I Shot my Roberts again today,
The 120 grain partition over 48.5 grains of RL-22 was good again and the chroney showed 2887. Thats prety darn fast for the Roberts with a 20 inch tube.
It was much hotter today and the primers were a we bit cratered so I think I will try 48 even.
It should still give well over 2800 witch was my target velocity anyway.
The 110 grain acubond over 45 grains of H-414 gave a velocity of 2938, but did not group well in my rifle.
Man did my old .308 shoot though. I will post one her over ot the medium bore page a little later...tj3006

Thomas, Good work and great results. I have best luck with IMR 4831 for the 110 accubond, though I believe R19 should be totally awesome as well. The accubond will perform extremely well at the speeds you are quoting, I have already used them with great effect on deer. Keep up the good work.

Thomas,
I would be interested in how your new loads grouped. I bought a Ruger M77 MkII Ultralight in 257 Roberts (20" bbl) abouut 2 weeks ago and am in the process of trying to find out what kind of ammo it likes.

I got a little over 100 rds. of factory ammo with the rifle, which include; Hornady LM 117gr., Remmington 117gr. and Winchester Super X +P 117gr. I tried all three and the rifle didn't like the Hornady LM or the Remington at all but threw a three shot group of 1/2" with the Winchester Super X. I know that it was probably a case of everyting lining up just right but It gives me something to work with and I was paying for range time by the hour so I didn't get a chance to try more groups. I am a little dissapointed that the Hornady LM does not work well as 60 of the rds were the Light Mag. I may have to invest in a box of Hornady custom ammo to see if they do any better.

I am planning on burning most if not all of the ammo getting to know the rifle and get some brass for reloading. I have already bought some of the 100gr. bullets from Hornady and Speer. I will eventually get to the Noslers but I want to get in the ball park before I throw money at Noslers.

Actually, anything else you can tell me about the ammo preferences of the Ruger UL .257 Roberts would be appreciated.

I can tell you what my rifle likes,
My rifle is the same as yours , but that does not mean a hole lot as you probably know.
My rifle shot poorly out of the box, but free floating and a better trigger helped a great deal.
the 1st load I that the rifle really liked was 46 grains of H-414 under a 100 grain barnes tripple shock, 3125 and .75 MOA.
For some reason I can't get that load to work as well anymore. But I floored a mule deer with it year before last.
I have not had much luck with your basic inexpensive bullet, with 2 exceptions. The 117 grain sierra and the 117 frain Hornady round nose.
But I would recomend IMR-4350 as the powder to start with.
44.5 grains with a 100 grain balistic tip
gives me right around .75 at 100 and 3100 FPS.
And 42 grains under a 120 grain partition, is super acurate and gives me 2700 Fps.
IMR 4064 and H-414 are good powders too. With heavy bullets RL-22 seems to show some real promise. I bet RL-19 would be a good one to try too.
IMR 4064 gives me tight groups but velocity is a little off.
All rifles are different and ones with pencil thin barrels are often hard to get to shoot strait, but have patience and experiment I bet your ruger will make you happy.
Please PM me with your results.
One other thing to keep in mind.
The stock screws, don't tighten them too tight. makes a huge difference...tj3006
`

Most of my 257 load development was done with a 24" take off classic barrel last year John Lewis built me a new 257 on a Remington 700 action with a 24" 3 grove lilja barrel. I am in the process of deciding if I'm going to use 115 or 120 partations, so I'll load a few up with rl 22 & see how they do. I used 117 Sierra flat bases with 43.5gr of h4350 to kill several does last year. That is a sub 1/2" 3 shot group in the Lewis rifle.

I bet H-4350 would be a great Powder for the roberts . As I recal, my custom springfield likes it real well, But I have the book for my Ruger in front of me and that rifle does,nt like the powder.
I went to sportsman last night for a can IMR-4831 to try but I got there too late the were closed.
I bullet want to try is the 100 grain partition.
scoot that puppy along at 3100 FPS and I bet it would do a number on a mulie, so would the heavier partitions. I have had some good groups with a 115 grain balistic tip too.
I really like the idea of the 110 grain acubond.
I have high hopes of getting 3 grand or more out of the Custom Roberts AI I am having built on an fn supream action.
...tj3006

Thomas,
Thanks for the information! I will be playing with this rifle over the course of the summer and early fall to get it in shape for the deer season here in Ks. in early December. I do need to get after the barrel channel with a dremmel tool and remove the Ruger pressure point to float the barrel. But I do want to establish a bench mark before I do it.

The previous owner had the trigger worked professionally and it has about a 3# Trigger which is just a bit light for my preferences but acceptable.

I do know that two supposedly identical rifles may shoot best with very different loads but I like to get ideas on where to start. There are, after all a lot of different configurations out there.

Thomas,
We need to get together again to shoot. My membership at the Douglas Ridge range finally came through. It's only $5 for a guest to come with me and as a great blessing---at least for me---it is less than a 15 min drive from my house.
Might be a bit easier to determine accuracy to use the covered benches than the last get together we had in the clearcut

They have an indoor range, silloette (sp?), 100, 200, 600, 1000 yrd range and skeet shooting. OH and if we want to do the bow thing they have a range for it as well. Much nicer than the range I used to use.

Anyway, back to work for me. Give me a buzz or PM.

