.257 Roberts and...

[Marlin Junky]

How well does the following boolit shoot from the .257?

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/443611/rcbs-2-cavity-cowboy-bullet-mold-25-85-cm-25-caliber-258-diameter-85-grain-flat-nose#ReviewHeader

Can I exceed 22LR performance out to 100 yards? By that, I mean can I successfully snipe winged and smaller four-legged poachers from my groves out to 100 yards or so? For distances beyond that and larger varmints and predators (skunks, porcupines, coyotes, etc.) how will RCBS 257-120 perform? I know my '06 will handle any varmint job on my property, but I'd like to try something a bit more conservative on a short action without going too small and/or using expensive copper-patched varmint bullets in .224 caliber. I don't own a 22LR that I would bet on pass about 50 yards and given the ammo shortage, I need to hang onto my CCI hollow points.

Thanks for your input...
MJ

[Newtire]

The .257-120 on top of 19.0 grains of SR 4759 will get you around 1800-1900 FPS and just over an inch grouping. Your results may vary. I have used that little 85 grain RCBS in my .256 Win Mag. but nothing else. If you can get a .244 sizer die for your lubrisizer and run the boolit down into it just far enough to make a gas check shank onto it, you can then use a .264 gas check seated onto the shank thru your .258 sizing die. It makes a nice little plinker. I got this info from an article by our own Beagle in the castpics section of our site. Here's the link.

http://www.castpics.net/subsite2/ByCaliber/For%20257312%20Lovers.pdf

[beagle]

The 25-85 RCBS does all right out of the Roberts at around 1600-1700. With the Lyman 257312, you can get up around 2,000 FPS and I use a bunch of 'em as blackbird plinkers in the HP version.

I shoot a 25-100-FNHP and a 25-120-SPHP at a little over 2,000 FPS. The 25-100-SP is far the winner in my experiences. I'm shooting an old M722 and I love it.

Maybe a PB GC on the 25-85 would help. I have swaged the shank and used a 6.5mm GC on it with good results./beagle