I think you & your son (if he ever gets to use it after you try it) will love the .257 R, whether standard or improved.

I have a .257 Weatherby and 2 .25-06's, all three of which never seem to come out of the vault any more. I have two .257's, both standard, a Ruger 77 RS dog-leg flat-bolt, and a Rem. 722 HB, and like them both. Have recently acquired a .257 AI reamer from an estate, and will probably run it into the Remington's barrel and open up the magazine length a bit.

If I ever build yet another .25 for myself, it will be the .250 Sav AI on a Rem short 700 switch-barrel. Certainly not the equivalent of a 257 AI or a .25-06, but as I age I find I only need to kill the game, not kill, draw, and quarter it all in one "swell foop".

Best wishes, and enjoy that rifle WITH your son.

AC

Consider the 25-06 if it's a .250 bore you must have. Just handload the Neidner down to whatever your son is comfortable with and when he grows bigger than you he can load it up.

You can load a cartridge down but you can't load it up much over it's capacity.

I want to put together a rifle for my son and have decided it will be a 257 Roberts on Winchester 70 action. Would you use the short action or the standard length action? The rifle will be used mostly for whitetails with an occasional black bear hunt over bait. Let me know which size Model 70 action you would use and why. Thanks.



Craig

standard, i have both & think the long actions are easier to get to shoot 120 gr bullets,, neither shoot 75 & 85 gr bullets worth a damn

I would go with the standard action. The .257 Roberts is an "intermediate" length cartridge, like the 7x57 or 8x57. The case itself is about 6mm's longer than the .308 (7.62x51) that most short actions I've seen were built for. With that in mind, I would tend to think that a standard length action might save you a headache or two. Plus you could always rebarrel the action for something larger than the .257 later on if your son wanted something bigger. Just a little more food for thought...

Use the standard length; not the short action. Many .257 Roberts rifles were built on short actions, but such rifles do not handle the longer and heavier bullets well, unless those bullets are loaded very far into the case. That robs the case of powder capacity.

I'd build it on a short action. You'll have plenty of room with the Mod 70 action. Either would work fine, but if you are going to use a standard why not just build a 25-06. A short action 257 with the ejection port opened just a tad would be pretty neat. IMO, it just wouldn't be right on a standard, too much action for the cartridge.

The M70 short action is probably the ideal length for the 257 Roberts. My short M70 handles 6.5x55 factory rounds OK so the 257 would fit nicely. The short M70 (and the MRC) are much longer in the magazine than the Remington 700 for instance. Regards, Bill.

The best choice of all would be a Pre-64 action. It's what I plan to do if I find the one I'm missing!.... ...DJ

Craig:

I built a 6mm Rem on a short action Rem. In a short time, I took the barrel off and remounted it on a long action in a Remington 700. Too much limitation.

After that I built a 6.5 x 57 and I put on a Win 70 Long Action.

I can seat the bullets out to fit the magazine length.

To me th 57 mm Mauser case is not limited in a long action, like it is in a short action.

Just the route I went on rebarreling two rifles with that case.

Cheers and good shooting
seafire

CraigP,
You have made a fine choice with the .257 Roberts. I have 3 of them and it is a great comfortable round. Salvage99 has made it a goal in life to denigrade this round. If you had the history here you would find he never ownned one. He has just decided that it is not worth the bother. Those that own and use it say much differently. Go with experience and knowledge, it beats bull shit and ignorance every day.

Couldn't agree more. Bob is a great cartridge, for young and older as well! I've noting against the 25-06 or other "faster/bigger/better" quarter bores but they don't offer a heck of a lot more in performance for all the more powder they burn. Shy of bear/moose/elk it would be my go-to chambering amongst all the others in my closet. It's undoubtably accounted for many of those as well but I just think the caliber is light for that application. Excellent for varmints, and given a 9" twist excellent for heavier bullets as well. Hardly gets any better IMO.

if you can feed a cartridge of 2.9" through a short action winchester i'd like to know.. if so i'll build 1 like that for me, all my 257's are on rem 700 or mauser actions but in my heart i know winchester 70's are better..

Customstock,



My comments are just based on common sense. What cartridge you use does not matter a whit to me. Your 257 RR's are just fine and go bang.



"He who is satisfied is well paid"



If you want to go at it however then the .25 bore is what's neither here nor there. They are all rifles however so I like them all.



The RR cartridge just had no luck. That's it's albatross. That's the situation with most of them anyway. They are all duplicates in some way. The .358 Win is a favorite of mine and the 257 RR may have sold a lot more rifles.

Chic,

I am familiar with the Roberts myself. I shot my first whitetail with a Ruger 77 257 Roberts. I kind of fell into the old trap of bigger is better for a while. Well I guess I've come full circle because this past season found me carrying that same Ruger 77. I also own a Remington 700 in 25-06 and while it is also a nice cartridge I much prefer the Roberts. I thought about giving the Ruger to my son, but then I wouldn't have a Roberts to hunt with. Besides, having kids is a great excuse for more rifles.

Craig, Bill Leeper nailed it, of course. I don't know why these guys are comparing the short action Winchester to a Remington. With the mag spacer removed, you've got a mag length of 3.1" as compared to 2.8" in the short M700 Remington. The short action Winchester is perfect for the 257 Roberts. Or the 7X57, or the 284, or the 6.5X55, etc.

A couple of years back Bill built a 284 Win for me on a short action M70. My standard cartridge lengths are about 3.05", which seems about perfect for the Roberts cartridge. Just seat the bullets to fit the magazine, and have the gunsmith throat the rifle for that length.

SA in a Win 70 will be just perfect for the 257 Roberts. As RickF said, a Rem SA 700 would work, but you could get more out of the cartridge with a LA if you are going to use a Rem 700 action.

The 257 Rbts is a perfect varmint/deer cartridge, and I couldn't think of a better round for a youth gun. I've got a Rem 700 Classic .257 Rbts (built on a long action) that has taken many deer and varmints.

Don't let anyone sway you. Go with the 257 Rbts and go with the Win 70 short action!!

Regarding the Win 70 S/A and the longer 3.1" mag box (spacer removed), you may want to order & install a bolt stop and ejector for the Win 70 375 H&H models. It will allow the bolt to travel further back to clear the cartridge's case rim while resting in the longer mag box. You can order these 2 drop-in parts directly from US Repeating Arms website.

I would order a Win 70 L/A mag follower for an '06 based cartridge too and shorten it to fit the 3.1" mag box.

MtnHtr

I have three Robert's and love them all. I am fond of the 3" roberts which will barely fit into a classic short action. Two of mine are on pre-64 actions and stocked by Al Biesen. The other is a G 33-40 custom by Rodger Green. All truely magnificent rifles and realistically every bit the equal to the 25-06.I have three Robert's and love them all. I am fond of the 3" Roberts which will barely fit into a classic short action. Two of mine are on pre-64 actions and stocked by Al Biesen. The other is a G 33-40 custom by Roger Green. All truly magnificent rifles and realistically every bit the equal to the 25-06.