was stomping his butt.

Well, we were all chomping at the bit to go hunting with the new 257 Roy with zero freebore. Off to Az. we go. First stand I have the rifle and a dog comes running in so fast that my buddy misses him with a shot gun. The dog, turns and runs straight away. I could hear my buddy swearing trying to get that pump to be an automatic. I gave the yote the old Texas heart shot, jeez! You could not believe the hair fly'en! That yote blew up just like shooing a paint ball on a brick wall!

As we passed the rifle around shooting yotes and crows...crows were really out that day, hanging up on the tops of the cactus at 300-350, All you had to do is aim at the crow's head and watch the feather's fly!

I had a serious talk with the gunsmith on the reamer design on the drive back home. He suggested that I neck down 7 Mag brass, send it to Pacific Precision with the instructions that Dave Kiff grind the reamer with zero freebore, .2575 throat, and add .003 to the bottom dimension of the neck on the 7 mag brass after it was necked down. I got her done, and 4 rifles later, it is one of the very finest long range blow'em up rifles that I have ever put together

100's at 3800-3850 with R#22 is normal with a 26" SS barrel and the 85's at 3100-3130 are typical with AA3100.

Only the 7 STW with zero freebore shooting the 120's at 3850-3900 will equal the flat shooting trajectory along with the BLOW UP factor that these fine cartridges give.

I gots to have the blow up factor.

It took less than 30 rounds to develop extremely accurate loads with both of these hot rods where groups were in the 1/3" area and below using Nosler BT's. When shooting these custom guns, two shot groups are all is needed, either the shots are in the same hole or you "ain't there yet" in your load development. Sighted in 1/2" high at 200, you have to really concentrate to not shoot over the top of something at 400 yards.

I kept in touch with my gunsmtith buddy in S.Deigo, he had a cult following of guys that had their guns chambered with that zero freebore 257 Weatherby reamer.

Good luck on your 25 Hot rod, they are sure fun in the field!
 
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