looking at getting a 257r for general small to medium game hunting, primarily vermin. what difference in preformance is there between the ruger hawkeye 22" bbl and their ultralight with 20" bbl, say using 75gr vmax and 80-90gr projectiles.?what powders do you advise for this round?

My buddies 257 rob. enjoys a steady diet of the 75gr.v-max up to the 117gr.bullets and he feeds his varget and win 748.

I dont have any load data to give you because I'm not home I'm at deer camp for a few more days.I'll be back day after tomorrow .I'll look up those loads for you.(get back to you on that)

As for a preformance difference between the two bbl,s. I believe they are both 1:10 twist. That having been said at short range -(100 yds.or closer),I would say no difference. Med. range -(100-250 yds.),again I would say no decernable difference. Beyond that ,I personaly,would opt for the 22" bbl. That 2" of extra barrel will make a slight difference at 300yds and beyond.

Just FYI my buddies rifle is an older Rger 77 with a 22" bbl. He has killed many groundhogs out to 375yds with those 75 gr v-max."Good bullet choice". He has also killed a few deer with it.but since he bought a M70 in 300WSM he doesnt use it on deer anymore.


"If winning isnt important... Why keep score?"

My Roberts likes IMR-4350 with 117 gr bullets and my gals Roberts likes IMR-4064 and 100 gr bullets, both of these have Ultra Light barrels mine is 23" hers is the Ruger 20" both are capable of groups under a half inch at 100 yards. So far I've not loaded anything lighter than 90 grain Sierra's ( these do great with IMR-4064) but I'm positive with those two powders I can get either one to shoot under an inch with just about any bullet. I prefer lightweight rifles so I would recommend the Ruger Ultra Light other people feel a heavier rifle is steadier for them, I don't so I'd rather pack around a little less weight and the light rifles point real fast.
Good luck with yours.

Hi CC,

I have a Remington M7MS in .257 Bob. 20" bbl.

Two loads to note:
Hornady 117 gr. SST "Light Magnum" Factory Load: 2800 fps (advertised at 2950 fps with a 26" bbl,).

Handload: 117 gr. SST, 42.0 gr. IMR 4350. 2730 fps.

What I can tell you is that just last week I took 2 deer, 1 250# hog (head shot), and 2 racoons with my Bob firing the 117 SST. The SST appears to have all the properties necessary to dispatch Deer and Vermin with equal aplomb.

IMO, I'd prefer a less fragmentable bullet for a Hog - a Partition for instance.



For the Bob, the traditional powder of choice is IMR 4350. I've heard on more than one occassion that if your Bob can't shoot a 100gr. Sierra GK over some IMR 4350, then you got a dud gun.

Personal experience has shown that the 4350/100gr. GK is a sub MOA load in my Bob.

Final thought: if I were doing it again, I'd probably just go with 100gr. bullets: a 100gr. Sierra GK for deer and a 100gr. Sierra Matchking for Varmints. Should be the same powder charge for each and should also have the exact same point of impact all the way around.

Sadly, I experimented...which leads to nothing but insanity and trouble!

Absolutely no flies on a 257R..
I have two of them, and both are good shooters.

its going to be in a long action anyways right?
why not just get the 25-06?

25/06 OH Yes because the added muzzle blast, recoil and extra powder you burn for minimal velocity gain is what we all want from a .25 caliber.
No trouble with the .257 Roberts.

good info, thanks guy's. looked at a 25/06, but the roberts its going to be. anyone shoot the ultralight ruger?? not a real popular cal down here, but i wanted a cal between my 22/250 and 308win, don't like 6mm rounds, 257 cal seemed just right.

I have the Ruger UL. It is the sweetest shooting gun I have but fussy to get an accurate load for. My two most accurate are 39 gr. IMR-4895/90gr. Sierra HPBT. and 39 gr. RL-15 with bullets 75-100 gr. The Hornady 75 gr. HP's shoot the most accurate in my gun.

The best factory loading has been the Winchester 117 grain load. It is about as accurate as anything I can handload. However, I have done OK with the 117 gr. Sierra Pro Hunter with 43 gr. of RL-19. Have dropped a couple of deer in their tracks with that load. The 257 Roberts is one of my favorites. Merg

Incidentally, one of my two Bob's is on a short action, and the other is a long action.
If you get one built on a short action, make sure the leade area of the chamber is cut so bullets come close to the lands with cartridges that will feed thru the magazine.

Don

The other night I was reading an article in a magazine, about history of Marine Sniper Rifles...

part of the story was about a Marine Sniper in Korea, that had been a forward air controller, but then ended up becoming a sniper also....

His rifle was a 1941 Model Match Springfield with a Unertl Scope on it, in 06 of course...

Evidently the rifle had been captured by the North Koreans or Chinese, and then had been reliberated by this Marine....so it was out of inventory for the Marine Corp at this point...

After the Korea Conflict was over, he brought the rifle home, to use as a personal rifle for deer hunting also...

As a Marine Sniper, one would assume that he would have preferred to leave it in the 06 cartridge he knew so well....

Instead he had it rebarreled to 257 Roberts!

Guess that says a lot about the effectiveness of a Roberts and what a Marine Sniper thought of the round....

So I'd put that on the Pro side of the list....

Just my .02, but an easy and quick improvement is the .257 Imp (or AI). Several years ago I had a .257 W70 FWT barreled action that was never fired in that chambering. I took it down and had a rechamber done as soon as it arrived to the Improved round (40 Deg. shoulders). I fitted it to a High Tech stock (back when they were made in CA). I say I had it because my wife has confiscated it (though sometimes I get to shoot it).

