117 grain Interlock in 257 Roberts

[Potashminer]

So, I have a 24" barrel on order - 257 Roberts - 1-10" twist. I have bought a few lots of .257" bullets on EE - now wondering about my original plan?? I had thought with lighter / smaller diameter bullets, that I might want to use better bullets - like Partition - for hunting whitetail deer. I have taken many dozens of deer with Speer HotCor in 165 grain .308" and 150 grain Partition in .284" - both with muzzle velocity about 2,800 fps. As it turns out, I have accumulated a stash of 117 Hornady Interlock in .257" diameter - #2552 - so a Soft Point Boat Tail bullet. Hornady 9th says they achieved 2,900 fps with a 22" barrel - I expect I should have no problem to get similar velocity.

What says the CGN "brain trust" - are those 117 Interlock going to work at 2,900 fps or so, or should I stay with original plan and use 115 Partitions - assuming similar accuracy loads can be developed for either?

 

[Southcountryguy]

This isn’t a direct answer sorry.

Years ago I hunted with big magnums firing the best bullets money could buy. I distinctly remember my first whitetail shot with my .338 lapua and 210 partitions. I remember smirking thinking how hard I was going to hammer it to have it run off with a 75-100 yard track job. My hunting partner using a bob like you are getting dropped most animals where they stood. Now I always jided him that I could nearly eat to the hole and he had blood shot but…he rarely tracked.

So I guess the question is how do you hunt? Do you shoot at any angle to get to the vitals or will you wait for, and often missing a potential chance, for the right shot?

If your will only take high percentage double lung or single shoulder shots I don’t think you need a ‘better’ bullet. If you will try a running Texas heart shot get ‘better’.

YMMV

 

[bearhunter]

So, I have a 24" barrel on order - 257 Roberts - 1-10" twist. I have bought a few lots of .257" bullets on EE - now wondering about my original plan?? I had thought with lighter / smaller diameter bullets, that I might want to use better bullets - like Partition - for hunting whitetail deer. I have taken many dozens of deer with Speer HotCor in 165 grain .308" and 150 grain Partition in .284" - both with muzzle velocity about 2,800 fps. As it turns out, I have accumulated a stash of 117 Hornady Interlock in .257" diameter - #2552 - so a Soft Point Boat Tail bullet. Hornady 9th says they achieved 2,900 fps with a 22" barrel - I expect I should have no problem to get similar velocity.

What says the CGN "brain trust" - are those 117 Interlock going to work at 2,900 fps or so, or should I stay with original plan and use 115 Partitions - assuming similar accuracy loads can be developed for either?

I have a lovely Remington 700 Classic chambered for the 257 Roberts, with a 24 inch bbl.

The 1-10 twist in your barrel may not shoot the bullets you mention, but usually that twist rate is OK.

It's kind of difficult to give you a decent answer to your question, simply because you don't mention the action you're using for the build.

I like to use powders such as W760/H414 in my rifle, with Hornady 100 grn and achieving 3000fps, without base expansion or severely flattened primers, with 117 grain bullets 2900fps was not doable.

3000+ was easily achieved with 100 grain Interlock SP, #2540.

I could push this bullet to 3100+fps with H414 without pressure signs but groups got bigger.

The sweet spot was 46.0 grains of H414 over CCI 250 magnum primers at 3000fps, according to my magnetospeed. Groups are consistently sub moa.

The best I could do with the 117 Interlock BTSP was 2800fps over 46.5 grains H4831ssc, over CCI 250 primers.

Groups at 100/200 yards were consistently right around 2 moa.

The 100 grain flat base bullets are seated so the bullet has appx 1 diameter seating in the neck.

The 117 grain boat tail bullets were seated as far out as the mag well would allow but not as much actual tension in the neck. Yes, I tried seating deeper and groups opened up.

I also tried some of the 117 grain FBRN Interlock I have on hand. I used the same load as for the BTILs and accuracy was similar, as were velocities/pressure signs.

I use +P Remington brass because I have a lot of it on hand.

I also use Lapua brass, which actually holds more grains of water than the Remington brass.

I couldn't measure any real difference, over the magnetospeed, between the two and pressure signs/velocities were similar.

 

[9.3mauser]

I used that bullet on a deer many years ago, from a .250 Savage, so about 100 fps slower than what you're planning. Recovered the bullet jacket, never did find the core. I used partitions after that.

