257 Roberts vs. 6mm Remington

[Jim Watson]

Well, nobody is making standard Mausers to amount to anything. The ones in production have been opened up to .30-06.

 

[cdb1]

In the minds of shooters, the 57mm is too long for short action and too short for long actions. Popular calibers are 243 Winchester, 260 Remington, 7mm-08 and 308 Winchester for short action and 25-06, 270 Winchester and 30-06 in the long action. These calibers are based on either the 308 Winchester case or the 30-06 case. None of the popular calibers are based on the 57mm case. In fact, all calibers based on the 57mm case are dead or dying.

I believe there is a lot of life left in the 7x57.

 

[Jim Watson]

I prefer the .275 Rigby.

 

[MistWolf]

I believe there is a lot of life left in the 7x57.

Most of the calibers based on the 57mm case are great! My favorites are the 6mm Remington and the 7x57, in that order. Unfortunately, both are no longer supported.

 

[30Cal]

I have a 257 Rob AI built on a Savage 110 with a long varmint barrel and it hammers. I've gotten sub MoA groups (not all day, but still) with cast bullets. Either one would be pretty cool though.

 

[Ks5shooter]

Have a Ruger M77 ,red pad, tang safety in .257 Roberts. Have not shot it yet,getting ready to put optics on her.

 

[T.R.]

257 Roberts had it's coffin nailed shut when Remington offered 25-06 rifles. Yet the 6 mm didn't ever receive the wide spread popularity of the .243 as a varmint/deer combo cartridge. If it were me, I'd go with the .243 and never look back.

TR

 

[MachIVshooter]

Either cartridge will do what you want just fine. I'd opt for the 6mm personally, but I also own a .25-06, so a bob would be kinda silly. Of course, I sold my 6mm Rem. a few years ago, too, as it didn't do anything the .25-06 wouldn't do as well or better.

Yet the 6 mm didn't ever receive the wide spread popularity of the .243 as a varmint/deer combo cartridge. If it were me, I'd go with the .243 and never look back.

It was Remington's doing, really. In it's original configuration as the .244 Rem, the slow twist of factory rifles left it unable to use heavier bullets and be the multi-purpose round the .243 was. By the time big green corrected that mistake and renamed it the 6mm, it was too late. Remington also tried to ride the coat tails of the highly successful 7mm mag by naming other cartrdiges with metric designations. But it didn't work out well for the 5mm Rem Mag, 6mm Rem, 6.5mm Rem Mag, .7mm Express (.280) or 8mm Rem Mag.

 

[RugerOldArmy]

While the .257 Roberts might have the edge for deer near MPBR, I'd pick the 6mm Remington.

I've always wanted to make a nice 6mm Rem, taking advantage of what the .244 didn't. It has such a nice long neck, which reloaders love for accuracy, as well as a capacity advantage over .243. Use newer powders, and get a good 1-8" twist barrel and it will be so much more than what the .244 Rem was.

 

[Newtosavage]

Yes and that's the real reason the 6mm & 257 Roberts have fallen from favor. The 57mm case is too long for a short action and too short for a long action.

Same reason the fantastic 7x57 is no longer popular.

 

[CoalTrain49]

Actually neither but that isn't an option. I've seen some 257's and 6 mm Rem's being sold for 3-400. Both have fallen out of favor with 6.5 mm being the new sweetheart of the bench rest and hunting crowd. 6 mm Rem would be my choice of the two only because I used to hunt with a guy that could shoot his out to 300 and drop deer with it. I think that had more to do with his ability than the cartridge but I was duly impressed. We were hunting in AZ and at that time (70's) nobody used a 6 mm for mule deer. It didn't seem to be a handicap for him. I've always liked a 7 mm myself. Perfection was reached in the 7mm-08. In the old days I used a 7 mm mag and suffered. That's what we did in the old days and we wear it like a badge of honor.