This year I loaded up 110 Accubond for deer this year. I chose IMR-4350 at 1/2 grn under max in the Nosler loads. It shoots 3 shots at .5-.6 every time. (5 shots out of FWT barrel just ruins everything). 22" inch tube average for 3 shots was 3039 FPS. It weighs 7 1/4 # ready to hunt w/ leupy 3x9 compact.

I have an RL.
I like it alot. Its a great little deer rifle. But if are goning to use it for smaller stuff with lighter bullets, I recomend the hawkye.
The RLs light barrel will heat up awfully fast.
Mine roberts rifles. (Ihave 2) Both like IMR-4350 AND IMR-4064. Also H-414. H-4350 is also good...tj3006

Have a few 257 Roberts'....I like the 120 Hornady HP over a very stiff charge of RL 22...Chronos over 3000 and is very accurate and effective on whitetails....

On the flip side, the Nosler 85 BT over H4895 can be driven over 3400 quite accurately....

I believe the Powley load for a 100 grain is 39 grains of either 4064 or 4320....

One of my favorite light big game rounds....

Long a favorite of mine, the 257 Roberts is a great little cartridge that kills out of proportion to its size and noise. I have one that's has the AI chamber and I like it too.
My point? I own 22's and 6's, and there is no argument that they are great varminters capable of taking deer. However, they don't compete out in the field against the 25's when a 25 is throwing 117s or 120s like they appear to on paper. There is a difference. I also think the 270 Winchester is king of the varmint calibres. I know many will disagree with me, and well, let 'em.

The question was asked--why the Bob and not a 25-06? Why the 25-06 and not a .270 if going that route?

I have a bob that I use to shoot 75gr hp in for groundhogs and 100gr speers in for deer. Now for ease of reloading and so I don't have so many different loaded rounds around I use the 100gr speer and imr 4350 for everthing, that was about 10 years ago that I did that and I've never looked back.
You won't go wrong with 100gr. bullets and 4350.

quote:

Originally posted by carpetman:
The question was asked--why the Bob and not a 25-06? Why the 25-06 and not a .270 if going that route?

On a more serious note ...the Roberts(and its Ackley cousin)offers the maximum killing power available without blast or recoil, whereas this isn't necessarily so for the 25-06 and the larger cased Weatherby. Anyway you slice it, all of these calibres are among the best of the so called varmint/deer class, but only one will do it without any unpleasantness -and that's the reason the Roberts is a clear winner.

Where larger deer and varmints are concerned, the 25-06 vs 270 are two peas in the same pod. Excluding Jack O'Conner and the notoriety, all of the selling points in favor of the 270 are present in the 25-06 as well. Now a 270 with Nosler's 160 grain partition is another animal, but honestly, how many folks shoot that particular combination? And of that combination, where is the recoil savings when compared to the 30-06? Therein lies the reason I'm not a 270 fan.

My point: popularity has nothing to do with clear winners, and clear winners never quit(altho they don't necessarily sell well)

I shoot the Roberts the AI Roberts, The 25,06 the .270 and the 30,06. Recoil for me is not any problem at all with any of the above rounds.
I recomend to anybody that shoots, if the 30,06 kicks a lot for you, Buy or Borrow a .338 win mag. Shot it for awhile then go back to your 06.
Its a pussy cat. I am gettin an MPI stock made for my old JC Higgins MDL 50. I am having a half inch pad put on it.
My old FN .270 has no pad and all , and its a cream puff.
Now my marlin 45/70 with hand loads will get your attention.
I really like the way it kicks. I get a good adrenalin rush pumping 5 rounds out of her real fast. I can usually keep them on a pie plate at 100 yards off handed shooting prety darn fast ...tj3006

the intention was to use the rufle for spoylight shooting of ferals, so i guess the heavier profile bbl of the hawkeye would suit. I feel that the ultra lights bbl would get too hot for this type of use, be nothing to fire over 40 rds a night. heaps of input guy's, and load data. still keen on the 75gr as some shots will be at least 200m, and i want a projectile that will blow apart when it hits , say the ground, vmax i assume fits this need? . I noticed no one uses varget for the roberts??

I have tried Varget in my Roberts and my 7x57s with no luck, 3"groups. Imr4064 with 100gr TSXs is real potent on hogs, deer and coyotes. Bottom line is you can't beat the Roberts! I load the TSXs and have only recovered 1 bullet out of 50 kills. It will out shot and out penetrate all other 100gr bullets in its class.

Perry

Funny how different barrels like different powder. Varget was the most accurate and the fastest I tried. Getting over 3300 with it in a 24" barrel 100 Bal. tips.

I have three Bobs. Two have a lot of potential and one shoots awful. Good one is a short action Remington 700 rebarreled at factory. Its a 1 minute gun at the moment and i am still working up loads for it. Hitting an 8" gong at 550 with it easily with Hornady light magnums, From prone of a bag. I think this gun is capable of .5 MOA.

Second one is a Winchester featherweight and best group i have ever got is 4 MOA at 100yds. Wont shoot anything at all, factory or handloads. This gun will later become a 284 Winchester.

Third is a heavy barreled Encore. Wonderful little gun. Also hit the gong with ease. Round doesnt get enough credit. Great beginner round. Low recoil, great accuracy potential, simple to reload, .25 cal bullet selection getting better. Good all around gun for those varmint-to-deer sized game hunters. Barnes does make a 90 grain solid for minimal pelt damage if thats your game. I havent gotten those to shoot well though. 120 grain bullets are better suited for 25-06 and 257 Wby.

My experience is that loading for the 257R is a bit finicky. I havent yet found the sweet spot, (.5 MOA) though i use IMR 4350 as well. I have gotten inch groups often, would like to shrink them in half. Wondering what guys are loading for powder charge? I would like to stay 100gr or larger for bullets. Thus far i havent approached max loads yet, though i see no pressure signs in my reloads. Any ideas?