257 Roberts for deer/elk?

[GSSP]

It would be a rare item for me to have a gun just "because". My firearms all have purposes. Both my 257 Roberts are hunters. I, my son and step son have taken numerous mule deer and a cow elk with my custom Pre 64 m70 in the Bob. My neighbor has property right up against the mountain behind our house and he is issued mitigation tags both both does and cows. I usually get to harvest one or both, doe/cow, each winter. With that said, I want to move my 257 Roberts into the cast boolit realm. What sort of limitations should I place on myself with cast?

Appreciate the advice.

Alan

[Tatume]

With the speed limitation on accuracy that usually comes with cast bullets, it makes sense to use the heaviest bullet that will work through your action. You can probably run them fast enough to get some expansion if your alloy isn't too hard.

[Smoke4320]

I would place no limitations on yourself.. let the rifle tell you want it likes ..
do a pound cast, find a bullet about 10 to 20% heavier than the jacketed you are shooting now.
Start with a load at approx. 1900 PFS and move up as rifle, alloy, and accuracy allows

[MT Gianni]

Many have placed personal restrictions on the minimum size used on game with cast. For me with deer it is 7mm, for some others 6.5, most tend to use 30. At some point the meplate gets too small to effectively disperse tissue. For me that is somewhere around 0.21"-0.23". That doesn't leave much taper in a 0.257" bore. For Elk I think 0.330 is probably the minimum caliber, 200+ gr weight and 0.300 meplate.
I like the Bob as a game rifle with jacketed and heavy bullets. I can't see that with cast. Maybe someone has coatings down well enough to get good accuracy, expansion and velocity with it but I know for me, my 243 limit with cast is an animal I will not eat such as a fox or coyote.

[Hamish]

Well said Gianni.

[white eagle]

I take mine even farther and only cast for
358 and above but that is just the way I do it

[ole_270]

While the 257 Roberts is my favorite deer/antelope rifle using jacketed ammo, I would'nt want to tackle elk with it using cast. Without going to paper patch or the more critical techniques needed to get cast velocities above 2200 fps, you just loose too much velocity. Could it be done? Sure, but not what I would want for normal hunting.