257 Roberts vs. 260 Rem for this scenario

Personally, I'd choose a tougher/lighter bullet and load the 257 Wby. down a little, then you will then end up with the ballistics/recoil that you are looking for...

IF, you are just dyeing to get another rifle, I'd choose the .260 for longer ranges with bigger deer, over the Roberts...

DM

For your stated purpose either work. If based on nostalgia, 257. Based on performance get a 6.5. If you already had a 260 then I'd say be happy with it. But I simply cannot recommend someone buy a new 260 today. The 6.5 Creedmoor does everything SLIGHTLY better. But while the performance is only slightly better, the 260 has never been a popular round. The 6.5 will kill it in a decade, or less. The 260 is already a hand loaders round, you can buy off the shelf 6.5 ammo anywhere including Walmart now for a lot less money. Many of the rifle manufacturers are discontinuing 260 production and are now only offering the 6.5 Creedmoor version. Nothing at all wrong with 260, but I just wouldn't go there at this time.

Is it worth doing a 6.5X284? Or 6.5 Rem Mag

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How far you gonna shoot? Either the 260 or 6.5 Creedmoor will stay supersonic to 2000 yards or close to it. Hunters are taking elk and deer at ranges between 500-700 yards with them. Shooting the same bullet faster would give me more range I can't use, at the expense of more recoil and shorter barrel life.

No experience with the .260 or the Creedmoor. I do have experience with the .257 Roberts. I've had a Remington Classic now for around 35 years, I guess. Long action and 24" barrel. So far I've only used 100 grain bullets for deer and easily get 3200 fps without going max. I currently have some 120 grain and 115 grain partition bullets I plan to reload and see what kind of accuracy they give.

My .257 Roberts is an inheritance and I'm too much of a fanboy to have input on this discussion. Yeah, mine's an old 722 Remington short action with 24" barrel and I get 3150 fps with a 100 grain game king, 3050 with a Hornady Interlock. I like the Sierra on deer. I get 1/2 MOA with my load in this rifle.

That said, I mostly hunt with my .308. But, that .257 has taken a lot more deer for me and for my grandpa than any of my other rifles put together.

I have a .257 Roberts and a .257 Roberts A.I. However, if I wanted to go with a long-range short action cartridge for large deer, I would choose the 7-08. Ballistically, the 7mm is superior to both the .257 and 6.5 and you would have a much greater choice in bullets. It is more readily available and the Model 7 Remington rifle is a proven performer that you can obtain easily.

My .257 Roberts is a 24" pre 64 Win with an identical to stock barrel profile, HART barrel in .257 Ackley improved 40°. Pretty much .25-06 velocity.

Killed a few deer and a mature cow elk (200 yds) with 115 NP's. No issues. Still has light recoil too.

Nothing wrong with the .260 Rem, or it's AI version. The 6.5-.284 Norma another winner.

If I was still nuts over hunting I always wanted to built a 6 pound lt weight deer rifle. I was going to do a 6.5 or .25 cal. Nothing for ultra long range, just a 200-250 yd light rifle. Thought of a .250 Savage, or even a 6.5 x 47 Lapua ,as I have one already and own the reamer.

OP You have a neat conundrum...have fun.

The 257 Roberts is a great deer cartridge. At ranges out to 350 yards though? I think you'd be much better off with the 7mm08 as previously stated.

I would use .257 Roberts...just because I already have one and wanted to post a picture.

MCgunner said:

My .257 Roberts is an inheritance and I'm too much of a fanboy to have input on this discussion. Yeah, mine's an old 722 Remington short action with 24" barrel and I get 3150 fps with a 100 grain game king, 3050 with a Hornady Interlock. I like the Sierra on deer. I get 1/2 MOA with my load in this rifle.

That said, I mostly hunt with my .308. But, that .257 has taken a lot more deer for me and for my grandpa than any of my other rifles put together.

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Aside from the remington 722 part, this is exactly me. That said, flip a coin. My preference would be the .257 bob for biased reasons.

As others have said, 6 of one, half-a-dozen of the other. Really not that much of a difference out to about 400 yards. After that, the 260 probably takes over. I've got a 257 Roberts. I'm going to build a 6.5x55 which is almost identical to the 260 ballistically. Both the 257 and 260 are more or less reloader-only rounds now.

Matt

Cocked & Locked said:

I would use .257 Roberts...just because I already have one and wanted to post a picture.

View attachment 769907

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Nice looking shooter you've got there

mshootnit said:

My personal preference is for the 260 over the creedmoor, and I do reload so I could care less what is at Walmart.
So 260 or BOB? What am I missing?

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I would like to try a 257, but I love my 260. It creates bang flops on deer with 100 amax at 2900. I downloaded it to simplify hold over for my rifles.

I've found .257 to work at long range. I've never shot anything past 200 yards with it, but my grandpa took one at nearly 400 yards on the lease he had in the 60s out at Leaky, Texas. He had no rangefinder, just paced it out, so there's a little plus or minus to that range. He didn't make a habit of long shots, but this one was a nice buck. He was shooting hot 117 grain Sierra handloads. It was a flat based bullet and we had no chronograph back then let alone computers with exterior ballistics software, so I don't know how fast it was. He was using IMR4350 and I've found H4831 to work much better.

