Cast bullit sugestions .257 Roberts

[DIRT Farmer]

:mrgreen::mrgreen: I picked up a Mdl. 70 featherweight in .257 Roberts fo my granddaughters to hunt with. One , the younger will shoot anything you put in her hands, the older one is a little recoil shy. The idea is a load that will let her learn to shoot and when deer hunting, put a load in that will kill a deer. I think the .257 might lack frontal area for a good cast hunting load.

I have no experince with the cartridge. I have looked at the RCBS 120 gn bullet and the Lyman 85 gn. Any ideas which would group better? No I havent sluged the barrel yet but the gun although it was used, dosen't show any wear.

The loads I have in mind would work with plain base, but in a trade several years ago I got a pint jar almost full of 25 CGs. I thought they were .22s and never found any one who wanted them on trade day. Solution buy a gun, mould and shoot them up before they go bad.

Ideas anyone?

[koehn,jim]

I dont know about 257 roberts but I use the hornady jacket 100 grain in a 25-06 and it is quite accurate. Hope that helps for cast i use an 80 grain with gas check.

[beagle]

Both the 85 grain Lyman 257312 and the RCBS 257-120-SP shoot well in my old M722 "Bob". The heavier bullet is perhaps the most useful but the lighter bullet is great for paper punching and I have taken out a few blackbirds with it./beagle

[HABCAN]

Fave load in daughter's .257R Remington 700 Classic:
RCBS .257-120-SP WDWW, GC, LLA
18.2 grs. IMR #4227
CCI #200.

She recently fired some ~1" groups from the bench @ 100 yds. and she's a rank beginner.

[shdwlkr]

Use a cast bullet in 118 grains from LBT and you have everything covered.
I do have cast bullet molds in 65 and 88 grains also if I want to load for target and vermin.
Don't know the powder loads off hand would have to go see if I can find them . Gosh I hate moving nothing is where you can find it.

[Johnch]

I have never tryed cast in my 257 AI or the 250 Savage
But , if you choise to go with a J bullet
I can recomend the Nosler 100 gr Balistic Tip for low recoil 150 yd deer harvesting
As both rifles have racked up several quick , clean kills with it

But I have never had to use it past 150 yds

For longer shots and faster loads the 115 gr truely shines in the 257 AI

John

[DIRT Farmer]

Thanks all, my son shoots a 25-06 so I will leave the modern, new and improved style to him. I'm liking the idea of a light load, low noise, low recoil. I have several ideas to work from now.

[35remington]

A friend has had good success loading the Roberts with the Remington 100 grain softpoint Core-Lokt to 2300 fps for woods range deer hunting with a reduced load of H4895. I was with Kaitlin in the deer stand when she shot her two bucks the first two years she went hunting. First shot was about fifty yards, heart shot, took a convulsive leap and dropped dead with half its heart shot away. Second was at about thirty yards, left a two inch entry and exit wound, buck dashed twenty yards and piled up.

I really couldn't tell the difference in their reaction as opposed to, say a full power '06 or 7mm magnum loads as far as killing effect. Honestly.

She is absolutely not afraid of the recoil of the gun and was a cool and deadly customer when shooting those bucks, which is exactly what she needed to be. Her dad was as proud as a dad could be.

Watching a youngster shoot her first deer is better than shooting them yourself, by far!

[DIRT Farmer]

35 Rem, amen to that. My daughter decided not to shoot when the oppertunity persented, now however, sends her sons out to hunt with me. My oldest son shot his first deer with a 50 M/L I built for him as we were walking to the stand. My youngest was on stand with my best friend when he shot his first deer. Both were great times. However the woods of Southern Indiana is a far site from Kansas where my granddaughters are hunting.

The girls will proabaly use jacketed for hunting but as I learned with my kids, if you shoot the rifle a lot, hunting loads become instenctive. and as I know from my experience, young carpenters with kids don't have a lot of money.

[AZ-Stew]

My old Rem 722 was bought used with a severely burnt out throat, but it shoots the Speer 100 gr Hot Core into an inch or so at 100. For kids, the trick is to avoid what all the gun writers do: try to turn it into a .25-06. If you need that much velocity, get the .25-06, otherwise, let the Roberts do what it does best: shoot 100 gr bullets at 2,800 fps. It's a sure deer killer with very mild recoil. An adult could shoot such loads all day and not feel the effects of recoil. I've hollowed out the stock on mine to reduce weight, but the recoil is still negligible. Since the throat is burnt out of mine, I've never tried to shoot cast from it. A chamber and throat cast shows the throat looking like dried mud, so I figure it will just lead up and throw boolits everywhere. One of these days I'll have to get it rebarreled. Sorry I can't help in that regard.

Regards,

Stew

[DIRT Farmer]

AZ-Stew, As I commented on the 45-70 thread, you con put more joy in the case than you need. I havn't seen to many of the big five in Southern Indiana, but know several who load for them. My oldest son shot his first deer with a 50 cal. M/L round ball and 35 grns of black powder. The range was short and it made a hole in both sides. I wonder why all of the wackem-stackem vedios need 150 grns of powder and a 300 grn sabo, to kill a deer.

[stephen perry]

Easy to talk about jacketed bullets you didn't make. I talk Cast and jacketed but prefer on Cast Boolits to talk Cast as much as possible.

I have a .257 Roberts in a Ruger rifle. I bought the SAECO 2 cavity haven't Cast it yet but I have simillar SAECO 6mm that I have Cast with. Nice molds but nothing special just as soon have an Ideal/ Lyman 257 464 or 257 306. Old numbers but they do show up occasionally.

I bought my .257 Ruger as a lightweight hunting rifle for Desert hunting where extra ounces have to be carried around. I have been working the Desert all year and the last 22 years. Temps outside Barstow have been 110-112 lately. I get along fine but if I'm packing in a pound saved is worth 2 miles without excess fatigue. Some of you gentlemen Yuppie hunters should try the Desert without your SUV 4 wheelers. Make you appreciate Jack Oconnor told everybody back in the 1930-1950's. Some magazine writers made a fortune retelling Oconnors hunting methods.

I would favor the 85 grn .257 bullets for hunting does, rabbits, and snake vermins. The 115-120 grn bullets for Mule deer especialy the Desert variety.

For powders you might try Unique, 2400, and 4198. Other powders but these work. Winchester brass and Winchester primers.

Scope, I have Leupold 6x now but several others in reserve.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR

[izzyjoe]

yeah, it seems that people get caugth up in magnumitis, even on front stuffers. just look at what daniel boone and crocket used. anyway i am think about building a mountain rifle myself in .257 robts. on a 98 action and keep it around 6lbs. but i was thinking the same thing, shooting boolits for target/hunting just as your thinking. so more power to ya.:cbpour:

[shdwlkr]

I have a 65, 88, and 118 grain molds for my 257 roberts will do everything I want to do with it.