.257 Roberts

[Arisaka99]

A while back I posted about looking for a dual purpose deer/varmint rifle, and was told to look into .257 Roberts.

I got doing some research on it, but I figured I would ask people who have rifles chambered in it what they thought. I was originally considering a 25-06 or .243. I read that the .257 Bob is a good round, but it is limited by the weight of bullets available for it. Is this the case? What do y'all think? How does it perform on game? Tell me everything you can. Haha

[largom]

I think the Roberts is a great little caliber for anything up to White-Tail Deer.
I built mine on a mauser action and so far have only used it once which took a 6 point deer. Shot behind shoulder deer went 30 yds. and dropped. I also have the 25-06 and 243 and like them also.

Larry

[Mauser48]

I have a 257 Roberts in a remington 722. Great cartridge. Very easy to load for. If you are planning on getting factory ammo forget it. It's seasonal and very expensive. You can size brass from readily available 7x57 Mauser. That's what I'm experimenting with now. My friend has a 25-06. It's good but is a real barrel burner and uses more powder than needed. If you need that much power out of a 25 cal go to 270. Get the 257 you won't be disappointed. 243 is good also if you handload. If you do more varmint hunting but also deer I reccomend 6mm. Good luck and let us know what you choose!

[Arisaka99]

Will do. There are a lot of fields around here, but I will probably end up hunting wooded area. I am trying to find a place to hunt varmints and deer, but you gotta find out who owns the land before you can ask permission to hunt it. I was reading about the 6mm Rem too, its a 308 based round isn't it?

[CENTEX BILL]

257 Roberts is a great round. Bullet selection for the handloader is sufficent rangeing 75 gr to 120 gr. I shot my antelope this year with a Bob loaded with a 100 gr Barnes Triple X bullet. It performed flawless. I highly recommend it.

Bill

[atr]

I have a .257 Roberts in Rem722 and I think it is a great cartridge. IMO much better than a .243 for large deer sized game and it does well with lighter bullets on coyotes etc. It is very easy to load for and very easy to shoot accurately as recoil is not an issue. As Mauser48 mentioned (above) the 25-06 is really hard on barrels and burns a lot of powder, two things the .257 Roberts does not do.
It does well with cast, especially the 85gr plain base.
I looked a long time before I got my .257Roberts and would not even think of parting with it.

[birddog]

No the 6MM and the 257 roberts are both based on the 7X57 mauser case. I have a 257 Ackley Improved and would use it up to and including elk with the right bullet selection. The downfall to the quarter bore is indeed weight selection on bullets made by the masses. But don't cut it short, it has very good potential for bucking the cross winds better when shooting yotes on the open plains.
Charlie

[AnthonyB]

I have a Winchester M70 Featherweight in 257 Roberts and it will never leave. I have used published load data to reach almost 3000 fps with a 120 grain Partition. I would not hesitate to take it elk hunting should I ever get the chance.
Tony

[Three44s]

I can't add much but I did recently acquire a barrel set up for Savage bolt guns and chambered in .257 Roberts.

I have always wanted a gun in this caliber. I am a real fan of the .243's and 6mm's for hunting predators (excluding bears) but the lure and nostalgia of the Roberts cartridge has always drawn my curiousity.

Now, I have not loaded any J-words heavier than 100 gr. yet and am in fact working more with a 87 gr. spitzer for coyotes. I have read that the Roberts sometimes has a less desirable MO with bullets heavier than 100 gr.

I don't know about that claim.

It seems to me though that if deer can be harvested with a .243 Win. .......... a .257" 100 gr. slug ought to do the same. ......... Now if a Roberts would also handle a heavier bullet ........... that would be even better.

I am planning on trying cast in my Roberts and in fact have a .250-3000 Savage barrel "in the mail" which ought to make interesting work!

Three 44s

[CLAYPOOL]

My Ruger was loaded too conservately till I read some info from John Barnes and others. It came alive with Sierra 120 gr. boat tails and the book load of 35.5 grains of Imr 4064. Tighter at 36.0. Didn't go any farther as it make 3 touch @ 50 yards. I had tried all sorts of loads down in the books and didn't get up from low pressure. I alas went off into distant guns and other calibers. (Most of them are .25's.)
Now getting into the Super Mags. as I have more money as a retired Cow Boy and former state worker. Come by the range next summer.

[CLAYPOOL]

Those Rugers have a "FEEL" when you grip the stocks as a neat designed piece of wood. The throat in mine allows 3 inch and longer C.O.A.L. 's by the way.

[Mauser48]

I forgot to mention the rifle was my grandpas and he killed countless deer and 3 elk with it using factory 117 grain loads. Human good kills on the elk too. I loaded some 75 grain hornady hollow points with imr 4064 and it worked good. I would reccomend a remington 722 or a ruger m77. My friend has a remington 700 in 250 savage he rechambered to 257 rob and it works great. Plenty of options on rifles so find a nice one!

[DIRT Farmer]

I bought a Winchester 257 Roberts in a Mdl 70 featherweight for my grandaughters in Kansas. My first try with cast, the RCBS 120 and IMR 4227 was a great load for them to learn. I left it to my son to find the jacketed load which has worked great on deer and coyote. He uses a 25-06 as his rifle, the 25-06 has 200fps more and uses twice the powder. So far all deer shot with the 257 have died close to where they were shot. Coyotes are smacked flat and the one bobcat required a lot of quilting to sell.

[atr]

My .257Roberts best load is with the117gr Round Nose J's.....its very deadly on deer. If I want a slightly flatter trajectory I switch to a 120 spitzer.

[texassako]

My .257Roberts best load is with the117gr Round Nose J's.....its very deadly on deer. If I want a slightly flatter trajectory I switch to a 120 spitzer.

I helped my dad with his 257 Roberts. It would not shoot the heavier spitzers, but shot the 117gr round nose the best out of all we tried. They are getting hard to find; so I sold him my stash of them.

[Arisaka99]

So the general consensus is that it's a great dual purpose caliber with the commercially available and cast boolits as well? That is pretty much what I'm looking for. I just don't know a whole lot about the "more obscure" calibers.

[Three44s]

I guess I would not use the word "obscure" with the .257 Roberts but it certainly has been sadly eclipsed by the 6mm class. The Roberts was very popular for 30 years before the 6mm's even started and it took a bit of time for them to take over. So it had a pretty good run ....... and that's with the ammo companies not letting it live up to it's full potential.

I sure feel blessed after finally getting a barrel chambered in it and getting to know a true classic cartridge while I can still enjoy it for years to come.

Best regards

Three 44s

[shooter2]

I have a Ruger #1 in the .257 Roberts and it would be one of the last I would ever sell. Mine puts seven shots into a nice, tight, cluster. The ratio of bore to case capacity is near perfect and that makes it a very efficient cartridge (neither under-bore or over-bore). As bullet placement is key to a good kill I would not be reluctant to use it on Elk.

[upnorthwis]

Any time someone ask me what caliber to get I tell them .308 Win. Has a large bullet selection and it's always on the shelf. In my neck of the woods I haven't seen .257 Roberts on the shelf in a while.

[starmac]

I have always heard praise for the 257, and it is an interesting caliber, if it was going to be the only rifle I was going to own, it would not be the caliber I would pick.

While it is a cal, I think I would like, since I shoot left handed and they don't make any levers in it, and left handed bolt guns are not exactly behind every bush, it is not likely I ever buy one.