“Best” bullets for 257bob AI

[john-brennan]

110 accubonds

 

[Longwalker]

I used a .257 Roberts for years, and after I sold it used a 25-06 quite a bit. So bullet performance / velocities just on either side of your .257 AI. I have always, always had very good results with the 115-120 Nosler partitions. They are never a bad choice. The Speer 120 Hot Cor is also a decent hunting bullet, but its greatest virtue is that it is cheap for practise and shoots to the same point of impact as the Nosler PT in my rifles. I would bet the Grand Slam would be excellent, I like them in other cartridges but have never used them in this particular caliber.
I've also had good results with Remington CL 120's, and Hornady IL 117's. The old obsolete Hornady 117 RN is very deadly bullet, expands well, penetrates, holds together, and is accurate, but it didn't please the long range crowd and can only be found second hand now.
I didn't care for any of the 100 grain cup and core bullets for big deer - bullets fragmented too much and I prefer more penetration. I just started using the Barnes TSX 100 grain in my .25-06. I suspect Dogleg is correct - they seem to kill pretty slowly. But there's no lead fragments in the meat either!
I would like to try the 110 accubonds. Many report good results.
When hunting wolf, the 100 gr. cup and core types like Nosler BT might just be excellent. Fragment inside, no exit, no pelt damage. But I've shot several coyotes with them that were blown completely in half, so probably not what you'd want to use on a wolverine with their nice valuable pelt. The Barnes TSX might be a good fur friendly bullet, that's what I'd try for that purpose.

 

[DGY]

I used a .257 Roberts for years, and after I sold it used a 25-06 quite a bit. So bullet performance / velocities just on either side of your .257 AI. I have always, always had very good results with the 115-120 Nosler partitions. They are never a bad choice. The Speer 120 Hot Cor is also a decent hunting bullet, but its greatest virtue is that it is cheap for practise and shoots to the same point of impact as the Nosler PT in my rifles. I would bet the Grand Slam would be excellent, I like them in other cartridges but have never used them in this particular caliber.
I've also had good results with Remington CL 120's, and Hornady IL 117's. The old obsolete Hornady 117 RN is very deadly bullet, expands well, penetrates, holds together, and is accurate, but it didn't please the long range crowd and can only be found second hand now.
I didn't care for any of the 100 grain cup and core bullets for big deer - bullets fragmented too much and I prefer more penetration. I just started using the Barnes TSX 100 grain in my .25-06. I suspect Dogleg is correct - they seem to kill pretty slowly. But there's no lead fragments in the meat either!
I would like to try the 110 accubonds. Many report good results.
When hunting wolf, the 100 gr. cup and core types like Nosler BT might just be excellent. Fragment inside, no exit, no pelt damage. But I've shot several coyotes with them that were blown completely in half, so probably not what you'd want to use on a wolverine with their nice valuable pelt. The Barnes TSX might be a good fur friendly bullet, that's what I'd try for that purpose.

Thanks that is really valuable info!
I have a contact for a few hundred nosler partition 115gn I will test a few and if they shoot in my rifle I think it will be my big game hunting bullet! I also have a bit of nosler balistic tip that I could use on wolfs and the like!

 

[Thunderhog]

110 accubonds

This, hands down!.......

 

[JJ-65]

110 Accubond over a case full of R-19.
Load data for the Bob is badly neutered, I use 257AI load data to good effect in mine.

 

[Scoutertracker]

I have a standard .257 Roberts, not the AI version. The bullet that I use in my game loads is the 120 gr. Speer Grand Slam.

 

[BigUglyMan]

I've killed many big bodied bucks with my 257 Weatherby, using 100 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip. The Nosler Partition has set the standard for the premium bullet, a 100 grain in the 257 cal. will suffice.

That's a lot of "go" for that bullet. I'm guessing it is mostly at distance? I'd be more inclined to use something like a Scirocco if I was driving the bullet that hard. But for the Bob, I'm not sure why a 100gr Hot Cor wouldn't work nicely.

 

[DGY]

That's a lot of "go" for that bullet. I'm guessing it is mostly at distance? I'd be more inclined to use something like a Scirocco if I was driving the bullet that hard. But for the Bob, I'm not sure why a 100gr Hot Cor wouldn't work nicely.

For my part if they would make a 115-117 hot-cor I would for sure buy some, but I like a bit heavier bullets for up here cause you don’t know what you might run into while looking for caribou, it could be a moose or a bear…

 

[struff55]

110 gr accubond for all game hunting and i would likely use a 100 gr whatever for all other critters

 

[track]

That's a lot of "go" for that bullet. I'm guessing it is mostly at distance? I'd be more inclined to use something like a Scirocco if I was driving the bullet that hard. But for the Bob, I'm not sure why a 100gr Hot Cor wouldn't work nicely.

I handloaded that bullet because it was accurate, super fast and deadly. It was the very first custom rifle I had built. It had a 28" Ted Galliard barrel and velocity was 3,705 fps. I sold the rifle to a friend, but still have another 257 Wby. and using the same bullet, but not as fast, only 3,535 fps.

 

[BigUglyMan]

For my part if they would make a 115-117 hot-cor I would for sure buy some, but I like a bit heavier bullets for up here cause you don’t know what you might run into while looking for caribou, it could be a moose or a bear…

100% with you on that. That's the reason that I always loaded 180gr Partitions in the 30-06...not because 150s or 165s wouldn't work on caribou (150s were the standard handload that the Old Man used in my brother's 30-06, but mine was always loaded with 180s), but because 180s are a lot better when you spook up a bear in the scrub willows on the tundra.

Still use the 180s today even down here in NS. Because no matter how unlikely, the odds are never zero.

 

[jbmauser]

When I had my 257 Roberts I used 100gr TSX. Shot one big whitetail at about 50yds, quartering frontal shot and one big mature muley buck at just over 300, heart shot. Both exited and had awesome wound channels.

 

[bearhunter]

DGY, the reason you went to the AI version of the 257Roberts is to push "big, long for caliber" bullets faster than you could in the standard 257Roberts.

The 257AI is one of the AI versions which honestly improves performances over the standard version. New powders and stronger rifles can and do make a huge difference to significantly improve the loads as well.

If you're going to use Monolithic bullets, the 100 grain versions will do anything the 115-120 grain cup and core bullets will do, with the exception of some Premium bullets.

We used to go to the 25-06 for the performance which can be achieved from the 257robAI.

You can't go wrong with Noslers, if your rifle likes them, some don't. However, the rifle I had a few years back in 257AI loved a max load of H4831 over CCI 250 primers, under 120 grain bullets of any type and shot all of them well, even the very long monolithic types. My custom 98 GEW Mauser had a Shilen barrel with a 1-9 twist rate. My shooting/hunting partner at the time had a Remington Mod 700 with a custom cut AI chamber, with a 1-10 twist rate and it shot every bit as well as the 1-9 twist with long/heavy bullets.