Good evening all. I just ordered a new 257 Roberts light weight sporter barrel that I will be installing on a Larg Ring Mauser action. I've never owned a 257 Roberts but I have wanted to since I was a kid. This rifle will be built for my wife. The intended purpose is for hunting Whitetail and Mule deer. She currently shoots a 7X57 custom Mauser but it's a little on the heavy side for mountian hunting. What is your opinion of the 257 and do you have any suggested loads?

Mine is a M-70 featherweight......I love it. Light and has all the power to do the job on deer and pronghorns and the range is superb.....all in all a very good choice.

I've been using 100 grain bullets for deer but the Sierra 90 Grain HP is also a good bullet. Beyond that the Hornady 120 hollow point is a good bullet as well.

There's a lot of good bullets I haven't tried so have a ball trying the others too.

The .257 Roberts is a cartridge lost to the 6 MMs and never should have been.

Had Remington offered an upgraded gun for the M-722 instead of bringing out the 244 they might have been way ahead of the game.

I truly believe the .257 Roberts could have beaten the .243 Winchester.

No flies on the 257 Roberts, however I think you find that most who own/want to own one and reload... will first tell you how close it is (or they have got) to the 25-06. Kinda sad IMO as one of the great attributes to this cartridge(umm and the 250 savage ) is its mild manners.

I set my Roberts up for a 3.1" COL and have had good luck with the slower extruded powders. I like 4350 for the 100gr bullets and 4831 for the 117s & 120s.
Good luck with your project.

I had my Ruger reamed out to the 257 Ackley Improved. It is a real deerslayer. IMR 4350 or RL19 work best for me. I use the Speer 120gr HotCore. Most 257 Roberts users I know stay with the 87 and 100 grain bullets. The 257 is one of the best, IMHO.

I have a 257 Roberts being built at this time too. So, I'm interested in loads that work. Also have a 250 Savage on a Mauser action that is a joy to shoot, and with its good barrel, it shoots well too.
Gotta love them quarter bores.
Don

I've owned a number of Bobs (and 250-3000s) and can testify to their utter effectiveness on deer and black bear at sub-300 yd ranges (I won't shoot any farther - personal foible). I'm taking my light weight Roberts (a custom barrel job on a 722 action) to MT for mulies this fall. Still haven't settled on a load, but I'm thinking the 100 gr Hornady, or perhaps the 110 Nosler.

I've found the Roberts to be plenty accurate, and my current one is frequently eye-poppingly accurate. I seat bullets to mag length (which is about 2.825" or so), and am happy with that. I've had excellent results with Re10x and Re15 (for 70-100gr bullets) and Re19 and Re22 (for 100-120 gr bullets).

The Roberts is a great old cartridge - that's what my wife has used successfully on two muleys, an antelope, and a gemsbok here in NM. I loaded 120 grainers for the deer and oryx, and the antelope was shot with a 100 grain NBT. I also have an Encore barrel chambered in .257 AI. I've shot a muley and antelope with it, both using 100 grain Barnes TSXs. The 110 grain Accubond should be a dandy, but I could only get shotgun patterns with them in my Encore. H4831, XMR 4350, and RL 19 have been my most accurate powders.

I have a Ruger M77 tang safety that has been great and is now my wifes deer rifle. There are many reasons people should own one. I recently got a 25-06 and really don't see much difference between them.

My deer load for the wife is an old box of 100gr Barnes X, IMR 4350, CCI200, Rem cases. It shoots these into about a 1.5" group at 100yards. I also got excelent results with IMR4064. Nate

My deer load in my .257 Roberts is 49.3 gr. of H4831 behind a 100 gr. Barnes TSX. Excellent accuracy(under MOA) and kills like they were hit by a bolt of lighting. Lawdog

My Ruger likes the 115 Partition over H4350 so well, I haven't really tested any other deer weight bullets.

