Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 257 Roberts or 243 Winchester in the Montana

You know you want one....

I'd go 243, had often considered one in a Montana

I want one of those ,270 green stocked grouse guns like yours....

If he decides to hunt elk in the future, he can get another rifle. The 243 Win is a fine deer cartridge.

The thread says... "in the Montana"... which probably implies the Montana model and not the state....

Nothing in his text body indicated state either.

So for me it's the 243. Components are readily available. It's more than enough for deer and light skinned game. Low recoil. How far do you plan on shooting at game? If under 300 then it's 6 one way half a dozen the other. Dead is dead and 250 fps doesn't matter at that point. I have shot a lot of deer and 1 hog(lol) with a 243. Never let me down. Plus if in a bind you can find factory ammo everywhere

To the O.P
I'd probably go 243 in the Montana given the two choices. More components to be found and more variety of good projectiles. Also reams of good load data. You need to go off the books to get a 257 Bob to be all it can be, if you are new to loading it may put you out of your comfort zone. Having used both I'm pretty sure no game animal can tell the difference.

Sam, are you still shooting 90 grain Scenars in your MT?

I used the 90 gr. Scenar once out of my .240 on a WT. Only once...

Made nasty soup out of that deer's chest, blew thru the diaphragm into the stomach, corn floating around in the soup.

I know the .240 is a good bit faster than the .243. The 90 Scenar may be OK in that setting. Never again in the .240.

Scenarshooter sent me some 105 Scenars to try, but my 10 twist couldn't hack it. If I had an 8 twist, that would probably be my bullet.

This .240 loves the 100 NPT over a full powered load of MRP, like half MOA. The 90 Scenar was as accurate, just not a good WT bullet in this gun at that speed.

DF

The old 257 never caught on. Not easy to find brass or ammo.

I have the Montana in 243, 308, 270 WSM and 7mm WSM.

When we go up North for deer and b.bear I might bring the 7mm WSM for a SS rifle.

The .257 never caught on? Another brilliant post. The .257 was introduced as a factory round by Remington in 1934, and between then and 1955 (when Winchester introduced the .243) it was the most popular chambering in its class, which might be called the combination varmint/big game rounds. But the publicity surrounding the .243, thanks mostly to Warren Page, somehow convinced the public the .243 was far superior. It really wasn't very different than the .257, but between the PR and some inflated velocities for the .243 factory ammo (this was before average shooters owned chronographs) the .257 faded. But it did "catch on" in the 21 years before the .243 appeared.

On the other hand, I've been shooting both the .243 and .257 for years, and my wife has for quite a while as well. If there's any real difference in killing power between the two we haven't been able to find it.

Though I also must note that I've never had any troubles killing stuff out to 500+ yards even with short-action .257's. In fact used one as my back-up rifle when guiding deer and pronghorn hunters in the 1980's, loaded with the 100-grain Nosler Partition at around 3250 fps. (I was more of a hotrodder in those days, though the rifle never showed the slightest strain from the load.) Whacked a bunch of animals, both mine and a few previously wounded by clients, out to around 550 with no problems.

243 Win over the Roberts any day just for no other reason than the availability of Factory Ammo in any sporting good store you enter

The Montana is available in 308. That would be a very good choice, too. Use 150 or 165 bullets.

.243 is a good round, I just don't have one at the present time.

I actually let a 4 digit, no prefix #1, .243 get away...

Traded it for something I thought I needed more.

Oh well...

DF

I would pick a .257 Rbts over the .243, especially if you are planning to handload

Having it to do all over again, for deer and everything else smaller than elk, I'd buy a Kimber Montana in .243, slam a 6x42 FX-III on top, and slay schit with aplomb.

My vote goes to the Roberts....

I've handloaded for both and I've seen the .243 kill lots of stuff. I've also seen the big cased 6 mm's and the big cased .25's, like the .240 Wby, the .25-06 and the .25-284 kill lots of stuff at the longer ranges.
Like Mule Deer says, if there is a difference, I haven't seen it. With premium bullets, they will amaze you as to how well they can kill.
The big difference to me is that the Roberts gives one 2900 fps. with any 100 gr. bullet at much lower pressures than does the .243. The report isn't near as tough on the ears, and the brass seems to last however. Much easier to find accurate loads as well.
While ammo for the .243 is easier to find, even premium .257 Roberts factory ammo has always been availiable, even here in Kalifornia.
I'd much rather have a .257 Bob if I had a choice. E

Just because the Roberts is low pressure loaded doesn't make it a low pressure round. With +P cases and good loads in a modern action, that 2,900 fps 100 gr. round becomes a 3,250+ fps 100 gr. round without breaking a sweat.

The Roberts is the parent of the 6mm/.244 family, loaded at modern pressures.

Turn the Roberts loose and let it do its stuff...

That extra 300-350 fps livens up the old round.

DF

.243

Dude, yep.


Local store had a couple boxes of 95 grain Partitions on the shelf so I bought those to try out as well.

Shot them at 400 yards the other day and they didn't match real well with the Scenars(landed about a foot higher). Gonna fiddle around and see if I can't get them both hitting the same place.