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IIRC your first post.

I have owned a few .25's over the years, a 257 Robert's in a Ruger#1, and a rechambered 2506 to 257 Bee.
I was never really excited about the .25 though, no idea why.
The most accurate factory hunting rifle I ever shot however is a 257 Robert's BSA Royal owned by my son
That he has owned for about 20 years.
It is still incredibly accurate.
Cat

Have owned a bunch of .25 bore rifles.

25-20, 257 Roberts Improved, 25-284, 25-06 and 257 Weatherby

Virgil B.

One, a rebarreled Ruger tang Ultralight in 250 AI.

I will join in on the praise ....my experience is with a 1970 model 700.
I carried it for 10 years as a steady on my sheep hunts in the 1980's.
I also took mature bull elk and moose with it....115 or 120 Nosler
partitions.
I recall a bull moose shot at dusk at 200 yards plus. I still haven't seen any animal do down faster.....boiler room.
As I aged I got a little tired of packing the wood stocked rifle with the long , 24 inch barrel.
I would like to try it again in a single shot version
I have been looking around.

I was a .257 fan for quite some time having owned rifles, all Win 70s, in 250-3000, 257R, 257R Imp, 25-06 and 257 WM. Of the group, the 250-3000 was my favorite and my sons used it successfully on many GA deer. I have since sold them all off and simplified my life with fewer rifles and more in the area of my current interest, DIY pre-fit builds.

For my purposes, the 257s fell into the same category as the 6.5s of the day, I'd just rather have a 270 with 130s and be done with it.

I'm not really a collector, although I still have a soft spot for most Win 70s, so I don't really keep things around that I don't use.

No love for the 25 WSSM? I have a trio of Winchesters in that caliber. One of the most accurate rifles I have is a push feed M70 Coyote in that caliber. We love the .25-06 in our family too. 3 generations of us hunt deer with it.

Custom .257 Roberts built on a M77 tanger action, Lilja, McMillan. Been firing 110 gr. NABs @ 2984 fps exclusively since forever, but now working up a 110 gr. ELD-X replacement.

I have a .308 HB that's just about shot out and I've been pondering a rebarrel to .25 Souper. Have a bud who had one built from scratch and it's a shooter.

DigitalDan;
Good morning from the finally clear skies of south central BC, while I can smell smoke still I can't see it much so I'll take it. In a similar positive vein, I trust your Friday morning is going well.

When I started to respond I could think of only one .257" bullet rifle, but then a few more popped into mind so here goes.

Even as a kid I was a "gun guy" and thus can recall my late father using a Mk III .303, Savage 99 .250-3000 and finally a Model 100 .308 for moose hunting. While I recall Dad saying he shot some deer before I was born and one after we'd both moved to BC decades later, he was primarily a moose hunter. They sometimes used a "party hunting" sort of hunting method so Dad both shot some moose - which then was any moose - with the .250 alone and likely assisted on a few and had my uncle Frank assist him on a few.

Because of his 99 I always wanted one of my own and came up with a 1920 takedown years later, but despite my best efforts using everything from 75gr FP .25-20 bullets up to 120gr, it would only shoot pie plate groups at 100yds.

During that time however, a buddy bought a B78 that I built a different fore end for, bedded it so it didn't touch the barrel or action and that thing was a shooter!

I was front and center when it dropped the biggest bodied and racked mulie I've ever seen to this day at what had to be 250 to 300 yds across a canyon with 117gr BT Spire Hornady bullets. If memory serves we packed 140lb of boned meat off of that beast, which had wedged itself between two trees when it hurdled off a cliff in it's death throes. The antler broke off on the left side as well, but buddy went around to the top where it'd bounced, found the broken part and I started to take the deer apart at chest level where it was stuck firm.

A taxidermist friend of ours used the same marine epoxy that I use for bedding rifles to glue the antlers back together, then he painted the repair and so help me it's hard to see now if one doesn't know what to look for.

Fast forward a dozen and a half years, our girls were getting into hunting and I was looking for a .243 for our youngest as the eldest had claimed her late Grandad's 6.5x55 which was the only light recoiling rifle suitable for deer hunting in the safe. A good friend of mine, now gone many years as well, was always buying and selling rifles and shotguns so I asked him to keep an eye open for me.

Sure enough he called shortly after saying he had a screaming deal on a 722 action with a .250AI barrel - well thought of Canadian barrel maker and installed by a gunsmith up north of us with an equally good reputation. Nodody else wanted it because it was a wildcat, but since we handloaded for oddball and wildcat stuff already here, it was a no brainer to pick up the rifle for much less than the barrel was worth.

When she was younger I modified a birch 788 stock that we had on the wall in the shop which already had a short length of pull. As she got older I changed out the stock to an ADL laminated and put a 700 trigger into it too.