 

[Potashminer]

I have had no experience at all with the .257" of any description - so all new to me. If it matters, the action is a Mauser 98 - likely a "guild gun" due to the moderate scroll work and the double set triggers - the barrel was partial octagon to the fore end tip, then round to the muzzle, with a full length rib - is thoroughly scrubbed - no makers marks left at all that I can find. Since I had never previously owned any 25 caliber, and since I had this action and stock - it seemed that a 257 Roberts would fit about nicely. I have also never used any Hornady bullet on game, so that doubles the curiosity for me. I most definitely do trust the Partitions and Accubonds in the other cartridges that I have used them in - 7x57, 338 Win Mag, 9.3x62.

I had read that Winchester differentiated between a 54,000 PSI "standard" load and a 58,000 PSI "+P" load, and made brass head stamped as such, but I could not find a reference that Remington did anything about that. The batch of brass that I have is head stamped "R-P 257 Rob"

 

[mbogo3]

I believe the 117gr RN has been discontinued years ago by Hornady?

 

[A-zone]

I have had no experience at all with the .257" of any description - so all new to me. If it matters, the action is a Mauser 98 - likely a "guild gun" due to the moderate scroll work and the double set triggers - the barrel was partial octagon to the fore end tip, then round to the muzzle, with a full length rib - is thoroughly scrubbed - no makers marks left at all that I can find. Since I had never previously owned any 25 caliber, and since I had this action and stock - it seemed that a 257 Roberts would fit about nicely. I have also never used any Hornady bullet on game, so that doubles the curiosity for me. I most definitely do trust the Partitions and Accubonds in the other cartridges that I have used them in - 7x57, 338 Win Mag, 9.3x62.

I hunted deer with a .250 Savage for many years (Ruger 77 RSI), mostly using 100 grain Nosler Partitions. After having it turned into an .250 Ackley Improved, I developed loads for it with 120 grain Hornady HP and 117 grain SP Hornady and Sierra bullets. Chrono'd at 2,800+ fps , I would not hesitate using it on deer or anything else.

 

[Potashminer]

I believe the 117gr RN has been discontinued years ago by Hornady?

You might be correct - I see is now hard to find any Hornady RN in most all calibers - certainly, I am no longer seeing new stock for 160 RN in 6.5 (#2640), 175 RN for 7mm (#2855) or 174 RN for 303 British (#3130). The .257" 117 grain Hornady InterLock that I have are #2552, so they have exposed lead Spitzer tips, with a Boat Tail, and a cannelure groove. I also have one partial box of #25522 which are Hornady SST 117 grain Interlock - those are more or less flat base bullets - enough to do up a pressure series and to try them for accuracy - once I receive the barrel and get the rifle put together.

As per Post #4, I have been a bit suspicious of the "cup and core" style bullets with a boat tail - I have a small pill container with separated cores and jackets from various bullets - recovered from within game - and most of them are boat tail jackets - but, they quite clearly killed the quarry, so I guess they "worked". But it has been years since I shot at deer or elk except with flat base bullets (Speer HotCor), or Partitions, or bonded bullets (Accubond).

 

[9.3mauser]

Not much left of it, is there...

 

[bearhunter]

Not much left of it, is there...

View attachment 552150

How close was the Deer when you shot it.

I've used the 100 and 117 grain interlock bullets on Deer, Bears and a couple of Moose that were well over 100 yards away and the bullets stayed together and retained lot more weight than that in your picture.

If the shots are likely to be under 50 yards, loaded to quick velocities, heavier construction would be indicated.

 

[Potashminer]

So, it turns out there were some .257" bullets to be bought through EE - I have my remaining life time supply of 117 BTSP Hornady Interlock, and 115 grain Partitions - they are either here or on the way, so I will get something figured out.

About a couple dozen head of deer with 7mm 150 grain Partitions tells me Partitions are never a mistake to use. My son and I have about similar results with .308" 165 grain Speer HotCor. Both loadings have muzzle velocity around 2,800 fps on my Shooting Chrony.

Is a thing - like many, we are able to get one or two tags per year - hard to get a valid statistical sampling on such small numbers, and do not really want to "take a chance" on something that might not be up to standard - I am sure professional cullers take more head in a day, than my son and I have in our lifetimes - so would be of interest to me to hear what they use - both cartridge and bullet, although they likely also have to make a business type of decision - cost versus return - for what they do.

I don't - for one or two or three shots a year at game, I would prefer dependable performance, and the cost per bullet really does not amount to much. It likely makes a difference for the many hundreds of rounds fired at targets or gongs or gophers, but the post impact bullet performance thing is pretty more of no concern for that.

 

[Potashminer]

How close was the Deer when you shot it.

I've used the 100 and 117 grain interlock bullets on Deer, Bears and a couple of Moose that were well over 100 yards away and the bullets stayed together and retained lot more weight than that in your picture.

