Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 257 Roberts

Well lets hear it. What are you suggestions as to what bullet I should use. I am thinking the Barnes 100gr TTSX or Noslers 110gr Accubond. Maybe a Nosler Partition 115gr. Yes I know their is a better choice for cartridge but this is what I have for now and it is hat will have to work.

Thank You

A friends mother uses a 257 Roberts for elk and she has tipped over quite a few with it. Her bullet of choice is 100 grain hornady interlock. Her husband brings the big gun with them when they go (25-06) and he also runs 100 grain horandy interlocks and they have tipped over lots of elk.

A 115gr partition for my daughters rifle. I am limited to 2.8 OAL and don't like how far I have to seat the 100gr TTSX to get it to fit. Otherwise the TTSX would be my choice.

I use 100g TTSX and 110g AccuBond for antelope and 120g Partition and A-Frame during elk/deer season.

Haven't taken any elk with it so I can't tell you how they work.

I've got 257 Bob that's taken 3 bulls and 1 cow. 115gr Partitions seem to work fine

I carried one for a while. My load was a 120 grain partition over 43 grains of H414, federal 215 primers, in WW +P brass.

I spent about 2 hours waiting for friends to try to push a bull they thought they'd wounded out of a brushed up clearcut. I had the width of a skinny graveled road to (a) see the elk, (b) react, (c) get the gun lined up, (d) fire an aimed shot, and (e) put it on the ground 'cause if it got across it would be over a steep bank and into 3 miles of brush.

At that point I decided my .257 wasn't gun enough for the job it was called to do. The elk exited the other way. No blood was found. All good. And by the next year I was carrying a .300 win mag which I shot my own first elk with.

Nothin' wrong with a .257 Roberts for elk unless something goes wrong. It doesn't have the snot to do mop-up.

Tom

On the other hand, one of my early elk-hunting mentors (now gone to the Happy Hunting Grounds) once neatly dropped a bull somebody else had wounded with a .30-06--with a single 100-grain, non-premium bullet from his Savage Model 99 in .250-3000. It happened in the thick country of far western Montana along the border with the Idaho Panhandle, on a moving bull.

If that's all you've got, load a Nosler 115 or 120gr Partition and shoot straight and you'll be eating elk.

My father used a mild 257 load with 100gr Partition at about 2850 to kill his last elk. It was pretty straightforward, and basically a broadside and a bang-flop at just under 200yds. Good bullet, good shooter, good result.

Those are important compoents, but you forgot one. When using something pretty far to the light end of the spectrum for the job, the additional factor you need is a very cooperative elk that gives you the opportunity to put those other 3 to use. The likelihood of that depends much on location: terrain and cover. They matter with all cartridges and bullets to some degree, but the smaller you go, the tighter the window gets.

I've thought very hard about chucking all my other hunting rifles and going back to a .257 Roberts ... but I notice that I haven't actually done it yet.

I never got a chance to actually hunt with my dad for anything bigger than rabbits, but I know he tried to get as close as he could, and wasn't afraid to turn down shots he couldn't get set for. Too, he was one of the best off-hand shooters I've ever seen or heard of. He heart-shot big game.

I think the partition is the best choice. The Barnes does a good job out of my 257 Weatherby but I think the Bob is a little slow at the fringes to guarantee expansion. I

If the shots are relatively close, then any of these will work just fine.

For every bang flop, DRT and "I knew a guy" story there are 10 stories that didn't have a happy ending that don't get talked about.

What would Elmer Keith have to say?

No doubt some expert marksman will chime in that they have 57 consecutive one shot kills with small caliber light bullets on heavy game and that since they have done it everybody should aspire to be as deadly an expert sniper as they are.

If you have to carry the damn thing, do yourself and your quarry a favor...take enough

Just sayin...

I'm sure my father felt he had enough gun. After all, it was a step up from the 6mm that he used for most of his elk hunting. He didn't lose any critters. His hunting partner and best friend used the same, and likely still does.

Certainly, experience decides what is enough, not internet critics, or gun writers who happen to be elsewhere taking 600yd shots at big game with a handgun.

Yep:

Now is when everybody gets to tell their me and my friends and family don't need big guns cause we are expert hunters and expert marksmen and we never lost an animal story.

Keep um comin...

And you say that because you sat there and contemplated the issue for a while, deciding that it wouldn't work?

Because obviously the conclusion was reached without any actual experience in the task at hand.

That elk, had it come out in front of you, would have died if you placed a .257 bullet into the vitals. It would have continued to run had you placed a .308 bullet into the guts.

Elmer Keith would say he pulled out a .44 mag revolver and stopped the elk with one running shot at 600 yards with open sights.

And for that, I will never give a $hit what Elmer would say.

Expert hunters do kill most of the elk, and the gun figures into that equation about .5%.

That's a fact, whether Pennsylvanians want to acknowledge it or not.

Yeah my elk experience has been much less about gun and caliber much more about getting up the mtn, getting downwind, getting in front of them, getting set for the shot, getting the shot off fast, etc. I don't have to defend my father's, nor my hunting practices and exploits.

In short, it does not matter to me whether whomever reads my post believes me or not. What matters is whether I can articulate what I have to say, and therefore add value to the discussion. Calling BS is your prerogative, but I assure you, you aren't adding value to the discussion.

99, I forgot to add: I've never lost an animal. I am a really good shot, and I hit where I aim when I can get a good shot off, based on many years and many animals. It seems I've got the luck that way, and can get away with stuff others can't. I suppose that's kind of like my dad and his friend killing 60+ elk between the two of them with 6mms. They were just lucky.