.257 Roberts

[SJB358]

Damn, have you guys seen the special edition .257 Roberts M70 Super Grade Featherweight in the Cabela's catalog? Talk about a beautiful rifle! I don't own any quarter bores, but if I did, I think that'd be the one. I was wondering what kind of velocity one could expect loading it to standard pressures with a 110 AB and 3100fps seems more than reasonable considering they're pushing a 115gr Partition at 3050fps with Hybrid 100V and that's only at 46,600 CUP. I wonder what you could do pushing it to 25-06 pressures of 51,000 CUP?
Joe

Joe, I would follow your lead mate!

 

[Oldtrader3]

Joe, the loads that I am considering for this rifle are all running at about 51,000 CUP.

 

[DrMike]

I'm giving serious consideration to selling my Remington CDL and buying the Featherweight. Yeah, I like Winchester that much.

 

[Oldtrader3]

I like that one too DrMike, but personally this is one time that I am glad that I have this caliber already because otherwise I would be hard at work trying to swing buying a way of buying one of those.

Old age is hell!

 

[SJB358]

I'm giving serious consideration to selling my Remington CDL and buying the Featherweight. Yeah, I like Winchester that much.

Now your talking. I would have a hard time deciding between the Roberts or 25-06. I've got Forster 25-06 dies and cases. I guess I will let the rifle sellers be my guide when it's time.

 

[Oldtrader3]

My own "feelings" about hunting and shooting with both the .257 Roberts and the .25-06, having owned and hunted deer and prairie poodles with each, is that the Roberts is a much more easily behaved round for handloading and attaining accuracy. Ok, now you can throw rocks at me for saying this but I found the Roberts very forgiving with handloading and having high accuracy potential. The rifle had a wide of accurate groups with several powders (IMR 4064, 4350, 4831, 7828) which yielded small groups and was not at all fussy about loading. Mind you, this is only tested in one rifle.

The .25-06 was more of a challenge to load for and went from normal to high, flattened primers and opened groups very fast when maximum load was reached. The .25-06 was also a lot more sensitive to finding sweet spots for load accuracy as well. Only two powders (IMR4350, 7828) gave me sub-moa groups. Now this was few years ago and I did not have access to the Reloader series powder at that time.

Just my observations. There are a lot more slow burners out there now for powders and the situation may have changed somewhat. The .257 Bob will always be a sweet gun to load for though. The .257 Roberts is my personal favorite .25 caliber rifle and I have also shot a lot of varmits with it as well.

 

[EOD Diver]

Damn, that .257 Bob is like a virus. Now I'm thinking it would be a great little mountain rifle and a sweet round to work my kids up with. We've already got a .243 Win to start out with and I'm foaming at the mouth for Nosler to release the 90gr ABs, but a short action .25 would be the next logical step, right?! Doc Mike, that 7lb Featherweight Super Grade keeps calling to me and the 110 ABs are already out there and should be a snap to load for. It might just be prefect for the Northern climes you frequent. Trader3, it's kinda crazy how accuracy nodes work sometimes, huh. My daughter's .270 Super Grade wasn't that spectacular at the bench yesterday while shooting up the ladder, but it sure liked my usual load of 57.6 of 7828SSC with 140 ABs. I know my pre-64 enjoys spitting 'em into 3/4". Also, I know that JD338's load for 160 ABs and RL 22 in the .280AI has worked for a lot of people. Sometimes certain calibers just like things a certain way. As an aside, I shot the .300Win Legacy at 550, 610, and 660yds yesterday. Damn if it wasn't windy, but got some good dope to build my comeups table and was impressed at how much more wind resistant that 200gr AB is than a 175 Match King. As long as you've got your shoulder in her, she shoots like a peach. Looking forward to taking it out a bit longer on a calm day. Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread. Yup, I think I'll tip my mug to the .257 Roberts and Featherweight M70s tonight.
Joe

 

[DrMike]

Well, the Bob is a great deer round for this far north, or even for southern climes, I'd reckon. It will work very well up here, though. I'm giving serious (may I stress the point) consideration to divesting myself of the Remington CDL chambered in .257 Roberts just so I can buy the Featherweight chambered in that particular round. The Winnie would just look better in my safe, I think.

 

[SJB358]

The Winnie would just look better in my safe, I think.

Um, do you really need reinforcement on that? HECK YEAH! That is a SURE thing Mike... I am not sure why the CDL is still around!

