257 roberts

hobophobe said:
Always wanted one. But I have got 6.5x55 shooting 100grn softies pretty good at 2900ish fps. Figured it'd be what I have so I always put the urge on the back shelf. Same with .270, I'm not quite at 270 velocity with 130s at the moment..but a deer won't care. Decided to fill the void and go the other way with 8x57 to launch some 200 heavies.
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The 257R is a cool cartridge but in reality, for deer hunting, it really does not have anything to offer over your 6.5x55 and other similars like the 243, 6CM, 6.5CM, 260.

From a purely practical standpoint, the 6.5CM is the best choice of them all in that range for that application.
 
SuperCub said:
The 257R is a cool cartridge but in reality, for deer hunting, it really does not have anything to offer over your 6.5x55 and other similars like the 243, 6CM, 6.5CM, 260.

From a purely practical standpoint, the 6.5CM is the best choice of them all in that range for that application.
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I think even better would be the 6.5PRC…🤔😉😂
 
SuperCub said:
I have a 7x57 form/trim die here that does quick work on 30-06 brass resizing it down. Squish it through the die and cut off the top with a hacksaw.

Here's the 7x57 reformed from 30-06.

'06 on left. Middle after one pass through the trim die, Right is after trimming with a saw and file. I don't have a FL 257R die here as I had the neck section of mine bored out to make it into a bump die.

View attachment 977637
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I have never done that! I imagine if one could figure out how much to trim off 30-06 case - as a "short neck" 30-06, then you could just run the result through a 7x57 sizing die - one time I did first run cases into a bullet seating die to start the reforming - but that was 7mm Rem Mag into 7x61 S&H. It was my impression that the bullet sizing die started to reform the shoulder of the case. As I recall, I trimmed to the length desired, AFTER I had resized them. Not sure what I did, back then. But having an actual re-forming die would make the job very slick to do - although at increased cost of tooling to have.

From the picture - as if most of the "new" 257 Roberts neck is made from the parent 30-06 shoulder - that might or might not be an issue - depending on brass thickness and chamber clearances?
 
SuperCub said:
The 257R is a cool cartridge but in reality, for deer hunting, it really does not have anything to offer over your 6.5x55 and other similars like the 243, 6CM, 6.5CM, 260.

From a purely practical standpoint, the 6.5CM is the best choice of them all in that range for that application.
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Most any caliber is fine for deer it is shot placement that counts
Hunted deer for 40 years with a 300 win mag because that is what i owned not because it was the best

Just like classic cartridges like the 257 and the270 win
 
I built my own years ago. Used an intermediate length Mauser 1903 action and laminate stock. It was fairly heavy but shot super well. Took a couple good bucks using 100gr TSX and then sold it. Great cartridge but I should have built the rifle a bit lighter.
 
I have a very "minty" 257 Roberts in a Remington 700 Classic. It is a deadly deer rifle, and I would not hesitate to
smack a moose with it [within 200 meters, and with a decent presentation]
I have not seen R-P Roberts +P brass, but load it right up there without any issues.
Norma 204, MRP, Reloder 19 22, and 23 all work well with 100-120 grain bullets
I like the 100 Scirocco II, and 115/120 Partitions, as well as 110 Accubonds.
 
They are a nice cartridge and caliber, it's just never really taken off the old 1/4 bore, and it's been around for a long time (250 Savage for example).
It's a fair punch up from a 243/6mm Rem, but I agree that 257/264 is splitting hairs, 7 thou difference is nothing...ask the 277/284 guys lol, or wait, don't bother, it will never end lol
 
chuckAA said:
I haven't reloaded in years
Currently trying the hornady superperformance 117 gr SST facory loads
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If you aren't handloading for the 257 Roberts, you're really missing out on its potential.

Even the Plus P ammo offered is loaded down because so many rifles were built on everything from M91 to M98 Mausers and similar strength rifles.

I saw one several decades back, which was built on an 1888 Commission Rifle, that had its magazine altered by Turkey so it didn't require en blocs for feeding. Beautiful rifle, with exress style, flip up rear sight blades for different ranges which were right on POA when the cartridges were loaded to the proprietary recipe for this particular rifle. Very old school, but it had been designed and used for getting "meat" animals while on Safari in South Africa.

I had the same Winchester Mod 70 FTW as you show in your pics at one time, I ruined the barrel shooting powder that had gone bad and not cleaning it soon enough afterwards.

One thing you may find with your rifle is that it may not shoot boat tail bullets or bullets heavier than 100 grains well, because of the twist rate.

My rifle was one of the early production units in that model of Winchester and it had a "SLOW" 1-12 twist rate. Many other manufacturers used this twist rate and some even used 1-14.

My present Remington 700 Classic has a 1-10 twist rate and even with that, loading the 115-120 grain bullets can be tedious, depending on bullet design.

My go to load for this rifle is 46.0 grains of W760/H414, over CCI 250, under 100 grain Hornady #2540 Inter Loc = 3000fps for consistent sub moa out past 300yds.

Most of the Win Mod 70 FWT rifles I've come across have the 1-10 twist rate, but it wouldn't hurt to check your rifle.

Of the half dozen 257 Roberts chambered rifles I've owned, the best shooter was built on an M96 Mauser action, with a 1-14 twist rate, shooting 85 grain bullets at 3200fps with 47.0 grains of W760 over CCI250 primers, through a Douglas Match Grade barrel. It would barely stabilize a 100 grain flat base bullet, but everything 90 gains or less worked well. Seeing as it was dedicated to Coyotes, nothing heavier was needed. Half moa was doable with some bullet designs predictably on a consistent basis.
 
hobophobe said:
Always wanted one. But I have got 6.5x55 shooting 100grn softies pretty good at 2900ish fps. Figured it'd be what I have so I always put the urge on the back shelf.
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That's why I never tried one either. Honestly probably would have been happy with whichever of those came along first, they are similar enough (for use here) that one might as well be the other almost.

Been tempted tho. Ruger Hawkeyes in 257 R look like a really nice match
 
The 6.5x55 or any of the 6.5 cartridges with similar case capacities will do anything the 257 Rob will do, and some "addicts" even claim it will do it better. IMHO that's a "mindset" when it comes to field results.

The one thing the 6.5 caliber has to its advantage presently is that there are a lot more bullet designs available for it, from more manufacturers than .257 caliber

One thing about both calibers is when "case capacities" exceed "bore capacities" pressures climb dramatically and leade erosion becomes drastic.

I've had 25-06 and 6.5-06 rifles which started losing accuracy after less than 800 rounds and had to have the barrels set back and the chambers recut due to erosion from maximum loads.
 
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