I've never considered 75 gr. bullets for my 257, because somewhere in the distant past, I remember a gunzine guru opining that they were too short to get a decent amount of bullet into the case neck, iirc, he said that you need at least 1 caliber diameter in the neck, which resulted in a significant jump to the rifling, resulting in poor accuracy. I have a long-action, long throated Ruger MK II, and am wondering if what I think I know from way back then is entirely "accurate?"

What seating depth/c.o.l do you fellows use for the 75 grainers?
Thanx

Many slick writers simply regurgitate what their fellow writers have written with little regard for accuracy. That tired old "one caliber in the neck" drivel is just that - worn out drivel. Even full-auto military ammo often has less than one caliber length of bullet in contact with the neck (M193).

But the OP wants an accurate varmint load. Long bullet jump does not automatically mean poor accuracy, my .257 Weatherby has 3/8" of freebore yet shoots aggregates under 0.7 moa with its favorite loads. He has to try the bullet in his rifle to find out if it is accurate. As far as seating depth goes, unless he wants to rapid fire running rabbits half a bullet diameter in the neck is enough. Or a full diameter may work. Load some up and try 'em.



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Individual rifles will vary and most show a preference (or lack thereof) for certain bullets and certain weights. But there is nothing about the 75 grain .25 caliber bullet that makes it inherently lacking in a .257 Roberts. It has been many years since I owned a Roberts, but I recall shooting some of the now-obsolete 60 grain Speer spire points quite accurately in it.

My .257 Roberts is throated for 3" OAL, and the 75 gr. Hornady bullets work just fine. I've mostly used H414.

Clarence

I shot lots of them in a push feed Winchester 70 257 Roberts. They shot great but were a might hard on coyote hides.

quote:

Originally posted by TX Nimrod:
Many slick writers simply regurgitate what their fellow writers have written with little regard for accuracy. That tired old "one caliber in the neck" drivel is just that - worn out drivel. Even full-auto military ammo often has less than one caliber length of bullet in contact with the neck (M193).

But the OP wants an accurate varmint load. Long bullet jump does not automatically mean poor accuracy, my .257 Weatherby has 3/8" of freebore yet shoots aggregates under 0.7 moa with its favorite loads. He has to try the bullet in his rifle to find out if it is accurate. As far as seating depth goes, unless he wants to rapid fire running rabbits half a bullet diameter in the neck is enough. Or a full diameter may work. Load some up and try 'em.



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Boy, if this isn't the truth. Only a few years ago every writer on the planet save a few technical ones said a bullet drops less when fired uphill or downhill because a bullet is only affected by gravity over the horizontal distance of travel. This is just BS - it does hit low, but not as low as this explanation would predict.

Another one: sighting in so that your bullet's maximum trajectory is 1/2 the distance of the vital area will maximize your PBR. WTF?? Bullets fly in ever increasing groups, so doing this will cause you to miss half the time your target is at the range of maximum trajectory.

Fluting a barrel increases stiffness. No, it doesn't. A fluted barrel of the same weight will be stiffer (assuming it isn't that stupid circular fluting), but not one of the same diameter.

A wind blowing at 45 degrees is half the normal value (seen many on AR say this as well). No, it is 7/10 value.

Three shot groups are better than five shot groups for hunting rifles (another one see on AR a lot). Thought here is you never fire more than three shots at game. Fine. Why not shoot a one shot group then, the most common number of shots fired at game? Shooting five shot groups gives you a far better idea of your rifle's ability to hit where you are aiming than a three shot group.

I could go on and on...

quote:

Only a few years ago every writer on the planet save a few technical ones said a bullet drops less when fired uphill or downhill because a bullet is only affected by gravity over the horizontal distance of travel. This is just BS - it does hit low, but not as low as this explanation would predict.

A bullet will shoot low when shooting uphill or downhill?.......

As to 75 grain bullets in the .257 Roberts, I've shot the Hornady 60 grain bullet in mine with surprising excellent success.....Give the 75 grainers a try.....you'll never know until you do!

I had heard similar stories about 110 grain bullets in 30-06. I tried them and surprisingly they printed at same place as the 150 grains. (Jack O'Connor wrote that in some of his 30-06's they did that and some not). But after trying them I had to wonder why use them. I really couldn't tell any difference in recoil, which reduction of recoil was what I wanted. The real answer was get a varmint rifle. Not a knock on the .257 Roberts, but possibly same situation?

75 gr. bullets are fine in a .257 or 250 Savage. I've use them for years for coyotes.

I prefer 87 to 100 gr. bullets for deer.

Also the BS about bullet jump is possible, but Ihave seemn very few guns in my 80 years that scattered shots because of that jump..All of my present guns shot short bullets just the same as the heavy bullets. An example is my long throated 7x57s, they dote on my favorite deer bullet the 130 gr. Speer FB or BT and they love the 175 gr. Nosler part. My 338 shoots both the 210 Nosler and the 300 gr. Woodleigh as well. That rumor was started in the 40s and still persists today but I have not found it true..I suppose some guns won't work that way, but guns are individuals at best.