If the shots are likely to be under 50 yards, loaded to quick velocities, heavier construction would be indicated.

If I could ever find them, I think I have one or more Partitions that look similar - front half is just gone, to the partition - the rear part just kept on driving - how I think that bullet should work. The animals dropped like they were hit on back of head. Most of the time there was no Partition bullet found at all, but I thought I had one or two ...

 

[Longwalker]

I've shot a bunch of deer with my .257 Roberts. Doubt that you'll safely achieve 2900 FPS with the 117 gr Hornady BTSP, but maybe. My Win M70 FWT 22" would achieve 2800 fps with IMR4350 and 117-120 gr. bullets. But I had the throat lengthened, magazine box lengthened, and loaded longer than factory specs. Loaded a couple more grains of powder than most book "max" loads to achieve 2800 fps. My load was safe in my rifle, but was definitely above SAAMI max. pressure. I predict your choice will be an effective deer bullet/load. I wouldn't personally choose that bullet for anything bigger, bears or elk or such. But it will kill deer reliably. I choose the Nosler partition for bears and it worked, never shot anything bigger with mine.

 

[9.3mauser]

How close was the Deer when you shot it.

I've used the 100 and 117 grain interlock bullets on Deer, Bears and a couple of Moose that were well over 100 yards away and the bullets stayed together and retained lot more weight than that in your picture.

If the shots are likely to be under 50 yards, loaded to quick velocities, heavier construction would be indicated.

35-40 yards. I didn't have a chronograph back then so I can only guess at the speed from the book data. Probably 2,700+ at the muzzle.

Not a big deer, btw. 1 1/2 yr old forkhorn.

 

[bearhunter]

The biggest issue with 25 caliber bullet construction is that most of them just aren't made for modern rifles.

Just like many other cartridges out there, such as the 7x57 and 8x57 as well as the 6.5x55, loading manuals try very hard to keep their loads within safe parameters for weaker actions, such as the 1891, 1893, 1895 etc.

With modern rifles, such as Mod 70 Win or even 1898 Mausers these cartridges can be loaded to their full potential

The present spectrum of new powders shows a lot of promice for these great traditional cartridges.

The powders I've been using are all ten or more years old. I haven't bothered with developing loads with any of the newer offerings.

I've got lots of different powders that I'm comfortable with on hand that can do the job nicely.

Let me give you an example of how well one of my 257 Rob builds went appx 35 years ago.

I was on a mid winter hunt, just out of Pink Mountain, with a half dozen other fellows. We had applied for one of the draws available and received a large number of them. 6 Moose and 5 Caribou, along with a couple of Buffalo.

This was early January and it was bitterly cold. -40C was almost the norm for that week and with the wind chill, the hunt, which was on foot, was brutal.

The rifle I brought along on that hunt was a Mod 70, push feed, FWT, in a factory stock. It was a nice rifle and accurate, with the 100 grain IL bullets I loaded up to appx 2900fps.

Before the hunt, I was careful to get rid of every bit of petrol based lube on the rifle. I sprayed all of the working surfaces, lightly, with Teflon.

The other fellows all chided me over my choice of cartridge, but by the end of the second day, all of the other rifles, mostly magnums, were out of service. Scopes failed, springs, covered in lube were causing light strikes or just wouldn't move.

The only working rifle that was dependable was my 257 Rob.

We took 5 Moose and 3 Caribou on that trip.

All with the diminutive 257 Rob, with a 1-12 twist rate.

None of the animals was more than 100yds away and none were closer than 75 yards (Caribou)

At those extreme low temps, I don't think muzzle velocities were over 2650 fps.

To show how cold it was, we could just get an animal quartered, by leaving the ribcage behind and pulling the back straps, front legs, rear legs. Never even bothered to remove the innards. Everything was frozen within an hour.

One of the fellows on that trip decided he just had to have that rifle, which I reluctantly sold him.

It's a very capable cartridge, and with todays powder/bullet offerings very close on the heels of the venerable 25-06 with lighter bullets.

The 25-06 really shines with the heaviest bullets.

 

[Potashminer]

I am having a similar discussion with an acquaintance - somewhere I had read about the "picket fence" idea for cartridges - not really a whole lot of gap any more, and a lot of overlap. So, is a different discussion if you have one rifle to do everything, or if you have a selection of 20 different cartridges. The hunt above that you described, was not, I think, anything special about the 257 Roberts - it was sufficient for that task - but so would at least a dozen other cartridges - if they were chambered in rifles that worked!!!

I am taken with your comment about the velocity though - your guesstimate of the 100 grain IL working apparently admirably at 2,650 fps muzzle velocity or so, on decent sized game at modest ranges - your impact velocity at 100 yards would have been well below 2,400 fps.