I use H4350 in my M70 257 Featherweight with awesome results. I can put 5 100 grain Sierra SP bullets pushed by 48 grains of H4350 into less than an inch without effort. This load zips across the screens at a 3200+ fps.

What more could one ask for?

quote:

Originally posted by Thomas Jones:
I bet H-4350 would be a great Powder for the roberts . As I recal, my custom springfield likes it real well, But I have the book for my Ruger in front of me and that rifle does,nt like the powder.
I went to sportsman last night for a can IMR-4831 to try but I got there too late the were closed.
I bullet want to try is the 100 grain partition.
scoot that puppy along at 3100 FPS and I bet it would do a number on a mulie, so would the heavier partitions. I have had some good groups with a 115 grain balistic tip too.
I really like the idea of the 110 grain acubond.
I have high hopes of getting 3 grand or more out of the Custom Roberts AI I am having built on an fn supream action.
...tj3006

Hey John,
Where abouts in OR are you??

My Roberts is a Mexican Mauser with a 24" barrel. I know that it's a bit different than yours, but the load that I like is 45 grains of IMR-4350, with a CCI primer in a Winchester +P case. The rifle shoots both the Speer 100 grain spitzer and the 100 grain ballistic tip quite well, but to different spots at the range. I do not have a crony. You might try a 100 grain bullet, it helps a bit on range estimation.

I Like those mexican mausers, I know of a lrge ring I can get into cheap and just might get it.
My birthday is saterday and work is picking up, so a new to might be in order.
i bought some IMR-4831 and loaded up some under a 117 grain Hornady sst, I will put some under the 110 acubond and mabye a 100 grain hornady interlock, and hopefully shoot this weekend.
Hello trey, i,ll give you a call on my lunch if I get a chance. Been getting up your way working this week , all the way to government camp, as a matter of fact...tj3006

tj,
I don't know if you are interested or not, but the Remington Core-Lokt Ultras are now available as components for handloaders. I picked up a couple boxes of 115 gr. .257 bullets a couple days ago. The dealer had those and 140 gr. .270 bullets. He said those were the only ones he could get yet.

I've used the factory Remington 7mmMag 140 gr. Core-Lokt Ultra load to slay two big whitetail bucks. Both were one-shot b/f's. And the load was quite accurate in my rifle. I figure I'll try the 115's in one or another of my 25 caliber rifles sometime. Good luck!

Mort, I have a rifle like yours and of all factory loads the Winchester was by far the best. Only one worth shooting through my gun.

The little ruger will not shoot the Hornady Lt. Mags. at all; not much better luck with the Hornady Customs. The Winchester is by far the best factory load in my rifle.

Good handloads for my rifle: 39gr. RL-15 with most any bullet from 75 to 100 gr.

43 gr. RL-19 with 117 gr.Sierra Pro hunter (flat base)

42 gr. H 414 with 100 gr. Nosler Solid Base.

The most accurate 100 grain bullet in my rifle seems to be the old Hornady Interlock. Cheap and they kill deer.

My loads with this rifle are very mild as it just doesn't do well with near max loads.

I suggest bedding at least the forearm screw area cause when I sanded out the barrel channel, the barrel kept sinking deeper in the barrel channel. I also bedded the first 2 inchss in acraglass gel and free floated the rest of the barrel. It helped mine.Also don't over tighten the screw in front of the trigger; just barely get it snug.

My rifle has always been very finicky as to screw tightness and loads it likes but is really nice to carry around. I bought mine new in 2001. Good luck with yours. Merg

I will see if midway has some of thoes remington corloacked ulta bullets in 115, thanks...tj3006

Merganser,
Thanks for the feedback! Thomas told me the same thing about screw tightness as you mentioned. For deer loads I a going to play with some 100gr loads and some 115-120gr loads.

I am looking forward to shooting this rifle more this summer. The light recoil makes it a lot of fun to shoot.

I am a little confused as to why the rifle did not like the Remington 117gr rounds. They are a very mild load and appear to be made for pre+P pressures. I am going to burn then up and have the brass around for hand loading.

I already have a box of those Hornady 100gr. Interlocks. There is a custom reloader here in Ks. that uses the Interlocks in his commercial reloads and my 30-06 rifles have always worked very well with those.

Many Thanks!

My Roberts performed great with the 100 X bullet at 3100 fps. The one Barnes is not making any more.

Bear hunter,
i,ll bet the tripple shock version will work for you too !
I did a real number on a mulie for me,
What powdder dod you use ?
I was using H-414 , 46 grains gave me 3100 from a 20 inch tube...tj3006

46.5/47 of H4350 and the 100 Hornady Interlock gave 3100+ and moa accuracy from my plain M77Mk2.

The 46 grains of H414 and 100 TSX run 3140 from the 22" tube at 3/4 moa.

I've loaded 20 TSX's for the traveling hunts but the darn Hornady is so cheap, so available and it kills deer with aplomb I always have lots of them around.

Mort, Try 46-H4350 with that 100 interlock. I killed two Kansas deer with it last fall with outstanding results. What part of Kansas are you in, South East here.
My son and I have two seemingly identical Rugers in .257. Both shoot very well with 75 hps, and his really likes 115 partitions. Mine never would shoot the heavier stuff under 1.5" so it now has a new Douglas tube. Thinks it's a varmint rifle with 75s or those 100 Hornadys, but I still haven't found a load with the 115s. Oh well, if I ever feel the need for game bigger than deer with it, the 100TSX should do the trick.