Why do you like your slow, soft shooting .257 Roberts???

If your 257 is slow and soft shooting you are loading it wrong.
Modern 257s are built on long actions, unlike the originals, which were hampered by short actions, yuck, and deeply seated bullets and low pressures.
Ken Waters pet loads has good loads. I get 25-06 performance from mine. A Ruger 77 tang safety. I'll post a picture later.

since I have a couple of 25-06's I got no need to try and make my Bob into one.

the 1st. Bob is a featherweight and runs about 2850 fps with 120gr bullets, so it's easy to shoot and it works.
the second one is more of a pussy cat.
it shoots 86gr. bullets at 2400 fps.

the 250 savage is Ackley improved so I got the other end covered too.
it does everything the Roberts does if I make it, but why? I got a couple of 257 Bob's.

if I want really low recoil there is a 25-20 right there too.

god,,,, no wonder I never have any 25 caliber bullets on hand.

Of course if you have a 25-06 you don't need a 257. And the converse is true but only if you have a long actioned one.

quote:

Ken Waters pet loads has good loads. I get 25-06 performance from mine. A Ruger 77 tang safety.

This ^^^

I have wanted one for decades and never scratched the itch. Funny, a guy on a muzzleloading forum is trying to sell a nice copy of Major Ned's "The Muzzle-loading Caplock Rifle," a book I consider essential for any serious shooter's library, and I chanced to look him up on Wikipedia to refresh myself on some of his C.V.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_H._Roberts

Remington custom shop M7MS (*full mannlicher stock) in .257 Roberts here.

I purchased mine almost 20 years ago. I wanted a mannlicher full stock in a caliber that was easy recoil, super accurate (.75 MOA all day), reasonable power (43.0 gr. Of H4350 and the 117 gr. Sierra Hunter is good for 2800 fps). Topped with a Leupold VXIII high gloss 2.5-8x36 and a Timney trigger, that rifle is here to stay.

And, of course, it carried my name (Robert).

That rifle has taken a dozen deer, half a dozen hogs, and has plenty of memories of being in the field. It’s my go-to rifle for anything local.

Just such a lovely cartridge.

I had mine built on a Ruger M77 tang safety LA. It's my dedicated Pronghorn getter.

I dial back my main loads, a 110 grain NAB / ELDX to ~3,000 fps, though I could easily send them faster. The two powders I use are H4350 & StaBALL 6.5.

I had it built just a touch heavier than most because that way it rides my day pack as a front rest best when shooting prone.

The heaviest wheat field Muley I ever took was with that rifle.

I owned one many years ago and found it a very serviceable chambering. Better for game than the .243. Only a hundred or so FPS short of the .25-06. Mine was on a German-made Mauser-type "medium" action with about a 3" magazine, perfect for the round. Ample room to seat bullets out where you'd like them, and still chops about a half-inch and a half-pound off of "full length" actions.

Mine is built on a 1909 Argentine Mauser, with Douglas featherweight barrel fit by Harry
Creighton, and a very nice stick of walnut from Frank Pachmayer (built in mid-1970's).

I've never felt the need to push it to its full potential. A 100 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip at 2900 fps (3 shot groups under an inch) does everything I need out to 250-275 yds., while being easy to carry and soft on recoil and noise.

Clarence

Several years ago I swore off all things 6mm for a 257. Fantastic round, I have both AI and standard versions. But now I am more interested in building another 264 caliber walking rifle. Practically no difference in bullet diameter, but most all 6.5 chamberings are configured to handle far better bullets. I wouldnt consider the Bob slow though.

I had a Ruger in .257. never disliked anything about the cartridge, but never liked the way the gun shouldered on me. Sold it to a fan of it, always preferred my .243.

The wife shoots a tang safety Ruger chambered in .257 Roberts and we really like it. She has killed pronghorn, deer, oryx, and a black bear with hers. She likes it because it shoots nice and doesn't kick the crap out of her. I like it because as a handloader I get a kick out of loading for something a little out of the mainstream. We shoot 100 grain Barnes TSX over Reloader 19. BTW, those are the same reasons I shoot a 6.5x55 Swede.

DesertRam: Bravo, sir!

quote:

Originally posted by Wstrnhuntr:
Several years ago I swore off all things 6mm for a 257. Fantastic round, I have both AI and standard versions. But now I am more interested in building another 264 caliber walking rifle. Practically no difference in bullet diameter, but most all 6.5 chamberings are configured to handle far better bullets. I wouldnt consider the Bob slow though.