In my case, trying to decide what possible "slot" would a 257 Roberts have, say between a 243 Win using 95 grain Partitions and a 6.5x55 using 130 grain Accubonds? Unlike Ned Roberts, is not likely that I would shoot wood chucks with my deer rifle, although when I was younger we most definitely did go out for jackrabbits with our deer rifles - in January and February!!! It just goes even more "nits to pick" - if you already had a good 243 Win and a good 257 Roberts, how could you justify a 6 mm Remington? That "picket fence" thing - not much for gap and a lot of overlap!!

 

[South Pender]

For what it's worth, I wouldn't use a Hornady Interlock bullet in .25 caliber on deer. Many on this forum will disagree and that's fine. In my opinion, the .257 Roberts is just not quite enough cartridge for deer when shots could be at 300 yards or more. Just not enough horsepower. Added to that, the Hornady Interlock design is not a premium big-game bullet. The interior ridge (the "interlock") is insufficient to absolutely prevent jacket-core separation, and the boattail design further exacerbates the problem, particularly at higher velocities. Low retained weight is the result.

If I were contemplating hunting deer with a .257 Roberts, I'd hunt for the very best heavier bullet available. With Noslers, I'd steer clear of the Ballistic Tip type bullet (which are pretty frangible) and focus on the accubond (110 grain) or, better, the 120 Partition. The consensus on partitions is that you can expect to retain roughly 66% of the weight on impact. I would look for a bonded core bullet, and the 120 Swift A-Frame would probably be the best available. With that bullet expect 90%+ weight retention. Another possibility is the newer Hornady Interbond 110-gr. bullet. In my opinion, using a marginal cartridge for big game requires pairing it with the very best hunting bullets you can get. It's not that you'll be shooting hundreds of them--just a few for load development and then what you use on the hunt. So, in my view, spend the extra and get the best hunting bullets available.

Just my $.02.

 

[Potashminer]

South Pender - likely because of different experiences, I will disagree. I have yet to fire at a deer at 300 yards or more. And I spent since 1970's hunting white tail and mule deer in Saskatchewan. I have not hunted deer since we moved here to Manitoba in 2014. We took many dozens of deer through the decades. Oddly, several were taken with a single shot from a .243 Winchester. I suspect many folks think that is just fine for deer. And in almost all ways that I can think of, the 257 Roberts is a bit more than a 243 Win - more bullet weight available, similar or more speed with same weights, etc. I agree to use the best bullets that one can get. Why my supply now includes .257" 115 grain Partitions, with more on the way. But I came into a bunch of 117 grain Interlock and was wondering, why not??

As mentioned in another post, an older dude that I met in Northern Sask. is of the opinion that his 22 Magnum rimfire was about the perfect deer rifle for him. I am sure that opinion of his would spin some folk completely around. Except, I had venison for supper at his place that evening - his little rifle sure worked for him, up there.

 

[bearhunter]

The very first White Tail buck I shot, was out of our garden in 1960.

Rifle, single shot Cooey Ranger, with a Whiz Bang hollow point from appx 15 yards.

Bullet went into its ear and rattled around inside the brain pan.

That buck dropped in where it stood.

My parents were under the impression that "wild meat" didn't taste good.

How on earth two chain smokers could tell there was actually any flavor difference is beyond me.

After that animal was taken, they changed their minds and I was allowed to shoot the odd deer out of the garden or off the hay stack.

IMHO, it's more about the shooter, than it is about the cartridge or rifle.

I use the 250-3000, 243Win, 6mmRemington, 6.5x53R, 6.5x57, 6.6x55, 7x57, 308win, 30-06 Springfield, 7.62x39, 303Brit, 8x57, 357 Maxi, 338-08, 338-06 and 45-70 for all sort of different hunting situations.

If I do my part, using the rifle/cartridge cominations within the limitations I'm familiar with, the recipients of the bullet can't tell the difference between any of them.

 

[Potashminer]

Ha! I was only about 2, so do not remember - has been told to me by both parents - - Dad was leaving farm house to go deer hunting - was usually on foot in those days - shot a real nice whitetail buck in the garden patch from the front step of the farm house. Then realized he would have neighbours waiting to meet him across the 1/4 section - in the fall of 1957, so no way to contact them. So, my mother, at the time very pregnant with my brother, drove 7 miles to town to buy a deer tag for that deer that was laying in the garden. The general store guy knew my parents for years, and commented to my Mother that he did not realize that she hunted deer. Old german lady's reply was that she did NOT hunt deer, she just shot them...