My load, a compressed load of H4831 behind the excellent 100 grain Game King bullet, is pushing 2200 fps, 1064 ft lbs, all the way out at 400 yards. That's only a couple hundred ft lbs off my favorite .308 load at 400 yards and I feel fully capable of 350 yard shots, though I'd admit 400 is getting a little light.

All that said, the only deer I ever shot beyond 350 yards was a New Mexico mulie and I was using my 7mm Remington Magnum at that time. Most of the deer I've taken with the .257 have been inside 200 yards and most were bang/flops except for one I shot, a quartering angle with good bullet placement, with the Hornady 117 grain Interlock. That one failed to expand and the deer went 75 yards and fell dead, didn't have enough life left in him to clear a fence. That's when I decided to go with the 100 grain Game King and it has worked very well for me ever since producing the bang flops I expect from a shoulder hit with this gun.

I mean, I ain't sayin' you should definitely go with the .257 Roberts, I'm just sticking up for it as a deer caliber even at longish range. Of course, some folks think long ranges starts at 1000 yards. I'm not one of those long range "hunters" they make outdoor TV shows about and trying to sell rifles and range finders and mildot scopes and field ballistics computers for. 350-400 yards is my limit and the conditions have to be perfect for that, light wind, no excessive up or down hill adjustment, broadside shot. It's rare that I've ever been presented with such a shot and now that I hunt woods, it'll never happen out here. 100 yards is long range out here.

I took a spike when I first moved here, first season I hunted here in the 2013 season. It was 50 years nearly to the week, if not the day, that I shot my first deer with that .257 at age 11 out in Leaky. I just had to do it. Might be the last deer that .257 takes for me as I usually hunt with my .308 now days, love that M7. This year, I took one with my new M4 in .223. The .257 has it all over .223 ballistically, but like I said, ranges are short in these woods. That deer was about 30 yards from me. I've gone back to my .308, just had reason to take the .223 at that time.

GO with a 1 in 8" in a 6.5 x 55 AI or .260 AI. Or to allow for Factory ammo, as Nosler sells it... .6.5 x .284 Norma. All three will surely get You to 350 with 140's.

mshootnit said:

I may switch a 243 to either 260 Remington or 257 Roberts. This would most likely be a 22" rifle.
...... Just want to build a nice little short action this time. No long action.

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If you want a short action, go 260. 257 Roberts is based on the 7x57 case and it's a bit long for most short actions. This is probably the case if you intend to convert an existing 243 to a new cartridge. If you do decide to go 257, check magazine length carefully.

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mshootnit said:

Savage is the action.

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.260, why? Because when push comes to shove, the 129 ablr is at your disposal at 2900fps if loaded proper and will do everything you speak of VERY well, keep the twist faster than the old chambered barrels (which savage does I believe) and the ONLY thing the cm will do better is chamber a match bullet at full length, this can be fixed depending on how you set up YOUR rifle. .243 brass and the like will ALWAYS be around to be sized into .260 if it becomes unobtainable and the 6.5 bullets will never go away either.
The .257 Bob is nothing to sneeze at, but you're already leaning towards the .260 anyway right? So this is me validating that choice from my perspective. To keep things apples to apples, the Bob fires it's counter SD bullets at 2750 from the barrel length we're discussing, and their bc is not awesome. Is it fully capable? Yes. Is it a good choice? Yes. Will I have one some day? If I don't, it will only be because I went with a .250AI.
All that said, we are discussing one OR the other, and the heaviest .25 bullets in terms of both SD and bc will not compare to the 6.5, add in the velocity, and the best performance is definitely the .260. The only reason to buy the Bob is because you want it and that too is reason enough.

I have both 257 Roberts and 260 Rem reamers and have built hunting rifles with them.

They both shoot the lights out with 100 grain bullets.

I have a .250AI built on a savage 11 4.4 centerfeed, and its a wonderful rifle and cartridge. I WILL be building a Bob at some point, but not today.
In that action type either the .260 or .257 should have enough mag length to do fine with the heavier hunting bullets. I believe i can get 2.9-3ish into my mag.

I also have a 6-284 and a 6.5-284, and while i havent shot the 6.5, but the 6mm is a rocket. I dont feel that kind of performance is necessary (or even desireable if shots are really close) when shots are going to be sub 500yds. The "standards" will produce great on game performance with out needing to use expensive bonded or monometals.

Were it MY choice id probably do the .260 on a savage action.
123SSTs from a 6.5 have a better BC than the best .257s, but again at the expected ranges i dont feel it matters that much.

On a sub 2.8" action id go with the .250 or a derivative like CMs.

The .257 Roberts is a fine cartridge and a proven performer. But if you're not a reloader, you should note that commercially-loaded ammunition isn't always available, and the ammo companies have been making noises about discontinuing .257 for several years now. .260 is popular and likely to be easily available for a long time.

If that's not an issue and .257 will do the job, it should do it with less recoil and commotion than the .260.

mshootnit said:

I may switch a 243 to either 260 Remington or 257 Roberts. This would most likely be a 22" rifle.

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I don't believe there's a nickel's worth of difference in real world, hunting performance between any of the three cartridges mentioned. So I'd go for the classic 257 Roberts - it has more panache than the other two.