A few days ago, I Posted about my .257 Roberts FN. I was concerned about the throat depth.
Well, I took a bunch carfully crafted hand loads out to the range today.
Bore sighted her at 50 YDS, chamberd a round, and fired. I was glad to see a little hole about an inch from the bull, so I coul move the target out to 100.
But I was not to happy when I ejected the case. The shoulder was blown out, and the case was ruptured at the edge of the shoulder in 2 places.
My 1st thought was I had an AI Roberts.
But why did the case split ? I put the rifle away and tried not to think about it while I shot my .270. Later, I pulled the ruptured case out of my pocket and compared it to a .270 round.
Sure enough. Someone rechamberd it to 25,06
and did not stamp the factory barrel.
When I got home I put a coule 25,06 loades in her and that prety much confirmed it.
Over all I am a bit dissapointed, I love the roberts, But hell, I might as well try her out as a 25,06. Its a great round too, and if it shoots good Its not to expensive to stamp the corect caliber on the barrel.
I am sort of concerned Beacuse the rifle was made in 1951 and that leaves a 17 year gap when the 25,06 was a wildcat, so the chamber specs might be off.
But its an fn so I feel safe enough to fire a few 25,06 loads through her, and if I can resize the brass I am ok. If not I could ream it to a 25,06 AI.
I am a we bit dissapointed beacuse a factory FN in the Roberts would a cool rifle for my collection, But as I said before if it shoots good as a 25,06, its still a fine deer rifle !!!
...tj3006

Stamp it "257 Neider" (confirm that spelling), might as well give credit to the guy that designed the cartridge.

Anyone that rechambers a rifle and doesn`t restamp it needs to hung by the balls! Anyone that sells a rechambered rifle with a different chambering then is stamped on the barrel and not tell the buyer aught to be hung on the other end of the rope.

r.....there's nothing to say it wasn't rechambered 20 years after it was new. The chamber might be exactly the 25-06 Remington.

find out what you have and go from there.....

I just went and bought a box of 120 grain core locks. for tmy 25,06 and the shoulder on the expanded Roberts case matches up prety good.
I agree that the smith who did the job with out stamping the barrel is an ass but the guy who sold me the rifle is a dealler , and he has lots and lots of rifle. It is quite posible he does not know. If it shoots well as a 25,06 I might be real happy with it. My FN .270 is great. I'll do a seperate post on it .
I love that one !! if I can get this 25,06 to shoot like the .270 I will have an excelent antilope rifle...tj3006

It was fairly common practice to rechamber a roberts (A-I or not) to the 25-06 as the throat became worn.

USUALLY to go from a "normal" cartridge to an "A-I"
version of the cartridge the barrel needs to be turned
back 0.050" or so the avoid having a stepped shoulder
in the chamber, because an AI reamer won't clean out the
unimproved version of the chamber.

Theoretically atleast you could ream a Roberts or an A-I
to the 25-06 (wildcat or factory spec chambering)
by cutting the chamber with a reamer on extension handle...
(Though my arm feels sore just thinking about it....)

AllanD

quote:

Originally posted by Thomas Jones:
...The shoulder was blown out, and the case was ruptured at the edge of the shoulder in 2 places. ... Someone rechamberd it to 25,06 and did not stamp the factory barrel...

Hey TJ, You are extremely lucky that the rifle did not come apart on you. Not every mismatch of cartridge and chamber will cause the rifle to become a bomb. But enough do that you can be thankful your result turned out as it did.

Just looked back at my list of reasons why a person should consider "not buying" a Used Rifle and your problem would have been found by number 7. How is the Headspace?

Since the Used Rifle has already given you one surprise, it might be a good idea to let a Gun Smith familiar with that type rifle look it over carefully.

Best of luck to you.

T.J. I would at the very least check or have the headspace checked by a gunsmith. A chamber cast would not hurt either.

Concur on the chamber cast. Right now, all you really know is that it isn't a 257.

Jaywalker

Bought it from a dealer? I'd take the rifle and your receipt back and get a refund! I don't know what you paid for the rifle, but I guarantee you it's not worth nearly as much as a .257Bob would be. Also you stated in an earlier post the rifle didn't feed well, plus you've basically "blown up" a cartridge in it. IMO, I'd get my money back and let the dealer deal with all the problems this rifle has.

Terry

quote:

Bought it from a dealer? I'd take the rifle and your receipt back and get a refund! I don't know what you paid for the rifle, but I guarantee you it's not worth nearly as much as a .257Bob would be.

I agree. Might also want to mention "liability".

I bought the rifle for 500.00. Its a little high considering it is not really a Roberts, But its not to uncommon to see FN actions go for 450.00 just for the action. I might contact the dealer , he is about 150 miles from me but I would be quite willing to give him back the rifle in trade.
I will 1st call a local smith about casting the chamber. I seem to have solved the feeding problems, by using factory ammo.
The ammo I had tried before was reloaded from another rifle.
If the rifle checks out as safe to shoot
I will have it stamped with the correct cartridge.
My persoal opinion, is that since its a 25 caliber barrel the chances of a real dangerous situation is small.
But another ruptured case should be avoided.
I think a go no go gage through the chamber would a very good idea. The Roberts case has been formed to the new chamber but of corse the neck is a we bit short, however The shoulder of the blown case is as near as I can tell measures the same distance from the rim as on a factory 25,06. At worst I paid a little to much for a FN mauser action,
But if I have a good shooting 25,06 I will not be to disapointed.
...tj3006