do any of you shoot the 257 ackle robrets
I just bought one in a winchester 70 featherwight and I love it any tips on loading for it I will yous it for deer and varments

I have a 257AI Ruger M77 old style, I had a litlle problem with it at the beginning always being just a hair over MOA. After changing powders and seating depth it came in fine. It is my go to gun for these westerm Maryland mountains. It drops deer dead and is a real pleasure to shoot.

A good stater is here in the reloading pages and also the Nosler Manual. Noslers accuracy load of 50 grns of IMR 4350 behind a 100 grn bullet is very accurate for me.

Brian, I have been shooting the .257 AI for about 17 years now. The best performance has been with the 115 - 120 grain weights. The slower powders at maximum seem to give the best accuracy in my rifle. The 100 grain bullet does love IMR 4350, but 47 grains is my accuracy load. Not as fast as possible, but a 1 holer. This is one terribly underated cartridge by folks which only shoot factory fodder. It's leathality and user friendliness are amazing to behold. Welcome to the 1/4 bore world, good shooting. PS, used the 110 Nosler accubond at 3,000 ft/sec's this Fall to take a nice whitetail, and was very pleased with the results.

thanks for the reply guys

Brian

I have a Mexican Mauser barrelled in 257 Ack and absolutely love it, it is the easiest shooting rifle I have.
My accuracy load is a minimum load of IMR 4350 with a 100 gr Bal-Tip from the Nosler Manual. I built it for my son to use in a couple of years but I think he might have to find his own.

Steve E.........

My best loads are for 117 and 120 Sierra Game King and 120 Nosler Partitions

all Winchester cases, seat close to lands, 4 shot groups
120 SGK, 47.5 RL19 F210 or F210M------> .7-1.0
117 SGK 51.0 H4831 CCI 200-----> .6-.9
120 NP, 47.5 RL19 F210-------> .7 to 1.1

100 NBT, 49.0 IMR4350 F210---->.8 to 1.1

These loads were 4 shot averages and 4 strings to get High/Low with one string culled. The worst I had with any of the above was 1.3 and the culls were usually a called 'screw up'

Have an older M70 that I rebarreled to .257 AI with a factory taper 24" HART bbl. I've extensively tested 115's and 120's but both are more than accurate enough for deer/antelope at any reasonable range. Neat thing is my fireform load which is quite light is accurate too. So my wife enjoyed shooting gophers with my FF loads yet got some good experieicne handling the rifle.

I've tried Reloader 19, IMR 4350 and some old Hodgon 4831. It ALL shot well. With Rl19 and 4350 the better choices.

Using the current Nosler Manual the loads seem on the conservative side. I was able to exceed those loads without any signs of excessive pressure.

Ended up with 115 Nosler BT's at 2950 fps with 50.0 gr Reloader 19, RP case and FC210 primer for a deer/antelope load. This is HIGH if You go by the Nosler data but I've had no problems in MY RIFLE.


Also tried some std old Sierra and Hornady 100-117 gr slugs. ALL of them were accurate enough for hunting and the 117 Hornady's REALLY showed promise. They exhibited fine acuracy as well as good velocity.

Seems to be easy to make the .257 AI perform. I like it as a deer/antelope round but did shoot a wounded cow elk with a 115 BT in a pinch.... it worked fine.

FN in MT