This is why I run 25-06 brass through my resizing die and create 6.5-06 that feeds my FN Mauser. I get great results with 140gr Nosler Partition and 120gr Barnes TTSX.

I love my .257 Roberts! I use it more than my older 25/06 REm., in fact.
My brass supply is in good shape, so I can reload for a LONG time, I hope?

I’m not going to get in a pissing match, so I’ll make this statement (just one long piss), and let the other side of the argument crap on it. While I believe a 3” or longer magazine is ideal for pushing the longer and heavier bullets to their very highest possible velocities in the Bob, one will not be handicapped with a short action. If you like to shoot, let’s say, a 75gr varmint load and a 115gr deer load, the shorter throat that you may have on a short action will probably get you better accuracy with the varmint bullet than it would with a long throat long action. Velocity increases at 1/4 the rate of case capacity. You might hear claims to the contrary, but it’s mostly hype. You might gain 50 to 75 fps from a long Bob, if you’re lucky. If your long Bob does much better, you probably have a fast barrel. The laws of internal ballistics aren’t magically different with the 257 Roberts. The 257 Bob Ackley gets you 12% more case capacity and 3% more velocity, which works out to about 100 fps. The Bob is a great old school deer and varmint combo round, and I like it in both the long and short platforms.

Why?... There is nothing not to like about the 257 Roberts. I like it because it just does its business quietly and efficiently and just seems to perform above its weight.
I started out as a kid with a .243 and it killed deer quite well and I had no complaints. Later, I moved up to the .270 Win. in anticipation of larger game and again, it worked well. I assembled my first .257R with a take-off featherweight barrel ($20) on an '09 Argentine action and it was love at first shoot. It was never shot with anything but handloads using 100 grain Core-locs and 4831 at 3000 fps just cause I had them and they worked amazingly well on Texas Deer, Hogs, exotics, and varmints. If I pointed that rifle at something, it just died and that was that. That rifle stayed in my truck rack 24/7/365 for 35 years and accounted for more game and hogs, than I can remember. I finally shot the throat out last year and rebarrelled it with a slightly heavier Shilen tube and it is as accurate as ever.
On the rare occasion that I meet another shooter with a .257R, I pay them a bit more attention, because they are members of the Fraternity of the Bob and have realized that good things can come in smaller packages... That, and everybody and their Uncle don't have one and I especially like that!

So many folks miss the point of a 257 or 250 SAvage and they inform us that a 270 is better or a 25-06 beats it all to pieces in velocity and perhaps they are correct, well duh! that's exactly what they were intended to do, I enjoy Shooting the 250 AND 257 or 243, MILD OF VOICE, EASY ON THE SHOULDER, GOOD ENOUGH FOR MOST WILD GAME UP TO AND ENCLUDING ELK! DID YOU KNOW THE 300 WIN MAG AND THE 30-06 ALSO CHALLANGE EACH THE SAME WAY AND SO WHAT! it's THE SAME OLD CRAP, SOMEONE ALWAYS KNOWS ONE CALIBER IS BETTER! YESIR THEY MISSED THE WHOLE POINT.

The only thing that would make my 257 Rob better is if it were a 250 Savage!

The Rem 721,722, Win Mod 70 pre 64, Mausers SR and LR can all be throated and magazines changed out or lengthened! applies to 7x57, 8x57, 257, 6mm and others and without breaking the bank, and velocities improve as much as perhaps 300 FPS without punching out the chambers as you get the needed powder capacity by seating the bullets out..reference DPCDs post. It would work as well on a bolt action 250-3000 but the gain would not be needed IMO.

However in some or most cases you miss the point of how nice these caliber are in there original calibers powder capacity..I have a 250-3000 (3 ACTUALLY), a 7x57 , a 257 Roberts all of which I would never try to improve in any matter, I like the lack of recoil, short on voice, so easy to shoot plus never found them lacking on game up to and including elk and Moose and most PG, I can back them up with my 270, 30-06 and bigger bores.

If "forced" to pick one Id pick any one of the above mentioned and use proper bullets.

Ray, the older you get, the wiser you get. Please keep on getting wiser.

Thanks Bill, but the older I get the more I forget Im afraid!

Brad:

Please tell us a little bit ore about your very lovely rifle,