 

[Oldtrader3]

Well, the Bob is a great deer round for this far north, or even for southern climes, I'd reckon. It will work very well up here, though. I'm giving serious (may I stress the point) consideration to divesting myself of the Remington CDL chambered in .257 Roberts just so I can buy the Featherweight chambered in that particular round. The Winnie would just look better in my safe, I think.

I concur!

 

[DrMike]

I am not sure why the CDL is still around!

I haven't got it shooting to my standards. I can get sub-MOA ... just. :evil:

 

[Oldtrader3]

I can not find that Win 70, .257 SG Roberts online anyplace and I threw out my catalogs. Where is it listed?

 

[DrMike]

Charlie,

Check out this url: (http://www.winchesterguns.com/products/catalog/detail.asp?family=001C&mid=535109). More specifically, this is the detail url: (http://www.winchesterguns.com/products/catalog/itemdetail.asp?id=535109211).

 

[Bruce Mc]

The Super Grade Bob is an exclusive at Cabelas. Its one of their anniversary models.
You can find it at their on line catalog.

 

[Oldtrader3]

I knew it was exclusive but I only saw that particular SG Model 70 go by once and I searched the cabels's site for it. The Featherweight is a great rifle for that caliber, maybe they will introduce it after the Anniversary sale? There were some made in the 1980's for the .257 Bob but hard to find and pricey.

 

[Coyote Hunter]

Damn, that .257 Bob is like a virus. Now I'm thinking it would be a great little mountain rifle and a sweet round to work my kids up with. We've already got a .243 Win to start out with and I'm foaming at the mouth for Nosler to release the 90gr ABs, but a short action .25 would be the next logical step, right?! Doc Mike, that 7lb Featherweight Super Grade keeps calling to me and the 110 ABs are already out there and should be a snap to load for. It might just be prefect for the Northern climes you frequent. Trader3, it's kinda crazy how accuracy nodes work sometimes, huh. …
Joe

My experience with the .257 Bob is much like others – easy to load for. The SAAMI pressure limits, even for +P loads, are well below those for other cartridges chambered in the same modern rifles and I tend to load my Bob more or less as I would a wildcat for which little data was available. My Ruger is a long action with a long throat and I seat the bullets out to the base of the neck in most cases, gaining more powder room than if I stuck with SAMMI COL. The results of the longer COL and long throat is that I get higher than published velocities with good case life and primers that are still more rounded than some factory loads I’ve shot in high-pressure cartridges.

One thing I really like about the Ruger Bob is the 22” barrel, which I find much handier than the 24” barrels common on .25-06 rifles.

 

[CatskillCrawler]

I'm hoping I can turn a corner with my M70 Fwt this next range trip. I just haven't found a good load with it yet. If it don't work out I'm going to glass and pillar bed it.

It is a delightful cartridge and rifle to shoot. Again, I'm new to it but it does have a certain charm to it.

 

[Oldtrader3]

CatskillCrawler, I hope that you are going to find some loads that will shoot for you in that rifle. I is really a great cartridge for varmit and whitetail deer and such. My friend uses it as his antelope rifle and had had good success with it in Wyoming on antelope.

I needed a caliber that fit between my .204 Ruger and .270 Win. The Roberts fills that bill very nicely. I think even better than my 6mm Rem did because of the 110 and 115 bullets.

 

[SJB358]

I'm hoping I can turn a corner with my M70 Fwt this next range trip. I just haven't found a good load with it yet. If it don't work out I'm going to glass and pillar bed it.

It is a delightful cartridge and rifle to shoot. Again, I'm new to it but it does have a certain charm to it.

I floated mine 7x57 last weekend. If it shoots consistently well like that, I am pretty sure it'll get pillars. I like that Featherweight alot, but I am not sure how much longer my boy is going to let me shoot it! Might have to find one of my own and that little 257 would be a great rifle...

 

[CatskillCrawler]

Gotta love the 257Roberts and the 7x57. Two cartridges that were left in the dust 30-40 years ago with all the -06 and .308Win offshoots. Then came the WSM's. Today, it seems like everyone that tries one of these forgotten cartridges wants one.

Good luck prying that Fwt away. I would just plan range trips for when he's in school.

I have some Devcon and a pillar kit in my shopping cart for my next Midway order. I think I'll just do both at the same time.