I just bought a NIB Winchester M70 Featherweight in .257 Roberts because I decided I just could not live without having and using one of the primo deer cartridge rifles. Sure, I also have a .25-06 and a .257 WBY, and played with a .250-3000 for many years, but the .257 Roberts still had enough allure to reel me in at last. Now I gotta work up the loads and all that, then go hunting. Heck, this is just plain fun!!
LLS

257 Roberts is probably my favorite cartridge. I have it in a ruger #1. I got my first elk with it last year, with a 120gr partition; also got an antelope at 320yds a couple of days later.
I use Rl 15 or IMR 4064 with 75 grain bullets and RL 19 with 100-117grain bullets. 49gr Rl 19 and 100 Sierra GK and 47gr Rl 19 117 Horn. BT.

Like the 6.5X55 and 7X57, you will find that the 257 Roberts kills all out of proportion to its size.

It really is a timeless cartridge and deserves to be much more popular than it is.

Teh 257 robersts is a great cartridge. No need to hot rod it. IT is one of those that perform better in the field than it should on paper. Almost no recoil. I actually, by mistake, shot thru one deer and then shot thru the one behind it at a bit over 230 yards. (nosler PT). It has plenty of zip. leave it mild and I would go elk hunting,. I wouldn't take highly angled shots but it will kill elk and black bear with no problem. Another great cartridge that should be getting prase for how well it works that instead is fighting to just stay alive.

It is simply a great case and is a true winner for first time hunters, women and kids.

I love the 1/4 bores and have the 257 roberts a 25-06, a 257 wby a 357 stw a 25-08, 25-06 teh roberts is still my favorate to shoot.

JMO of course.

Killed a mullie with my Roberts on tuesday.100 ngrain barnes tripple shock and H-414 give excelent results in my 20 inch ruger...tj3006

The Gods are agin me!!!! Just took my NIB .257 Roberts M70 Featherweight out to the range for the first time with Winchester factory ammo. Looks like it is time for reloads, plus a careful all over recheck of the rifle too. Best the M70 would do at 100 yards was a hair under three inches. I guess the Gods are about to get even with me after allowing my last deer rifle to work out so easily!!

LLS

Terry..I am glad you finally decided to build that 257 Roberts!! You won't be disappointed.

I had a Ruger m77 in 257Rbts and now have the one I built on a VZ24 action with an F14 A&B barrel...both of those rifles were easy to load for and accuracy was great with all the bullets I tried...corelokt, sierra, hornady and nolser... For deer hunting my favorite load sifted out to be the 100gr Nosler BT and 42.5gr of IMR4350...Also use the 100gr partitions and bump that load up to 43.5gr of IMR4350.

Another favorite bullet for me in the Roberts is the Hornady 117gr RN....the accuracy with that bullet in both of my rifles was outstanding..

Z

My favorite loads in my 257s are 48 to 50 grains of RL22 behind Hornady's 120 grain HP....in Federal or Winchester +P cases....

quote:

Originally posted by sierra2:
The Gods are agin me!!!! Just took my NIB .257 Roberts M70 Featherweight out to the range for the first time with Winchester factory ammo. Looks like it is time for reloads, plus a careful all over recheck of the rifle too. Best the M70 would do at 100 yards was a hair under three inches. I guess the Gods are about to get even with me after allowing my last deer rifle to work out so easily!!

LLS

Not necessarily so. I too just got an NIB Winchester Featherweight in .257 Bob. The gun came with a box of Remington 117 gr. round nose bullets. Best I could get from them was 2.5". My fist handload that i tried at the same time did 1.25" I'm thinking that playing with that load some will cut the group even more. The bullet was the 100 gr. Sierra Game king, not one of my all time favorites. I'm no fan of boattail bullets.
The one thing I don't like about the rifle is the way they have the magazine blocked off so that I can't load my bullets closer to the rifling. I may have to figure a way past that problem.
Paul B.

Who all makes the .257 Roberts?

As far as I know, the only factory rifles pn the market chamberd for the Roberts are Rugers.
Fortunatly they make several versions, in The model 77 and the #1. But most makers Built the roberts in years passed so they are not to hard to find at gunshows. As far a i am cocerned if you want a really nice one, have it built on a 98 mauser. ...tj3006

I have 5-257 roberts so you could say i like them..the 1's on long actions are set up for 2.9" oal..I have killed deer with 117 sierra flat bases, 120 partations and 120 hornady hpts.
My standard powder load is 45 gr of h4350 which gives between 2850 & 2875 with a 24" barrel..none of my long actions will shoot less than a 115 bullet & none of my gunes will shoot nosler partations. I normally hunt with partations because we have a lot of big hogs on the farm. Use only winchester brass.. remington is trash, i had a 40% failure rate on the last 100 during the initial sizing process.

