I purchased some 100 gr. Barnes "X" ( not TSX or XLC) at a good price a year ago and I am just now working up loads for this bullet.

I have used nothing but IMR 4350 with either the 115 BT or 117 Sierra BT the past 5 seasons. These bullets have worked great on deer and hogs all 1 shot kills and are extremely accurate in my Remington Mtn. Rifle.

I am of course loading IMR 4350 first. The initial loads have been OK. What powder should I try next? Should I try something similar in burn rate like H-4350 or RE 19 or should I try one of the 4831's or RE 22? I have some Ramshot Hunter as well. One of my problems is I have too much powder on hand so it makes it hard to pick one.

Thanks.

It has been my experience with the BOB that if you can't get it to shoot with IMR 4350, it probably wont do any better with anything else. I have had 2, 257s and both loved IMR.

IMR 4350 is kind of the "ideal" powder for the BOB and seems to be the most accurate with everything but the really small bullets (85 grains and under). In that case RE 15 is pretty good but i dont think that would be a great choice for 100 grainers and up. Like you suggested RE 19 might be a good try.

One final note. Both of my 257s have been rather picky. Neigher shot the Barnes XLC 100 grain good at all. I have some 115 grain XLCs that i am gonna try. I think Barnes makes a good bullet, wish they would shoot better in my guns.

Just as a side question here. Anybody used an XLC before? They say it aint moly, but guys i know that use them say to treat them as moly, either shoot a piss load of them in your gun, or treat your barrel with something like ms. moly before you start loading them. Barnes website doesnt say anything about treating them like moly bullets. Wondering if anybody has any experience with them, and what they do for good results?

quote:

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Originally posted by C-ROY:
I am of course loading IMR 4350 first. The initial loads have been OK. What powder should I try next? Should I try something similar in burn rate like H-4350 or RE 19 or should I try one of the 4831's or RE 22? I have some Ramshot Hunter as well. One of my problems is I have too much powder on hand so it makes it hard to pick one.

Thanks.

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While the various IMR offerings (4320, 4350, 3031) have been the traditional powders of choice in the .257 Roberts, I've been partial to Re 19 and Re 22 due to the velocities offered. I'm at work right now, so I can't access my load notes, but if you have either of those powders already on hand, I would give them a try.

I've had excellent results with Re15 with 100 gr bullets - top notch accuracy. For the 115-120s I usually go with H4350, Re19, H4831sc, or Re22 and have had excellent results with all of these. However, my 257 is perhaps the least fussy and most accurate ultra-light weight rifle I have ever owned.

Good luck.

Roger,

Why would your cousin want to be "out" shooting you? You are a nice guy; does he have some sort of social misalignment?

Or do you mean he can shoot more accurately than you do with his 257?

I just had to laugh the way it read, is all.
seafire made me ask you this.

cheers

Hello C-Roy,

What's okay accuracy? The Roberts here will shoot into 1/2 inch at 100 with IMR 4350 and Nosler or Sierra bullets. X bullets will add .25" to the same group but are accurate enough for the game we've shot with them.

With 100 grain X bullets, a favorite for hogs, the barrel must be clean of any previous copper fouling and be cleaned on 10 shot cycles for best groups. I've also found that the X bullets are a bit more sensative to seating depth in relation to lands.

Best Regards,

H4831 for speed, I ended up will all I could fit in the case for 100 gr. bullets.

IMR4064, 39 gr. for pinpoint accuracy.

That was my old Remington, your mileage and pressure may vary. Start low and work up.

"I just had to laugh the way it read, is all.
seafire made me ask you this."

"cheers" "seafire"??????[/QUOTE]

Split personallity??? roger

All I've ever used in two .257's is original surplus 4831 with bullets from 87 to 120 grains. Surplus 4831 was a tad slower than currently-produced H4831 (and significantly slower than IMR 4831). I would first try H4831, and if you have some, IMR 7828 won't be too slow with 100's. RE 22 and Norma 205 are good, but lots of powder vary so much that I tend to shy away from them.

With my Ruger 77MKII Sporter, I've pretty well settled on H4350 for the 115-117's. H4831SC and H414 did well too, just not as fast. This one doesn' like the middle weight bullets but does great with the 75's and 115 partitions. Guess that about covers the spectrum of game the round should be used on anyway!