If I'm not wrong she ended up taking about 8 mulie and whitetail bucks with 100gr Hornady Spire and 80gr TTSX bullets. Now that I think of it, I shot at least two deer with it too and honestly the little thing was deadly on even the bigger mulie buck she took - 145lb hanging carcass - at close to 300yds as a guess.

The last one that I'd completely forgotten about is a .257 Roberts on a 96 action that's sitting in the back of the safe, about 3rd in line for restocking on the projects list, which also needs some bolt modifications. I do have dies for it too Dan, so I should get to the ones in front of it sooner than later.

Thanks for reading, thanks to those who've shared their .257" experience and good luck this season to you all.

Dwayne

I just have my Kimber Classic Select in the Bob. It has been the only rifle I have taken deer hunting my last two seasons, which is saying something. I killed the largest buck of my life with it two years ago, a brute of an 8 point.

I love the accuracy of the rifle, the low recoil, and it’s effectiveness on the whitetails I have killed with it. I’ve been using the 100 SGK which has worked fine on deer, but seems to be a little soft. I have shot a couple of pigs with it that seemed to be about the limit of that particular loads effectiveness. I’ll be working with some heavier conventional bullets this year in hopes to control expansion and to increase penetration some.

DDan,

Man, there must be something wrong with a person who fixates on such an unimportant and insignificant caliber! I’d never be like that….

Okay…maybe just a bit of fixation on my part too…



- a couple of M93’s with257 Robert’s Shilen barrels…sold
- a Browning A-Bolt in 257 Robert’s that has killed everything from sparrows to elk…hopefully will stay in the family for generations
- Savage Model 23 in 25-20 WCF…sold
- Stevens 44 that was re-chambered to 25-20WCF and has a beautiful fiddle back maple stock. For black powder only!
- Marlin 1894 CL 25-20 WCF…wonderful little “do everything “ rifle
- Ruger 77 International in 250 Savage …had it for just a brief period then had to let it go because of finances

Probably forgot something but this is to the best of my recollections.

Just one, a 250 Sav Rem 700 Classic.

I've had a few:
Two .25-20 WCFs—a Savage 23-B bolt-action, and a Winchester 92 made in 1911.

One .25-35 WCF—an 1894 Winchester with a 26" octagon barrel made in 1898.

Eight .250 Savages—a Remington 700 Classic; a Ruger 77 and a Ruger No. 1 with a Douglas barrel; two Savage 99As made in the 1960s; a Savage 99 take-down; a Savage Axis with an E.R. Shaw barrel; a push-feed Model 70 Lightweight made in the 1980s;

Seven .257 Roberts—a Kimber 84; a rebarreled and “sporterized” Mannlicher-Schoenauer military rifle; two custom Mausers, one on an FN commercial action and the other on a Mexican military action; my paternal grandmother’s Remington 722; a Ruger No. 1 with a custom barrel; a pre-war Winchester Model 70.

An Ultra Light Arms .257 Roberts Ackley Improved.

Three .25-06s—an FN Mauser commercial action with an E.R. Shaw barrel and synthetic stock; a walnut-stocked custom rifle on a remodeled military 98 Mauser action with a P.O. Ackley barrel; a Ruger No. 1 Lipsey’s Special with a 24” lightweight barrel.

Two .257 Weatherby Magnums—a walnut-stocked Vanguard purchased directly from Weatherby; an Ultra Light Arms Model 28.

Apparently I’m a quarter-bore fan…

I only have done, a .257 Roberts custom on a 98 action, but it is a sweetheart .

I have a few Winchester 70s in 25 WSSM. It is a nice cartridge with performance like the 257AI. It never gained much traction in the market, maybe in part because it was introduced in 2004 and USRA closed the New Haven plant where they were manufactured in 2006. Winchester/Olin originally offered a useful selection of factory ammo, but now they only load the 120 grain PEP and only as an occasional/seasonal run. Winchester/Olin claims that the 120 grain PEP load for the 25 WSSM and 25-06 have the same muzzle velocity.

250 Savage
Ruger 77 RSI tanger
Savage 99F

257 Robts (I don't own any Bobs)
Ruger 77RL tanger
M70 Featherweight
Kimber Montana

25-06 Rem
Rem 700 ADL

You need one more to make the count 25.

NIB Model 70 250Sav..700 Classic 250 Sav ,few more 250's,and a 1985 XTR Featherweight 25-06

Is that the one where Winchester used the original 14" twist?

My first rifle at 13 was a 257 Roberts my uncle built with a Fajen stock with a Mauser 98 action. I gave the rifle to my nephew.

My current go to rifle is a Rem 700Ti that PacNor rebarreled to a 25 WSM.

Last month I picked up a custom 25-284 with a commercial Mauser 98 action in a beautiful walnut stock.

geedubya, your photography work is stellar as is your rifle and knife collection. Hope to see you at the hog hunt.