I have a M700 Classic chambered in this round and love it. As Buckshot illuded to it seems to perform better on game than its size would suggest. I have tried a number of bullets and powders and find that either the 110 grain Accubond or 115 grain Partition and IMR 4350 seem to do well in my rifle. If you can get Paritions to shoot it is a good bullet in any of the weights. I have only shot one deer with the Accubond on an easy broadside lung shot so I can't claim too much experience but think it will work fine.

Both my wife and I shoot m700 Classics in South Texas with excellent results. Her's is loaded with 42.5/h4350 over 100gr NBT to 2700fps. In mine I load 110 NAB over 38.5/IMR 4064 to 2800fps. Both are sub 1/2 moa and game drops like they have been struck by lightening. I took a spike at 357 yards yesterday that dropped in his tracks and my wife took a 125lb hog last weekend that dropped in its tracks, both heart/lung shots. I agree that the 257 kills beyond what stats would lead you to belive.

I use a couple of loads ripped from the pages of Ken Water's book.
42.5gr IMR 4350 with 100 grain pills, and
40.0gr of IMR 4895 with 87 grainers.
No deer has ever walked away from the 100's and Singer himself couldn't put a coyote together after tangling with the 87's.

I converted an H&R Ultra Handi in 223 to 257 Roberts by having the 24" barrel rebored and made octagon. This is a very nice light rifle.

Having used it it to shoot gophers, coyotes this summer with 75gr V-max bullets. In the last two weeks I have bagged a big Mulie doe and a very nice 8 point White Tail buck. Both with one shot each. The rifle shoots two kinds of of bullets into a 1/2"with three shots.

I have three other 25 caliber rifles but I like this little Handi the best for hunting. Though the rifle is very finicky of what its likes in hand loads. IMR 4350 and H4350 is what I use with 100gr Moly plated bullets at 3140 ft/MV seated long touching the lands.

I have tried the 110gr Accu Bond, this is the longest 25cal bullet I know of at 1.1975". It needs speed above 3300 ft or a faster twist than 1-10". Not suitable for the 250 or the Roberts.

On the question of who makes 257 Roberts - Ruger, as mentioned but also Winchester some of of their higher than std grade rifles, and even in left handed too.

For ammo: Remington, 117gr Coerloct round nose at 2660fps; Federal, 120gr Nosler Partion at 2780, Hornaday 117gr ? at 2780? and also in their Light Mag loading at 2960; Nosler, 110gr Accubond at 3075fps.

I have a box of each and am waiting to hear from my gunsmith. Was hoping for this deer season but I was late getting my stock blank to him.

JPK

quote:

Originally posted by JPK:
On the question of who makes 257 Roberts - Ruger, as mentioned but also Winchester some of of their higher than std grade rifles, and even in left handed too.

For ammo: Remington, 117gr Coerloct round nose at 2660fps; Federal, 120gr Nosler Partion at 2780, Hornaday 117gr ? at 2780? and also in their Light Mag loading at 2960; Nosler, 110gr Accubond at 3075fps.

I have a box of each and am waiting to hear from my gunsmith. Was hoping for this deer season but I was late getting my stock blank to him.

JPK

I kind of collect names and addresses(including web site addresses) of gun stock suppliers. Could I have the name and addresses of the company you got your stock from? Lawdog

100grn sierra spitzer w/37.7 grn of IMR3031 & Rem 9 1/2 Primer @ 2971fps

117gn sierra spitzer w/32.7 grn of IMR3031 & Rem 9 1/2 primer @ 2535fps

the fps is approximate (257 Roberts)

Those hornady light mag factory loads were right on target with their advertised velocity. I got 2950 from my M70 featherweight with 22" barrel, but still use my handloads because they're "mine"
bama7x57