.257WBY Weatherby brass - weird findings...

[Artist]

Curious as to anyone's experiences with Weatherby Brass. I'm shooting a .257WBY, and have until now, used PMC brass. With the PMC brass, I was able to neck-size only after 3-4 reloads, and only after that, would find it necessary to full-length size the brass again (the brass would become to tight to chamber properly).

I just loaded up some brand new Weatherby brass - same bullet - same load exactly, and after the first firing, the brass is tight - tight bolt lift - and unable to re-chamber properly. As well, primer-insertion on these is already much easier after the first firing. (Primer-pockets have obviously expanded) - not so with the PMC brass.

My conclusion is that the Weatherby brass must be much softer than the PMC - quite disappointing considering the price of the Weatherby brass.

Any thoughts or similar experiences with any of the Weatherby brass in magnum loads?

Anyone have any .257WBY PMC brass you want to part with?

[DaleJ]

Every load manual states to rework loads when changing components. Switching brass is a biggie. Hope you didn't wreck too many rounds of Weatherby brass. Case capacities vary, sometimes enough to cause extreme pressure problems.

[bobinthesky]

What Dale said...

It sounds as if your pressure has increased dramatically by changing brass.
These actions are so strong that you may overlook high pressure signs until you've gone far past the working limit of the cartridge. The upside is that I've never heard of anyone blowing up a MkV action, even on purpose!
That's assuming you have a MkV action.... if you have a Vanguard or Mauser action then you've been lucky. Not that they are a weak or a bad action, just that they are not in the same league for strength as the MkV.

[bulletman]

I have both Nosler and Weatherby brass for my Vanguard Stainless 2. I did all my initial test loads with the Nosler brass. I got 9 firings out of them. I haven't used the Weatherby brass to really find out how long it will last. The Nosler brass was very consistent, weight wise and was ready to load. One case had a bent neck, all the others were perfect.

[sillyak]

Weatherby brass is made by Norma, which is expensive and has a reputation to be quite soft. I rank it below Win and R-P, but above Fed and Hornady. I don't know why some people search it out.

That being said, it sounds like it's more than just soft brass here. It sounds like your Wby brass has less case capacity than your PMC brass making your new load over pressure. When you change any one component, you must rework your load.

[marxman]

Back off your loads if you have tight bolt lift and loose primer pockets its too hot. Weatherby brass works well within its limits i gave up neck sizing because i dont have time for chambering fiddlyness and it still gets lots of reloads. Maybe your weatherby brass load was also faster and the other brass is not better

[GWN]

I had pretty much the same experiences you have had using a brand-new box of Nosler 257 WBY brass. I worked all of my loads up from the Nosler manual starting at their recommended starting load and found that when I started getting close to their maximum loads the brass became increasingly tight to chamber.

I have been using a Dillo 550 progressive and received comments from another reloader indicating that a possible problem may be that the shell plate is not allowing the resizing die to come down far enough to properly resize the case. I started out neck resizing but as the brass started getting tight I went to full-length sizing but it did not appear to do anything.

I haven't checked this possibility yet but it is about the only thing that makes sense.

I have not had any problems with any other calibers or brands of brass using the 550, the only problem like this I have had is with the Nosler 257. It might be something to check with your equipment.

Good luck with it,

[qwert]

I suggest you compare the case volumes by weighing fired and unfired cases both empty and filled with water.

You can compare the neck wall thickness by seating similar bullets and measuring the resultant neck OD.