The .257 Roberts

[Trad Archer]

I have a Remington Mountain Rifle in 257 Roberts. It's accurate and very easy to shoot, light recoil. I've killed deer and pronghorns as far out as 400 yards with this gun. It's the only rifle I own (wife has a Model 7 243).

At one time, I also had Remington Mountain Rifle in the 280. I decided I didn't need both, so it was the 257 Roberts I decided to keep, and the 280 to trade. Never regreted that decision.

 

[mljdeckard]

I grew up shooting my dad's Remington 760 in .257. It's beat to snot, he still says it makes him look like a really good shot. It's still his go-to brush gun, knocked over a three-point at 300 yards with it a couple of years ago.

 

[timbertoes]

Rem 700 Classic .257Bob.
New to me, one range session. shoots prety well.
Will be using 75/80-ish gr bullets for Coyotes, and a Hog hunting trip or two.
Dont deer hunt. for 100 up gr I have a 6.5swede. the old rational thing.

 

[j2crows]

I just love taking my little .257 to the gun range. The younger kids just go goo-goo about it. The question I hear the most from the young folks is, "sir, what caliber did you say it is"?? I always take plenty of ammo with me because they all want to shoot it. I've owned it for 35 years and expect the nephews will fight over it when I die.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

I had very high hopes for my .257 build on an M98 receiver. I made a BIG mistake that i won't repeat. I bought a used unproven barrel off of GunBroker.com. The build looked great on the refinished Interarms stock with the Nikon Buckmaster scope. The problem was at the range it keyholed very badly with 117 grain bullets! I did the dry patch-rotating cleaning rod method measurement of the rifling twist rate and found it to be a 1:10" twist. I have reluctantly moved this project onto the back burner for the time being but hope to revive it soon. This thread makes me want "soon" to hurry up!

 

[Wakko]

I hope you guys don't mine me digging this thread up. I've got dad's '50s era Remmy 722 in Bob and I'm looking forward to shooting it. He used to use it for woodchuck and I think deer hunting back when he was a teenager. I forget what was his max range with it, but it was pretty damned far. It has a Lyman peep sight on it and that's it. Bore is pristine, stock has some dings and dents, bluing is good. I'm going to add a sling to it and leave it alone. I've been looking into some ammo for it, and from what I read it seems that the 1:10 twist rate likes the 110 grain bullets over the 117/120. Does this sound right?

I'm going hog hunting in a few weeks and I'm seriously thinking of taking this out with me.

 

[Kachok]

No dust on the old 257, when I went shopping for my all around rifle I was looking at the 257 and the 6.5x55, I ended up getting the Sweed because I found a great deal on a Tikka rifle, but I have no doubt the 257 would perform just as well on deer.

 

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive had at least on 257 for as long as i can remember. Right now a #1a ruger. Hard to beat in the whitetail woods.

 

[Dave Workman]

I had very high hopes for my .257 build on an M98 receiver. I made a BIG mistake that i won't repeat. I bought a used unproven barrel off of GunBroker.com. The build looked great on the refinished Interarms stock with the Nikon Buckmaster scope. The problem was at the range it keyholed very badly with 117 grain bullets! I did the dry patch-rotating cleaning rod method measurement of the rifling twist rate and found it to be a 1:10" twist. I have reluctantly moved this project onto the back burner for the time being but hope to revive it soon. This thread makes me want "soon" to hurry up!

Whatsamadda with a 1:10 twist in a .257 Roberts barrel?
My .257 is built on a Mauser '98 action with a Douglas bbl. I shoot 100-grainers through it (Speer, Nosler) exclusively. Thumb tack accurate. Deer I plugged dropped pretty much where they were shot, unless they rolled down hill.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Whatsamadda with a 1:10 twist in a .257 Roberts barrel?

Fact#1: my barrel has a 1:10 twist rate. Fact #2: 117 grain bullets keyhole badly from my rifle. Fact #3:bullets that keyhole aren't being stablized in flight. Bore looks brand new. I haven't had the bore diameter mic'ed to be absolutely certain that it is a .25(bought as a pull off,may have just bought a "bad" barrel). As said though, this project has been moved to the back of the priority list. BTW,I don't hand load and cannot find ANYTHING other than 117 grain and the rarer 120 grain commercially loaded ammo.

 

[Picher]

The bad news is that you lost a lot of concealability when you traded the J-Frame Smith for the .257 R, but the good news is you gained lots of accuracy and range.

Don't bother looking for a holster, though.

Enjoy!!!

 

[stsimons]

midwayusa has 100-110-115 grain 257 bob ammo in stock.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Thanks stsimons. Midway had no .257 Roberts ammo in stock (nor did hardly ANYONE,of any bullet weight,when I was looking). The rifle has since be cannabilized for other builds.

 

[GooseGestapo]

Previously reading this thread a day or so ago, got me sore for shooting my "Bob" again. I've recently sold off my Ruger 77MKII. It was a "lackluster" shooter and I wanted to capitalize it to buy another Ruger.

The old M98 has a 1983 mfg'd ER Shaw barrel. It has always been a good shooter (sub moa), but following a rain drenched hunt in Dec. of 1993, and spending 5weeks in a case in the attic the following summer, developed some pitting in the mid barrel area ~5" ahead of the throat, and spotted for about 7" thereafter. Last 12" of barrel is sharp and bright.

I put a fairly new Nikon 2x-7x ProHunter on it as I'd taken the Leupold off of it and put on another aquisition.

After sighting in, I tried a 3-shot group that I extended to 5-shots after I saw the result. With the first three 100gr Sierra GameKings over 45.0gr of IMR4350, I had a neat 1/2" group centered 2.5" over the bull. I couldn't stand it. I flung two more at it and resulted in a ~0.75" group with 3 touching a fourth close and the 5 just a tad below the other 4.

I shot another ~30rds through it "shooting up" some of the ammo I'd developed for the "other" Roberts. I then went back and shot a three shot group with some Hornady 110gr Accubonds over 45.0gr of IMR4831. The Ruger refused to shoot these into anything resembling a "group". The M98 Sporter threw two touching and the third 1/2" below them in the same POI as the 100gr load.......
I guess the "old barrel" isn't shot-out as bad as I thought......
Now I'm in the quandry of which rifle to take to the airport to "control" the deer........ Longest shot on game I've ever made was with the "Old Roberts" in Montana in 1993. Took a Muley doe at 378yds (measured). And the next day shot over 50 prarie dogs, a few at over 400yds with the "Old Roberts" and some 85gr Nosler Ballistic Tips......
It is now solidly back in 2nd place for the most accurate rifle I own...... The first is a Rem. 700 in .22-250, that's a tad better, but only a tad!