Hello,
Just completed one of my project guns and that being a "dreaded" Push Feed Model 70 w/ Douglas barrel, 24", 10 twist, chrome moly, .625 muzzle diam. and Hogue stock purchased on the site from a member and can say the entire rifle appears to be a fine all around practical hunting rifle for all sorts of game. Leupold ring/base system w/ Nikon 1 3/4-4.5x Monarch scope and a bit on the heavy side, but balances just right for off hand shooting. Trigger on this rifle adjusted about as light and positive as any M70 ever had and that helps a bunch. Now, to the question at hand, anyone have some pet loads for the 257Roberts?? I have bullet selections ranging from 75's to 120's and friend of mine donated some 400 once fired Rem. Brass from back in the 50's w/ old Green Rem.boxes. So far in the break in process and seems all loads will stay within an inch/moa but looking for that "eggs and bacon" load each caliber seems to have if one can just find it. All help, suggestions, much appreciated.

I'd anneal the necks of that brass before I used it. 50 years is a long time to age harden.

I don't have a magic load, but 45 grains of IMR 4831 under a 115 Nosler Partition is likely as good as any.

quote:

anyone have some pet loads for the 257Roberts??

Pick the bullet you like.....I sure like H-414 powder!

My favorite powders for the Roberts IMR-4350, IMR-4064 and H-414.
Lots of guys like H-4350 better and I will give it a try. 1st thing to know is the reloading manuals are a little aneemic with the Roberts , most load to about 48000 cup and a couple go to 50000.
That being said I don't go much over listed loads, just beacuse the loads i shoot are plenty powerfull for my purposes,
46 , grains of H-414 under a 100 grain Bullets will give me about 3100 fps and shoot plenty strait too.
IMR-4064 is good with light bullets too.
IMR-4350 seems to do real well with any bullet weight I try, I get half inch groups at 2700 with a 120 grain nosler Partition thats with 42 grains. (20 inch barrel).
This years mule deer load is a 100 grain partition over 44.5 grains of IMR-4350. I got .60 and 3100.
The Roberts is a great and fun cartridge.
I have 2 rifles so chamberd. My favorite deer rifle is a little Ruger 77RL (ultra light), and the info above is from that rifle. The other is a custom springfield 03 witch is getting checkerd and I will have back in the next couple months...tj3006

I use Winchester cases, CCI primers, and IMR-4350. I used the Speer 100 grain spitzer bullet and the Speer manual until I found the right load, which was almost max per Speer. My Roberts is a Mexican Mauser with a 24' Douglas barrel, so your results might be different. Having Remington cases, I'd check Steve's Pages. You will find that you have an ideal deer rifle snd probably one of the easiest calibers to shoot well that there is. Good huntin'!

Hello,
Thanks for all the good sound advise. I forgot about Steve's reloading pages and will check it out. As mentioned, real fun cartridge to shoot and seems like for the past 45 years been shooting almost exclusively the 308 or 223 and forgot just how good other cartridges perform.
Look forward to load developing for the upcoming deer season.

I have two 257's, one for Deer hunting and one for Coyotes.
The Deer hunting load that I use is 45 grains of H-4350 with 100 grain Nosler Partitions.
Three shots at a tad over 1/2" at 100 yards, using a fixed 4x scope.

Don

I would reccomend getting some new brass. Brass shells do not have an infinite shelf life, and some show their age after only 20 years. New cases are cheap and do a lot to help prevent you getting stuff in your face after pulling the trigger.

I have a prety strong preference for Winchester brass in the Roberts. It is plus p and a little thicker.
It also fire formes well in my AI Roberts...tj3006

quote:

Originally posted by Thomas Jones:
I have a prety strong preference for Winchester brass in the Roberts. It is plus pee and a little thicker.
It also fire formes well in my AI Roberts...tj3006

I'm using Winchester brass in both of my 257 rifles too.
First time using Win brass for me, and I gotta say I like it. I'd been using Rem brass before, but from now on it will be Winchester.

Don

My m77 ruger tang safty model will cut holes with 41.2 gr RL 15 and 75 gr v-max's. I also tested some loads with h414 at different grains and it shot good but not as good as RL 15. when i used to use the roberts for deer I used h4831 with 120 gr nosler partitions, I cant remember the charge i used, but do remember that that powder/bullet combo shot great.

For deer with several 257's, I have had good results with IMR4350 or IMR4831 and 120gr bullets. The 120gr Sierra HPBT and the 120gr Speer Hot Core and the 120gr Hornady HP have all performed very well. It's not to difficult to push them to about 2950 fps, which means your "Bob" will be very close to factory 25/06 performance.

desite, if anything can demonstrate the surfit of deer cartridges we have it's the neglict of the .257 R. It's a great whitetail round that never should have gotten lost in the hyped announcements of "new, better, kills like the hammer of Thor magnums, etc." None of them do a bit better than their predecessors.

I do think a 24" barrel is a tad long for eastern woods hunting but not by much. Enjoy your classic round, the deer won't!